Tag Archives: Andrew Johnson

don’t make ’em bite off too at once

150 years ago this week abolitionist George L. Stearns met with President Andrew Johnson to discuss Reconstruction in the South. Mr. Stearns wrote up his recollection of the meeting, had the president fact-check the summary, and then sent the document … Continue reading

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Southern roadblock?

If delegations from the rebel states are re-admitted to the Congress without conditions, could they stifle the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery? From The New-York Times July 9, 1865: Letter from Wendell Phillips. THE RESTORATION OF THE SOUTHERN … Continue reading

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“in the twinkling of an eye”

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in June 1865: Negro Suffrage. The radical element is very much excited over the President’s North Carolina proclamation, and an open rupture is threatened. The exclusion of the negro from the right of … Continue reading

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“dislocating his already swollen wrist”

150 years ago yesterday Gotham “was in a blaze of excitement” – Lieutenant-General Grant was in town! (and by the way there was a monster meeting at the Cooper Institute to show support for President Johnson and his administration; the … Continue reading

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“perhaps necessary that we should pass through this last ordeal”

Things are thankfully winding down here but wanted to mention that 150 years ago today I could have read all about the June 1st Day of Humiliation and Prayer called by President Johnson for the purpose of mourning the assassination … Continue reading

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shotgun shorts

This article would have been published earlier than May 30, 1865 because even folks up here in New York state would already have known that Jefferson Davis was captured. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in May 1865: The … Continue reading

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free to vote?

150 years ago today President Johnson reportedly opined that the question of whether blacks should be allowed to vote in the South should be decided by loyal whites in the South. From The New-York Times May 26, 1865: The President … Continue reading

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lashless society

150 years ago today: “President Andrew Johnson appoints General Oliver O. Howard to head the Freedman’s Bureau.” A May 12th editorial argued that, just as the conduct of black soldiers upset preconceived Southern notions of African-American competence, free black labor … Continue reading

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the right executive’s in the mansion

The Democrat Reveille found some kind words to write about Abraham Lincoln after his death. It seems that Southerners and Northern Democrats appreciated President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address and the lenient terms of surrender offered Southern armies. Here a presumably … Continue reading

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here comes the Chief Justice

From The New-York Times May 2, 1865: AN IMPORTANT MISSION.; Chief Justice Chare Reorganizing the Southern Courts-The Freedom of Commerce. Special Dispatch to the New-York Times. WASHINGTON, Monday, May 1. Chief Justice CHASE was one of a small party who … Continue reading

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