Tag Archives: Reconstruction

elective*

This Thomas Nast cartoon was published in the August 5, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly. You can read more about it at the Library of Congress: “Centerfold prints show Columbia considering why she should pardon Confederate troops who are begging … Continue reading

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new American revolution?

In a long 1777 letter to the Committee of Secret Correspondence Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, American Commissioners in Paris, wrote the following optimistic assessment of Europe’s regard for America and its rebel cause: Tyranny is so generally established in … Continue reading

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progress on government plantations

From The New-York Times July 22, 1865: The Freedmen of the South The Successful Progress of the Policy of the Government. It is gratifying to know that the Freedman’s Bureau in Washington, under the management of Major-Gen. HOWARD, and the … 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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“devout joy at the salvation of the country”

From The New-York Times July 6, 1865: THE CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE DAY. The observance of the National Anniversary was characterized everywhere throughout the country by a sober heartiness and earnest enthusiasm, in perfect keeping with the peculiarities of the occasion. … Continue reading

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my only friend …

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in June 1865: The Papers. The war is over! and yet we hardly appreciate the fact. We have become so accustomed to look for and read attentively the details of battles, that the … 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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no war, no work

150 years ago today The Chicago Times reprinted a report from the one-time capital of the Confederacy. Richmond was swarming with former rebel soldiers unable to find work: The Chicago editors had a hunch that the war’s end meant bounty-jumpers … Continue reading

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lemonade stand

Talk about “Yankees.” It is time we were all Yankees, if by the term is meant a shrewd, energetic and indomitable encounter with difficulties. Tell us about being “Abolitionists!” We are all Abolitionists by force of events — by the … Continue reading

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common sense

Taking the Oath in North Carolina The front page of the June 10, 1865 issue of The Chicago Times (at the Library of Congress) featured reports from throughout the South. There were many problems, including great hunger. There was some … Continue reading

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