Tag Archives: Reconstruction

unfazed

As 1867 began, newspaper headlines indicated that the United States Congress was definitely planning on impeaching President Andrew Johnson. The president wasn’t cowed. On January 7th Congress received his veto of An act to regulate the elective franchise in the … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Letter to the Loyal Alabamans

A document at the Library of Congress indicates that 150 years ago today the Grand Council of the Union League of Alabama wrote an epistle to its local branches. The letter began by thanking God that thanks to federal soldiers … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

hilltop experience

In its New Year’s piece 150 year ago today The New-York Times changed up the Janus imagery a little bit: … New Year’s Day is like a hill upon which a traveler pauses to rest, to look back over the … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

firewall

150 years ago this month an article about Reconstruction by Frederick Douglass was published in The Atlantic Monthly. In the first section Mr. Douglass asserted that the only way to protect the rights of ex-slaves in the South without creating … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

standing pat

150 years ago this week President Andrew Johnson delivered his second annual message to Congress. Despite the overwhelming Republican victory in Northern states in the 1866 midterm elections, President Johnson did not alter his position: Southern states should be readmitted … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

litmus test

150 years ago today a Republican newspaper responded to Democratic charges that the new Congress would only re-admit Southern states to the Union if the Republican party was assured of winning the 1868 presidential election. The Republican paper said that … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“arrested development”

150 years ago a Boston journal reacted to Andrew Johnson’s Swing Around the Circle with a 6,000 word attack on the president and his policies. Here are the first three paragraphs from The Atlantic Monthly, VOL. XVIII.—NOVEMBER, 1866.—NO. CIX: THE … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

People (Congress) #1

From The New-York Times November 3, 1866: The President and the People. That the dominant sentiment of the country differs at this time more widely than ever from the position of the President, is proven beyond dispute by the result … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

no more rebels to fight

So far I haven’t noticed a letter from General William T. Sherman endorsing President Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction policy being published just before the 1866 elections in New York for its bombshell affect, but according to reports the general openly supported … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

October surprise?

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1866: Gen. Sherman Endorses the President. The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, speaks of this distinguished General: “I am informed that General Sherman has made a second surrender to … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment