220 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



politicians never amounted to much. While they got hold of several 

 State Governments, they had little or no effect on the National 

 Government. 



The first members were in the 42nd Congress, which convened in 

 the year 1872, and the last went out in the 56th Congress, in the 

 year 1900. It is highly improbable that there will be any more 

 negroes in the House of Representatives or the Senate. The general 

 consensus of opinion of the statesman of the United States is that 

 the negro, after centuries of contact with the white race, is unfit for 

 self-government. 



The period of Reconstruction is known as the dark days in the 

 South. The whites saw with terror the dangers of a black peril ; in 

 every State political corruption was rampant. 



What was to be done? To use force was out of the question. 

 Had the South tried to resist by force of arms, the whole strength of 

 the victorious Union would have been arrayed against her. 



One peculiarity of the ex-slaves was taken advantage of by 

 their former masters, namely, the negro's intense superstition and 

 fear of the supernatural. It was this fear that made possible the 

 work accomplished by such organizations as the Ku-Klux Klan. 



These societies were secret companies which sprang up all over 

 the South. The members wore a disguise of a white mask, a tall 

 cardboard hat, a gown or robe that covered the whole person, and 

 when a member rode on horseback, a white cover for the bodies of 

 ■the horses, and a sort of muffling for their feet. 



Wherever ex-slaves grew unruly, disguised horsemen appeared 

 by night, and thereafter the negroes of the neighbourhood remained 

 under cover after daylight failed. The black voters were 

 informed by the " spirit horsemen " that negroes should keep away 

 from the ballot-boxes. And on the whole negroes followed the 

 supernatural advice. 



Granting the franchise to the ex-slaves proved a grievous error. 

 Most of the political history of the South since the War is bound up in 

 the question of negro suffrage. It has been almost impossible for a 

 white man to vote as he chose. Perhaps on national questions he was 

 in entire sympathy with the Republican party, yet he dare not throw 

 in his lot with that party in the past, as it stood for negro domination 

 in the South. 



Enfranchising the ex-slaves brought about a vast solidarity in the 

 social and political life of the South, so that one heard of the " Solid 

 South " in politics. The class distinctions between the whites of 

 the South were by no means so sharply drawn as they would be had 

 there been no negroes. 



The wisest men in the South saw the dangers of the secret 

 societies in maintaining the supremacy of the white race. They 

 realised that a disregard for the statutes of the land would lead to 

 lawlessness. So the methods of the Ku-Klux Klan and kindred 

 organisations were dropped, and a constitutional solution of the 

 difficulty was sought. 



