16 



EODOBO. 



rice of the nation, who participated in 449 engage- 



.... : i ..;... . \i r.n \\ .. 



,,r i' - ii i - firm N .-' rift i 

 BOM other fMdi they won the confidence and api-n >v*l 

 oFtbe military ud aril leaders of the oause t 

 nlkntly erred Doubted and discriminated against 

 m rapect to their pay, bounty, and clothing, th 

 ahseqMMly placed upon the mnic footing with their 

 more favored white comrade*. The war had pro- 

 pomnded several difficult problems that the govern- 

 ment was, at finrt, unprepared to solve; but history 

 pointed to the part annals of the nation for guidance 

 in the war of the rebellion. The exigencies of a \v:ir 

 between Great Britain and her colonies in North 

 America gave the negro his position as a soldier in tin- 

 war ofthe revolution. In the second war between 

 America and England the sen-ices of the free n. .:- 

 of Louisiana had been secured upon the same term- 

 M other troops. Their valor received the official 

 notice of Gen. Andrew Jackson, and the applause 

 of the national Congress. But in the war of the 

 rebellion it became necessary to emancipate 4.UMI.IKXI 

 staves to save the Union. Pres. Linoojn's prelim 

 inary proclamation of emancipation was issued Sept 

 22, 1842. He warned certain States, engaged in 

 armed rebellion against the government and authority 

 ofthe Unite.) States, that if they should be still en- 

 gaged in rebellion on Jan. 1, 1863, he would then 

 issue a final proclamation emancipating their slaves. 

 On that date, accordingly, the President, by virtue of 

 the war power, proclaimed the slaves of the enemies 

 of the t nion forever free. 



After the war was over the government was charged 

 with the grave and difficult work of reconstructing the 

 insurgent States. Before the war had come to a close 

 a Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen, and Abandoned 

 Lands (see FREEDMKN'S BUIKAI ) had been established 

 by an act of Congress. It made provision for 

 and deserving white refugees and freedmen, and en- 

 oonraged and fostered a system of education and 

 agricultural industry. Pro. Andrew Johnson, who 

 had succeeded Lincoln, at first posed as the " Moses of 

 the negro,_" bat later opposed the giving of the right 

 of franchise to the black race. He vetoed every 

 measure passed by Congress calculated to give protec- 

 tion and political rights to the freedmen. Congress 

 passed over his vetoes the Thirteenth and Fourteenth 

 Amendments to the Constitution, and all the legisla- 

 tion necessary to restore order, justice, and political 

 government to the insurgent States. Slavery was ren- 

 dered forever impossible, and the negro was made a 

 eitnen and a voter by amendments to the Constitu- 

 te 



Pros. Johnson's defiant attitude towards Congress 

 and his opposition to the enfranchisement ofthe negro, 

 as well as his sympathy with and support of the rebel 

 element of the Booth, lad to great disorder and blood- 

 shed in th -t States. Kiicouragcd "by the 

 recognition fn>n- ; nd from the Northern 

 'ansthatBup|>rted him. some people of the South 



I ' . t i. ft 



into a conspiracy against the legal results of 

 the great war as engraft, d upon the Constitution. A 

 secret organization, called the " Ku-Klux -Klan," be- 

 gan a series of barber N e and loyal 

 white men were whip|id and their property huni-d. 

 Hundreds were mrdered in cold blood, and th<- larger 



- .' i -,-.< :,-. .,,:, ,,i ,,-.!- \U 



the laws of Congress respecting the rights of the 

 freedmen were set at naught and the work of recon- 

 struction greatly embarrassed, if not defeated. The 

 Legislature* of the insurgent States, controlled by 

 men still possessed with the wry ideas which had led 

 to rebellion, pamod law* that practically disfranchised 

 the freedmen, and the act* n-milating negro laborers 

 Me them the merest YaK-.U : th,. ..,,1 



The speoly failure .,f I'r, - Johnson's p.iliry of 

 restoration left nti OIMMI field i 

 in. The insurgent .Sutt, b. ii.i- divided into liv,- mil 



itary districts, all persons who took an oath of alle- 



. , , ., i.-.-i stand i- '!- N.-'-v ' l'-.-ti..iis .-r-- 

 stitutional conventions; new con- 

 stitutions were subiiiitt<^l to a vote of the people, and 

 State officers were elected who were friendly to the 

 amendment* to the Constitution of the I'nited .- 

 These States were Bubsequeotb admitted to the Union 

 and allowed representation in Congress. Thiswas the 

 U-vinning of the political career of the Southern 

 Inexperienced, ignorant, and pliable, he soon 

 became the foot-ball oT political parties, and the 

 local administrations with which he identified himself 

 wen- notorious lor their imliecility and corruption. 

 The negro, however, sinned less than he was Mimed 

 against, and (he Ivepublican State governments of the 

 South wen- ultimately extinguished by tissue ballots 

 ami assassins bullets. 



I hiring the period of reconst ruction negroes were in 

 the majority in the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of some Southern States, while two became U. 

 S. senators and a dozen were members of the House 

 of Representative;). Fourteen held nositions in the 

 diplomatic and consular service of the government. 

 S. marshal for the Uistrict of Columbia, the 

 tax-collector, the recorder of deeds, and the register 

 of the treasury wore, at one time, negroes, and all of 

 them ex-slaves save one. There were about 600 

 negroes in the departments at Washington, D. C. , and 

 several thousand of them in the postal, revenue, and 

 customs service in various sections of the country. 



The negro is not so porminent in American politics 

 now (1888) as he formerly was when the K. -publican 

 party was in power. But there arc unfailing signs 

 that he is accumulating property and rapidly acquiring 

 knowledge. In the Pistrict of Columbia, where the 

 government emancipated the slaves by compensating 

 their masters, the negro citizens pay taxes upon about 

 $8,000,000 of real property; in (Jeorgia they are 

 taxed for about $11,000,00(1; in Louisiana, for about 

 $25,000,000 ; and in other States in an almost propor- 

 tional amount Their morals arc improved, tneir 

 social life more elevated, their deportment more cor- 

 rect, and their tastes more chaste and elegant. 



The ninth census of the population of the I'nited 



-ecmcd to indicate that the negro r. 

 America was doomed to speedy extinction. I'Vom a 

 population of about 4,500,000 in isr.n it had risen, 

 according to the ninth census, to but I s^i, ,;;-; in ten 

 years. But the census of 1880 exhibited that the race 

 had reached 6,580,793, an increase of :; l.i'.T per cent. 

 in ten years. At present (l.sss) the n <>1 pop- 



ulation of the former slave States is L'.nun.iM'J, and 

 the enrolment is 1,048,650, a percentage of 55.8. 

 Tiny have 281 normal schools with (ii'oT students; 

 JTii institutions for secondary instruction with 9970 

 students; 238 universities and colleges with . r >119 stu- 

 dents; 110 schools of theology with li>'.'7 students; 

 16 law schools with 98 students; -2'2 schools of medi- 

 cine, dentistry, and pharmacv with IMS studei- 

 schools for the deaf, dumb, and blind with I :w students; 

 and, adding the 661 schools for negroes in the Northern 

 States U> the 1S.7'.4 for the freed UK n. there are 19,455 

 public schools with a total enrolment for the race, as far 

 as reported, of l,lL'7>M'.i. Hut this does not include 

 the negroes and mulattoes in the schools of the North 

 where no discrimination is made as to color or nationality. 

 There are more signs of improvement among ) 



'ore held in iKindaL'c and the descendant- of 

 such persons than in tin- small coin muni lies of Northern 

 negroes, who, contented with their condition, make 

 little effort to improve their opportunities. They are 

 the servant class as a rule, although there an- worthy 

 . xci ptions. and make little or no progress. However, 

 in ih. l.-iraer cities of the Northern States negroes 

 have branched out into lucrative business enten 

 and by industry, frugality, and ability have attained to 

 high and honorable business Mandimr. Prejudice is 

 yielding to a better feeling toward this race among the 



