CHAPTER XLVII

RECONSTRUCTION

If the defeat of the Confederate armies had been the only task which the attempt at secession had brought upon the Union, the country might well have considered its troubles on that score at an end in 1865. But the war created more problems than it settled. At first the North had looked upon it as necessary in order to preserve the Union; slavery was to be left untouched, at least in the states. But with the adoption of the policy of freeing the slaves, not only the whole purpose of the war, but the whole problem of reconstruction afterward, was profoundly altered. The war had prevented the establishment of the Confederacy as a going concern; whether it saved the Union or not is an open question. Because of the tremendous increase in federal power, at the expense of the states, it appeared to many that a new union had been created, based upon a very different principle.

The slaves were free; and their freedom thrust upon the country the almost unsolvable problem of the negro. The government after the war had to deal, not only with the relatively simple task of restoring the connection between the Southern states and the central government, but with the infinitely harder one of working out a satisfactory arrangement under which whites and blacks could live side by side with a reasonable degree of satisfaction. At the present time that ideal is as far from realization as it was in 1865.

RECONSTRUCTION IN THE NORTH

For the Northern states reconstruction was a simple matter. The state governments had been only slightly affected by the great struggle so it was easy for them to resume their normal course. Their economic life had been changed for the better, if the widespread prosperity may be taken as a criterion, so it was easy for business to go on as usual when the contest came to an end. Even the task of demobilizing the great army of a million men was carried through easily and comfortably, by December 1865, with no apparent dis

location of industry. In sections where a military régime had temporarily superseded civil authority, it was not hard to reestablish the ordinary machinery of peace. As for the financial problem, that involved a drastic decrease both in taxation and in expenditure, a process which the ordinary tax-payer would find distinctly pleasing. All this was relatively simple, calling for the exercise of no extraordinary powers of statesmanship.

In the border states, where the war had divided families, and where the federal government had stepped in with drastic regulations, the task was more difficult. There was more to be done in restoring civil authority, and in removing military rule. And the border states, like the South, had the serious problem of the freedmen.

CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH

The situation in the South might well have seemed hopeless, both to the people in the defeated section, and to the federal government. When the war came to an end the former Confederacy was in chaos. Everywhere demoralization, confusion, and destruction seemed to abound. The war had lasted four years, with the greater part of the fighting in the South, bringing terrific waste and loss. The whole political, social, and economic system had collapsed; the very fabric of Southern civilization seemed to be torn into shreds. There was no organized government, because when the Confederacy went to pieces, the states fell at the same time. The only functions of government and administration that were carried on at all were those in charge of federal troops. Property had been destroyed on every hand: farm buildings, shops, railroads-both track and rolling stock. The labor system to which the South was accustomed had disappeared. Most of the comparatively meager supply of accumulated capital in the South had been sunk in worthless paper currency and equally valueless bonds. The two or three billion dollars invested in slaves of course was charged off with the advent of emancipation. For a number of reasons the South found it practically impossible to begin farming immediately after the close of the war. Even where the freedmen remained on the plantations, there was a general deficiency of farm tools, which had worn out during the war, a shortage of stock, even an inadequate supply of seeds for planting. Moreover the war ended just after the season for ploughing had passed for a large part of the South.

It was equally difficult to renew commercial activities. The continuance of various war-time regulations and restrictions would have hampered distribution even though transportation could have been secured. The federal government imposed a revenue tax of twothirds of a cent a pound on cotton, and that served to hamper sales.

Even ordinary housekeeping had been rendered difficult by the gradual disappearance of countless little necessities, which could not be replaced as long as the war lasted. Whitelaw Reid, the New York journalist, visited sections of the South just after the close of the war, and some of his accounts reveal the difficulties under which nearly everyone labored.

"Everything has been mended, and generally in the rudest style. Windowglass has given way to thin boards, and these are in use in railway coaches and in the cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for four years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the pitchers have tin handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and in very few families is there enough to set a table . . . a set of forks with whole tines is a curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all stopped. . . . Hair brushes and tooth brushes have all worn out; combs are broken and not yet replaced; pins, needles, and thread, and a thousand such articles, which seem indispensable to housekeeping, are very scarce. Even in weaving on the looms, corn-cobs have been substituted for spindles. Few have pocket knives. In fact, everything that has heretofore been an article of sale at the South is wanting now. At the tables of those who were once esteemed luxurious providers, you will find neither tea, coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some cases, have been replaced by a cup of grease, in which a piece of cloth has been plunged for a wick. The problem which, the South had to solve has been, not how to be comfortable during the War, but how to live at all."

This widespread confusion brought forth the main outlines of the problem of reconstruction. From the Southern point of view, the primary considerations were social and economic. Let the negroes be put to work, and the farms brought under cultivation; other matters could wait. To the North, less familiar with the completeness of the Southern collapse, the greatest issue seemed to be constitutional and political. What was the status of the eleven states which comprised the Confederacy? If they were out of the Union, they needed to be brought back; if they were still in, their rank and

the rights and position of their people, needed to be defined. Above all, the North saw a pressing demand for the settlement of the puzzling problem of the freedmen, some four million in number.

This Northern point of view was important, because the North was the victor. Naturally any plan of reconstruction would conform to its ideas of what was fitting, and what should come first. Both sides agreed that something should be done for the negro, but at that point their agreement stopped. Any one could see that action was necessary. While some of the colored population stayed at home, they were in a precarious situation at best. They owned no property; their houses, and even the clothing they wore, were, or had been, the property of their former masters. They were not only entirely outside the legal system, but outside the economic system, as well.

Many of the blacks left the plantations. Freedom to them meant a release from familiar scenes as well as from familiar duties. In order to make the gulf between past and present as wide as possible, some changed their names, some deserted their families, some speedily acquired new wives. Some did all three. Others became illtempered and obstreperous, determined to show their superior attainments and worth by the badness of their manners. Because freedom had come to them from the federal government, they expected more, especially land. Countless freed slaves confidently waited for the day when the beneficent authorities at Washington would present every head of a negro family with "forty acres and a mule."

THE LINCOLN PLAN

The first steps toward reconstruction had been taken by President Lincoln. His views on the subject were sane and moderate, much more so than was common among Congressmen at the time. Lincoln had the rare power of being able to separate the elements of a problem from his own emotional reactions, and of viewing it objectively and rationally. He knew that the two sections must live together, and as he analyzed the situation, the main objective must be the restoration of harmony and good feeling. To be sure, orderly government had to be set up, but that work was to be the means to achieve his main purpose. Above everything else he desired to drop the idea of further punishment for the South. Being a reasonable man, he could see that the imposition of heavy penalties would not only retard the work of restoration, but would create a lasting bitterness. By a

policy of conciliation and decency he hoped to win the loyalty and respect of the former Confederates.

With this end in mind he planned to base the restored governments upon the electorate of 1860, or upon that part which was willing to coöperate with him. According to his view there was still in every Southern state a feeling of loyalty to the Union, and he hoped to use this in getting his restored governments under way. His ideas on the subject were first presented in concrete form in a proclamation of December 8, 1863, announcing that full pardon, together with complete restoration of all property, would be granted to Confederates who would take a certain prescribed oath. They must agree to uphold the Constitution, and to comply with all executive proclamations, as well as all acts of Congress, concerning slavery. During the war certain classes were refused the privilege of taking the oath. All civil and diplomatic officials of the Confederate government, all Confederate military and naval officers above a certain rank, and all who had left positions in the federal army or navy, in the federal courts, or the federal Congress, to aid the Confederacy, were thus debarred. If there were enough other persons to equal ten per cent of the voting population of 1860, they might organize a government, and the President agreed to recognize it. By 1864, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas had organized on this basis. Lincoln made it plain that as soon as conditions permitted, the restrictions imposed in the proclamation would be removed.

This "Ten Per Cent Plan" did not provide for negro suffrage. Lincoln himself had grave doubts as to the wisdom of conferring full rights of citizenship upon the freed slaves, at least at the first, and he preferred to leave that troublesome question for later settlement.

With the ending of the war in April 1865, Lincoln planned to extend this arrangement over the whole South, and to have governments set up at once. More than that, he determined to hasten the process so that by the time Congress met again, the southern governments would be in full working order.

"I think it providential," Lincoln told his Cabinet at its last meeting before he was murdered, "that this great rebellion is crushed just as Congress has adjourned and there are none of the disturbing elements of that body to hinder and embarrass us. If we are wise and discreet we shall reanimate the States and get their governments in successful operation, with order prevailing and the Union re-established before Congress comes together in Decem