Chapter 1: The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson and "New Reconstruction."
Chapter 1: The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson and "New Reconstruction"
May 16th, 1868
The United States Senate has convened to convict President Andrew Johnson on "high crimes and misdemeanors." The vote will be close. The Democrats and several Republicans will not vote for impeachment. They believe the trial and presentation of evidence has been one sided and unfair.
In the end, the vote came down to one man; Edmund Ross. A moderate Republican, he had debated the trial internally for weeks. In the end, no one knew how he was going to vote. In the end, Ross sided with his party, and voted guilty. Andrew Johnson was removed from office by a vote of 40-18. He went quietly, and dissapeared to a life of obscurity in Tennessee.
Speaker of the House Schulyer Colfax was voted into the Presidency. Knowing that Colfax had some radical sympathies (he had voted for the 13th Amendment even though Speakers typically don't vote on issues on the floor), the Radical Republicans risked it all by reintroducing the Wade-Davis Bill. The bill failed, but a new bill called the Colfax Readmittance Bill succeeded.
This bill stated that 2/3 of all voters on the voter rolls for the 1860 Election had to swear loyalty to the Union before being readmitted. More troops were deployed to the South as fears of unrest spread. The North was right to worry...
Almost immediately, the South exploded into violence. The KKK and other like minded groups attacked thousands of blacks and northern whites. Northern newspapers screamed about southern atrocities every day and public opinion in the North hardened against Southern white supremacy. One Philadelphia paper paraphrased an abolitionist slogan "Is not the Negro a man and a brother?" It became a popular rallying cry of Northerners, Southern Republicans, and African Americans.
In 1868, Colfax won the Republican nomination, and the Presidency, with General Grant as Vice President. He swore to crush the KKK and any groups whose goal was to "terrorize the Negro into an unnatural, Satanic state of fear and subordinace." The Force Bill of 1869 was passed on March 3rd, and gave Federal troops the powers necessary to combat an enlarged and invigorated KKK. By mid 1871, the group had been crushed. The heroism of several African-American volunteers in protecting both whites and blacks from KKK violence caused further cracks in the edifuce of white supremacy.
Another way white supremacism was combated was developed by Vice President Grant, and saved the Union a great deal of trouble. Passionate, fiery orators, mainly preachers and pastors, were sent South to convince poor whites that white supremacy hurt them as well. The main focuses of these speeches was the New Testament (particularly parts preaching acceptance) and stirring up resentment against the old planter class. One quotation from a speech given in Alabama:
"Hatred of the Negro is neither Biblical, nor economical. The Bible says to love thy neighbor, not love thy white neighbor! But the human heart is inclined to hate! God knows this! Jesus knows this! The Devil knows this! So too did the old planter class know this! And they used that vile emotion, that most harmful of sins, to manipulate you! Because they know that if you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket! Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you!"
These "Freedom Preachers" were wildly successful. Across the South, many poor whites went from viewing slavery and white supremacy as natural institutions, to tools used by a handful of wealthy people to tread on the rest of the population. Coming into the 1872 Election, southern resistance was still stiff, but starting to slacken....
President Colfax
A popular anti-KKK cartoon that was widely circulated
A sketch of three Klansmen
May 16th, 1868
The United States Senate has convened to convict President Andrew Johnson on "high crimes and misdemeanors." The vote will be close. The Democrats and several Republicans will not vote for impeachment. They believe the trial and presentation of evidence has been one sided and unfair.
In the end, the vote came down to one man; Edmund Ross. A moderate Republican, he had debated the trial internally for weeks. In the end, no one knew how he was going to vote. In the end, Ross sided with his party, and voted guilty. Andrew Johnson was removed from office by a vote of 40-18. He went quietly, and dissapeared to a life of obscurity in Tennessee.
Speaker of the House Schulyer Colfax was voted into the Presidency. Knowing that Colfax had some radical sympathies (he had voted for the 13th Amendment even though Speakers typically don't vote on issues on the floor), the Radical Republicans risked it all by reintroducing the Wade-Davis Bill. The bill failed, but a new bill called the Colfax Readmittance Bill succeeded.
This bill stated that 2/3 of all voters on the voter rolls for the 1860 Election had to swear loyalty to the Union before being readmitted. More troops were deployed to the South as fears of unrest spread. The North was right to worry...
Almost immediately, the South exploded into violence. The KKK and other like minded groups attacked thousands of blacks and northern whites. Northern newspapers screamed about southern atrocities every day and public opinion in the North hardened against Southern white supremacy. One Philadelphia paper paraphrased an abolitionist slogan "Is not the Negro a man and a brother?" It became a popular rallying cry of Northerners, Southern Republicans, and African Americans.
In 1868, Colfax won the Republican nomination, and the Presidency, with General Grant as Vice President. He swore to crush the KKK and any groups whose goal was to "terrorize the Negro into an unnatural, Satanic state of fear and subordinace." The Force Bill of 1869 was passed on March 3rd, and gave Federal troops the powers necessary to combat an enlarged and invigorated KKK. By mid 1871, the group had been crushed. The heroism of several African-American volunteers in protecting both whites and blacks from KKK violence caused further cracks in the edifuce of white supremacy.
Another way white supremacism was combated was developed by Vice President Grant, and saved the Union a great deal of trouble. Passionate, fiery orators, mainly preachers and pastors, were sent South to convince poor whites that white supremacy hurt them as well. The main focuses of these speeches was the New Testament (particularly parts preaching acceptance) and stirring up resentment against the old planter class. One quotation from a speech given in Alabama:
"Hatred of the Negro is neither Biblical, nor economical. The Bible says to love thy neighbor, not love thy white neighbor! But the human heart is inclined to hate! God knows this! Jesus knows this! The Devil knows this! So too did the old planter class know this! And they used that vile emotion, that most harmful of sins, to manipulate you! Because they know that if you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket! Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you!"
These "Freedom Preachers" were wildly successful. Across the South, many poor whites went from viewing slavery and white supremacy as natural institutions, to tools used by a handful of wealthy people to tread on the rest of the population. Coming into the 1872 Election, southern resistance was still stiff, but starting to slacken....
President Colfax
A popular anti-KKK cartoon that was widely circulated
A sketch of three Klansmen
