by John Adler,
Publisher
A key difference
between the Radicals and Conservatives related to whether or not the Freedmen should be
given the right to vote. If they received it, they were expected to vote for Republicans
(which they largely did after the passage of Radical Republican state laws and, later, the
Fifteenth Amendment). A look at the statistics published in the editorial "The Trial
of the Government" on May 26, 1866, shows why the struggle between President Johnson
and Congress over the control of Reconstruction was, to some extent, about the future
control of Congress.
State |
White Citizens |
Freedmen |
South Carolina |
291,000 |
411,000 |
Mississippi |
353,000 |
436,000 |
Louisiana |
357,000 |
350,000 |
Georgia |
591,000 |
465,000 |
Alabama |
596,000 |
437,000 |
Virginia |
719,000 |
533,000 |
North Carolina |
631,000 |
331,000 |
Thomas Nast illustrated this point well in his cartoon of April 9, 1870,
when he showed the newly arrived black Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi (as Othello)
sitting in the chair occupied by Jefferson Davis before he became President of the
Confederacy. Senator Charles Sumner, an arch-opponent of President Andrew Johnson,
welcomed Senator Revels, along with Republican Senators Henry Wilson (MA), Oliver Morton
(IN), and Carl Schurz (MO), while Jeff Davis as Iago skulked outside the door.
Other Articles in this Section:
Reconstruction:
Radicalism versus Conservatism
The Tenure of
Office Act
Personal Considerations Affecting the
Vote to Impeach |
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