History of the Negro Race in America Volume II Part 53

Their joy was too full, their peace too profound, and their thanksgiving too sincere to attract their attention at once to the vulgar affairs of daily life. One fervent, beautiful psalm of praise rose from every Negro hut in the South, and swelled in majestic sweetness until the nation became one mighty temple canopied by the stars and stripes, and the Const.i.tution as the common altar before whose undimmed lights a ransomed race humbly bowed.

The emanc.i.p.ated Negroes had no ability, certainly no disposition, to reason concerning the changes and disasters which had overtaken their former masters. The white people of the South were divided into three cla.s.ses. _First_, those who felt that defeat was intolerable, and a residence in this country incongenial. They sought the service of the Imperial cause in war-begrimed Mexico; they went to Cuba, Australia, Egypt, and to Europe. _Second_, those who returned to their homes after the "affair at Appomattox," and sitting down under the portentous clouds of defeat, refused to take any part in the rehabilitation of their States. _Third_, those who accepted the situation and stood ready to aid in the work of reconstruction.

In the unsettled condition of affairs at the close of hostilities, as there was no legal State governments at the South, necessity and prudence suggested the temporary policy of dividing the South into military districts. A provisional military government in the conquered States was to pursue a pacific, protective, helpful policy. The people of both races were to be fed and clothed. Schools were to be established; agriculture and industry encouraged. Courts were to be established of competent jurisdiction to hear and decide cases among the people. Such a government while military in name was patriarchal in spirit. As early as the spring of 1865, before the war was over, an act was pa.s.sed by Congress providing for the dest.i.tute of the South.

"AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A BUREAU FOR THE RELIEF OF FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

"_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be a.s.signed to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth cla.s.s, two of the third cla.s.s, three of the second cla.s.s, and five of the first cla.s.s. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act ent.i.tled, 'An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes,' approved July 2, 1862.

And the commissioners and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the attorney general, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party, upon any breach of the conditions thereof.

"SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of dest.i.tute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct.

"SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an a.s.sistant commissioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act, and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act.

Each of said a.s.sistant commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand and five hundred dollars, in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and a.s.signed to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President, or either house of Congress. And the a.s.sistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required.

"SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land, within the insurrectionary States, as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired t.i.tle by confiscation, or sale, or otherwise. And to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be a.s.signed not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it is so a.s.signed shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of said land as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year 1860, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so a.s.signed may purchase the land and receive such t.i.tle thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent as aforesaid.

"SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

"ROBERT C. SCHENCK, HENRY WILSON, "GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, JAMES HARLAN, "JAMES S. ROLLINS, W. T. WILLEY, "_Managers on part of House._ _Managers on part of Senate._"

To have subjected the late rebellious States to military rule for a stated term of years, say a decade or a generation, would have given force to the hasty statement of rebels and their sympathizers in the courts of Europe. It was charged that the United States Government fought to subjugate the Confederate States. The United States did not "begin it," and did not intend, at any time, to lay the mailed hand of military power against the throat of the rights of loyal citizens or loyal States. The _sine qua non_ of reconstruction was _loyalty to the Federal Government_. But while this idea was next to the heart of the Government, the sudden and horrible taking off of Abraham Lincoln discovered many master-builders, who built not well or wisely. The early education of Andrew Johnson was not in line with the work of reconstruction. His sympathies were with the South in spite of his position and circ.u.mstances. The friends of his early political life were more potent than the friends of a sound, sensible, and loyal policy upon which to build the shattered governments of the South. And by indicating and advocating a policy at variance with the logical events of the war, he was guilty of a political crime, and did the entire nation an irreparable injury.

Congress seemed to be unequal to the task of perfecting a proper plan for reconstructing the Southern States. To couple general amnesty to the rebels with suffrage to the Negroes was a most fatal policy. It has been shown that there was but one cla.s.s of white men in the South friendly to reconstruction,--numerically, small; and mentally, weak.

But it was thought best to do this. To a triple element Congress committed the work of reconstruction. The "_Scalawag_," the "_Carpet-bagger_," and the _Negro_. Who were this trio? The scalawag was the native white man who made up the middle cla.s.s of the South; the planter above, the Negro below. And between this upper and nether millstone he was destined to be ground to powder, under the old regime. A "n.i.g.g.e.r-driver," without schools, social position, or money, he was "the poor white trash" of the South. He was loyal during the war, because in the triumph of the Confederacy, with slavery as its corner-stone, he saw no hope for his condition. Those of them who fought under the rebel flag were unwilling conscripts. They had no qualifications for governing--except that they were _loyal_; and this was of no more use to them in this great work, than _piety_ in the pulpit when the preacher cannot repeat the Lord's prayer without biting his tongue. The carpet-baggers ran all the way from "good to middling." Some went South with fair ability and good morals, where they lost the latter article and never found it; while many more went South to get all they could and keep all they got. The Negro could boast of numerical strength only. The scalawag managed the Negro, the latter did the voting, while the carpet-bagger held the offices. And when there were "more stalls than horses" the Negroes and scalawags occasionally got an office.

The rebels were still in a swoon.

The States were reconstructed, after a manner, and the governments went forward.

In 1868 Gen. U. S. Grant carried these States. It was like the handle on a jug, all on one side. The rebels took no part; but after a while a gigantic Ku Klux conspiracy was discovered. This organization sought to obstruct the courts, hara.s.s the Negroes, and cripple local governments. It spread terror through the South and made a political graveyard of startling dimensions. The writ of _habeas corpus_ was suspended; arrests made, trials and convictions secured, and the penitentiary at Albany, New York, crowded with the enemies of law and order. A subsidence followed, and the scalawag-carpetbag-Negro governments began a fresh existence.

In 1872 Gen. Grant carried the Southern States again, meeting with but little resistance. In Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina there were Negro lieutenant-governors. The Negroes were learning rapidly the lesson of rotation in office, and demanded recognition. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, were represented, in part, by Negroes in the National House of Representatives, and Mississippi in the Senate as well. Both branches of the Legislatures of all the Southern States contained Negro members; while many of the most important and lucrative offices in the States were held by Negroes.

The wine cup, the gaming-table, and the parlors of strange women charmed many of these men to the neglect of important public duties.

The bonded indebtedness of these States began to increase, the State paper to depreciate, the burden of taxation to grow intolerable, bad laws to find their way into the statute-books, interest in education and industry to decline, the farm Negroes to grow idle and gravitate to the infectious skirts of large cities, and the whole South went from bad to worse.

The hand of revenge reached for the shot-gun, and before its deadly presence white leaders were intimidated, driven out, or destroyed.

Before 1875 came, the white element in the Republican party at the South was reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. Thus abandoned, the Negro needed the presence of the United States army while he voted, held office, and drew his salary. But even the army lacked the power to inject life into the collapsed governments at the South.

The mistake of reconstruction was twofold: on the part of the Federal Government, in committing the destinies of the Southern States to hands so feeble; and on the part of the South, in that its best men, instead of taking a lively interest in rebuilding the governments they had torn down, allowed them to be constructed with untempered mortar.

Neither the South nor the Government could say: "Thou canst not say I did it: shake not thy gory locks at me." Both were culpable, and both have suffered the pangs of remorse.

FOOTNOTES:

[116] I am preparing a History of the Reconstruction of the Late Confederate States, 1865-1880. Hence I shall not enter into a thorough treatment of the subject in this work. It will follow this work, and comprise two volumes.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE RESULTS OF EMANc.i.p.aTION.

THE APPARENT IDLENESS OF THE NEGRO SPORADIC RATHER THAN GENERIC.--HE QUIETLY SETTLES DOWN TO WORK.--THE GOVERNMENT MAKES AMPLE PROVISIONS FOR HIS EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT.--THE MARVELLOUS PROGRESS MADE BY THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH IN EDUCATION.--EARLIEST SCHOOL FOR FREEDMEN AT FORTRESS MONROE IN 1861.--THE RICHMOND INSt.i.tUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH.--THE UNLIMITED DESIRE OF THE NEGROES TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION.--GENERAL ORDER ORGANIZING A "BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS."--GEN. O. O. HOWARD APPOINTED COMMISSIONER OF THE BUREAU.--REPORT OF ALL THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU FROM 1865-1867.--AN ACT INCORPORATING THE FREEDMAN'S BANK AND TRUST COMPANY.--THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY AS SHOWN FROM 1866-1871.--FINANCIAL STATEMENT BY THE TRUSTEES FOR 1872.--FAILURE OF THE BANK.--THE SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH.--THE NEGRO RARELY RECEIVES JUSTICE IN SOUTHERN COURTS.--TREATMENT OF NEGROES AS CONVICTS IN SOUTHERN PRISONS.--INCREASE OF THE COLORED PEOPLE FROM 1790-1880.--NEGROES SUSCEPTIBLE OF THE HIGHEST CIVILIZATION.

Surely some good did come out of Nazareth. The poor, deluded, misguided, confiding Negro finished his long holiday at last, and turning from the dream of "forty acres and a mule," settled down to the stubborn realities of his new life of duties, responsibilities, and privileges. His idleness was sporadic, not generic,--it was simply reaction. He had worked faithfully, incessantly for two centuries and a half; had enriched the South with the sweat of his brow; and in two wars had baptized the soil with his patriotic blood. And when the year of jubilee came he enjoyed himself right royally.

This disposition to frolic on the part of the Negro gave rise to grave concern among his friends, and was promptly accepted as conclusive proof of his unfitness for the duties of a freeman by his enemies. But he soon dispelled the fears of his friends and disarmed the prejudices of his foes.

As already shown there was no provision made for the education of the Negro before the war; every thing had been done to keep him in ignorance. To emanc.i.p.ate 4,000,000 of slaves and absorb them into the political life of the government without detriment to both was indeed a formidable undertaking. Republics gain their strength and perpetuity from the self-governing force in the people; and in order to be self-governing a people must be educated. Moreover, all good laws that are cheerfully obeyed are but the emphatic expression of public sentiment. Where the great majority of the people are kept in ignorance the tendency is toward the production of two other cla.s.ses, aristocrats and political "Herders." The former seek to get as far from "the common herd" as possible, while the latter bid off the rights of the poor and ignorant to the highest bidder.

It was quite appropriate for the Government to make speedy provision for plying the ma.s.s of ignorant Negroes with school influences. And the liberality of the provision was equalled by the eagerness of the Negroes to learn. Nor should history fail to record that the establishment of schools for freedmen by the Government was the n.o.blest, most sensible act it could have done. What the Negroes have accomplished through these schools is the marvel of the age.

On the 20th of May, 1865, Major-Gen. O. O. Howard was appointed Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. He gave great attention to the subject of education; and after planting schools for the freedmen throughout a great portion of the South, in 1870--five years after the work was begun--he made a report. It was full of interest. In five years there were 4,239 schools established, 9,307 teachers employed, and 247,333 pupils instructed. In 1868 the average attendance was 89,396; but in 1870 it was 91,398, or 79-3/4 per cent. of the total number enrolled. The emanc.i.p.ated people sustained 1,324 schools themselves, and owned 592 school buildings. The Freedmen's Bureau furnished 654 buildings for school purposes. The wonderful progress they made from year to year, in scholars.h.i.+p, may be fairly judged by the following, corresponding with the half year in 1869:

JULY, 1869. JULY, 1870.

Advanced readers 43,746 43,540 Geography 36,992 39,321 Arithmetic 51,172 52,417 Writing 53,606 58,034 Higher branches 7,627 9,690

There were 74 high and normal schools, with 8,147 students; and 61 industrial schools, with 1,750 students in attendance. In doing this great work--for buildings, repairs, teachers, etc.,--$1,002,896.07 was expended. Of this sum the _freedmen raised_ $200,000.00! This was conclusive proof that emanc.i.p.ation was no mistake. Slavery was a twofold cross of woe to the land. It did not only degrade the slave, but it blunted the sensibilities, and, by its terrible weight, carried down under the slimy rocks of society some of the best white people in the South. Like a cankerous malady its venom has touched almost every side of American life.

The white race is in a constant and almost overpowering relation to the other races upon this continent. It is the duty of this great totality of intellectual life and force, to supply adequate facilities for the education of the less intelligent and less fortunate. Of every ten thousand (10,000) inhabitants there are:

WHITE. COLORED. CHINESE. INDIANS.

In the States 8,711 1,269 15 5 In the Territories 8,711 1,017 158 114 In the whole Union 8,711 1,266 16 7

When we turn our attention to the Southern States, we shall find that the white people are in excess of the Colored as follows:

MAJORITY.

Alabama 45,874 Arkansas 239,946 Delaware 79,427 Florida 4,368 Georgia 93,774 Kentucky 876,442 Maryland 430,106 Missouri 1,485,075 North Carolina 286,820 Tennessee 613,788 Texas 311,225 Virginia 199,248 West Virginia 406,043

while the Colored people are in excess in only three States, having over the whites the following majorities:

MAJORITY.

Louisiana 2,145 South Carolina 126,147 Mississippi 61,305

This leaves the whites in these sixteen States in a majority of 4,882,539, over the Colored people. There are more than two whites to every Colored in the entire population in these States.

Group the States and territories into three geographical cla.s.ses, and designate them as Northern, Pacific, and Southern. The first may comprise all the "free States," where slavery never existed; put in the second the three Pacific States and all the territories, except the District of Columbia; and in the third gather all the "slave States" and the District. Now then, in the Northern cla.s.s, out of every 14 persons who can neither read nor write, 13 are white. In the Pacific cla.s.s, out of every 23 who can neither read nor write, 20 are white. In the Southern cla.s.s, out of every 42 who can neither read nor write, 15 are white. Thus it can be seen that the white illiterates of the United States outnumber those of all the other races together. It might be profitable to the gentlemen who, upon every convenient occasion, rail about "the deplorable ignorance of the blacks," to look up this question a little![117]

The Colored people have made wonderful progress in educational matters since the war. Take a few States for examples of what they are doing.

In Georgia, in 1860, there were 458,540 slaves. In 1870 there were 87 private schools, 79 teachers with 3,021 pupils. Of other schools, more public in character, there were 221, with an attendance of 11,443 pupils. In 1876 the Colored school population of this State was 48,643, with 879 schools; and with 55,268 pupils in public and private schools in 1877.

In South Carolina, in 1874, there were 63,415 Colored children attending the public schools; in 1876 there were 70,802, or an increase of 7,387.

In Virginia, in 1870, there were 39,000 Colored pupils in the schools, which were few in number. In 1874 there were 54,941 pupils; in 1876 there were 62,178, or again of 7,237. In 1874 there were 539 teachers; in 1876 there were 636, or an increase of 97. In 1874 there were 1,064 schools for Colored youth; in 1876 there were 1,181, or an increase of 117.