Remember the German Wings plane crash in the Alps (March 24, 2015)? Rolling Stone’s retraction of its UVA Rape Story (April 5, 2015)? Tsarnaev’s guilty verdict in the Boston Marathon bombing trial (April 8, 2015)? The Baltimore riots (April 12, 2015)? Those events happened around the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War. We are now (March 2, 2017) as far removed from those events as the declaration of Congressional Reconstruction (March 2, 1867) was from the end of the Civil War (April 1865), almost two years.
In April-May 1865, the last Confederate units surrendered. The terms on the table were the abolition of slavery, and return to the Union. All eleven seceded states accepted those terms and agreed to stop fighting. On 29 May 1865, Pres. Johnson issues his amnesty decree, which covered all southerners except those who had been in leadership positions in the Confederate government (e.g. Confederate civil officers, Confederate military officers above the rank of colonel, etc. These had to request a specific presidential pardon.)
On June 19, 1865, Pres. Johnson appointed Lewis Parsons of Talladega (a northern man who had lived in Alabama for 25 years) governor of the state. In September 1865, the Alabama Convention met in Montgomery to draft a new Constitution. In November 1865, elections were held for the state legislature, which met on 20 November 1865. On December 2, 1865 Alabama ratified the XIII Amendment.* On the same day, Radical Republicans in Congress refused to seat southern delegations to Congress, despite the fact that the Constitution of the United States declares that “no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.” December 9, 1865, Alabama passed its “black code” which declared the right of African-Americans to sue and be sued, to plea and be impleaded, to testify in court in cases involving an African-American as plaintiff or defendant, or as a witness. (By way of comparison, Illinois’ black code of 1853, still in force as of 1865, made it illegal for a black man to stay more than 10 days in the state, violators punished by $50 fine or forced labor for any white man who could pay the fine). On 10 December 1865, Robert M. Patton was inaugurated. Gov. Parsons wrote to Pres. Johnson telling the President that civil government had been restored.
Note that Congress accepted Alabama’s ratification of the XIII Amendment and counted Alabama’s ratification (as well as SC’s NC’s and Ga’s) among the ¾ of the states to ratify. To count, Alabama had to be a state. Non-states are not allowed to ratify constitutional amendments.
Yet, in 1867, Alabama was kicked out of the Union. The people of Alabama, in Radical Republican eyes, had committed three sins:
1. Alabama’s congressional delegation was mostly Democratic, the wrong sort of people in Republican eyes.#
2. Radical Republicans realized that, if Alabama was a state, and freedmen, who had been formerly counted for representation in Congress as 3 men for every 5 slaves, now counted as 5 men for every 5 freedmen. As a result of emancipation, after the next census, southern states would be increasing their representation in the House of Representatives, and it appeared southerners were inclined to elect Democrats.
3. Alabama had refused to ratify the XIV Amendment.
Thus, for voting for undesirable Congressmen, threatening to increase the state’s apportioned Representatives in the House and refusing to ratify a constitutional amendment, Radical Republicans kicked Alabama out of the Union. Having fought and won a war to force Alabama to stay in the Union, in 1867, Congress kicked Alabama out of the Union.
On 4 March 1867 (15 months after Alabama had an elected state government and had ratified a constitutional amendment and 22 months after the end of hostilities), the Reconstruction Act designated Alabama, Georgia and Florida Military District Number 3 under military governor General John Pope.
* New York Times, December 3, 1865, p. 1, col. 1.
# Alabama’s delegation was C. C. Langdon, a northern man & long-time resident of Alabama; Major George Freeman, who lost a leg in the Confederate army; Colonel Cullen Battle, former commander of the 3rd Alabama Infantry; Joseph M. Taylor, a former Whig moderate; Burwell T. Pope, lawyer; B. F. Foster, a former member of the Confederate Congress.
In April-May 1865, the last Confederate units surrendered. The terms on the table were the abolition of slavery, and return to the Union. All eleven seceded states accepted those terms and agreed to stop fighting. On 29 May 1865, Pres. Johnson issues his amnesty decree, which covered all southerners except those who had been in leadership positions in the Confederate government (e.g. Confederate civil officers, Confederate military officers above the rank of colonel, etc. These had to request a specific presidential pardon.)
On June 19, 1865, Pres. Johnson appointed Lewis Parsons of Talladega (a northern man who had lived in Alabama for 25 years) governor of the state. In September 1865, the Alabama Convention met in Montgomery to draft a new Constitution. In November 1865, elections were held for the state legislature, which met on 20 November 1865. On December 2, 1865 Alabama ratified the XIII Amendment.* On the same day, Radical Republicans in Congress refused to seat southern delegations to Congress, despite the fact that the Constitution of the United States declares that “no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.” December 9, 1865, Alabama passed its “black code” which declared the right of African-Americans to sue and be sued, to plea and be impleaded, to testify in court in cases involving an African-American as plaintiff or defendant, or as a witness. (By way of comparison, Illinois’ black code of 1853, still in force as of 1865, made it illegal for a black man to stay more than 10 days in the state, violators punished by $50 fine or forced labor for any white man who could pay the fine). On 10 December 1865, Robert M. Patton was inaugurated. Gov. Parsons wrote to Pres. Johnson telling the President that civil government had been restored.
Note that Congress accepted Alabama’s ratification of the XIII Amendment and counted Alabama’s ratification (as well as SC’s NC’s and Ga’s) among the ¾ of the states to ratify. To count, Alabama had to be a state. Non-states are not allowed to ratify constitutional amendments.
Yet, in 1867, Alabama was kicked out of the Union. The people of Alabama, in Radical Republican eyes, had committed three sins:
1. Alabama’s congressional delegation was mostly Democratic, the wrong sort of people in Republican eyes.#
2. Radical Republicans realized that, if Alabama was a state, and freedmen, who had been formerly counted for representation in Congress as 3 men for every 5 slaves, now counted as 5 men for every 5 freedmen. As a result of emancipation, after the next census, southern states would be increasing their representation in the House of Representatives, and it appeared southerners were inclined to elect Democrats.
3. Alabama had refused to ratify the XIV Amendment.
Thus, for voting for undesirable Congressmen, threatening to increase the state’s apportioned Representatives in the House and refusing to ratify a constitutional amendment, Radical Republicans kicked Alabama out of the Union. Having fought and won a war to force Alabama to stay in the Union, in 1867, Congress kicked Alabama out of the Union.
On 4 March 1867 (15 months after Alabama had an elected state government and had ratified a constitutional amendment and 22 months after the end of hostilities), the Reconstruction Act designated Alabama, Georgia and Florida Military District Number 3 under military governor General John Pope.
* New York Times, December 3, 1865, p. 1, col. 1.
# Alabama’s delegation was C. C. Langdon, a northern man & long-time resident of Alabama; Major George Freeman, who lost a leg in the Confederate army; Colonel Cullen Battle, former commander of the 3rd Alabama Infantry; Joseph M. Taylor, a former Whig moderate; Burwell T. Pope, lawyer; B. F. Foster, a former member of the Confederate Congress.
