H. H. Chalmers, in this essay from 1881, after the end of Reconstruction, lays out many of the criticisms southerners had of African American voting rights. Attitudes such as Chalmers’s laid the groundwork for post-Reconstruction suppression of black voters throughout the former Confederacy.
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Tag Archives: reconstruction
Reconstruction
From 1865-1877, the federal government attempted to reintegrate the southern states into the united States following their secession and subsequent Civil War. There were several aspects of southern existence that the government needed to address. First was the basic re-formation of the state governments to purge them of Confederate influence. Second was the question of integrating former slaves into the social, political, and economic life of the southern states.
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