{"id":1143,"date":"2017-07-11T03:01:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T03:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/ushistory2os\/chapter\/primary-source-images-reconstruction\/"},"modified":"2017-07-11T03:01:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T03:01:48","slug":"primary-source-images-reconstruction","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/rangercollege-ushistory2os\/chapter\/primary-source-images-reconstruction\/","title":{"raw":"Primary Source Images: Reconstruction","rendered":"Primary Source Images: Reconstruction"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction<\/h2>\nAfter the Civil War, much of the South lay in ruins. How would these states be brought back into the Union? Would they be conquered territories or equal states? How would they rebuild their governments, economies, and social systems? What rights did freedom confer upon formerly enslaved people? The answers to many of Reconstruction\u2019s\u00a0questions hinged upon the concepts of citizenship and equality. The era witnessed perhaps the most open and widespread discussions of citizenship since the nation\u2019s founding. It was a moment of revolutionary possibility and violent backlash. African Americans and Radical Republicans pushed the nation to finally realize the Declaration of Independence\u2019s promises that \u201call men were created equal\u201d and had \u201ccertain, unalienable rights.\u201d Conservative white Democrats granted African Americans legal freedom but little\u00a0more. When black Americans and their radical allies succeeded in securing citizenship for freedpeople, a new fight commenced to determine the legal, political, and social implications of American citizenship. Resistance continued, and Reconstruction eventually collapsed. In the South, limits on human freedom endured and would stand for\u00a0nearly a century more. These sources gesture toward both the successes and failures of Reconstruction.\n

Johnson and Reconstruction<\/h2>\n
\n\n\""Reconstruction

Thomas Nast, \u201cReconstruction and How It Works,\u201d Harper\u2019s Weekly, 1866, via HarpWeek<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThis print mocks Reconstruction by making several allusions to Shakespeare. The center illustration shows a black soldier as Othello and President Andrew Johnson as Iago. Johnson\u2019s slogans \u201cTreason is a crime and must be made odious\u201d and \u201cI am your Moses\u201d are on the wall. The top left shows a riot in Memphis and at the top a riot in New Orleans. At the bottom, Johnson is trying to charm a Confederate Copperhead. General Benjamin Butler is at the bottom left, accepting the Confederate surrender of New Orleans in 1862. This scene is contrasted to the bottom right where General Philips Sheridan bows to Louisiana Attorney General Andrew Herron in 1866, implying a defeat for Reconstruction.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nThe text on the left side of the image reads:<\/span>\n\nIago. The Moor is of a free and open nature,\nThat thinks men honest that but seem to be so;\nAnd will as tenderly be led by the nose,\nAs asses\u2026\nMake the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me,\nFor making him egregiously an ass,\nAnd practicing upon his peace and quiet\nEven to madness. \u2018Tis here, but yet confus\u2019d;\nKnavery\u2019s plain face is never seen, till us\u2019d\u2026\nThough I do hate him as I do hell-pains,\nYet, for necessity of present life,\nI must show out a flag and sign of love;\nWhich is indeed but sign\u2026\nThen devils will their blackest sins put on,\nThey do suggest at first with heavenly shows,\nAs I do now\u2026\nI humbly do beseech you of your pardon,\nFor too much loving you\u2026\nI hope, you will consider, what is spoke\nComes from my love;\u2013But, I do see you are mov\u2019d:\u2013\nI am to pray you, not to strain my speech\nTo grosser issues, nor to larger reach\nThan to suspicion\u2026\n\nO grace! O heaven defend me!\n\nAre you a man? Have you a soul, or sense?\u2013\nGod be wi\u2019 you; take mine office.\u2013O wretched fool,\nThat liv\u2019st to make thine honesty a vice!\u2013\nO monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world!\nTo be direct and honest, is not safe.\u2013\nI thank you for this profit; and, from hence,\nI\u2019ll love no friend, since love breeds such offense\u2026\nWork on,\nMy medicine, work!\n\nOthello.\n\nThe text on the right\u00a0side of the image reads:\n\n\u201cI have been accused of being inimical to the true interests of the colored people\u2019 but this is not true. I am one of their best friends; and time, which tries and tests all, will demonstrate the fact\u2026I once said I would be the Moses of your people, and lead them on to liberty\u2013liberty they now have\u2026I have been blamed for vetoing the Freedmen\u2019s Bureau Bill, and have been also represented to the colored people as having done it because I was their enemy. This is not true\u2026The ordinary course of judicial proceedings is no longer interrupted. The courts, both State and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful operation, and through them every person, regardless of race and color, is entitled to and can be hear. The protection granted to the white citizen is already conferred by law upon the freedman\u2026.It can not be expected that men who have for four years been made familiar with the blood and carnage of war, who have suffered the loss of property, and in so many instances reduced from affluence to poverty, can at once assume the calm demeanor and action of those citizens of the country whose worldly possessions have not been destroyed, and whose political hopes have not been blasted, and the worst view of this subject affords no parallel in violence to similar outrages that have followed all civil commotions, always less in magnitude than ours. But I do not believe that this to-be-regretted state of things will last long.\u201d\u2013 Andrew Johnson.\n

Fifteenth Amendment<\/h2>\n
\n\n\"Painting

Thomas Kelley, \u201cThe Fifteenth Amendment,\u201d 1870, via Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThis 1870 print\u00a0celebrated\u00a0the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Here we see several of the themes most important to black Americans during Reconstruction: The print celebrates the military achievements of black veterans, the voting rights protected by the amendment, the right to marry and establish families, the creation and protection of black churches, and the right to own and improve land. Unfortunately, many of these freedoms would be short-lived as the United States retreated from Reconstruction.","rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

After the Civil War, much of the South lay in ruins. How would these states be brought back into the Union? Would they be conquered territories or equal states? How would they rebuild their governments, economies, and social systems? What rights did freedom confer upon formerly enslaved people? The answers to many of Reconstruction\u2019s\u00a0questions hinged upon the concepts of citizenship and equality. The era witnessed perhaps the most open and widespread discussions of citizenship since the nation\u2019s founding. It was a moment of revolutionary possibility and violent backlash. African Americans and Radical Republicans pushed the nation to finally realize the Declaration of Independence\u2019s promises that \u201call men were created equal\u201d and had \u201ccertain, unalienable rights.\u201d Conservative white Democrats granted African Americans legal freedom but little\u00a0more. When black Americans and their radical allies succeeded in securing citizenship for freedpeople, a new fight commenced to determine the legal, political, and social implications of American citizenship. Resistance continued, and Reconstruction eventually collapsed. In the South, limits on human freedom endured and would stand for\u00a0nearly a century more. These sources gesture toward both the successes and failures of Reconstruction.<\/p>\n

Johnson and Reconstruction<\/h2>\n
\n

\""Reconstruction<\/p>\n

Thomas Nast, \u201cReconstruction and How It Works,\u201d Harper\u2019s Weekly, 1866, via HarpWeek<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This print mocks Reconstruction by making several allusions to Shakespeare. The center illustration shows a black soldier as Othello and President Andrew Johnson as Iago. Johnson\u2019s slogans \u201cTreason is a crime and must be made odious\u201d and \u201cI am your Moses\u201d are on the wall. The top left shows a riot in Memphis and at the top a riot in New Orleans. At the bottom, Johnson is trying to charm a Confederate Copperhead. General Benjamin Butler is at the bottom left, accepting the Confederate surrender of New Orleans in 1862. This scene is contrasted to the bottom right where General Philips Sheridan bows to Louisiana Attorney General Andrew Herron in 1866, implying a defeat for Reconstruction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The text on the left side of the image reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

Iago. The Moor is of a free and open nature,
\nThat thinks men honest that but seem to be so;
\nAnd will as tenderly be led by the nose,
\nAs asses\u2026
\nMake the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me,
\nFor making him egregiously an ass,
\nAnd practicing upon his peace and quiet
\nEven to madness. \u2018Tis here, but yet confus\u2019d;
\nKnavery\u2019s plain face is never seen, till us\u2019d\u2026
\nThough I do hate him as I do hell-pains,
\nYet, for necessity of present life,
\nI must show out a flag and sign of love;
\nWhich is indeed but sign\u2026
\nThen devils will their blackest sins put on,
\nThey do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
\nAs I do now\u2026
\nI humbly do beseech you of your pardon,
\nFor too much loving you\u2026
\nI hope, you will consider, what is spoke
\nComes from my love;\u2013But, I do see you are mov\u2019d:\u2013
\nI am to pray you, not to strain my speech
\nTo grosser issues, nor to larger reach
\nThan to suspicion\u2026<\/p>\n

O grace! O heaven defend me!<\/p>\n

Are you a man? Have you a soul, or sense?\u2013
\nGod be wi\u2019 you; take mine office.\u2013O wretched fool,
\nThat liv\u2019st to make thine honesty a vice!\u2013
\nO monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world!
\nTo be direct and honest, is not safe.\u2013
\nI thank you for this profit; and, from hence,
\nI\u2019ll love no friend, since love breeds such offense\u2026
\nWork on,
\nMy medicine, work!<\/p>\n

Othello.<\/p>\n

The text on the right\u00a0side of the image reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been accused of being inimical to the true interests of the colored people\u2019 but this is not true. I am one of their best friends; and time, which tries and tests all, will demonstrate the fact\u2026I once said I would be the Moses of your people, and lead them on to liberty\u2013liberty they now have\u2026I have been blamed for vetoing the Freedmen\u2019s Bureau Bill, and have been also represented to the colored people as having done it because I was their enemy. This is not true\u2026The ordinary course of judicial proceedings is no longer interrupted. The courts, both State and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful operation, and through them every person, regardless of race and color, is entitled to and can be hear. The protection granted to the white citizen is already conferred by law upon the freedman\u2026.It can not be expected that men who have for four years been made familiar with the blood and carnage of war, who have suffered the loss of property, and in so many instances reduced from affluence to poverty, can at once assume the calm demeanor and action of those citizens of the country whose worldly possessions have not been destroyed, and whose political hopes have not been blasted, and the worst view of this subject affords no parallel in violence to similar outrages that have followed all civil commotions, always less in magnitude than ours. But I do not believe that this to-be-regretted state of things will last long.\u201d\u2013 Andrew Johnson.<\/p>\n

Fifteenth Amendment<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Painting<\/p>\n

Thomas Kelley, \u201cThe Fifteenth Amendment,\u201d 1870, via Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This 1870 print\u00a0celebrated\u00a0the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Here we see several of the themes most important to black Americans during Reconstruction: The print celebrates the military achievements of black veterans, the voting rights protected by the amendment, the right to marry and establish families, the creation and protection of black churches, and the right to own and improve land. Unfortunately, many of these freedoms would be short-lived as the United States retreated from Reconstruction.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>