The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-11
CHILD'S ESSAY
 WINS A PRIZE Read Before Sophie Bibb
 Chapter. ON. RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD Originally Prepared for the Florence Organization, U. D. c. Prsductsaas shswsY Ra.s.rssabiea Enert and study With Attention to Detssis of the Subject Mat
 ter Ire uted.
ON. RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD

The following essa was written by Freda c. Bose for the Florence Chapter, Daughters of the ConIederacy, and won prize for such an ess say offered by the Chapter.
 The. author is girl but 13 years old meeting of, the Sophia Bibb Chapter of the organization of Montgomery. It's text follows:
 That there might be reconstruction. there must have been construction. An vdifice, or government, must be built and overthrown before 1t can be re. built.
 Prior to 1861 the Southern States had as stable governments and as orderly society as any part of the United States. As a result of the Civil War the State governments of the South were overthrown. the labor systems de- moraiized. and social conditions left In chaos. This brings us to the Recon struction period
 'sThe work Of reconstructing the South. of shaping anew it's social, eco- homie and civil conditions was an im- mense one. and was filled with great difficulties.
 ..The States were divided into five military districts, and put under martial law by the sReconstruction Act of Con- gross. The South was in a state of devastation. which had been brought about by the invading armies of the North.
 Before and during the Civil War nearly all the Southern people put ev- 7 erything they had in Confederate se- curities, and now that they were with out value, the South was in a, state of direst poverty. The farms were gone to waste, and in many instances the houses, barns and fences were de- stroyed.
 ssTsha sJayas xuara =pav fraaar,ar. This fact demoralizeda all classes cf la-- bor, upon which the people had relied. The 'Freedmen's Bureau was organized to take care of the negroes. It pro- cured money from tham in every con- ceivable way The slaves were semi barbarians. and were wholly unfit for citizenship; yet they had civil rights thrust upon them by the general gov ernment.
 There were thousands of dishonest Northern men who had not fought in the war. who came to the South to rob ished. defenseless and dsmoralized con- ditfon. These men were called carpet baggers.
 ''They organized all sorts of secret. oathbound societies, The Loyal Union League. The Heroes of America The Red strings and many others. for. the negroes. They put all sorts of false aha evif notions Into their minds All this was backed by Federal bayopets.
 "The white citizens of thgN South were disfranchised, ana all the negroes. who belonged to, any of these oath- bound societies. were enfranchised. Some of the negroes voted i've or six times In many instances negroes 14 or IS years of age were allowed to vote. Some of them did not even know for what or for whom they were voting In at least one of the States. If any one dared vote against the Republican ticket. or against the negroes, he was Immediately disfranchfsed.
 "rhe Legislatures were controlled by negroes. carpet baggers and scalawags. In some States negroes held as high an office as Lieutenant Governor. Many bad laws were passed. Exorbitant taxes were put on the people. These taxes and money from the State Treas ury. were used to furnish the houses of the State officers. In some State capitols, refreshment rooms were open ed where the negroes and carpet-bag officers would go to eat drink, chew. smoke and lounge around.
 Tn 1887 there was a big negro up- rising in South Carolina. The negroes robbed. footed. murdered and burned barns and houses. Negro preachers openly instructed their fiocks to take anything they needed from their white neighbors, and If any one dared to prosecute the thief. the answer was a burned barn or a home in ashes.
 These secret, oath-bound societies armed thousands of negroes over all the South who went through the streets doing all sorts of mischief. In many places armed negroes searched the houses of their former masters. taking anything they desired. When the Southern people tried to sell any thing 1t was at once confiscated. When they could no longer pay the exorbitant taxes, their homes were auctioned off. Thaddeus Stephens tried to have pass ed confiscation act. by which the lands of the Southern whites would be divid- ed among the negroes.
 "The Southern soldier returned to the walks of peace and. hero that he was. faced these difficulties with the same courage and patriotism that had characterized him when facing the en- emy's shot and she'll To meet these diflculties an Invisible Empire, com- monly known as the 'Ku Klux Klan' arose. As the young German patriots of 1912 had organized the great strug- gle for their liberties. under the noses of the garrisons of Napoleon. so these