The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-08-04
REC0N:sTNJ r..
i laodore Hay, Aihitmire.

t4O- HeiH CS-iA DC OD>1t'ii'~" ''N-1N>>~
some knowledge OF t:.o changes
brought a;.Cut by :ne w.r These
changes frougnt III mtr.' very m
POI tant ;'.sstions ana ne hlsr and
greatest question to be determined
was whit was to be done VIII lie
South This perpleXing question IN
volved three different subjects; the
status of the individual whites, the
future OF the negroes, and the rela-
tions to the union of the states which
had seeded. The north had con-
quered the south in the great strug-
gle therefore it was for her to an
swer this question. The south had
no part at all, she was conquered and
had to abide by what the north had
to say.
There were many theories held with
regard to the commonwealth which
had seeded. Some persons held that
they were conquered provinces; 9th
ers that they had lost their statehood
and become territories. Others held
that the south had committed suicide
as it we're and that the Federal con-
stitution and laws did not apply to
them. Abraham Lincoln said that the
question of whether the seeded states
so called were in or out of the union
was ga mere pernicious abstraction
He held that the southern states were
never out of the union, but that they
were out of their practical relations
with the union. Unfortunately Tor
the south the congressional plan OF
reconstruction was the one put forth
by Thaddeus Stevens, who held that
the states had committed suicide.
Thev therefore stationed fine military
DEPARTMENTS in the south, whose
special duty it was to see that the re-
ouirements of congress in the recon
struction of the state governments
was carried out. This plan of govern
ment was. naturally very offensive to
the south, for it made the negro prac-
t;callv ruler over his former owner.
The southern white men had no voice
in political matters and it was lett to
the negro to carry on the government.
These former slaves were ignorant OF
political affairs and had always been
in the habit of doing as they were
directed. Some of the northern men
, taking advantage of the ignorance, OF
the negroes came south to make their
fortunes out of the government. These
men we're known as Carpet Baggers
and the lower class of southers men
VINO ioined them were known as
! Scalawags. These people influenced
the ignorant negroes to vote as they
directed and they put ignorant men
in office who mismanaged affairs and
got the south greatly in debt. The
carpet baggers and scalawags Woulc
take whiskey to the polls and get the
negroes drunk and then make them
levy heavy taxes on their former
! owners land. The negroes took
charge of our state university and
made "a negro school of it,
Now to guard against such mis-
management and negro rule the
southern gentlemen, who had return
ed from the war, formed secret socie-
ties known as the Ku-Klux-Klan and
the Red Shirts. Their main object
was to counteract the influence of the
CARPET baggers and make it impos-
sible for that class Of northern men
to get control of local affairs. Then
if they could succeed in doing this
thew could easily overrun the negro
rule They would break up the
drunken political meetings OF the
F.. negroes and punish them when they
committed crimes. These men did
great deal for the south and had it not
been for them we may have been Tor
years longer under the negro rule
The Red Shirts and Ku KluX carried
the election one year for Governor
Hampton by secretly slipping the ne
gro votes from the ballot boxes. These
men are often criticised as whole for
doing outrageous things among the
NEGROES while when We look Up the
matter we find that only few OF thel;
numbers did such things.
Within a year, however. affairs had
ouieted down and general amnesty
act and other milder legislation help
al IN ,,Ioca+n the southern nrS. Soon