It is interesting to read the recent poll by historians regarding the effectiveness of U.S. Presidents. Of the lowest rated four presidents, Abraham Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, is considered one of the very poorest. Lincoln is considered the very best by the poll and alternates with George Washington who has been seen as best in the past, but this year was voted second best.
Lincoln, who in his plans for the end of the Civil War, did not desire to practice extreme retribution and punishment on the South. However, with Lincoln’s assassination by actor, John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, did not follow through with Lincoln’s plans.
Johnson, a Southerner, did not want to take much action against the South and the decisions then fell to a still-angry Republican Congress. The resulting Reconstruction and the later 14th Amendment guaranteed former slaves emancipation and freedom, but did little to ameliorate the harsh years after war with Jim Crow, the extreme poverty of most of the freed men, the development of the conservative and Democratic South, and the emergence of the KKK, the Ku Klux Klan.
Texas, pretty much isolated from the South after the Northern naval victory at the Battle of Sabine Pass, was more removed from the horrific battles that took place in much of the South. While battles occurred in some of the Northern states, most battles, the horrible battles at Vicksburg, Shiloh, others in Virginia, Tennessee, et.al., the monstrous Southern prison in Andersonville, Georgia, all made for terrible memories that last until today.
As an aside, an interesting movie on Netflix in June, starring Matthew McConahey, The Free State of Jones, regarding Jones County, Mississippi, is well worth watching! Try to see it if you get a chance.
Texas, as I said, remained somewhat isolated and had many Union sympathizers. Tiny towns and areas around the state were Union. My aunt and uncle, now deceased, farmed cotton for years near a small town, Union, Texas, in Scurry County. Between Llano and Brady today, near Pontotoc, you can still drive by the rural Union Cemetery.
Life for all Southerners following the War was so very hard, especially for the newly freed former slaves. For years, people have spoken of reparation to the descendants of former slaves, but no governmental entity has known how to move to reparation for these individuals. A new move to accomplish this is occurring in Evanston, Illinois. If you are unaware, the North, too, segregated and mistreated former slaves, and their descendants.
A number of years ago, I attended a late June wedding in Evanston, just north of Chicago on Lake Michigan, and froze to death! Brrr….Great wedding, frigid temperatures!
The Evanston, Illinois City Council has recently instituted a program of reparation to Black Americans and I encourage you to find and read or hear about this in the New York Times or in the New York Times’ recent podcast. This is an interesting proposal that will provide monies to qualified individuals through small grants for real estate usage, either in mortgages or home repair. The beauty of this move is to encourage the development of wealth through home ownership among Black Americans.
As an aside, friends of mine have just purchased their first home in San Saba! How exciting to begin wealth growth through home ownership! Yay! Shout out to my good San Saba friends!