[88415] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Solar Panels are MORE Affordable than Ever
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Home Solar Installation)
Sun Sep 11 22:30:51 2016
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2016 21:45:42 -0400
From: "Home Solar Installation" <home.solar.installation@beelzeblog.stream>
To: <mit-talk-mtg@charon.mit.edu>
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<title>Solar Panels are MORE Affordable than Ever</title>=20
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<p>Solar Panels are MORE Affordable than Ever<br /> The several agencies=
working for Negro education gave some training to hundreds of thousands of=
blacks, but the whites asserted that, like the church work, it was based o=
n a wrong spirit and resulted in evil as well as in good. Free schools fail=
ed in reconstruction because of the dishonesty or incompetence of the autho=
rities and because of the unsettled race question. It was not until the tur=
n of the century that the white schools were again as good as they had been=
before 1861. After the reconstruction native whites as teachers of Negro s=
chools were impossible in most places. The hostile feelings of the whites r=
esulted and still result in a limitation of Negro schools. The best thing f=
or Negro schools that came out of reconstruction was Armstrong' s Hampton I=
nstitute program, which, however, was quite opposed to the spirit of recons=
truction education. CHAPTER X. CARPETBAG AND NEGRO RULE The Southern States=
reconstructed by Congress were subject for periods of varying length to go=
vernments designed by radical Northerners and imposed by elements thrown to=
the surface in the upheaval of Southern society. Georgia, Virginia, and No=
rth Carolina each had a brief experience with these governments; other Stat=
es escaped after four or five years, while Louisiana, South Carolina, and F=
lorida were not delivered from this domination until 1876. The states which=
contained large numbers of Negroes had, on the whole, the worst experience=
Here the officials were ignorant or corrupt, frauds upon the public were =
the rule, not the exception, and all of the reconstruction governments were=
so conducted that they could secure no support from the respectable elemen=
ts of the electorate. The fundamental cause of the failure of these governm=
ents was the character of the new ruling class. Every state, except perhaps=
Virginia, was under the control of a few able leaders from the North gener=
ally called carpetbaggers and of a few native white radicals contemptuously=
designated scalawags. These were kept in power by Negro voters, to some se=
ven hundred thousand of whom the ballot had been given by the reconstructio=
n acts. The adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment in March 1870, brought the =
total in the former slave states to 931,000, with about seventy-five thousa=
nd more Negroes in the North. The Negro voters were most numerous, comparat=
ively, in Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. The=
re were a few thousand carpetbaggers in each State, with, at first, a much =
larger number of scalawags. The latter, who were former Unionists, former W=
higs, Confederate deserters, and a few unscrupulous politicians, were most =
numerous in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The b=
etter class, however, rapidly left the radical party as the character of th=
e new regime became evident, taking with them whatever claims the party had=
to respectability, education, political experience, and property. The cons=
ervatives, hopelessly reduced by the operation of disfranchising laws, were=
at first not well organized, nor were they at any time as well led as in a=
ntebellum days. In 1868, about one hundred thousand of them were forbidden =
to vote and about two hundred thousand were disqualified from holding offic=
e. The abstention policy of 1867-68 resulted in an almost complete withdraw=
al of the influence of the conservatives for the two years, 1868-70. As a c=
lass they were regarded by the dominant party in state and nation as danger=
ous and untrustworthy and were persecuted in such irritating ways that many=
became indifferent to the appeals of civil duty. They formed a solid but a=
lmost despairing opposition in the black districts of Mississippi, Louisian=
a, Alabama, and South Carolina. For the leaders the price of amnesty was co=
nversion to radicalism, but this price few would pay. The new state governm=
ents possessed certain characteristics in common. Since only a small number=
of able men were available for office, full powers of administration, incl=
uding appointment and removal, were concentrated in the hands of the govern=
or. He exercised a wide control over public funds and had authority to orga=
nize and command militia and constabulary and to call for Federal troops. T=
he numerous administrative boards worked with the sole object of keeping th=
eir party in power. Officers were several times as numerous as under the ol=
d regime, and all of them received higher salaries and larger contingent fe=
es. The moral support behind the government was that of President Grant and=
the United States army, not that of a free and devoted people. Of the twen=
ty men who served as governors, eight were scalawags and twelve were carpet=
baggers, men who were abler than the scalawags and who had much more than a=
n equal share of the spoils. The scalawags, such as Brownlow of Tennessee, =
Smith of Alabama, and Holden of North Carolina, were usually honest but nar=
row, vindictive men, filled with fear and hate of the conservative whites. =
Of the carpetbaggers half were personally honest, but all were unscrupulous=
in politics.' Some were flagrantly dishonest.* Governor Moses of South Car=
olina was several times bribed and at one time, according to his own statem=
ent, received $15,000 for his vote as speaker of the House of Representativ=
es. Governor Stearns of Florida was charged with stealing government suppli=
es from the Negroes; and it was notorious that Warmoth and Kellogg of Louis=
iana, each of whom served only one term, retired with large fortunes. Warmo=
th, indeed, went so far as to declare: " Corruption is the fashion. I =
do not pretend to be honest, but only as honest as anybody in politics.&quo=
t; The judiciary was no better than the executive. The chief justice of Lou=
isiana was convicted of fraud. A supreme court judge of South Carolina offe=
red his decisions for sale, and Whipper and Moses, both notorious thieves, =
were elected judges by the South Carolina Legislature. In Alabama there wer=
e many illiterate magistrates, among them the city judge of Selma, who in A=
pril 1865, was still living as a slave. Governor Chamberlain, a radical, as=
serted that there were two hundred trial judges in South Carolina who could=
not read. Other officers were of the same stripe. Leslie, a South Carolina=
carpetbagger, declared that " South Carolina has no right to be a sta=
te unless she can support her statesmen," and he proceeded to live up =
to this principle. The manager of the state railroad of Georgia, when asked=
how he had been able to accumulate twenty or thirty thousand dollars on a =
two or three thousand dollar salary, replied, " By the exercise of the=
most rigid economy." A North Carolina Negro legislator was found on o=
ne occasion chuckling as he counted some money. " What are you laughin=
g at, Uncle?" he was asked. " Well, boss, I' se been sold ' leben=
times in my life and dis is de fust time I eber got de money." Godkin=
, in the " Nation" , said that the Georgia officials were " =
probably as bad a lot of political tricksters and adventurers as ever got t=
ogether in one place." This description will fit equally well the whit=
e officials of all the reconstructed states. Many of the Negroes who attain=
ed public office showed themselves apt pupils of their carpetbag masters bu=
t were seldom permitted to appropriate a large share of the plunder. In Flo=
rida the Negro members of the legislature, thinking that they should have a=
part of the bribe and loot money which their carpetbag masters were said t=
o be receiving, went so far as to appoint what was known as a " smelli=
ng committee" to locate the good things and secure a share. From 1868 =
to 1870, the legislatures of seven states were overwhelmingly radical and i=
n several the radical majority held control for four, six, or eight years. =
Negroes were most numerous in the legislatures of Louisiana, South Carolina=
, and Mississippi, and everywhere the votes of these men were for sale. In =
Alabama and Louisiana, Negro legislators had a fixed price for their votes:=
for example, six hundred dollars would buy a senator in Louisiana. In Sout=
h Carolina, Negro government appeared at its worst. A vivid description of =
the Legislature of this State in which the Negroes largely outnumbered the =
whites is given by James S. Pike, a Republican journalist*: *Pike, " T=
he Prostrate State" , pp. 12 ff. " In the place of this old arist=
ocratic society stands the rude form of the most ignorant democracy that ma=
nkind ever saw, invested with the functions of government. It is the dregs =
of the population habilitated in the robes of their intelligent predecessor=
s, and asserting over them the rule of ignorance and corruption . . . . It =
is barbarism overwhelming civilization by physical force. It is the slave r=
ioting in the halls of his master, and putting that master under his feet. =
And, though it is done without malice and without vengeance, it is neverthe=
less none the less completely and absolutely done. . . . We will enter the =
House of Representatives. Here sit one hundred and twenty-four members. Of =
these, twenty-three are white men, representing the remains of the old civi=
lization. These are good-looking, substantial citizens. They are men of wei=
ght and standing in the communities they represent. They are all from the h=
ill country. The frosts of sixty and seventy winters whiten the heads of so=
me among them. There they sit, grim and silent. They feel themselves to be =
but loose stones, thrown in to partially obstruct a current they are powerl=
ess to resist . . . . " This dense Negro crowd . . . do the debating, =
the squabbling, the lawmaking, and create all the clamor and disorder of th=
e body. These twenty-three white men are but the observers, the enforced au=
ditors of the dull and clumsy imitation of a deliberative body, whose appea=
rance in their present capacity is at once a wonder and a shame to modern c=
ivilization .... The Speaker is black, the Clerk is black, the doorkeepers =
are black, the little pages are black, the chairman of the Ways and Means i=
s black, and the chaplain is coal black. At some of the desks sit colored m=
en whose types it would be hard to find outside of Congo; whose costumes, v=
isages, attitudes, and expression, only befit the forecastle of a buccaneer=
It must be remembered, also, that these men, with not more than a half do=
zen exceptions, have been themselves slaves, and that their ancestors were =
slaves for generations. . . " But the old stagers admit that the color=
ed brethren have a wonderful aptness at legislative proceedings. They are &=
quot; quick as lightning" at detecting points of order, and they certa=
inly make incessant and extraordinary use of their knowledge. No one is all=
owed to talk five minutes without interruption, and one interruption is a s=
ignal for another and another, until the original speaker is smothered unde=
r an avalanche of them. Forty questions of privilege will be raised in a da=
y. At times, nothing goes on but alternating questions of order and of priv=
ilege. The inefficient colored friend who sits in the Speaker' s chair cann=
ot suppress this extraordinary element of the debate. Some of the blackest =
members exhibit a pertinacity of intrusion in raising these points of order=
and questions of privilege that few white men can equal. Their struggles t=
o get the floor, their bellowings and physical contortions, baffle descript=
ion. " The Speaker' s hammer plays a perpetual tattoo to no purpose. T=
he talking and the interruptions from all quarters go on with the utmost li=
cense. Everyone esteems himself as good as his neighbor, and puts in his oa=
r, apparently as often for love of riot and confusion as for anything else =
. . . The Speaker orders a member whom he has discovered to be particular=
ly unruly to take his seat. The member obeys, and with the same motion that=
he sits down, throws his feet on to his desk, hiding himself from the Spea=
ker by the soles of his boots . . . . After a few experiences of this sort,=
the Speaker threatens, in a laugh, to call the " gemman" to orde=
r. This is considered a capital joke, and a guffaw follows. The laugh goes =
round and then the peanuts are cracked and munched faster than ever; one ha=
nd being employed in fortifying the inner man with this nutriment of univer=
sal use, while the other enforces the views of the orator. This laughing pr=
opensity of the sable crowd is a great cause of disorder. They laugh as hen=
s cackle--one begins and all follow. " But underneath all this shockin=
g burlesque upon legislative proceedings, we must not forget that there is =
something very real to this uncouth and untutored multitude. It is not all =
sham, nor all burlesque. They have a genuine interest and a genuine earnest=
ness in the business of the assembly which we are bound to recognize and re=
spect . . . . They have an earnest purpose, born of conviction that their p=
osition and condition are not fully assured, which lends a sort of dignity =
to their proceedings. The barbarous, animated jargon in which they so often=
indulge is on occasion seen to be so transparently sincere and weighty in =
their own minds that sympathy supplants disgust. The whole thing is a wonde=
rful novelty to them as well as to observers. Seven years ago these men wer=
e raising corn and cotton under the whip of the overseer. Today they are ra=
ising points of order and questions of privilege. They find they can raise =
one as well as the other. They prefer the latter. It is easier and better p=
aid. Then, it is the evidence of an accomplished result. It means escape an=
d defense from old oppressors. It means liberty. It means the destruction o=
f prison-walls only too real to them. It is the sunshine of their lives. It=
is their day of jubilee. It is their long-promised vision of the Lord God =
Almighty." The congressional delegations were as radical as the state =
governments. During the first two years, there were no Democratic senators =
from the reconstructed states and only two Democratic representatives, as a=
gainst sixty-four radical senators and representatives. At the end of four =
years, the Democrats numbered fifteen against seventy radicals. A Negro suc=
ceeded Jefferson Davis in the Senate, and in all the race sent two senators=
and thirteen representatives to Congress; but though several were of high =
character and fair ability, they exercised practically no influence. The So=
uthern delegations had no part in shaping policies but merely voted as they=
were told by the radical leaders. The effect of dishonest government was s=
oon seen in extravagant expenditures, heavier taxes, increase of the bonded=
debt, and depression of property values. It was to be expected that after =
the ruin wrought by war and the admission of the Negro to civil rights, the=
expenses of government would be greater. But only lack of honesty will acc=
ount for the extraordinary expenses of the reconstruction governments. In A=
labama and Florida, the running expenses of the state government increased =
two hundred percent, in Louisiana five hundred percent, and in Arkansas fif=
teen hundred percent--all this in addition to bond issues. In South Carolin=
a the one item of public printing, which from 1790 to 1868 cost $609,000, a=
mounted in the years 1868-1876 to $1,326,589. Corrupt state officials had t=
wo ways of getting money--by taxation and by the sale of bonds. Taxes were =
everywhere multiplied. The state tax rate in Alabama was increased four hun=
dred percent, in Louisiana eight hundred percent, and in Mississippi, which=
could issue no bonds, fourteen hundred percent. City and county taxes, whe=
re carpetbaggers were in control, increased in the same way. Thousands of s=
mall proprietors could not meet their taxes, and in Mississippi alone the l=
and sold for unpaid taxes amounted to six million acres, an area as large a=
s Massachusetts and Rhode Island together. Nordhoff* speaks of seeing Louis=
iana newspapers of which three-fourths were taken up by notices of tax sale=
s. In protest against extravagant and corrupt expenditures, taxpayers' conv=
entions were held in every state, but without effect. *Charles Nordhoff, &q=
uot; The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1875" . Even the in=
creased taxation, however, did not produce enough to support the new govern=
ments, which now had recourse to the sale of state and local bonds. In this=
way Governor Holden' s Administration managed in two years to increase the=
public debt of North Carolina from $16,000,000 to $32,000,000. The state d=
ebt of South Carolina rose from $7,000,000 to $29,000,000 in 1873. In Alaba=
ma, by 1874, the debt had mounted from $7,000,000 to $32,000,000. The publi=
c debt of Louisiana rose from $14,000,000 in 1868 to $48,000,000 in 1871, w=
ith a local debt of $31,000,000. Cities, towns, and counties sold bonds by =
the bale. The debt of New Orleans increased twenty-five fold and that of Vi=
cksburg a thousandfold. A great deal of the debt was the result of fraudule=
nt issues of bonds or over-issue. For this form of fraud, the state financi=
al agents in New York were usually responsible. Southern bonds sold far bel=
ow par, and the time came when they were peddled about at ten to twenty-fiv=
e cents on the dollar. Still another disastrous result followed this corrup=
t financiering. In Alabama there was a sixty-five percent decrease in prope=
rty values, in Florida forty-five percent, and in Louisiana fifty to sevent=
y-five percent. A large part of the best property was mortgaged, and forecl=
osure sales were frequent. Poorer property could be neither mortgaged nor s=
old. There was an exodus of whites from the worst governed districts in the=
West and the North. Many towns, among them Mobile and Memphis, surrendered=
their charters and were ruled directly by the governor; and there were num=
erous " strangulated" counties which on account of debt had lost =
self-government and were ruled by appointees of the governor. A part of the=
money raised by taxes and by bond sales was used for legitimate expenses a=
nd the rest went to pay forged warrants, excess warrants, and swollen milea=
ge accounts, and to fill the pockets of embezzlers and thieves from one end=
of the South to the other. In Arkansas, for example, the auditor' s clerk =
hire, which was $4000 in 1866, cost twenty-three times as much in 1873. In =
Louisiana and South Carolina, stealing was elevated into an art and was pra=
cticed without concealment. In the latter state, the worthless Hell Hole Sw=
amp was bought for $26,000 to be farmed by the Negroes but was charged to t=
he state at $120,000. A free restaurant maintained at the Capitol for the l=
egislators cost $125,000 for one session. The porter who conducted it said =
that he kept it open sixteen to twenty hours a day and that someone was alw=
ays in the room eating and drinking or smoking. When a member left, he woul=
d fill his pockets with cigars or with bottles of drink. Forty different br=
ands of beverages were paid for by the state for the private use of members=
, and all sorts of food, furniture, and clothing were sent to the houses of=
members and were paid for by the state as " legislative supplies.&quo=
t; On the bills appeared such items as imported mushrooms, one side of baco=
n, one feather bed, bustles, two pairs of extra long stockings, one pair of=
garters, one bottle perfume, twelve monogram cut glasses, one horse, one c=
omb and brush, three gallons of whisky, one pair of corsets. During the rec=
ess, supplies were sent out to the rural homes of the members. The endorsem=
ent of railroad securities by the state also furnished a source of easy mon=
ey to the dishonest official and the crooked speculator. After the Civil Wa=
r, in response to the general desire in the South for better railroad facil=
ities, the " Johnson" governments began to underwrite railroad bo=
nds. When the carpetbag and Negro governments came in, the policy was conti=
nued but without proper safeguards. Bonds were sometimes endorsed before th=
e roads were constructed, and even excess issues were authorized. Bonds wer=
e endorsed for some roads of which not a mile was ever built. The White Riv=
er Valley and Texas Railroad never came into existence, but it obtained a g=
rant of $175,000 from the State of Arkansas. Speaker Carter of the Louisian=
a Legislature received a financial interest in all railroad endorsement bil=
ls which he steered through the House. Negro members were regularly bribed =
to vote for the bond steals. A witness swore that in Louisiana it cost him =
$80,000 to get a railroad charter passed, but that the Governor' s signatur=
e cost more than the consent of the legislature. When the roads defaulted o=
n the payment of interest, as most of them did, the burden fell upon the st=
ate. Not all of the blame for this perverted legislation should be placed u=
pon the corrupt legislators, however, for the lawyers who saw the bills thr=
ough were frequently Southern Democrats representing supposedly respectable=
Northern capitalists. The railroads as well as the taxpayers suffered from=
this pernicious lobbying, for the companies were loaded with debts and rar=
ely profited by the loans. Valuation of railroad property rapidly decreased=
The roads of Alabama which were valued in 1871 at $26,000,000 had decreas=
ed in 1875 to $9,500,000. The foundation of radical power in the South lay =
in the alienation of the races which had been accomplished between 1865 and=
1868. To maintain this unhappy distrust, the radical leaders found an effe=
ctive means in the Negro militia. Under the constitution of every reconstru=
cted state, a Negro constabulary was possible, but only in South Carolina, =
North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi were the authorities willing to =
risk the dangers of arming the blacks. No governor dared permit the Souther=
n whites to organize as militia. In South Carolina the carpetbag governor, =
Robert K. Scott, enrolled ninety-six thousand Negroes as members of the mil=
itia and organized and armed twenty thousand of them. The few white compani=
es were ordered to disband. In Louisiana the governor had a standing army o=
f blacks called the Metropolitan Guard. In several states the Negro militia=
was used as a constabulary and was sent to any part of the state to make a=
rrests. In spite of this provocation there were, after the riots of 1866-67=
, comparatively few race conflicts until reconstruction was drawing to a cl=
ose. The intervening period was filled with the more peaceful activities of=
the Ku Klux Klan and the White Camellia. But as the whites made up their m=
inds to get rid of Negro rule, the clashes came frequently and always ended=
in the death of more Negroes than whites.* They would probably have contin=
ued with serious consequences if the whites had not eventually secured cont=
rol of the government. * Among the bloodiest conflicts were those in Louisi=
ana at Colfax, Coushatta, and New Orleans in 1873-74, and at Vicksburg and =
Clinton, Mississippi, in 1874-75. The lax election laws, framed indeed for =
the benefit of the party in power, gave the radicals ample opportunity to c=
ontrol the Negro vote. The elections were frequently corrupt, though not a =
great deal of money was spent in bribery. It was found less expensive to us=
e other methods of getting out the vote. The Negroes were generally made to=
understand that the Democrats wanted to put them back into slavery, but so=
metimes the leaders deemed it wiser to state more concretely that " Je=
ff Davis had come to Montgomery and is ready to organize the Confederacy ag=
ain" if the Democrats should win; or to say that " if Carter is e=
lected, he will not allow your wives and daughters to wear hoopskirts."=
; In Alabama many thousand pounds of bacon and hams were sent in to be dist=
ributed among " flood sufferers" in a region which had not been f=
looded since the days of Noah. The Negroes were told that they must vote ri=
ght and receive enough bacon for a year, or " lose their rights" =
if they voted wrongly. Ballot-box stuffing developed into an art, and each =
Negro was carefully inspected to see that he had the right kind of ticket b=
efore he was marched to the polls. The inspection and counting of election =
returns were in the hands of the county and state boards, which were contro=
lled by the governor, and which had authority to throw out or count in any =
number of votes. On the assumption that the radicals were entitled to all N=
egro votes, the returning boards followed the census figures for the black =
population in order to arrive at the minimum radical vote. The action of th=
e returning boards was specially flagrant in Louisiana and Florida and in t=
he black counties of South Carolina. Notwithstanding the fact that the very=
best arrangements had been made at Washington and in the states for the ru=
nning of the radical machine, everywhere there were factional fights from t=
he beginning. Usually the scalawags declared hostilities after they found t=
hat the carpetbaggers had control of the Negroes and the inside track on th=
e way to the best state and federal offices. Later, after the scalawags had=
for the most part left the radicals, there were contests among the carpetb=
aggers themselves for the control of the Negro vote and the distribution of=
spoils. The defeated faction usually joined the Democrats. In Arkansas a s=
plit started in 1869 which by 1872 resulted in two state governments. Alaba=
ma in 1872 and Louisiana in 1874-75 each had two rival governments. This fa=
ctionalism contributed largely to the overthrow of the radicals. The radica=
l structure, however, was still powerfully supported from without. Relation=
s between the Federal Government and the state governments in the South wer=
e close, and the policy at Washington was frequently determined by conditio=
ns in the South. President Grant, though at first considerate, was usually =
consistently radical in his Southern policy. This attitude is difficult to =
explain except by saying that Grant fell under the control of radical advis=
ers after his break with Johnson, that his military instincts were offended=
by opposition in the South which his advisers told him was rebellious, and=
that he was impressed by the need of holding the Southern radical vote aga=
inst the inroads of the Democrats. After about 1869, Grant never really und=
erstood the conditions in the South. He was content to control by means of =
Federal troops and thousands of deputy marshals. For this policy the Ku Klu=
x activities gave sufficient excuse for a time, and the continued story of =
" rebel outrages" was always available to justify a call for sold=
iers or deputies. The enforcement legislation gave the color of law to any =
interference which was deemed necessary. Federal troops served other ends t=
han the mere preservation of order and the support of the radical state gov=
ernments. They were used on occasion to decide between opposing factions an=
d to oust conservatives who had forced their way into office. The army offi=
cers purged the Legislature of Georgia in 1870, that of Alabama in 1872, an=
d that of Louisiana in 1875. In 1875 the city government of Vicksburg and t=
he state government of Louisiana were overturned by the whites, but General=
Sheridan at once intervened to put back the Negroes and carpetbaggers. He =
suggested to President Grant that the conservatives be declared " band=
itti" and he would make himself responsible for the rest. As soon as a=
State showed signs of going over to the Democrats or an important election=
was lost by the radicals, one House or the other of Congress in many insta=
nces sent an investigation committee to ascertain the reasons. The Committe=
es on the Condition of the South or on the Late Insurrectionary States were=
nearly always ready with reports to establish the necessity of interventio=
n. Besides the army there was in every state a powerful group of Federal of=
ficials who formed a " ring" for the direction of all good radica=
ls. These marshals, deputies, postmasters, district attorneys, and customho=
use officials were in close touch with Washington and frequently dictated n=
ominations and platforms. At New Orleans the officials acted as a committee=
on credentials and held all the state conventions under their control in t=
he customhouse. Such was the machinery used to sustain a party which, with =
the gradual defection of the whites, became throughout the South almost uni=
formly black. At first few Negroes asked for offices, but soon the carpetba=
ggers found it necessary to divide with the rapidly growing number of Negro=
politicians. No Negro was elected governor, though several reached the off=
ice of lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, superintendent of =
education, justice of the state supreme court, and fifteen were elected to =
Congress.* It would not be correct to say that the Negro race was malicious=
or on evil bent. Unless deliberately stirred up by white leaders, few Negr=
oes showed signs of mean spirit. Few even made exorbitant demands. They wan=
ted " something" --schools and freedom and " something else,=
" they knew not what. Deprived of the leadership of the best whites, t=
hey could not possibly act with the scalawags--their traditional enemies. N=
othing was left for them but to follow the carpetbagger. * Revels, Lynch, a=
nd Bruce represent the better Negro officeholders; Pinchback, Rainey, and N=
ash, the less respectable ones; and below these were the rascals whose ambi=
tion was to equal their white preceptors in corruption. CHAPTER XI. THE KU =
KLUX MOVEMENT The Ku Klux movement, which took the form of secret revolutio=
nary societies, grew out of a general conviction among the whites that the =
reconstruction policies were impossible and not to be endured. Somers, an E=
nglish traveler, says that at this time " nearly every respectable whi=
te man in the Southern States was not only disfranchised but under fear of =
arrest or confiscation; the old foundations of authority were utterly razed=
before any new ones had yet been laid, and in the dark and benighted inter=
val the remains of the Confederate armies--swept after a long and heroic da=
y of fair fight from the field--flitted before the eyes of the people in th=
is weird and midnight shape of a Ku Klux Klan." Ryland Randolph, an Al=
abama editor who was also an official of the Klan, stated in his paper that=
" the origin of Ku Klux Klan is in the galling despotism that broods =
like a nightmare over these Southern States--a fungus growth of military ty=
ranny superinduced by the fostering of Loyal Leagues, the abrogation of our=
civil laws, the habitual violation of our national Constitution, and a per=
sistent prostitution of all government, all resources and all powers, to de=
grade the white man by the establishment of Negro supremacy." The secr=
et orders, regardless of their original purposes, were all finally to be fo=
und opposing radical reconstruction. Everywhere their objects were the same=
: to recover for the white race their former control of society and governm=
ent, and to destroy the baneful influence of the alien among the blacks. Th=
e people of the South were by law helpless to take steps towards setting up=
any kind of government in a land infested by a vicious element--Federal an=
d Confederate deserters, bushwhackers, outlaws of every description, and Ne=
groes, some of whom proved insolent and violent in their newly found freedo=
m. Nowhere was property or person safe, and for a time many feared a Negro =
insurrection. General Hardee said to his neighbors, " I advise you to =
get ready for what may come. We are standing over a sleeping volcano."=
To cope with this situation ante-bellum patrols--the " patter-rollers=
" as the Negroes called them--were often secretly reorganized. In each=
community for several months after the Civil War, and in many of them for =
months before the end of the war, there were informal vigilance committees.=
Some of these had such names as the Black Cavalry and Men of Justice in Al=
abama, the Home Guards in many other places, while the anti Confederate soc=
ieties of the war, the Heroes of America, the Red Strings, and the Peace So=
cieties, transformed themselves in certain localities into regulatory bodie=
s. Later these secret societies numbered scores, perhaps hundreds, varying =
from small bodies of local police to great federated bodies which covered a=
lmost the entire South and even had membership in the North and West. Other=
important organizations were the Constitutional Union Guards, the Pale Fac=
es, the White Brotherhood, the Council of Safety, the ' 76 Association, the=
Sons of ' 76, the Order of the White Rose, and the White Boys. As the figh=
t against reconstruction became bolder, the orders threw off their disguise=
s and appeared openly as armed whites fighting for the control of society. =
The White League of Louisiana, the White Line of Mississippi, the White Man=
' s party of Alabama, and the Rifle Clubs of South Carolina, were later man=
ifestations of the general Ku Klux movement. The two largest secret orders,=
however, were the Ku Klux Klan, from which the movement took its name, and=
the Knights of the White Camelia. The Ku Klux Klan originated at Pulaski, =
Tennessee, in the autumn of 1865, as a local organization for social purpos=
es. The founders were young Confederates, united for fun and mischief. The =
name was an accidental corruption of the Greek word Kuklos, a circle. The o=
fficers adopted queer sounding titles and strange disguises. Weird nightrid=
ers in ghostly attire thoroughly frightened the superstitious Negroes, who =
were told that the spirits of dead Confederates were abroad. This terrorizi=
ng of the blacks successfully provided the amusement which the founders des=
ired, and there were many applications for admission to the society. The Pu=
laski Club, or Den, was in the habit of parading in full uniform at social =
gatherings of the whites at night, much to the delight of the small boys an=
d girls. Pulaski was near the Alabama line, and many of the young men of Al=
abama who saw these parades or heard of them organized similar Dens in the =
towns of Northern Alabama. Nothing but horseplay, however, took place at th=
e meetings. In 1867 and 1868, the order appeared in parade in the towns of =
the adjoining states and, as we are told, " cut up curious gyrations&q=
uot; on the public squares. There was a general belief outside the order th=
at there was a purpose behind all the ceremonial and frolic of the Dens; ma=
ny joined the order convinced that its object was serious; others saw the p=
ossibilities of using it as a means of terrorizing the Negroes. After men d=
iscovered the power of the Klan over the Negroes, indeed, they were general=
ly inclined, owing to the disordered conditions of the time, to act as a so=
rt of police patrol and to hold in check the thieving Negroes, the Union Le=
ague, and the " loyalists." In this way, from being merely a numb=
er of social clubs the Dens swiftly became bands of regulators, taking on m=
any new fantastic qualities along with their new seriousness of purpose. So=
me of the more ardent spirits led the Dens far in the direction of violence=
and outrage. Attempts were made by the parent Den at Pulaski to regulate t=
he conduct of the others, but, owing to the loose organization, the effort =
met with little success. Some of the Dens, indeed, lost all connection with=
the original order. A general organization of these societies was perfecte=
d at a convention held in Nashville in May 1867, just as the Reconstruction=
Acts were being put into operation. A constitution called the Prescript wa=
s adopted which provided for a national organization. The former slave stat=
es, except Delaware, constituted the Empire, which was ruled by the Grand W=
izard (then General Forrest) with a staff of ten Genii; each State was a re=
alm under a Grand Dragon and eight Hydras; the next subdivision was a Domin=
ion, consisting of several counties, ruled by a Grand Titan and six Furies;=
the county or Province was governed by a Grand Giant and four Goblins; the=
unit was the Den or community organization, of which there might be severa=
l in each county, each under a Grand Cyclops and two Nighthawks. The Genii,=
Hydras, Furies, Goblins, and Nighthawks were staff officers. The private m=
embers were called Ghouls. The order had no name, and at first was designat=
ed by two stars (**), later by three (***). Sometimes it was called the Inv=
isible Empire of Ku Klux Klan. Any white man over eighteen might be admitte=
d to the Den after nomination by a member and strict investigation by a com=
mittee. The oath demanded obedience and secrecy. The Dens governed themselv=
es by the ordinary rules of deliberative bodies. The punishment for betraya=
l of secrecy was " the extreme penalty of the Law." None of the s=
ecrets was to be written, and there was a " Register" of alarming=
adjectives, such as terrible, horrible, furious, doleful, bloody, appallin=
g, frightful, gloomy, which was used as a cipher code in dating the odd Ku =
Klux orders. The general objects of the order were thus set forth in the re=
vised Prescript: first, to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defensel=
ess from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent,=
and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffer=
ing and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate s=
oldiers; second, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United State=
s and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to protect the States and =
people thereof from all invasion from any source whatever; third, to aid an=
d assist in the execution of all " constitutional" laws, and to p=
rotect the people from unlawful arrest, and from trial except by their peer=
s according to the laws of the land. But the tests for admission gave furth=
er indication of the objects of the order. No Republican, no Union Leaguer,=
and no member of the G. A. R. might become a member. The members were pled=
ged to oppose Negro equality of any kind, to favor emancipation of the Sout=
hern whites and the restoration of their rights, and to maintain constituti=
onal government and equitable laws.</p>=20
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