Heather Cox Richardson writes in
Jacobin—
The Long History of Southern Terror. An excerpt:
In the wake of the Civil War, white southern Democrats initially refused to face the reality that they would have to share any sort of economic, political, or social power with their former slaves. With the encouragement of President Andrew Johnson, who had taken over from the slain President Abraham Lincoln during Congress’s long summer recess, white legislatures in the South ratified the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, but then promptly set about recreating the conditions of servitude.
In most states, black people could not congregate, had to sign year-long work contracts, and could be arrested on charges of “vagrancy,” fined, and then bound to whoever paid their fine. Nowhere could a black person testify in court against a white person, so nowhere could a black American claim the protection of the law against theft, rape, or murder.
When Congress reconvened in December 1865, congressmen refused to return their black wartime allies to quasi-slavery under the very men who had spent four years trying to destroy the Union. They put forward the Fourteenth Amendment to give black men a civic identity that would give them legal rights as a condition for the readmission of the southern states to the Union.
When southern whites retorted that they would rather remain under military rule than submit to black equality, northern congressmen passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, which called for new southern state constitutional conventions to rewrite state constitutions providing for black civic rights before the states could be readmitted to the Union. Crucially, the Military Reconstruction Act permitted African-American men to vote.
White southern Democrats recoiled at the idea of sharing political rights with black men. But African Americans and white southern Republicans, who had supported the Union during the war, recognized the power of their position. Republicans across the South began to organize black voters. One of their most common venues for political organization was among the very powerful black churches, especially the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and many of the early leading black politicians were clergymen.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2005—Hey Bush, get your own ideas:
What's with Republicans insisting that Democrats put forth "their ideas"? Has Bush forgotten he's got the trifecta?
"I think what the real question here is: Are Democratic leaders going to start coming forward with ideas and solutions or are they going to simply put up a stop sign and say no to solving this important priority for the American people?" McClellan said.
It's not our fault Republicans can't govern. If they don't have ideas they can sell to the American people (and the polls prove they don't), they can step aside and let the grownups take charge. Grownups who don't talk out of both sides of their mouth, constantly contradicting themselves:
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said a legislative proposal by a Senate Republican to overhaul Social Security without Bush's treasured personal retirement accounts "calls the bluff" of Democrats who say they will not negotiate as long as the accounts are on the table [...]
But he said Bush still felt any permanent solution to overhauling Social Security needs to include personal retirement accounts.
So what bluff was called? Privatization is clearly still on the table. A little straight talk would go a long way here, but god forbid this administration try any of that.
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show, it's the 6/23/14 episode.
Greg Dworkin rounds up Gov news: McAuliffe fights to expand Medicaid, Walker & Christie fight investigations. Henry Paulson's determined not to miss the next crisis: climate change. Rs are down to their last reason to oppose the ACA. "Who Says Obama Can't Lead?" Had you heard that "gun nuts are terrorizing America"? Probably not. Another profile of TPPs' Jenny Beth Martin's lifestyle enhancement success. A federal judge has (briefly) put a stop to the lethal combination of science denialism & the Hobby Lobby theory of "religious freedom." And what's "religion" these days, anyway, given that churches are raffling off AR-15s?
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