By Jim Jester
The communist doctrine of “redistribution of wealth” was first practiced in America by the Freedman’s Bureau. By June 1865, nearly 10,000 black families were given their own land from former deserted plantations. Later, as the owners returned and demanded the government give them their rightful property, most blacks lost their land. When President Andrew Johnson opposed the Bureau’s unconstitutional actions, the Republicans stripped power from him — impeaching him in the House and coming within one Senate vote of removing him from office. Furthermore, the military governors over the Southern states reported to General Grant, not President Johnson.
The Republicans punished Southern leaders for their rebellion by depriving them of political rights while giving civil rights to the Black race. This was the purpose of the 14th Amendment. It overruled the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court, which had denied civil rights to the Negro. It also disqualified nearly all the trusted leaders of the South from public office, unless a two-thirds vote of each House removed this disability. This branded the Southern leaders as criminals. When the Representatives from the Southern states went to resume their position in Washington, they were told to go home.
The South was divided up into five military districts with a Union Major General over each. There was debate as to the status of the states – were they really states or just territories. It appears they were treated as conquered territory. The Johnson governments (established for the states under his procedure) of 1865 were removed and a military governor backed by national troops took their places. Altogether, there were almost 20,000 troops quartered on the South. The registering of voters and the actual voting took place under the supervision of these troops. The Reconstruction Act elevated the freed slaves to participation in the political process, while at the same time the White man was disqualified by the third section of the still un-adopted 14th Amendment. The Negroes proceeded to enroll under the Reconstruction Act. They outnumbered the Whites in South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Most of them could not even read or write, so were hardly qualified to direct the destinies of a civilized state. In comparison, Negroes at this time were only allowed to vote in six Northern states. Ohio rejected Negro suffrage by over a 50,000 majority. Lincoln had proposed to the wartime military governor of Louisiana, that the right to vote might be given to the most capable Negroes, and ones who had fought in the Union armies. No one had ever proposed the wholesale bestowal of the ballot on all Negroes, qualified or not, as this Congress had done, and at the point of a bayonet. With rigged voting like this, they were able to get the Southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment (an anti-South provision which had lacked the needed two-thirds vote of the states).