Book contents
- Freedom’s Crescent
- Cambridge Studies on the American South
- Freedom’s Crescent
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Additional material
- Introduction
- Prologue Life – and Labor – on the Mississippi
- Part I From War for Union to Military Emancipation, 1860–1862
- Part II From Military Emancipation to State Abolition, 1863
- Part III Abolition: State and Federal, 1864
- Part IV The Destruction of Slavery, 1865
- 18 “The Tyrants Rod Has Been Broken”
- 19 “This Cup of Liberty”
- 20 “Establish Things as They Were Before the War”
- 21 “The Institution of Slavery Having Been Destroyed”
- 22 “Americans in America, One and Indivisible”
- Epilogue Memphis and New Orleans: May 1–3 and July 30, 1866
- Bibliography
- Index
22 - “Americans in America, One and Indivisible”
from Part IV - The Destruction of Slavery, 1865
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023
- Freedom’s Crescent
- Cambridge Studies on the American South
- Freedom’s Crescent
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Additional material
- Introduction
- Prologue Life – and Labor – on the Mississippi
- Part I From War for Union to Military Emancipation, 1860–1862
- Part II From Military Emancipation to State Abolition, 1863
- Part III Abolition: State and Federal, 1864
- Part IV The Destruction of Slavery, 1865
- 18 “The Tyrants Rod Has Been Broken”
- 19 “This Cup of Liberty”
- 20 “Establish Things as They Were Before the War”
- 21 “The Institution of Slavery Having Been Destroyed”
- 22 “Americans in America, One and Indivisible”
- Epilogue Memphis and New Orleans: May 1–3 and July 30, 1866
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
During fall 1865, Mississippi elects new government under Andrew Johnson’s policy, and governments in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana conduct elections and continue the process of Reconstruction. Louisiana Unionists organize into Republican party and advocate black suffrage. Mississippi is first former rebellious state to enact “black code” and to define freedom for the former slaves, prompting protests from black Mississippians, and it refuses to ratify Thirteenth Amendment. African American leaders in Arkansas hold convention in Little Rock calling for political and legal equality. Thirteenth Amendment becomes operative in early December 1865, as Thirty-Ninth Congress convenes. Fears of “Christmas Insurrection Scare” become manifest, though for different reasons, among both black and white Southerners.
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- Freedom's CrescentThe Civil War and the Destruction of Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley, pp. 437 - 456Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023