Historical Image of the Day

"Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner," Thomas Nast, 1869

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"Emancipation," by Thomas Nast, 1865

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The ruins of Charleston, South Carolina, epicenter of treason in defense of slavery, 1865

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Anti-carpet bagger cartoon, Harper's Weekly, 1872

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John Hyman, the first black member of Congress from North Carolina, served 1875-77.

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Freedmen voting, South Carolina, 1868

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The next set of images will be from Reconstruction.

White supremacist campaign poster, 1866

Shorter Rick Perry: Reconstruction Never Happened

Rick Perry continues to stand behind his secessionist comments, saying that Texas is the only state with the right to secede because of some obscure bit in the 1845 agreement to annex the place to the United States. Perry claims that Texas can split into 5 states. While it's slightly unclear from that treaty that such a move would require congressional approval, of course Congress would never actually allow it. He also forgets about something called Reconstruction. Given that Texas already committed treason to defend slavery, they lost those rights in 1861. They didn't just rejoin the union in 1865. They had to come to new terms to reenter the union, and in fact were one of the last 3 states to do so. I would think that from any legal standpoint, the agreement to reenter the union in the 1869 would supercede that previous treaty. No one seems to be talking about this. I know Texas and the rest of the South would prefer to forget Reconstruction, but it's kind of important and it those reannexation agreements should provide strong legal standing to repressing secessionist Texans.

It's not only Perry of course who is tossing around the idea of leaving the union. Here's Hot Tub Tom DeLay saying the same thing:



Perhaps the reason no one is mentioning the Reconstruction agreements is that everyone really wants Texas to leave the nation. Perhaps the U.S. and Mexico could become closer as nations by acting together in a two front invasion of Texas, burning everything to the ground. Would anyone actually oppose this?

On the other hand, I'm not super thrilled with becoming a refugee, straggling to the Oklahoma line, and avoiding the guns of crazy Texans determined to massacre those who defend the union and don't subscribe to their treasonous cause. It's not as if they haven't done this before.

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Anti-Freedman's Bureau poster, Reconstruction Era, probably 1866 or 1867.

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Currier & Ives lithograph romanticizing the lives of slaves, 1872

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Wade Hampton III, South Carolina senator after Reconstruction. Hampton was known as "The Savior of South Carolina" for his opposition to Reconstruction, which should tell you all you need to know about this guy.

Hampton also provides a superb example of Gilded Age facial hair.

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Penn School for Black Children, St. Helena, South Carolina, late 1860s. This was a Quaker school set up to teach black children during Reconstruction.

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Thomas Nast cartoon attacking white supremacy, 1874

Link of the Day

Old Hickory's Weblog writes of a real Forgotten American, Adelbert Ames, who worked to protect the rights of African-Americans in late Reconstruction Mississippi. The villain: the odious L.Q.C. Lamar.

First rate post. Check it out.

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The first African-American representatives to Congress