Reconstruction Georgia

Reconstruction Georgia
Republicans tried to countered the Ku Klux Klan but they were rarely successful. The Klan had economic, if not political, power, a strong organization based on long time friendships and the power of fear. In Savannah the battles between political factions were extreme. During the presidential election of 1868 a pitched battle between Klansmen and former slaves occurred when blacks tried to vote. The election brought Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency.

Expelled Because of their Color: African American Legislators in Georgia

Expelled Because of their Color: African American Legislators in Georgia: "On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed. While slaves were legally considered to be free, many were still held in bondage through the end of the Civil War on April 9, 1865.
On June 17, 1865, James Johnson of Columbus, Georgia, was appointed as the Provisional Governor of Georgia by President Johnson (no relation). Governor Johnson called for elections for a state constitutional convention to be held in October of the same year. Over two hundred delegates served in the constitutional convention, many of whom had served in the Confederate States Army. Some of the measures that were taken up and decided upon were:
repeal of the Ordinance of Secession (The U.S. Congress ordered that the southern states annul, not simply repeal, the secession ordinances)
repudiation of the Confederate War debt
provisions for pensioning Confederate soldiers and widows
In November, 1865, Charles J. Jenkins was elected Governor of Georgia, unopposed. On December 4, the new legislature convened, and promptly ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery.
The next year, on November 9, 1866, the Georgia Legislature rejected the Fourteenth Amendment by a vote of 36-0 in the Senate and 131-2 in the House. This amendment made freemen citizens, guaranteed them due process of law, penalized any state that denied them right to vote, denied federal office to those who broke their oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution by rebelling, and forbade the payment of Confederate war debts or compensation to masters for the loss of their slaves.
In light of the rejection of the Fourteenth Amendment by Georgia, the U. S. Congress met in December 1866 to decide the consequences for the state."

New Georgia Encyclopedia: Columbus

New Georgia Encyclopedia: Columbus: "At war's end U.S. president Andrew Johnson named his friend and fellow Unionist James Johnson, a Columbusite, as provisional governor of Georgia. Local Reconstruction was marked by a violent confrontation with black Union troops in February 1866 and the Ku Klux Klan�style murder of George Ashburn, an outspoken Scalawag (local Republican) in 1868. Reconstruction brought free schools to the city. Since the Freedmen's Bureau created black schools, white leaders finally moved to establish public schools in 1867. Freedmen from rural areas built shanties on the East Commons. Despite harassment from locals and white federal troops, these blacks persevered and created a vibrant neighborhood in the southeast corner of the city known as 'Sixth and Eighth' (Avenue and Street respectively). The city's most important black churches are still in this area. Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey, a Columbus native recognized as the mother of blues, purchased a home in this area and retired here in the mid-1930s. "

New Georgia Encyclopedia: Columbus

New Georgia Encyclopedia: Columbus