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CWCDT Report

Page 2....Events
Johnson's attempted impeachment
Lincoln's assassination
KKK's rise to power and their regime of fear

Page 3....Editorial

The thirteenth amendment was passed by congress on January 31st 1865, and ratified December 6th of the same year. This amendment outlawed slavery in all US states, territories, and land that was under the jurisdiction of the United States. This important amendment guaranteed the rights of Blacks, Native Americans, and all other races or groups that may be pressed into slavery.

The fourteenth amendment was passed by congress on June 13th 1866, and ratified July 9th 1868. This amendment guaranteed citizenship for all persons born or naturalized in the United States. This gave Blacks and other minority groups access to all the rights that comes with being a citizen, in the future this would include Native Americans and women.

The fifteenth amendment was passed by congress on Feburary 26th 1869, and ratified on Feburary 2nd 1870. This amendment stated that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This means that anyone who is a citizen of the US may vote. In conjunction with the fourteenth amendment this grants Blacks the right to vote.

The Jim Crow laws were a set of laws passed in the south to limit what Blacks could do. An example is the voting tax. All persons had to pay a fee to vote. Poor Whites and Blacks did not have enough money to pay, so they could not vote. However the south also passed the Grandfather Act which allowed all men to not pay the tax, who had grandfathers that voted. This act was aimed at Blacks who's grandfathers weren't allowed to vote. These laws effectively prevented Blacks from participating in their government.

The Black Codes were similar to the Jim Crow Laws, but they regulated what Blacks could and could not do. These Black Codes were similar to and based on the old slave codes. The Black Codes did provide freedmen with certain basic rights, such as to sue and to be sued, and to buy and sell property. They also allowed Blacks to marry. While the codes required young Black to work as apprentices, they did provide guidelines to protect them from abuse. On the other side, Blacks could not bear arms or meet together after sunset. They could not marry whites. They were forbidden from being unemployed and could be fined for vagrancy and imprisoned to sentenced to hard labor for a year. Most Black Codes were passed in the fall and winter of 1865 and 1866 because southerners were afraid of Freedmen getting revenge against their former masters.
Congress tried to impeach President Johnson in 1868. They were short of actual impeachment by only a single vote. They had tried to impeach him in a political power struggle. Johnson was admitting states in with few requirements, encouraging the south to make laws that took advantage of loopholes in the Radical's laws. He also only appointed those who wanted to put Blacks back in their place and kicked the Radicals out of office. Congress did not like this and tried to legislatively limit his power to act without congress's consent. Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and congress responded with a movement for impeachment.
President Lincoln was assassinated on April 4th, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth in a box at Ford's Theatre. He murdered Lincoln while Lincoln was watching the play "Our American Cousin" with his wife when Booth snuck into the box and cowardly shot Lincoln in the back of his head with a one shot derringer pistol. He then lept to the stage yelling "Sic semper tyrannis!" or Thus always to tyrants! and fled before the shocked audience know what had happened. Lincoln died the next day. He was cornered in a barn near bowling Green, Virginia. Some days later Union troops. found Booth. They demanded that he surrender and exit the building, when he didn't the troops set the barn, which he was hiding in, on fire. The barn burned down, and after they investigated they found Booth shot to death, probably a suicide. four alleged accomplices were hung and four others were jailed. Lincoln's death at the hands of Booth severly disrupted the country. The nation would face rocky times ahead and it would be even harder without Lincoln to guide the reconstruction peacefully.
The KKK was a secret paramilitary group that used techniques of terrorism to prevent blacks from voting among other things. Eventually they got around to killing blacks for the fun of it and because of their illogical, violent hatred for those who were once their slaves. Another group was the Knights of the White Camellia, they also terrorized Blacks, but they were also devoted to ending Republican rule in the south. Both the KKK and the KWC burned houses, with people still in them, whipped, shot, and hung Blacks, Republicans, sympathetic Whites, and anyone who got in their way. The KKK dressed in white robes and hoods with eyeholes (rather like kids pretending to be ghosts at halloween). Even some leaders of the Klan felt that the violence had gone too far, but by then they had lost control and people were just killing for the fun of it. The Government passed laws and send troops to combat the different groups. The groups' activities lessened, but never completely stopped. Unfortunately the reign of terror inflicted by these racist groups succeeded, by 1876 only South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida still retained Republican governments. And very few Blacks bothered to vote. These groups still continue today, but they have lost the battle.
Editor's Corner, records from 1868
I can't believe it! Congress failed to impeach that no good Johnson!

As you all know, Congress voted to impeach President Johnson yesterday (May 26, 1868). We were nearly rid of him and barely missed having the only impeached president in our history. As I'm sure you all remember, Congress started trying to impeach Johnson back in Feburary, immediately after the president attempted to remove Secrtetary of War Edwin Statnton from office. The final vote was 35 for to 19 against impeachment. One vote short of the two thirds majority necessary to remove a president from office.

So despite our immense dislike for our president, he remains in office. He continues to sabotage all our hard work over the past years to reform the south. Pray for our president, pray that he comes to his senses and starts working towards progress.
Earl Belcher
Editor of Centre Daily Times

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