concerned; and for himself, South Carolinian and secessionist though he was,
he was quite willing to accept it. He only dreaded its effect on the blacks
themselves. Hitherto they had in the main, been modest and respectful, and
mere freedom was not likely to spoil them. But the deference to them likely to
be shown by partisans eager for their votes would have a tendency to uplift
them and unbalance them. Beyond this, no harm would be done the South by Negro
suffrage. The old owners would cast the votes of their people almost as
absolutely and securely as they cast their own. If Northern men expected in
this way to build up a northern party in the South, they were gravely
mistaken. They would only be multiplying the power of the old and natural
leaders of Southern politics by giving every vote to a former slave.
Heretofore such men had served their masters only in the fields; now they
would do no less faithful service at the polls. If the North could stand it,
the South could. For himself, he should make no special objection to Negro
suffrage as one of the terms of reorganization, and if it came, he did not
think the South would have much cause to regret it."

To sum up the situation at this time: the Negro population at the close of the
war constituted a tremendous problem for those in authority. The race was
free, but without status, without leaders, without property, and without
education. Probably a fourth of them had some experience in freedom before the
Confederate armies surrendered, and the servitude of the other three millions
ended very quickly and without violence. But in the Black Belt, where the bulk
of the black population was to be found, the labor system was broken up, and
for several months the bewildered freedmen wandered about or remained at home
under conditions which were bad for health, morals, and thrift. The Northern
Negroes did not furnish the expected leadership for the race, and the more
capable men in the South showed a tendency to go North. The unsettled state of
the Negroes and their expectation of receiving a part of the property of the
whites kept the latter uneasy and furnished the occasion of frequent