Reconstruction of the South begins at large today as U.S. President Andrew Johnson issues the Amnesty Proclamation allowing for the restoration of property rights (slaves excluded) to eligible white Southerners who sign an oath of allegiance declaring that “I, _______ _______, do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth…
The closing months of the war have been a bitter time for many white Floridians. Florida governor John Milton, despairing of the collapse of the Confederacy early in the year, had committed suicide on April 1. His last words to the legislature had been, “Death would be preferable to reunion.” When news of the Lee’s…
Today’s edition of the Georgia Baptist Christian Index returns to an oft-repeated argument in these latter months of the war. In an article entitled “Marriage of Slaves,” the author follows a well-worn path in refusing to blame slavery as the cause of God’s punishment upon the South, but does argue that the manner in which…