This Week in Reconstruction, January 1-6, 1866

This Week in Reconstruction, January 1-6, 1866

The Virginia Legislature discusses legislation requiring whites to take care of the "helpless" freedmen. Congress sends Northern commissioners down to Virginia to report on the status of reconstruction and to ensure progress in the South. White southerners, meanwhile, are angered by what they feel to be an invasion of the South and assert that southerners have nothing but love and respect for African Americans. The physical reconstruction of the South begins as Richmonders start rebuilding the damaged districts of their city. Besides the rebuilding of the damaged areas, white Virginians argue that they need more access to the global economy in order to revive their dying state economy. Virginia's politicians propose the re-unification of Virginia and West Virginia as a means to regain some of Virginians former glory and establish the state as the economic powerhouse of the south.

January 1-6, 1866

Justin Barlow

Barlow-Week-1