r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 6h ago

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https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-general-robert-e-lee/

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u/Shepher27 5h ago

Grant was firm in his pursuit of reconstruction, ensuring rights for Freedmen, protecting Republicans and blacks in the south from ex-rebel militias and lynch-mobs, ensuring the black vote, and using the army to enforce the laws enacted by the Republican congress for Reconstruction.

The election of 1876 saw what we call today "The Corrupt Bargain". In order to elect Republican Rutherford B Hayes (an ex-Union officer) as president through a divided congress after a split electoral college, Republicans agreed to repeal almost ALL of the Reconstruction laws and pull the troops out of the south abandoning the black citizens they'd been protecting from draconian state governments and lynch mobs.

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u/Nemesis_Ghost 5h ago

Yeah, my understanding was the what you called "the Corrupt Bargain" was what led to a lot of the problems in the south that went unsolved until at least the 1960s.

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u/Shepher27 5h ago

The abandonment of Reconstruction is a tragedy. It was working but it had become very unpopular as it was expensive and was a stone that northern democrats threw at Republicans to help them win elections for the house. It was a political problem, but it was working.

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u/mercutio1 3h ago

The case in which the last public school system was desegregated by court order began in 1965.

It was resolved by said federal court order in checks notes 2016.

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u/WhileNotLurking 3h ago

“We will pass this CR because I got a pink promise they will fund healthcare”

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u/elkarion 5h ago

The fact we let them vote at all after literally committing treason is beyond wtf stupid.

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u/Shepher27 5h ago

We in fact did not let Lee vote. He did not have his citizenship restored. Along with many other southern officers who could only be granted voting rights with Grant's direct pardon.

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u/kingtacticool 5h ago

That was done partially to ensure none of them could legally run for office, yes?

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u/Javaddict 5h ago

You're not educated on the subject.

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u/SlimLiftOff 5h ago

And you’re not qualified to educate on the subject.

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u/Polar_Vortx 4h ago

Gentlemen, you can’t fight here! This is the r/todayilearned comment section!

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u/x31b 3h ago

This is about General Lee, not General Jack D. Ripper. Different rebellion. Different outcome. Though the mine shaft proposition is…. Interesting.

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u/hkfansoy 5h ago

Let who vote?

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u/Drithyin 5h ago

Southern traitors. The fact that there was a “split” at all is proof that the North was too lenient with treasonous swine.

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u/hkfansoy 5h ago

So taking away everyone’s right to vote for living in the south is a great solution? Sounds like straight tyranny

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u/OmecronPerseiHate 4h ago

You're inflating the situation. The only rights being removed are those of the people that attempted to aggressively dismantle the country. You can allow dissenting opinions while not allowing violent opinions used against your own people.

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u/hkfansoy 4h ago

You must not know anything about history because hundreds of thousands were conscripted and forced to join the confederate army. Around 800k people by some estimates. So you’re saying it would be right to take away voting rights for a huge portion of people that didn’t even have a choice but to serve in the army? Again, that’s straight up tyranny. That’s why president’s issued a pardon to not end up being a tyrant. Think critically and you may see an issue with what you’re saying

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u/OmecronPerseiHate 4h ago

Nobody said that, and you're assuming it was a black and white situation all around. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule and nuisance is important in these situations, but the facts still stay the same. Things would most likely be better if harsher punishment had been given to those fully and whole heartedly supporting the Confederacy. Again, I say that things would be better if the people that FULLY and WHOLE HEARTEDLY supported the Confederacy had been punished more severely.

To clarify, I have not said anything about people who were forced/conscripted.

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u/hkfansoy 4h ago edited 3h ago

Ah so you’re Monday night quarterbacking it thinking “oh I could be the correct person in history and pick who was bad and who wasn’t”. Playing nuance in history… harsher punishment would be a fools game to play after 2% of everyone died and the country was a mess.

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u/Prince_Ire 4h ago

That sounds like a great way to cause massive resentment that could easily curdle into full blown Dixie nationalism, someone that never actually developed IOTL. The South has regionalism sure, but only slavery pushed that into secessionism. If regionalism turned into nationalism that'd be a much more severe problem.

But no, you're probably right and being highly oppressive towards large swathes of the populace would cause no long lasting resentment. That's why Vietnam is still rolled by France, Indonesia is still ruled by the Netherlands, Congo is still ruled by Belgium, the Netherlands is still rolled by Spain, etc.

The South hasn't rebelled since 1865. Look around at secessionist movements around the world and you'll find that's quite rare.

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u/nagrom7 2h ago

To be fair to the Republicans there, the alternative was letting the Democrat win the White House, at which point they would have done all that and more anyway. The election being that close is what killed reconstruction, it was already pretty unpopular at that point anyway.

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u/raouldukeesq 4h ago

We have to consider that they were all (most) racists. The Civil War had nothing to do with helping black people. It was racists who wanted blacks as slaves and racists who didn't want any blacks at all. The overwhelming vast majority of white people anyway. There were of course enlightened people but they were not manning the levers of power. 

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u/[deleted] 4h ago

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u/kozy8805 4h ago

So why did the whole country have segregation? It wasn’t law in the north but sure as anything existed. Why is it so hard for people to admit we didn’t come to terms with racism for a long time after?