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Land Redistribution Essay

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After the Civil War the South’s economy and people were left in devastation, especially considering that “some 650,000 men died in the war, including 260,000 Confederates -- over one-fifths of the South’s adult white male population” ("America 's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War"). The surviving white men expected to go back to their land after the war, and many finding that their land had been confiscated. As stated in the article by M. O 'Malley & F. L. Carr., "The Sea Islands: An Experiment in Land Redistribution," after Sherman’s famous March to the Sea, he “declared that the Sea Islands on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia would be reserved for Freedman.” White plantation owners were infuriated by this act, claiming that it endowed a sense of entitlement to the freedman, fostering more demands from slaves such as the right to education and schools (O’Malley). However, the attempt of land redistribution “never met fully with congress” and was removed during …show more content…

Nativist sentiment pushed many to violate the rights of blacks. The defeat of the confederates in the South was not only devastating to the landscape and people, but also to the morals of the people. Carpetbaggers and scalawags served as “living reminders of military defeat” ("America 's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War"). This inspired “racial prejudice as well as more measured criticisms of Reconstruction policies,” as well as the Southern states “depriv[ing] blacks of their rights to vote” in violent ways ("America 's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War"). The ideals of Social Darwinism also gave white men another possible justification for their treatment, providing a reason for them to believe that blacks were poor and desolate because they didn’t work hard enough. These sentiments often lead to violence against blacks, even in the most quaintest of towns throughout the South. Nativist sentiment helped to further this

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