Political Violence During Reconstruction

Samuel C. Hyde’s work, Political Violence during Reconstruction; makes it obvious that in many ways the struggles of getting along were far from over. The relationship between the white man and black man was in constant turmoil, and the political problems in the South did not help either. Harsh feelings and an extensive struggle for power was the problems which the United States faced. Many often think of the United States as peaceful after the Civil War was over, but this is far from the truth. Hyde shows how evident it was that unity of this nation was far from being reached. The carpetbaggers were northerners who supposedly carried all their belongings in a satchel made of carpet material as they came south to exploit the defeated region of the South. The white Southerners gave them this degrading name to them because they wanted to maintain control in the South. The old ruling aristocracy believed that they were born to govern, without question, not only their slaves but the white people too. The local people who supported the Republican Party and what they were trying to accomplish were known as scalawags. Scalawags and carpetbaggers were the names given to those by the white people in the South that wanted to keep running things their way. They did not want things to change. They had a lot of power and control not wanting anything to happen to it. One can only imagine the harsh feelings in the middle of these transitions after the Civil War. Along with these harsh feelings came the problems with the lower-class Louisianans in dealing with the planter elite. The lower-class Louisianans wanted to create equality between them and the planter elite in their state. They felt that things were not fair and change was needed for the better of society. They were encouraged to reassess their fealty to these planters. Through newspapers and other ways these Louisianans felt that they needed to raise their own crops and be independent from working