CHAPTER XLIX.
THE NEW ERA.
The close of the Rebellion opened to the negro a
new era in his history. The chains of slavery had
been severed; and although he had not been clothed
with all the powers of the citizen, the black man was,
nevertheless, sure of all his rights being granted, for
revolutions seldom go backward. With the beginning
of the work of reconstruction, the right of the negro
to the ballot came legitimately before the country,
and brought with it all the virus of negro hate that
could be thought of. President Andrew Johnson threw
the weight of his official influence into the scales
against the newly-liberated people, which for a time
cast a dark shadow over the cause of justice and freedom.
Congress, however, by its Constitutional amendments,
settled the question, and clothed the blacks
with the powers of citizenship; and with their white
fellow-citizens they entered the reconstruction conventions,
and commenced the work of bringing their states
back into the Union. This was a trying position for
the recently enfranchised blacks; for slavery had bequeathed
to them nothing but poverty, ignorance, and
