{"product_id":"2940013692121","title":"THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX, A CHRONICLE OF THE REUNION OF THE STATES","description":"CHAPTER I. THE AFTERMATH OF WAR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy were disbanded in\u003cbr\u003e1865, two matters had been settled beyond further dispute: the Negro was\u003cbr\u003eto be free, and the Union was to be perpetuated. But, though slavery\u003cbr\u003eand state sovereignty were no longer at issue, there were still many\u003cbr\u003eproblems which pressed for solution. The huge task of reconstruction\u003cbr\u003emust be faced. The nature of the situation required that the measures of\u003cbr\u003ereconstruction be first formulated in Washington by the victors and then\u003cbr\u003eworked out in the conquered South. Since the success of these policies\u003cbr\u003ewould depend in a large measure upon their acceptability to both\u003cbr\u003esections of the country, it was expected that the North would be\u003cbr\u003einfluenced to some extent by the attitude of the Southern people, which\u003cbr\u003ein turn would be determined largely by local conditions in the South.\u003cbr\u003eThe situation in the South at the close of the Civil War is, therefore,\u003cbr\u003ethe point at which this narrative of the reconstruction naturally takes\u003cbr\u003eits beginning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe surviving Confederate soldiers came straggling back to communities,\u003cbr\u003ewhich were now far from being satisfactory dwelling places for civilized\u003cbr\u003epeople. Everywhere they found missing many of the best of their former\u003cbr\u003eneighbors. They found property destroyed, the labor system disorganized,\u003cbr\u003eand the inhabitants in many places suffering from want. They found the\u003cbr\u003ewhite people demoralized and sometimes divided among themselves and the\u003cbr\u003eNegroes free, bewildered, and disorderly, for organized government had\u003cbr\u003elapsed with the surrender of the Confederate armies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeneath a disorganized society lay a devastated land. The destruction of\u003cbr\u003eproperty affected all classes of the population. The accumulated capital\u003cbr\u003eof the South had disappeared in worthless Confederate stocks, bonds,\u003cbr\u003eand currency. The banks had failed early in the war. Two billion dollars\u003cbr\u003einvested in slaves had been wiped out. Factories, which had been running\u003cbr\u003ebefore the war or were developed after 1861 in order to supply the\u003cbr\u003eblockaded country, had been destroyed by Federal raiders or seized\u003cbr\u003eand sold or dismantled because they had furnished supplies to the\u003cbr\u003eConfederacy. Mining industries were paralyzed. Public buildings which\u003cbr\u003ehad been used for war purposes were destroyed or confiscated for the\u003cbr\u003euses of the army or for the new freedmen's schools. It was months before\u003cbr\u003ecourthouses, state capitols, school and college buildings were again\u003cbr\u003emade available for normal uses. The military school buildings had been\u003cbr\u003edestroyed by the Federal forces. Among the schools which suffered\u003cbr\u003ewere the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Alabama, the\u003cbr\u003eLouisiana State Seminary, and many smaller institutions. Nearly all\u003cbr\u003ethese had been used in some way for war purposes and were therefore\u003cbr\u003esubject to destruction or confiscation.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083149263088,"sku":"2940013692121","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013692121_p0.jpg?v=1763597266","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013692121","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}