Collection (1868-1897) consisting of correspondence, contract and a newspaper.
Radical Reconstruction was a process and period during the Reconstruction when Radical Republicans had control of the U.S. Congress. The Radical Republicans took control of Congress from President Andrew Johnson and were led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House and Charles Summer in the Senate. The Radicals were known for their opposition of enslavement and their efforts to ensure emancipation and civil rights for freed Black people. The Radicals were enemies of Democrats, many former enslavers, the Ku Klux Klan, and from moderate Republicans as they felt there should be more punishment for their actions. In 1867 The Reconstruction Acts were enacted that split the states of the former Confederacy and specified how the new governments would to be constituted based on manhood suffrage without regard to race. The Radical Reconstruction began during the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and ended in 1877 when the Republican-led Southern governments gained more power in Congress. It was after the removal of Radical Republicans and the election of President Rutherford B. Hayes that Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow Laws began.
Correspondence in the collection pertains to politics and real estate. A letter (August, 1868) written from Queens County, N.Y., comments on national political activities and predicts an end to Radical [Republican] domination. The writer also cautions against publicizing pro-Confederate Democratic views. A second letter (February, 1890) pertains to the purchase of a 3,000 acre tract of land near Croatan by a Boston firm mentions the possible formation of an improvements syndicate in North Carolina using European capital.
Also included is a sharecroppers contract (1888) for farming land in Craven County, a description (undated) of Clermont Plantation on Trent River, and a copy of The Free Will Baptist (December 22, 1897).
For related material see: William E. Clarke Papers, #269.
Gift of Mr. Smith
Processed by D. Lennon, February 1975
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.