Black Reconstruction In America

Du Bois summarizes the economic system in the United States at the end of the Civil War in 1865. In the North, a “dictatorship” of industrial capital was on the rise. It sought to expand to the South. To do so, it formed a temporary alliance with those who sought to expand suffrage to Black men. Du Bois notes that, had white labor organizers allied with newly freed Black labor, they could have resisted industrial capital, but they did not. Instead, by 1876, Southern oligarchs had allied with Northern capital against labor.

Du Bois analyzes Reconstruction efforts by the federal government and the role of Andrew Johnson in shaping its progress. On April 14th, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson, his vice president, became president of the United States. Johnson was a Southerner who was known for his anti-aristocracy politics. He was also a racist who had enslaved eight people. In 1864, he gave a speech supporting abolition but insisting on white supremacy. DuBois also notes that Johnson was known to be a “drunk,” which may have contributed to his bombastic behavior and alienation from more temperate leaders in government. He did not share Lincoln’s sympathy toward Black Americans.