When slaves were freed many resulted in violence towards their former slave owners, killing many and using profane language resulting in a lot of violence. Especially the black men who were also in the war who came back with their partners and taking over. When arriving, home the white soldiers seen the freedmen of the south acting independent and trying to be recognized as equal citizens. White confederate soldiers saw this as a threat since most were former land and slave owners. They insisted that “they should show them who was in control”. President Johnson agreed, he slowly disregarded his first intentions about planters and began to return them onto their plantations. He believed it was the only way to keep the former slaves under control and in their rightful place. He ordered all land that was confiscated during the war be returned including Special Field Order 15. After being forced to move off the land, with no land or money the freedmen agreed to sign labor contracts to work for the planters. The owners wanted obedient workers similar to slavery. The freedmen would often ask for more wages and speak forth about their issues. The planters handled it with threats and much violence. The constant rivalry between the former slave owners and freedmen led to many lynchings. 1865 In Louisiana alone there were more than 2,000 black men, women and children reported murdered. The violence in the south was a way to reestablish white supremacy. They started to pass laws that only allowed freedmen to work on fields, known as the “black codes”. Slavery without the chains. Many white southerners resented watching northerners like Marshall Twitchell make political decisions. Newspapers searched for new language to describe these specific people. “Carpetbagger” creates an image of a low life Yankee (north) who packs his belonging in a carpetbag and takes the first steam ship south to profit upon the misery of the defeated south. “Scalawag” was a southern white who supported reconstruction and the Republican Party after the war. It was adopted by the Southern Newspapers to refer to Southern whites who formed a Republican coalition with the black freedmen and Northern newcomers.
General process was used to describe the former steps needed to be taken to become successful as newly freedmen in the United States .However since blacks were now considered citizens , poor whites were forced with a big competition, for livelihood, social positions and political power. The three most important subjects of general process in 1866-1870 consisted and composed of education, money, land and equality. Ten percent to fifteen percent of former slaves were literate. To learn how to read and write was a revolutionary act. They understood the importance of education to further enhance their place in society as citizens in the union. They needed it to survive. The men that were already educated quickly opened schools in warehouses. They struggled to own land but places they were able to build upon they appreciated what they had. Being the fact planters were also on the verge of being poor and free men being considered legally equal, they recognized the only thing between them now was the almighty dollar, money was low in the south and everyone was constantly trying to make a dollar out of everything. It was a constant process, one moment laws would be on the verge to be passed on behalf of them and the next moment it would all be stripped away from them.
