Jourdan Anderson Letter

A detailed Summary of Jourdan Anderson Letter

Reconstruction aroused violent controversy over the constitutional powers and over the status of the black ex-slaves. Northern Democrats believed the Constitution strictly limited federal power, anticipated that most Southern whites would vote Democratic, and had little sympathy for black sufferings. On the other hand, most Republicans felt that blacks were entitled to fundamental human rights, and many hoped Southern Republicanism could be built with the help of black support. Reconstruction did open the door for political involvement on the part of former slaves. More than 20 blacks were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the South during Reconstruction.

Even before the war ended, the government had begun discussing how to deal with the aftermath of the war. For example, Freedman Bureau was formed by congress to help former slaves with clothing, medical care, housing, and education.

Some emancipated slaves quickly fled from the neighborhood of their owners, while others became wage laborers for former owners. Most importantly, African Americans could make choices for themselves about where they labored and the type of work they performed.

Hundreds of blacks were killed for attempting

Jourdan knows he won't get his money back, but there is an important reason, when he talks about getting his money back for the years that he worked for his former master. Jourdan's message to the reader is that the only thing he got from his master was clothing, three doctor visits, and pulling a tooth for his wife. "... and the balance will show what in justice we are entitled to." Anderson's letter is polite, but each sentence in it condemns both his former master and the violence of slavery. In my opinion, this is a significant issue, because now Jourdan has the freedom to at least, condemn his former master. More over, it implies that ex-slaves had moved from not having enough freedom to decide for themselves, to having enough freedom to actually, condemn their former masters.

Anderson had claimed his freedom in 1864, during the war, probably crossing the Union lines. The next year, following the Confederate surrender, the colonel wrote to him, inviting him and his family to return to the old plantation in Tennessee. Jourdon informs the colonel that he and his wife "have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. . . . At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars."

In his ironic reply, Jourdan Anderson draws comparisons between his life as a free man and as a slave. As a free man, he receives payment for his work, is treated kindly, and his children go to school. As Colonel Anderson's slave, he received no wages, was shot at, and his children had no education. It seems strange to us now, given the violence of slavery, that former masters and slaves would stay i

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Approximate Word count = 1170
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History