ns he was
visited with ostracism, denunciation, and attack upon his war record.
The typical attitude, at first, was that of the planter who, after
listening to a discussion of the final reconstruction act, inquired,
"Does it say anything about raising cotton?" "No." "Then, damn Congress
and its laws! I'm going to raise cotton." So he and a good many others
gave themselves to raising cotton, and for a while left the choice of
State officers and legislators to "niggers," "carpet-baggers," and
"scalawags." A "scalawag" was any Southern white who allied himself
politically with the negroes, and a "carpet-bagger" was a Northern
adventurer, for whose worldly goods a gripsack sufficed,--or, in
general, any Northerner whatever.

For the blacks, the sudden opening of political power and preferment,
however designed, was in effect a very doubtful benefit. It turned their
hopes and aspirations in a way which was really "no thoroughfare." To
the more promising and ambitious it offered sudden and brilliant prizes,
instead of the patient apprenticeship which they needed. Of those who
quickly rose to office, a few were by character and attainments really
fit for their position; many won favor by shallow arts; and others were
thrown up like driftwood by the tide. The negroes as a body could follow
only a personal leadership,--how many whites, North or South, really
follow any other?--could be organized in bodies, attached to a party
name and watchwords, and voted in mass by the men who had their
confidence. They understood that their freedom and their right to vote
had been given them by the North and by the Republican party, and to
that party they naturally turned. Their old masters--in many cases their
best friends--frankly told them they were unfit to vote, and wanted no
dealings with them in political affairs. So they found leadership
principally in the men who had come from the North.

There was a Northern immigration which may be classified as business
men, teachers and adventurers. A considerable number sought an
opportunity in reviving and developing industry,--substantial men and
good citizens. Sometimes a patriotic motive mingled with the industrial.
Governor Andrew, on retiring to private life as a lawyer, tried for some
time to advance a company for bringing into conjunction Southern lands
and Northern enterprise and capital. There were various projects of this
kind, but they met with little success. Private individuals, h