It is astounding how similar the events of 1870 are to those of 2021. You have educated men like my cousin (who actually went to Harvard after graduating from the new university of NC), elegant men, men of worth, a gentleman, a man with an encyclopedic mind, they said (who had owned 35 slaves in 1860) pushing for amnesty to KKK members (and at last agreeing to some exceptions like rape and murder, everyone knowing exceptions would not be enforced). My gentlemanly cousin--I thought of him when Lamar Alexander retired after damning his reputation in history. Here is Radical Republican judge Albion Tourgee (who later wrote A FOOL'S ERRAND) informing his friend the U S Senator Abbott about the slaughter of NC state senator John W. Stephens and realizing what might be in store for himself:
AND NOW, ABBOTT, I HAVE BUT ONE THING TO SAY TO YOU. I HAVE VERY LITTLE DOUBT THAT I SHALL BE ONE OF THE NEXT VICTIMS. MY STEPS HAVE BEEN DOGGED FOR MONTHS, AND ONLY A GOOD OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN WANTING TO SECURE TO ME THE FATE WHCH STEPHENS HAS JUST MET. . . . THE TIME FOR ACTION HAS COME, AND THE MAN WHO HAS NOW ONLY SPEECHES TO MAKE OVER SOME CONSTITUTIONAL SCARECROW, DESERVES TO BE DAMNED.
Want to name your own Constitutional scarecrow? "You can't impeach a former president!"
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