In the years following the Civil War, the Reconstruction Period, freedmen were arriving at the top of their game. They left the plantations they were slaves in, and proceeded in life to pursue education, religious freedom, and suffrage. One of the most favored of the “freedoms” was land as given in Special Field Order 15, where “forty acres and a mule” helped the former slaves get on their feet. Blacks were finally experiencing a sense of equality in the South, despite being severely frowned upon by stubborn whites. However, in the summer of 1865 President Andrew Johnson mandated practically all land in federal hands to be returned to its formal owners. This meant eviction of Sherman Land, and no other choice for blacks but to go back and work on the farms, only this time for “free” labor. Although it was wasn’t considered slavery at all, the blacks knew this had to be the biggest betrayal. Why did the president halt the land reforms and take a step back from reconstruction? If land meant freedom in that time, did that mean blacks were being denied the biggest freedom and the whites were pulling the wool over their eyes with “free” labor?
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Johnson was an incompetent leader, chosen by Lincoln as VP to appease Dems, and was NEVER supposed to be called Mr. President. Reconstruction under Johnson was a complete joke, but those who came after didn't do a dandy job, either.