On the record
Helena, and wherever else they have had the opportunity, the negroes have bought the titles to their little farms—or “plantations,” as they still ambitiously style them.
Said by
Whitelaw Reid
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gutenberg.orgWhitelaw Reid: “Helena, and wherever else they have had the opportunity, the negroes have bought the titles to their little farms—or…”
Editor's note · Context
Reid notes that formerly enslaved individuals have actively purchased land, demonstrating their ambition and desire for independence.
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Extravagant living left nearly every planter enormously in debt when the war came.
I would rather give up my crop to the negroes than the lives of my wife and children.
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You see, General, this is alarming, and you must acknowledge that we are not safe.