Political Quotes

John Sherman: “Here, I felt, were two antagonistic races widely differing in every respect, the old relations of master and slave…”

On the record
Here, I felt, were two antagonistic races widely differing in every respect, the old relations of master and slave broken, with new conditions undeveloped, the master impoverished and the slave free without the knowledge to direct him, and with a belief that liberty meant license, and freedom idleness.
Said by
John Sherman
Ohio

Editor's note · Context

Sherman describes the complex social dynamics between freed slaves and their former masters in the post-Civil War South.

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