The 1868 presidential election was an election in which white Southern leaders called for the repeal of the thirteenth amendment and a return to the old Constitution. The Southern Democrats criticized the Republican Reconstruction policies, and explicitly campaigned on pro-white, anti-black policies. This cover illustrates the commitment of Southerners of the era to an explicitly white supremacist model of reconstruction.

On May 27, 1861, Major General Benjamin Butler made his famous "contraband" decision, or "Fort Monroe Doctrine", determining that escaping male enslaved people who reached Union lines would be considered contraband and not be returned to bondage. The order resulted in thousands of enslaved people fleeing to Union lines around Fort Monroe, which was Butler's headquarters in Virginia. Fort Monroe became called "Freedom's Fortress", as any enslaved person reaching it would be free. In the Summer of 1861, one escaped enslaved person named Harry Jarvis made his way to Fort Monroe and insisted General Butler let him enlist. Butler refused because he believed "it wasn't a black man's war." Jarvis replied, "It would be a black man's war," due to the presence of the incoming of thousands of runaway enslaved people. This marked a sudden shift in the war. By the fall, the Army had built the Great Contraband Camp to try to house the families. It was the first of more than 100 that would be established by war's end.

Text from the vendor.