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Letter To John Anderson After The Civil War

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Short Paper After the Civil War, the South lost and slave owners were forced to emancipate slaves. However, the white southerners tried to remain the antebellum order as much as they could. Therefore, many slave owners wanted their former slaves to come back by paying wages. In the letter “Jourdon Anderson writes his former master, 1865,” Anderson states that he refused to go back unless his former master paid him with good price, treated his family justly, and provided his children a better growing up environment. This primary resource (the letter from Jourdon Anderson to his former master) was significant by contributing freedmen’s point of view in response to white southerners’ antebellum treatments. It also insinuated how freedmen …show more content…

The white southerners (former slave owners) didn’t realize that slaves were treated unfairly. In the letter, Anderson mentioned that Colonel P. H. Anderson (his former master) wanted him to come back and work. If Anderson would come back, then Colonel promised to pay him and “do better for [Anderson] than anybody else can” (Jourdon Anderson Writes His Former Master, 1865). Although Colonel agreed to pay Anderson and treat Anderson better than before, Colonel didn’t realize that slavery was a serious problem. From Colonel’s view, he convinced Anderson to come back because it would benefit him. Since Anderson and his wife worked for Colonel for more than twenty years, they knew how to serve him or work on plantation better than other new workers. Besides, if they were willing to come back, then the Colonel might have more income because they had experience and worked faster than other new workers. With the increasing workers’ production rates, more products would be produced, and then the income of Colonel also raised. Hence, southerners only consider their economies. They thought if they paid the wages and treated their …show more content…

According to the letter, Anderson demonstrated that he was satisfied with his new life in the North. He wrote, “I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy… and the children… go to school and are learning well.... We are kindly treated” (Jourdon Anderson Writes His Former Master, 1865). It illustrated that Anderson and his family had a better life in the North. They were treated friendly by northerners. Anderson got paid regularly and his children had a chance to attend schools as freedmen. Anderson could be free from slavery due to the adoption of the 13th Amendment, which “legally abolished slavery except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” (Reconstruction). The 13th Amendment was a milestone on the African American’s movement. With the adoption of the 13th Amendment, African Americans were encouraged to pursue their rights and truly freedom in the future. Since life was better in the North and the adoption of the 13th Amendment, Anderson considered lots of things before he agreed to work for his former master, which included the wages, attitudes of white southerners on him, and the

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