'An Insurrection That Never Happened :' The Christmas Riots?

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The Insurrection That Never Happened: A Review In Stephen Nissenbaum’s article, “ An Insurrection That Never Happened: ‘The Christmas Riots’,” he presents a somewhat convincing analysis of the social inequality, lack of government unison, and political movements to prove reconstruction was never completed. He does this by first explaining an example of the christmas riots, then continues to show its relevance and interpret it in the more general history of the time. Nissenbaum states, “The story of the ‘Christmas Riots’ of 1865 is a microcosm of the entire period that became known as reconstruction, the years between 1865 and 1877. It was a period of great hopes for the freedmen, hopes that were dashed, then raised, then dashed once again.” …show more content…

Nissenbaum’s main point for the odd lead in was to point out that reconstruction, “Above all, it addressed not at all the one issue that had been responsible for the rumors of the ‘Christmas Riots’ of 1865: the confiscation and redistribution of lands formerly belonging to wealthy white slaveowners. Instead, the legislation of the period of Congressional Reconstruction was focused on black political equality.” The story is about the blacks and whites of the south that were spreading rumors and making assumptions about each other while determining how to provide the newly freedmen a more stable life. The main topic was how to divide the land, which was the main source of income as well as pride for most southerners. The approaching Christmas was raising blood pressures because historically, Christmas was a time of drink, games, and social freedom, when the whites gave presents to their slaves and let them roam free.This more lifted hopes partnered with the newly legally free men, which created the assumption that they might be granted the land they want. In turn, rumors started to spread, that upset the whites, and as things escalated promises were made and even the government got involved, only to have nothing happen come

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