Petition of Committee on Behalf of the Freedmen to Andrew Johnson
Edisto Island, S.C. (October 28, 1865)
We the freedmen Of Edisto Island South Carolina have learned . . . of the possibility of government restoring These lands to the former owners. . . . Here is where secession was born and Nurtured Here is were we have toiled nearly all Our lives as slaves and were treated like dumb Driven cattle . . . Shall not we who Are freedman and have been always true to this Union have the same rights as are enjoyed by Others? . . . are not our rights as A free people and good citizens of these United States To be considered before the rights of those who were Found in rebellion against this good and just Government (and now being conquered) come (as they Seem) with penitent hearts and beg forgiveness For past offences and also ask if their lands Cannot be restored to them are these rebellious Spirits to be reinstated in their possessions And we who have been abused and oppressed For many long years not to be allowed the Privilege of purchasing land But be subject To the will of these large Land owners?
We the freedmen of this Island and of the State of South Carolina-Do therefore petition to you as the President of these United States, that some provisions be made by which Every colored man can purchase land. and Hold it as his own. . . . with the privilege of purchasing A Homestead-A Homestead right here in the Heart of South Carolina.
In behalf of the Freedmen Committee
Henry Bram
Ishmael Moultrie
Yates Sampson
-Under the circumstances described in the passage above, southern agriculture throughout the Reconstruction years saw

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The passage describes the concern of freedmen on Edisto Island that the government might restore land to former owners who had supported the Confederacy. The freedmen petitioned for the right to purchase land for themselves, indicating that they did not already have that right. Their fear of losing the land they worked on suggests that they were working on land they could not own. Therefore, the southern agriculture throughout the Reconstruction years saw a subsistence style of agriculture in which freedmen worked on land that they could not own.