At the end of the War there were all manner of ex-slaves roaming all over the South. Many had no marketable skills, and therefore could not support themselves. Many of them were footloose and irresponsible. Due to false promises made to them by Union officials, they envisioned their new life as free men as one of ease and luxury, with all the goodies handed to them on a silver platter, much as many of them seemed to think their situation in our day was going to change when Comrade Obama assumed the throne in Washington. I remember reading of one case where a black lady just stopped paying her rent when Obama took office because she now thought that, with Obama as president “things were going to be different.” Many ex-slaves had no real sense of responsibility, just as many today who wait for the federal gravy train to show up and take care of them. They don’t work and they don’t want to work. They expect those of us who worked all our lives to support them.
FK – As always I prefer Natural born rights to ‘civil rights’ the latter being whatever our rulers decide they are.