John Menard’s parents were People of Color from Louisiana who moved to Illinois, where John was born. He completed college in Illinois. In 1865 he moved back to Louisiana. In 1868 he was elected to Congress. Democrats opposed his being seated and he was ultimately denied his seat.
Daily Constitutionalist
Thursday, Dec 31, 1868
Augusta, GA
Vol: 25
Issue: 309
The article refers to Menard as being sent South by “the Bureau,” a reference to the Freedmen’s Bureau. The article refers to Menard as a “carpet-bagger,” a derisive term applied to Northerners who came South after the Civil War. The fact that Menard’s parents were from Louisiana did not protect him from the charge. The “Logan” referred to in the article was John Logan, a Democratic politician from Illinois who became a Union general during the Civil War and a Republican.
While Southern newspapers often derided black elected officials as uneducated men only recently held as slaves, Menard is here attacked for never having been a slave and for receiving an education. This was a common charge against educated black leaders hurled by white supremacist newspapers. The tears cried by the author for the former slaves of Louisiana are the crocodile tears of one who would devour them.
Here is more on the cheated Congressman from Smithsonian Magazine:
Despite Menard winning the clear majority of votes in the election, his opponent, Caleb Hunt, challenged the outcome. In defending the fairness of his victory to the House of Representatives, Menard also became the first African-American to address Congress in 1869. “I have been sent here by the votes of nearly nine thousand electors, [and] I would feel myself recreant to the duty imposed upon me if I did not defend their rights on this floor,” Menard stated. But the Republican-majority House of Representatives refused to seat either Menard or Hunt, citing their inability to verify the votes in the election.
Here is how a Louisiana newspaper covered the theft of Menard’s seat from him and the black community.
Louisiana Democrat
Wednesday, Jan 20, 1869
Alexandria, LA
Vol: 24
Page: 3
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