The Richmond Whig was a staunch opponent of Republican Reconstruction plans, but as this article indicates it could be realistic in its assessment of the permanent changes wrought by the 13th Amendment. Many Southern whites, angry at their former slaves for choosing emancipation over continued enslavement, cooked up schemes to encourage immigrants to come to the former Confederate states to replace the slaves. These plans were for nought because immigrants soon found that they were treated like slaves and they quickly left the region.
Richmond Whig
Tuesday, Nov 03, 1868
Richmond, VA
Vol: 47
Issue: 97
Page: 4
One advantage of taking a less antagonistic approach to Black workers would be the increased political control white landowners would have over Black votes. White political supremacy could be fostered by changes in labor relations.
The naivete of the political analysis regarding ‘white supremacy’ is sad. First, people with experience in local agriculture, especially the tobacco and cotton of Virginia, were to be highly prized. That was a practical reality. Second, the entire Radical Republican Reconstruction program was to control the African-American voting block in favor of their political goals against Southern Democrats. Radical Republicans were, to be clear, white people who reserved the Territories for “free white men”, with the Abraham Lincoln quote to that effect easily available.
So, it wasn’t Southerners maintaining themselves against African-Americans – it was Radical Republicans maintaining their party and politics against Democrats. I suppose you could call it “white versus white supremacy”.