Amos T. Akerman - U.S. Presidential Election 1868

U.S. Presidential Election 1868

During the 1868 Presidential election there was concern that Akerman supported presidential candidate Horatio Seymour over Grant. To stop the rumor, in a letter from Elberton, Akerman published his full endorsement for Ulysses S. Grant and would serve as the Republican presidential state elector from Georgia. Akerman believed Grant would restore order and peace to the violence-plagued South. Akerman believed Grant would respect the "rights of the laborer as a freeman, citizen and voter." Akerman wrote that violence in the South against blacks was motivated by revenge after being defeated by the North, slaves having been taken away, and were dissenfranchised politically. Akerman believed that Congressional Reconstruction had been the better plan for the Southern states, opposed to President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plan. Akerman believed that freedmen deserved federal protection from the law and that he endorsed their enfranchisement at the ballot. Akerman admitted he was initially strongly opposed to blacks voting, however, his opinion changed as he viewed the only way blacks could gain protection was through suffrage.