Racial Equality And The State s Reconstruction Government...

Wade Hampton, a Southern Democrat, could never accept racial equality and in time would even lead Democrats to overthrow the Republican regime in South Carolina. Hampton III was born into a world of wealth and privileges thanks to the South s slave system. He attended a private academy, went to college, and studied law later on. He had great battlefield skills and gained a reputation out of this. Hollitz in â€Å"Race and Redemption in the Reconstructed South: Robert Smalls and Wade Hampton† describes Hampton as a â€Å"natural leader of a white supremacist counterassault on the state s Reconstruction government,† since he not only shared the same views as many other southerners and white people, but he also demonstrated power, wealth, and security to the state. In the other hand, Robert Smalls was a Republican Representative from South Carolina who wanted to reconstruct the South and guarantee political equality for the freedmen. As described in John Hollitz work, Smalls was born with a common disadvantage: he was a slave. Nevertheless, Hollitz continues to describe Smalls slavery commitment as different, yet beneficial compared to other slaves in that time. He worked for wages known as a â€Å"hired out†, which gave him relative autonomy and even gave him a type of freedom to peruse education during his youth. As Smalls grew older his skills, education, and position as deck hand on the Planter– A ship originally from the Union– served him well to escape the South and become a freeman