Report on the Condition of the South

"Report on the Condition of the South" is an important historical document referring to the times of the Civil War in the United States. The author of the report, Carl Schurz, was a German immigrant, Union general, journalist, and eventually, United States Senator from Missouri. He was commissioned to investigate the conditions of the South and to draft a report. In this report, he warned of widespread abuse of freedmen after emancipation and predicted dire consequences to African Americans, Unionists, and their allies if Southerners were able to reconstitute local militias and other domestic security institutions. Although his report was ignored by President Johnson, Schurz's observations proved to be prescient, leading to more protective enactments by Congress under its power to enforce the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.