Alexandria Republicans 1866
Freedmen in Alexandria continued to advocate for their rights and protection in 1866. Freedmen and Republicans met on February 5, 1866, with Judge Underwood presiding. Freedmen passed resolutions that called on Congress to establish a territorial government with military soldiers to protect Freedmen. The Alexandria Republican Party convened on May 17, 1866, and adopted several resolutions to advance further Freedmen suffrage. The meeting delegates favored free education for Freedmen and nominated nine members to meet with the President to readmit Virginia back into the Union as well as administer loyalty oaths to new officeholders. The committee stated, “Resolved, That a State Central Committee, consisting of nine members be invested exclusively with the power to call State Conventions of the party.”Schofield opposed the Fourteenth Amendment and provisions such as the iron-clad loyalty oaths. Nevertheless, he urged Virginia to ratify the amendment out of fear of what the Republican Party would do next. Harpers Weekly argued on June 2, 1866, that the Alexandria Republican Union Association became the first convention to advocate forcefully for Freedmen’s suffrage. Freedmen in Alexandria continued to meet during 1866 and until the Virginia Constitutional Convention to obtain their right to vote. The Alexandria Republican Union Association created a Committee of Five to meet with Johnson and members of Congress to obtain their views on the Association’s purpose. Freedmen in Alexandria subsequently went to the Republican Union Association Convention held in Richmond, Virginia on April 17, 1867.The Convention’s purpose included how to organize how Virginia would select delegates to draft a new state constitution. The Reconstruction Acts demanded that all former Confederate States elect delegates and hold state conventions to determine how to continue state-level Reconstruction. George Lewis Seaton and Rosier D. Beckley attended the Convention.