Conclusion

Freedmen in Alexandria, Virginia obtained Black Suffrage because of their determination, actions, and the assistance of the Virginia Republican Party and the National Republican Party that advocated on their behalf for Freedmen’s suffrage. Freedmen in Alexandria organized the Colored Convention where they debated the merits of Black Suffrage and justified their ability to vote and to create a Black suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution. The Virginia Republicans created the Alexandria Virginia Union league that included various local freedmen from Alexandria and included Freedmen in the organization’s discussions on Black Suffrage. Freedmen advocated for their rights on March 2, 1867, which resulted in temporary suffrage. Approximately one thousand freedmen voted in Alexandria on March 5, 1867. They worked with the Fourth Ward Radicals and elected Seaton to vote on their behalf and ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Freedmen endured Conservative opposition that resulted in Conservatives to advocate for Grant to end Virginia Reconstruction. Virginia Reconstruction succeeded for the Republican Party and Freedmen because Freedmen, including Freedmen in Alexandria, obtained the right to vote and Virginia drafted and ratified its constitution to be readmitted to the Union. Alexandria, Virginia Freedmen obtained Black suffrage through their actions and determination. The broad significance of this study has been to depict Freedmen’s agency as they obtained Black Suffrage through the specific town of Alexandria, Virginia within the context of the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the end of Virginia Reconstruction and remittance to the Union in 1870.