40 acres and a mule

Summary In the pronouncement of "Special Field Order No. 15" by General William T. Sherman, Sherman gave a pronouncement that slaves could have 40 acres and a mule since the owners of plantations in the South fled their land so the slaves can claim it as theirs. The former slaves would raise the crops themselves and have the entire land as their own. The "Proclamation of Amnesty" by President Andrew Jackson did not support Sherman's idea of …

…land reform that would make land available to the slaves if their owners fled was a good idea. Andrew Jackson was wrong for giving back the land to the owners because it would of taught them an even greater lesson by giving the white plantation owners the thought of having their land given to the slaves that worked on the land have having the slaves own it as if it was theirs from the beginning.