The commanding general in a district was charged with many duties, military, political, and administrative.

It was his duty to carry on a government satisfactory to the radicals and not too irritating to the Southern whites; at the same time he must execute the reconstruction acts by putting old leaders out of power and Negroes in.

Violent opposition to this policy on the part of the South was not looked for.

Notwithstanding the "Southern outrage" campaign, it was generally recognized in government circles that conditions in the seceded states had gradually been growing better since the close of the war.

There was in many regions, to be sure, a general laxity in enforcing laws, but that had always been characteristic of the newer parts of the South.