Northern Democrats and Reconstruction, 1865-1868

Book Reviews 361 Conservative Ordeal: Northern Democrats and Reconstruction, 1865-1868. By Edward L. Gambill. (Ames: Iowa State Uni- versity Press, 1981. Pp. viii, 188. Notes, bibliographic essay, index. $15.95.) Despite the attention historians have lavished on Recon- struction politics, most scholars have either ignored the northern Democrats or treated them as a monolithic group of ob- structionists. As Edward L. Gambill demonstrates in this tightly organized monograph, northern Democrats were as torn by factionalism as their Republican opponents. Adding detail to the recent work on northern Democrats by Joel Silbey, Gambill shows how the Democratic party emerged from the Civil War with a stigma of treason and without effective leadership. The party stumbled through the Reconstruction period searching for political and ideological direction. Though wary of President Andrew Johnson and his conservative Republican advisors, northern Democrats found themselves defending the president from the attacks of moderate and radical Republi- cans. Yet the rapprochement between Johnson and his former party comrades was never complete, and such movements for formal cooperation as the National Union party died aborning, destroyed by mutual suspicion and bankrupt political strategy. Gambill argues that Democrats pursued a suicidal policy of resistance to federal reconstruction policies and often ob- structed compromise efforts between President Johnson and the Republican majority in Congress. Although the author criticizes the Democrats for appealing to northern racism, his own evi- dence proves that this was the only issue that brought the party success. But even after striking victories in 1867, no strong national leaders emerged; Horatio Seymour, George Pendleton, and Frank Blair were only pale reflections of Stephen A. Douglas. Gambill asserts that the Democrats unintentionally helped the Republicans by rekindling the war issues, and indeed in the short term the party faced disaster at the polls. Many readers will note, however, the long-range effectiveness of Democratic strategy, for by 1874 the party had overcome the opposition’s bloody shirt tactics and recaptured control of the House of Representatives. The author has examined the relevant newspapers and manuscript collections. He has written a straightforward and largely uninspired narrative. Gambill’s Democrats appear life- less, and there is not one interesting personal anecdote in the entire book. There are serious limitations to this simple ap- 362 Indiana Magazine of History proach to the subject. The author should have analyzed Demo- cratic voting patterns in Congress more rigorously; he makes perceptive comments on particular pieces of legislation but at- tempts no overall interpretation. Despite some passing remarks in the first chapter on constituency, Gambill neglects not only the rank and file but the relationship of national issues to state and local ones. Might the Democrats, for example, have more effectively exploited the ethnic and cultural divisions of the era? Although this book contains much new information, there is still need for a solid, interpretative history of the northern Democrats during Reconstruction. Anderson College, George Rable Anderson, Ind. Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields: The Southern West Virginia Miners, 1880-1922. By David Alan Corbin. (Ur- bana: University of Illinois Press, 1981. Pp. xix, 294. Notes, illustrations, bibliographical essay, selected bibliography, index. Clothbound, $24.95; paperbound, $12.50.) For years American labor history was the preserve of institutional historians. The focus was on the rise of trade unions and their presumed role in dominating the goals and consciousness of American workers, developments which were hailed as another variant of the theme of progress in American history. The last decade, however, has produced a revolution in historical scholarship on American labor. Historians have demonstrated that American workers have been more than narrowly focused toilers who followed the dictates of their union leaders and simply sought wage increases and job secu- rity. The most important insight emerging from the broader view of the American worker has been the social and cultural context in which workers shaped their thought and protest. Studies have shown them attempting to achieve social justice and equality, control of the work place, and even family stabil- ity. David Alan Corbin’s excellent study of southern West Vir- ginia miners and their widespread protest in the years after 1880 provides another dimension to the expanding definition of working-class culture in America. Corbin’s miners marched on government officials and fought protracted battles with state police not just as a response to simple economic problems but ultimately because they tired of the confinement of their com- pany towns and felt that in America people should be treated .

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