DOCSLIB.ORG

On Rewriting Reconstruction History Author(S): Howard K. Beale Source: the American Historical Review, Vol

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On Rewriting Reconstruction History Author(S): Howard K. Beale Source: the American Historical Review, Vol On Rewriting Reconstruction History Author(s): Howard K. Beale Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Jul., 1940), pp. 807-827 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1854452 . Accessed: 04/03/2011 13:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and American Historical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Historical Review. http://www.jstor.org ON REWRITING RECONSTRUCTION HISTORY1 FOR many yearsboth Northernersand Southernerswho wroteon Reconstructionwere dominatedby sectionalfeelings still embittered by the Civil War. Men of the postwardecades were more concerned with justifyingtheir own positionthan theywere with painstakingsearch fortruth. Thus HilaryHerbert and his corroboratorspresented a South- ern indictmentof Northernpolicies, and Henry Wilson's historywas a brieffor the North.Few Southernerswere writing history. Northern historianslong acceptedthe thesisof Radical Republicansthat Radicals had saved theUnion bytheir Reconstruction program, that their Demo- craticopponents were traitors,and thatAndrew Johnson was a drunk- ard and an incompetent.A much-neededrevision came at about the turnof the century,associated principally with Rhodes and the "Dun- ning school".For the firsttime meticulous and thoroughresearch was carriedon in an effortto determinethe truthrather than to prove a thesis.The emphasisof the Dunning schoolwas upon the harm done to the South by Radical Reconstructionand upon the sordidpolitical and economicmotives behind Radicalism.Rhodes and the Dunning group drew a pictureof a South that-but for outsideinterference- mighthave made a happyand practicalreadjustment suited to thenew social,economic, and politicalorder. Rhodes, however, while crediting the President'sfaults to weaknessrather than to wickedness,yet ac- ceptedthe older pictureof AndrewJohnson and blamed his mistakes for much of the disasterthat overtook the South. Then still another group rehabilitatedJohnson. Dewitt rewrotethe storyof the impeach- mentas earlyas 1902.2 Schouler'slast volume,which appeared in 1913, carriedthe revisionfurther.3 In the twentiesa groupof historianscom- pleted the processwith severaldetailed studies of Johnson'scareer.4 About the same timeBowers gave the publichis rathersuperficial but 1 Based on a paper read at a mcetingof the SouthernHistorical Association oi November3, 1939. 2 David MillerDewitt, The Impeachmentand Trial of AndrewJohnson (New York, I 903). 3 JamesSchouler, History of the UnitedStates of Americaunder the Constitution, Vol. VII (New York,I913). 4 RobertW. Winston,Andrew Johnson,Plebeian and Patriot(New York, 1928); Lloyd Paul Stryker,Andrew Johnson: A Studyin Courage (New York, 1936); George FortMilton, The Age of Hate (New York, I930). 807 8o8 Howard K. Beale widelyread study of theperiod.5 His workwas basedon theserious studyof the revisionists.It acceptedtheir reinterpretations. But it departedso farfrom the older pro-Republican point of viewthat it becamealmost a Democraticcampaign document. Feeling that the pendulumhad swungtoo far, several younger historians have initiated a newrevision. As faras ithas gone, this latest rewriting seems to stand uponsubstantial ground. Yet its point of view has not become "classic", as theDunning reinterpretation did.The ideasof theDunning school stilllargely influence writing on theReconstruction period. It would seem thatit is now timefor a youngergeneration of Southernhistorians to ceaselauding those who "restoredwhite supre- macy"and insteadto beginanalyzing the restorationists' interests to see justwhat they stood for in opposingthe Radicals. Such a studyof Reconstructionwill certainly rehabilitate some of the Radical leaders in theSouth, even as theequally denounced President of the United States was rehabilitateda few years ago. A constituentfor whom Sumner had obtaineda Freedmen'sBureau appointment once wrote Sumner from theSouth: "After six months of intimate association I have determined on thestartling proposition that a manis notnecessarily a saint because black,nor a devil,because white." 6 Even Northernhistorians would universallyaccept this once "startling proposition". Yet someof them have approacheddangerously near to its converse.In acceptingthe terms"carpetbagger" and "scalawag"historians have almost inevitably acceptedcertain contemporary biases along with the suggestive names. Is it not timethat we studiedthe history of Reconstructionwithout firstassuming, at leastsubconsciously, that carpetbaggers and Southern whiteRepublicans were wicked, that Negroes were illiterate incom- petents,and thatthe whole white South owes a debtof gratitudeto therestorers of "whitesupremacy"? Some younghistorians, most of themSoutherners, have already answeredthis question affirmatively byproceeding to writehistory in a new spirit.Just as Rhodes,Dunning, Dunning's pupils, and others of theDunning school rendered a servicea generationago by careful researchesinto political sources and by writingwith an attitudefreed fromthe war animositiesof theirfathers, so anothernew generation has begunto retellthe story in termsof the economic and socialforces at workand withoutthe preconceptions that limited the earlier group. Of the Dunningschool itself a few,like MildredThompson, Flem- 5 Claude G. Bowers,The TragicEra (Cambridge,Ig2g). 6 j. C. Beecherfrom Summerville, South Carolina, to CharlesSumner, OCt. 25, 1867, SumnerMSS., LXXIV, WidenerLibrary, Harvard University. On RewritingReconstruction History 809 ing,and Garner,delved into social and economiclife, though without seeingits full implication; Miss Lonn and MissThompson, to a certain extent,and Garner,notably, escaped from the restrictingframes of referenceof theothers.7 Years ago AlexMathews Arnett led the way in reinterpretationof Georgia Bourbons.8 Among the younger historians to whomwe mustturn for reinterpretation areFrancis B. Simkins,C. Vann Woodward,Horace Mann Bond,Vernon L. Wharton,Paul Lewinson,Roger W. Shugg,James S. Allen.And there is one,no longer young,W. E. BurghardtDu Bois,whose race and socialphilosophy givehis work, Black Reconstruction,9 freshness. Du Bois'svolume is far too wordy;it is distortedby insistenceupon moldingfacts into a Marxianpattern.10 Yet in describingthe Negro'srole Du Bois has presenteda massof material,formerly ignored, that every future his- torianmust reckon with. Allen's application of Marxiantheory to the periodhas also forcedupon those of us whodo notaccept his general interpretationcertain important modifications of our own pointsof view." From a non-Marxianpoint of view Shugghas describedin one statethe class struggle between merchants and planters,on theone hand,and smallfarmers and laborers,on theother, and has pointed out thatthis conflict began in -ante-bellum days and continuedthrough Populism.'2Lewinson pioneered ten years ago in restudyingthe Negro's placein Southernhistory.'3 Wharton, a native Mississippian, in a study of theNegro in hisstate from i86o to I89o, haspresented facts that are 7 Ella Lonn, of course, like several othersof the group, was not a studentof Dunning's,but she is nonethelessone of themost distinguished members of the "Dunning school". 8 The PopulistMovement in Georgia: A View of the "AgrarianCrusade" in the Light of Solid-SouthPolitics (New York, i922). 9 New York, 1935. 10 Some Marxistswould disown Du Bois. Yet his interpretationhe owes to Marx's influence.Perhaps it would be fairerto Marx to call Du Bois a quasi-Marxist. 11 Recanstruction(New York, I937). 12 Originsof Class Strugglein Louisiana: A Social Historyof WhiteFarmers and Laborersduring Slavery and after,I840-I875 (University,La., I939). Unfortunately, thoughhe does an admirablejob in tracingthe class struggleand its implications,Shugg merelymentions casually in passingmany of the most importantfactors, such as cor- ruptionunder the Conservativesbefore Radicals came intopower, the relationof business to government,the profitthat respectable Southern whites made fromRadical corruption, the failureof the Radicals to accomplishimportant social reforms,and theireffect upon education.This is a pitysince he has broughtsuch fine understanding to thedevelopment of his major thesis.Furthermore, by his failureto carryhis studyon throughthe days of the restorationistsup to the full floweringof Populism,he failsto shed the lighton
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Redeemers
    CHAPTER I THE REDEEMERS y honest genealogy of the ruling family of Southern Demo• crats would reveal a strain of mixed blood. The mixture A sprang from a forced union with the house that had been Democracy's bitter rival for the throne. A Mississippian once whimsically acknowledged this union. "A few years after the war," he wrote, "all lovers of good government in the South concluded to celebrate a marriage. The high contracting parties were Whiggism and Democracy and the ceremony took place in 1875, though the betrothal may antedate that time .... As is usual in such cases the parties have now one and the same name, but the Whig party is no more dead than is one of our fair damsels, because she has concluded to cast her lot with the man of her choice for weal or for woe." 1 The fact was that instead of assuming the submissive role sug• gested by a change of name, Whiggery often took the dominant position-along with the bulk of desirable offices. A North Caro• lina editor who described himself as one of the "unterrified Democ• racy" boasted that "the Democratic nominees for Governor since the war had been Worth, a Whig; Ashe, a Whig; Merrimon, a Whig; Vance, a Whig; and Jarvis, who was too young before the War to have had much political leaning one way or another." The Democrats of the First North Carolina District had in that period nominated five men for Congress, "every one of them former Whigs," and the state supreme court was "composed of three ster• ling Democrats, all former Whigs." By 1884 it appeared that "the Democrats of today admire Henry Clay just as much as the men of 1Ja ckson Clarion, September 19, 1883.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Appalachia
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Appalachian Studies Arts and Humanities 2-28-2001 A History of Appalachia Richard B. Drake Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Drake, Richard B., "A History of Appalachia" (2001). Appalachian Studies. 23. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_appalachian_studies/23 R IC H ARD B . D RA K E A History of Appalachia A of History Appalachia RICHARD B. DRAKE THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by grants from the E.O. Robinson Mountain Fund and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 2001 by The University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2003 Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kenhlcky Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com 12 11 10 09 08 8 7 6 5 4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Drake, Richard B., 1925- A history of Appalachia / Richard B.
    [Show full text]
  • Carlotta Walls
    Grade 8: Module 3B: Unit 1: Lesson 2 Analyzing Experiences: Carlotta Walls This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Exempt third-party content is indicated by the footer: © (name of copyright holder). Used by permission and not subject to Creative Commons license. GRADE 8: MODULE 3B: UNIT 1: LESSON 2 Analyzing Experiences: Carlotta Walls Long-Term Targets Addressed (Based on NYSP12 ELA CCLS) I can cite text-based evidence that provides the strongest support for an analysis of informational text. (RI.8.1) I can analyze how specific dialogue or incidents in a plot propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. (RL.8.3) Supporting Learning Targets Ongoing Assessment • I can cite evidence that supports my analysis of A Mighty Long Way. • Structured notes, Chapter 1, pages 3–26 (from homework) • I can analyze how incidents in A Mighty Long Way provoke Carlotta to make certain decisions. Created by Expeditionary Learning, on behalf of Public Consulting Group, Inc. © Public Consulting Group, Inc., with a perpetual license granted to Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, Inc. NYS Common Core ELA Curriculum • G8:M3B:U1:L2 • February 2014 • 1 GRADE 8: MODULE 3B: UNIT 1: LESSON 2 Analyzing Experiences: Carlotta Walls Agenda Teaching Notes 1. Opening • This lesson, like every lesson in this unit, deals with sensitive issues of race. See Lesson 1 Teaching A. Engaging the Reader: Structured Notes and Family Notes and Talking about Race (Lesson 1 supporting materials) for more information about supporting Tree Activity (5 minutes) students in talking about these sensitive issues with care and respect.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Lives and Whitened Stories: from the Lowcountry to the Mountains?
    National Park Service <Running Headers> <E> U.S. Department of the Interior Historic Resource Study of Black History at Rock Hill/Connemara Carl Sandburg Home NHS BLACK LIVES AND WHITENED STORIES: From the Lowcountry to the Mountains David E. Whisnant and Anne Mitchell Whisnant CULTURAL RESOURCES SOUTHEAST REGION BLACK LIVES AND WHITENED STORIES: From the Lowcountry to the Mountains By David E. Whisnant, Ph.D. Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Ph.D. Primary Source History Services A HISTORIC RESOURCE STUDY OF BLACK HISTORY AT ROCK HILL/CONNEMARA Presented to Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site In Partnership with the Organization of American Historians/National Park Service Southeast Region History Program NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NOVEMBER 2020 Cultural Resources Division Southeast Regional Office National Park Service 100 Alabama Street, SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303 (404) 507-5847 Black Lives and Whitened Stories: From the Lowcountry to the Mountains By David E. Whisnant and Anne Mitchell Whisnant http://www.nps.gov Cover Photos: Smyth Servants: Black female servant rolling children in stroller. Photograph, Carl Sandburg National Historic Site archives, (1910; Sadie “Boots” & Rosana [?]). Smyth Servants: Swedish House HSR, p. 22; (Collection of William McKay, great-grandson of the Smyths). Also Barn Complex HSR Fig. 11, p. 7: Figure 11. The Smyths’ servants in front of the kitchen building, ca. 1910. (Collection of Smyth great-grandson William McKay). Sylvene: From HSR, Main House, pp. 10, 37: Collection of Juliane Heggoy. Man and 3: Swedish House HSR, p. 22; (Collection of William McKay, great-grandson of the Smyths). Also Barn Complex HSR Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Unit 8 Test—Wed. Feb. 25
    Unit 8 Study Guide: Pre-AP 2015 Civil War and Reconstruction Era (Ch. 15 & 16) Expectations of the Student/Essential Questions Identify the Civil War and Reconstruction Era of Texas History and define its characteristics Explain the significance of 1861 Explain reasons for the involvement of Texas in the Civil War such as states’ rights, slavery, secession, and tariffs Analyze the political, economic, and social effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction in Texas Identify significant individuals and events concerning Texas and the Civil War such as John Bell Hood, John Reagan, Francis Lubbock, Thomas Green, John Magruder and the Battle of Galveston, the Battle of Sabine Pass, and the Battle of Palmito Ranch Identify different points of view of political parties and interest groups on important Texas issues Essential Topics of Significance Essential People (5) Causes of Civil War Food shortages/ John Wilkes Booth Robert E. Lee substitutes Union vs. Conf. advantages Jefferson Davis Abraham Lincoln Appomattox Courthouse TX Secession Convention Dick Dowling Francis Lubbock State government collapse Fort Sumter “Juneteenth” John S. Ford John Magruder Battle of Galveston Freedmen’s Bureau Ulysses S. Grant Pendleton Murrah Battle of Sabine Pass (3) Recons. Plans Battle of Brownsville Thomas Green Elisha M. Pease (3) Recons. Amendments Red River Campaign Andrew Jackson Hamilton John Reagan (5) Provisions of Texas Battle of Palmito Ranch John Bell Hood Lawrence Sullivan Ross Constitution of 1869 Texans help for war effort Ironclad Oath Andrew Johnson Philip Sheridan Women’s roles Immigration/Emigration Albert Sidney Johnston James W. Throckmorton Essential Vocabulary Dates to Remember states’ rights preventive strike amendment Unit 8 Test—Wed.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Problems in Mississippi During the Reconstruction Period 1863-1876
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1949 The Political Problems in Mississippi During the Reconstruction Period 1863-1876 John J. Beckman Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Beckman, John J., "The Political Problems in Mississippi During the Reconstruction Period 1863-1876" (1949). Master's Theses. 733. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/733 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1949 John J. Beckman The Political Problems in Mississippi during the Reconstruction Period 1863 - 1876 by John J. Beckman, S.J. A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LOYOLA UNIVERSITY JUNE 1949 Vita Auctoris John J. Beckman, S.J. was born in Cincinnati Ohio, February 25, 1921. He attended Holy Family Parochial School where he completed his elementary education in 1935. Four years later he was graduated from St. Xavier High School, CinCinnati, Ohio. He then attended xavier University, CinCinnati, Ohio, where in January, 1943, he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in History. In February of the same year he entered the Novitiate of the Sacred Heart, Milford, Ohio. In the fall of 1946 he registered in Loyola University graduate school, at the same time furthering his study of philosophy at West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana, an affiliated College.
    [Show full text]
  • The Reconstruction Trope: Politics, Literature, and History in the South, 1890-1941 Travis Patterson Clemson University, [email protected]
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 8-2018 The Reconstruction Trope: Politics, Literature, and History in the South, 1890-1941 Travis Patterson Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Recommended Citation Patterson, Travis, "The Reconstruction Trope: Politics, Literature, and History in the South, 1890-1941" (2018). All Theses. 2917. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2917 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE RECONSTRUCTION TROPE: POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND HISTORY IN THE SOUTH, 1890-1941 A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts History by Travis Patterson August 2018 Accepted by: Dr. Paul Anderson, Committee Chair Dr. Rod Andrew Jr. Dr. Vernon Burton ABSTRACT This thesis examines how white southerners conceptualized Reconstruction from 1890 to 1941, with an emphasis on the era between the First and Second World Wars. By analyzing Reconstruction as it appears in political rhetoric, professional and amateur history, and southern literature, the thesis demonstrates how white southerners used the ‘tragic’ story of Reconstruction to respond to developments in their own time. Additionally, this thesis aims to illuminate the broader cultural struggle over Reconstruction between the First and Second World Wars. This thesis ultimately argues that the early revisionism in Reconstruction historiography was part of a broader reassessment of Reconstruction that took place in southern culture after the First World War.
    [Show full text]
  • Randolph B. Campbell Regents Professor of History University of North Texas
    February 16, 2019 To: The AASLH “Excellence in History” Award Committee From: Randolph B. Campbell Regents Professor of History University of North Texas I write to support the nomination of the Summer 2018 issue of the Journal of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society for the AASLH Annual Meeting “Excellence in History” award. Having researched and written extensively on Texas history in general and on the history of African Americans in Texas in particular, I find the content of that issue of the journal deserving of special recognition for many reasons. First, the issue is extremely valuable to Texas history and historians simply because it tells a story that heretofore largely has not appeared in print. A great deal of the history of what judges have handed down in applying the law to African Americans has been described at great length, but the stories of African Americans themselves as jurists are largely unknown. This history is relatively brief because Texas remained a bastion of segregation until the second half of the twentieth century, but that makes the stories of pioneer African American judges at all levels all the more significant. An outstanding illustration of a contribution by this issue to the history of African Americans who were notable jurists in Texas is the article by John G. Browning on the career of Chief Justice Carolyn Wright. Browning opens with a reference to Charlye O. Farris (1929–2010), the first African American woman admitted to the Texas bar (1953) and the first black woman to serve as a judge in Texas (serving as county judge pro tem in 1954).
    [Show full text]
  • Appalachian Studies Bibliography Cumulation 2013-June 2016 ______
    Appalachian Studies Bibliography Cumulation 2013-June 2016 _____________________ CONTENTS Agriculture and Land Use ................................................................................................................3 Appalachian Studies.........................................................................................................................8 Archaeology and Physical Anthropology ......................................................................................14 Architecture, Historic Buildings, Historic Sites ............................................................................18 Arts and Crafts ..............................................................................................................................21 Biography .......................................................................................................................................27 Civil War, Military.........................................................................................................................29 Coal, Industry, Labor, Railroads, Transportation ..........................................................................37 Description and Travel, Recreation and Sports .............................................................................63 Economic Conditions, Economic Development, Economic Policy, Poverty ................................71 Education .......................................................................................................................................82
    [Show full text]
  • Washington State University Carpetbaggers: A
    WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY CARPETBAGGERS: A REVISIONIST MODEL EVALUATION JOHANNES ANDERSON SPRING 2007 ADVISOR: DR. RICHARD HUME DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction . 1 The Carpetbagger Identity . 4 Marshall Harvey Twitchell: A Case Study . 6 Military Career . 6 Twitchell in the Freedmen’s Bureau . 8 Life as a Planter . 11 Twitchell in Politics . 13 Violence and Tragedy . 17 Legacy . 21 Postscript: Carpetbagger Propaganda—A Century of Misinformation . 22 Bibliography . 29 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my deepest gratitude to my mentor, Dr. Richard Hume, for his generous guidance and support, including extending use of his personal library and the manuscript of his upcoming book for my research. I also thank my mother for her tireless editing and support, and instilling in me from a young age a passion for history. Introduction The Reconstruction of the American South following the Civil War remains a tumultuous time in American history, yet one of the most important. Carpetbaggers, white Northerners who migrated to the American South after the Civil War and became Republican politicians, are seen traditionally as scheming men taking advantage of the war-torn country to amass wealth and politically empower themselves by manipulating freedmen and native Southern whites.1 Hundreds of these controversial Northerners profited from the agrarian and political displacement of the South, becoming politicians and often planters. Despised by disenfranchised ex-Confederates, they were often seen as the epitome of everything the South fought against in the Civil War, a sign of ultimate defeat: not only had the South unsuccessfully fought for secession from the North, but it had come under Federal military rule during Reconstruction, inundated with blue-coated soldiers and carpetbaggers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction'
    H-NC Rubin on Baggett, 'The Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction' Review published on Thursday, November 1, 2007 James Alex Baggett. The Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. xvi + 323 pp. $23.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8071-3014-8; $55.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8071-2798-8. Reviewed by Hyman S. Rubin (Department of History and Political Science, Columbia College, South Carolina) Published on H-NC (November, 2007) On the Origin of Scalawags James Alex Baggett's purpose inThe Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction is to answer one of the most difficult questions historians have asked about the Reconstruction era: why did some white southerners after the Civil War join African Americans and northerners in the Republican Party (thus becoming "scalawags" to their white Democrat neighbors), while most did not? Of course historians have asked other important questions about these "southern dissenters" as well: how many scalawags were there? How important were they to Reconstruction's prospects? What did they accomplish? What persecution did they face? How honorable were they? How well did they cooperate with northerners and blacks? What became of them after Reconstruction? Baggett acknowledges these questions and provides partial answers for them, but they are clearly not his focus; this is a book about the choice to become a scalawag. Baggett describes his book as "an analysis of scalawag origins" (p. 7); he considers its "most important" result to be a demonstration of "why individuals joined the party and became Republican leaders despite bitter opposition by most whites" (p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Crises of Reconstruction, 1865–1877
    16 THE CRISES OF RECONSTRUCTION, 1865–1877 CHAPTER OUTLINE • Reconstruction Politics, 1865–1868 • Reconstruction Governments • The Impact of Emancipation • New Concerns in the North, 1868–1876 • Reconstruction Abandoned, 1876–1877 RECONSTRUCTION POLITICS, 1865–1868 At the end of the Civil War, President Johnson might have exiled, imprisoned, or executed Confederate leaders and imposed martial law indefinitely. Demobilized Confederate soldiers might have continued armed resistance to federal occupation forces. Freed slaves might have taken revenge on former owners and other white southerners. But none of this occurred. Instead, intense political conflict dominated the immediate postwar years. National politics produced new constitutional amend- ments, a presidential impeachment, and some of the most ambitious domestic legis- lation ever enacted by Congress, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867–1868. The major outcome of Reconstruction politics was the enfranchisement of black men, a devel- opment that few—black or white—had expected when Lee surrendered. In 1865, only a small group of politicians supported black suffrage. All were Radical Republicans, a minority faction that had emerged during the war. Led by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, the Radicals had clamored for the abolition of slavery and a demanding reconstruction policy. But the Radicals, outnumbered in Congress by other Republicans and opposed by the Democratic minority, faced long odds. Still, they managed to win broad Republican support for parts of their Reconstruction program, including black male enfranchisement. Just as civil war had led to eman- cipation, a goal once supported by only a minority of Americans, so Reconstruction policy became bound to black suffrage, a momentous change that originally had only narrow political backing.
    [Show full text]