Author: Joe Gray Taylor
Publisher: Lsu Press
ISBN: 9780807100844
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 552
Book Description
Louisiana Reconstructed, 1863-1877
Author: Joe Gray Taylor
Publisher: Lsu Press
ISBN: 9780807100844
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 552
Book Description
Publisher: Lsu Press
ISBN: 9780807100844
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 552
Book Description
Army Generals and Reconstruction
Author: Joseph G. Dawson III
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807119600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316
Book Description
The U.S. Army faced extraordinary problems while policing the post–Civil War South, and the task may have been the most difficult in Louisiana, where Reconstruction lasted longer than in any other of the former Confederate states. Beginning with General Benjamin Franklin Butler, who boasted that “in six months New Orleans should be a Union city or—a home of the alligators,” the Union generals who commanded Louisiana would meet with varying degrees of success in their attempts to enforce the constantly evolving Reconstruction policies of three administrations on a people who openly despised their conquerors. Covering the period from the fall of New Orleans to Federal forces through the collapse of Stephen Packard’s Republican government in 1877, Army Generals and Reconstruction is a history and a detailed analysis of the army’s responsibilities, accomplishments, and failures in Reconstruction Louisiana. The first book to fully examine and assess the army’s direct influence on Louisiana politics during Reconstruction, Joseph G. Dawson’s study shows how the decisions and attitudes of the army commanders were crucial to both the Republican and Democratic parties and how neither side could act confidently without knowing first how the generals would respond to their actions. Dawson examines the army commanders’ efforts to ensure that blacks and Republicans could exercise their civil and political rights. He reveals the difficulties commanders often faced in protecting Republicans from Democratic violence and economic retribution—particularly during the 1870s when the conservative Democrats mounted an intensive and violent campaign to regain control of the state government. Dawson also looks at the influence of General Philip Sheridan on Louisiana Reconstruction politics. During his command in the state, Sheridan was able to protect and strengthen the Republican party, but his policies incurred the displeasure of President Andrew Johnson, who ordered him out of Louisiana to a new assignment on the Great Plains. Sheridan, however, retained his interest in Louisiana politics and his support of Radical Reconstruction, and was later twice sent into the state on special missions by President U.S. Grant. Still, despite the efforts of Sheridan and other pro-Republican officers, the Democrats worked their way back into power. Based on a close examination of archival sources—including the personal papers of the officers who commanded the occupation forces—this study by Joseph G. Dawson reveals the fully complexity of the army’s involvement in Louisiana politics throughout Reconstruction.
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807119600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316
Book Description
The U.S. Army faced extraordinary problems while policing the post–Civil War South, and the task may have been the most difficult in Louisiana, where Reconstruction lasted longer than in any other of the former Confederate states. Beginning with General Benjamin Franklin Butler, who boasted that “in six months New Orleans should be a Union city or—a home of the alligators,” the Union generals who commanded Louisiana would meet with varying degrees of success in their attempts to enforce the constantly evolving Reconstruction policies of three administrations on a people who openly despised their conquerors. Covering the period from the fall of New Orleans to Federal forces through the collapse of Stephen Packard’s Republican government in 1877, Army Generals and Reconstruction is a history and a detailed analysis of the army’s responsibilities, accomplishments, and failures in Reconstruction Louisiana. The first book to fully examine and assess the army’s direct influence on Louisiana politics during Reconstruction, Joseph G. Dawson’s study shows how the decisions and attitudes of the army commanders were crucial to both the Republican and Democratic parties and how neither side could act confidently without knowing first how the generals would respond to their actions. Dawson examines the army commanders’ efforts to ensure that blacks and Republicans could exercise their civil and political rights. He reveals the difficulties commanders often faced in protecting Republicans from Democratic violence and economic retribution—particularly during the 1870s when the conservative Democrats mounted an intensive and violent campaign to regain control of the state government. Dawson also looks at the influence of General Philip Sheridan on Louisiana Reconstruction politics. During his command in the state, Sheridan was able to protect and strengthen the Republican party, but his policies incurred the displeasure of President Andrew Johnson, who ordered him out of Louisiana to a new assignment on the Great Plains. Sheridan, however, retained his interest in Louisiana politics and his support of Radical Reconstruction, and was later twice sent into the state on special missions by President U.S. Grant. Still, despite the efforts of Sheridan and other pro-Republican officers, the Democrats worked their way back into power. Based on a close examination of archival sources—including the personal papers of the officers who commanded the occupation forces—this study by Joseph G. Dawson reveals the fully complexity of the army’s involvement in Louisiana politics throughout Reconstruction.
Reconstruction in the Cane Fields
Author: John C. Rodrigue
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807127280
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
In Reconstruction in the Cane Fields, John C. Rodrigue examines emancipation and the difficult transition from slavery to free labor in one enclave of the South -- the cane sugar region of southern Louisiana. In contrast to the various forms of sharecropping and tenancy that replaced slavery in the cotton South, wage labor dominated the sugar industry. Rodrigue demonstrates that the special geographical and environmental requirements of sugar production in Louisiana shaped the new labor arrangements. Ultimately, he argues, the particular demands of Louisiana sugar production accorded freedmen formidable bargaining power in the contest with planters over free labor. Rodrigue addresses many issues pivotal to all post-emancipation societies: How would labor be reorganized following slavery's demise? Who would wield decision-making power on the plantation? How were former slaves to secure the fruits of their own labor? He finds that while freedmen's working and living conditions in the postbellum sugar industry resembled the prewar status quo, they did not reflect a continuation of the powerlessness of slavery. Instead, freedmen converted their skills and knowledge of sugar production, their awareness of how easily they could disrupt the sugar plantation routine, and their political empowerment during Radical Reconstruction into leverage that they used in disputes with planters over wages, hours, and labor conditions. Thus, sugar planters, far from being omnipotent overlords who dictated terms to workers, were forced to adjust to an emerging labor market as well as to black political power. The labor arrangements particular to postbellum sugar plantations not only propelled the freedmen's political mobilization during Radical Reconstruction, Rodrigue shows, but also helped to sustain black political power -- at least for a few years -- beyond Reconstruction's demise in 1877. By showing that freedmen, under the proper circumstances, were willing to consent to wage labor and to work routines that strongly resembled those of slavery, Reconstruction in the Cane Fields offers a profound interpretation of how former slaves defined freedom in slavery's immediate aftermath. It will prove essential reading for all students of southern, African American, agricultural, and labor history.
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807127280
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
In Reconstruction in the Cane Fields, John C. Rodrigue examines emancipation and the difficult transition from slavery to free labor in one enclave of the South -- the cane sugar region of southern Louisiana. In contrast to the various forms of sharecropping and tenancy that replaced slavery in the cotton South, wage labor dominated the sugar industry. Rodrigue demonstrates that the special geographical and environmental requirements of sugar production in Louisiana shaped the new labor arrangements. Ultimately, he argues, the particular demands of Louisiana sugar production accorded freedmen formidable bargaining power in the contest with planters over free labor. Rodrigue addresses many issues pivotal to all post-emancipation societies: How would labor be reorganized following slavery's demise? Who would wield decision-making power on the plantation? How were former slaves to secure the fruits of their own labor? He finds that while freedmen's working and living conditions in the postbellum sugar industry resembled the prewar status quo, they did not reflect a continuation of the powerlessness of slavery. Instead, freedmen converted their skills and knowledge of sugar production, their awareness of how easily they could disrupt the sugar plantation routine, and their political empowerment during Radical Reconstruction into leverage that they used in disputes with planters over wages, hours, and labor conditions. Thus, sugar planters, far from being omnipotent overlords who dictated terms to workers, were forced to adjust to an emerging labor market as well as to black political power. The labor arrangements particular to postbellum sugar plantations not only propelled the freedmen's political mobilization during Radical Reconstruction, Rodrigue shows, but also helped to sustain black political power -- at least for a few years -- beyond Reconstruction's demise in 1877. By showing that freedmen, under the proper circumstances, were willing to consent to wage labor and to work routines that strongly resembled those of slavery, Reconstruction in the Cane Fields offers a profound interpretation of how former slaves defined freedom in slavery's immediate aftermath. It will prove essential reading for all students of southern, African American, agricultural, and labor history.
Monumental
Author: Brian K. Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780917860836
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"Depicted as a graphic history and informed by newly discovered primary sources and years of archival research, Monumental resurrects, in vivid detail, Louisiana and New Orleans after the Civil War, and an iconic American life that never should have been forgotten. The graphic history is supplemented with personal and historiographical essays as well as a map, timeline, and endnotes that explore the riveting scenes in even greater depth. Monumental is a story of determination, scandal, betrayal-and how one man's principled fight for equality and justice may have cost him everything"--
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780917860836
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"Depicted as a graphic history and informed by newly discovered primary sources and years of archival research, Monumental resurrects, in vivid detail, Louisiana and New Orleans after the Civil War, and an iconic American life that never should have been forgotten. The graphic history is supplemented with personal and historiographical essays as well as a map, timeline, and endnotes that explore the riveting scenes in even greater depth. Monumental is a story of determination, scandal, betrayal-and how one man's principled fight for equality and justice may have cost him everything"--
Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction
Author: Peyton McCrary
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400870194
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 443
Book Description
After victorious federal troops swept through southern Louisiana in 1862, the state became the testing ground for Abraham Lincoln's approach to reconstruction, and thus the focal point for the debate over post-war policy in Washington. Peyton McCrary offers a comprehensive account of the social and political upheavals in Louisiana, set against the background of a new interpretation of the revolutionary dimensions of the Civil War party system. He compares the moderate Republican regime set up by Lincoln with the antebellum social and political system, and contrasts it with the reactionary government established in 1865 under the aegis of Andrew Johnson and the Democratic Party. The author also explores the social history of the contract labor system, the evolution of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the growing participation of blacks in the Louisiana Republican movement. Drawing on extensive research in unpublished manuscripts, party records, and newspapers, and using sophisticated quantitative analysis of electoral and legislative behavior, Professor McCrary suggests a significant revision of earlier interpretations of Lincoln's reconstruction policies. He finds that the real architect of the gradualist approach with which the President was publicly identified was his commanding general in Louisiana, Nathaniel P. Banks, who was less open to the idea of Negro suffrage than was Lincoln himself. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400870194
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 443
Book Description
After victorious federal troops swept through southern Louisiana in 1862, the state became the testing ground for Abraham Lincoln's approach to reconstruction, and thus the focal point for the debate over post-war policy in Washington. Peyton McCrary offers a comprehensive account of the social and political upheavals in Louisiana, set against the background of a new interpretation of the revolutionary dimensions of the Civil War party system. He compares the moderate Republican regime set up by Lincoln with the antebellum social and political system, and contrasts it with the reactionary government established in 1865 under the aegis of Andrew Johnson and the Democratic Party. The author also explores the social history of the contract labor system, the evolution of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the growing participation of blacks in the Louisiana Republican movement. Drawing on extensive research in unpublished manuscripts, party records, and newspapers, and using sophisticated quantitative analysis of electoral and legislative behavior, Professor McCrary suggests a significant revision of earlier interpretations of Lincoln's reconstruction policies. He finds that the real architect of the gradualist approach with which the President was publicly identified was his commanding general in Louisiana, Nathaniel P. Banks, who was less open to the idea of Negro suffrage than was Lincoln himself. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
The Colfax Massacre
Author: LeeAnna Keith
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195393082
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238
Book Description
Drawing on a large body of documents, including eyewitness accounts and evidence from the site itself, Keith explores the racial tensions that led to the Colfax massacre - during which surrendering blacks were mercilessly slaughtered - and the reverberations this message of terror sent throughout the South.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195393082
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238
Book Description
Drawing on a large body of documents, including eyewitness accounts and evidence from the site itself, Keith explores the racial tensions that led to the Colfax massacre - during which surrendering blacks were mercilessly slaughtered - and the reverberations this message of terror sent throughout the South.
1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre, The: Blood in the Cane Fields
Author: C. Dier
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625858558
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144
Book Description
Days before the tumultuous presidential election of 1868, St. Bernard Parish descended into chaos. As African American men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of the parish feared losing their majority. Armed groups mobilized to suppress these recently emancipated voters in the hopes of regaining a way of life turned upside down by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Freedpeople were dragged from their homes and murdered in cold blood. Many fled to the cane fields to hide from their attackers. The reported number of those killed varies from 35 to 135. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations. Author and historian Chris Dier reveals the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625858558
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144
Book Description
Days before the tumultuous presidential election of 1868, St. Bernard Parish descended into chaos. As African American men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of the parish feared losing their majority. Armed groups mobilized to suppress these recently emancipated voters in the hopes of regaining a way of life turned upside down by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Freedpeople were dragged from their homes and murdered in cold blood. Many fled to the cane fields to hide from their attackers. The reported number of those killed varies from 35 to 135. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations. Author and historian Chris Dier reveals the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.
War, Politics, and Reconstruction
Author: Henry Clay Warmoth
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570036439
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
A new edition of the notorious carpetbagger's personal and political memoir A memoir of the ambitious life and controversial political career of Louisiana governor Henry Clay Warmoth (1842-1931), War, Politics, and Reconstruction is a firsthand account of the political and social machinations of Civil War America and the war's aftermath in one of the most volatile states of the defeated Confederacy. An Illinois native, Warmoth arrived in Louisiana in 1864 as part of the federal occupation forces. Upon leaving military service in 1865, he established himself in private legal practice in New Orleans. Taking full advantage of the chaotic times, Warmoth rapidly amassed fortune and influence, and soon emerged as a leader of the state's Republican Party and, in 1868, was elected governor. Amid an administration rife with scandal and corruption, the Louisiana Republican Party broke into warring factions. Warmoth survived an impeachment attempt in 1872, but a second attempt in 1873 culminated with his removal from office. This fall from Republican grace stemmed from his allegiance with white conservatives, remnants of the old guard, and staunch opponents of those Republicans who sought a wider role for African Americans in Louisiana's changing political landscape. Never again to hold political office, Warmoth remained in his adopted Louisiana, enjoying the fruits of his investments in plantations and sugar refineries. In 1930, the year before his death, he published War, Politics, and Reconstruction, a vindication of his public life and a rebuttal of his reputation as an opportunistic carpetbagger. Despite Warmoth's obvious self-serving biases, the volume offers unparalleled depth of personal insight into the inner workings of Reconstruction government in Louisiana in the words of one of its key architects. A new introduction by John C. Rodrigue places Warmoth's memoir within the broader context of evolving perceptions and historiography of Reconstruction. Rodrigue also offers readers a more balanced portrait of Warmoth by providing supplemental information omitted or slighted by the author in his efforts to cast his actions in the most positive light.
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570036439
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
A new edition of the notorious carpetbagger's personal and political memoir A memoir of the ambitious life and controversial political career of Louisiana governor Henry Clay Warmoth (1842-1931), War, Politics, and Reconstruction is a firsthand account of the political and social machinations of Civil War America and the war's aftermath in one of the most volatile states of the defeated Confederacy. An Illinois native, Warmoth arrived in Louisiana in 1864 as part of the federal occupation forces. Upon leaving military service in 1865, he established himself in private legal practice in New Orleans. Taking full advantage of the chaotic times, Warmoth rapidly amassed fortune and influence, and soon emerged as a leader of the state's Republican Party and, in 1868, was elected governor. Amid an administration rife with scandal and corruption, the Louisiana Republican Party broke into warring factions. Warmoth survived an impeachment attempt in 1872, but a second attempt in 1873 culminated with his removal from office. This fall from Republican grace stemmed from his allegiance with white conservatives, remnants of the old guard, and staunch opponents of those Republicans who sought a wider role for African Americans in Louisiana's changing political landscape. Never again to hold political office, Warmoth remained in his adopted Louisiana, enjoying the fruits of his investments in plantations and sugar refineries. In 1930, the year before his death, he published War, Politics, and Reconstruction, a vindication of his public life and a rebuttal of his reputation as an opportunistic carpetbagger. Despite Warmoth's obvious self-serving biases, the volume offers unparalleled depth of personal insight into the inner workings of Reconstruction government in Louisiana in the words of one of its key architects. A new introduction by John C. Rodrigue places Warmoth's memoir within the broader context of evolving perceptions and historiography of Reconstruction. Rodrigue also offers readers a more balanced portrait of Warmoth by providing supplemental information omitted or slighted by the author in his efforts to cast his actions in the most positive light.
Crucible of Reconstruction
Author: Ted Tunnell
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807118036
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276
Book Description
In late April, 1862, Union warships slipped past the Confederate river forts below New Orleans and blasted the Rebel fleet guarding the city. Advancing overland, General Benjamin F. Butler occupied New Orleans on May Day, and for the duration of the war the Stars and Stripes waved over the Confederacy's largest city. The reconstruction of Louisiana began almost immediately. In Crucible of Reconstruction, Ted Tunnell examines the byzantine complexities of Louisiana's restoration to the Union, from the capture of New Orleans to the downfall of the Radical Republicans a decade and a half later. He writes with insight about wartime Reconstruction and the period of presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson, but his ultimate concern is with Radical Reconstruction and that uneasy coalition of Unionists, free blacks, and carpetbaggers that formed the Louisiana Republican party after Appomattox and struggled fitfully for a biracial society based on equality and justice. One of the distinguishing features of Crucible of Reconstruction is its concern with the origins of Radicalism. Tunnell finds that nearly two-thirds of Louisiana Unionists were actually outsiders, men who had come to Louisiana from the North or from abroad. Of the remainder, many had either been born in the border slave states that sided with the North in 1861 or had been deeply influenced by Northern culture. The free blacks were the most radical element of the Republican party and for a brief but critical moment actually dominated the reconstruction process; with a black majority in the constitutional convention of 1867-1868, they drafted a civil rights program that made Louisiana's Reconstruction constitution, along with South Carolina's, a model of Republican Radicalism. In the end, though, the carpetbaggers dominated Republican Reconstruction. Although few in number, they controlled the immense federal bureaucracy centered in New Orleans, and in a government that depended on support from Washington for its very survival, they alone had influence on the Potomac. For a generation historians have struggled to explain the destructive factionalism that crippled the Republican regimes in Louisiana and other Reconstruction states. In a thesis of wide applicability, Tunnel shows how Republican factionalism was actually rooted in a larger "crisis of legitimacy." Louisiana Republicans confronted enemies who challenged not merely their policies but their very right to exist, enemies whose overriding goal was to expunge the Republican party from the polity. Led by Governor Henry Clay Warmoth, a carpetbagger from Illinois, the Republicans responded to the crisis with a twofold strategy embodied in what Tunnell calls the policy of force and the policy of peace. The policy of force, while it partially deterred assaults on Republican voters, undermined northern support for Reconstruction. The policy of peace not only failed to conciliate white Louisianians, it generated the vicious factionalism that destroyed the Republican party from within. The Warmoth strategies were in fact mutually contradictory; they negated each other and demolished his government. In his final chapter, Tunnell recounts the career of Marshall Harvey Twitchell, a Vermont carpetbagger who settled in north Louisiana in 1866. Twitchell's tragic story, gleaned from his unpublished autobiography and government records, provides a stunningly immediate reminder of the violent and unlawful conditions that existed during the final years of Reconstruction in Louisiana. Tunnell's analyses of Unionism, of black and white political leadership, of Republican factionalism, and of the brutal eradication of Republicanism in the state make this one of the most fascinating and provocative of recent books on Reconstruction.
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807118036
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276
Book Description
In late April, 1862, Union warships slipped past the Confederate river forts below New Orleans and blasted the Rebel fleet guarding the city. Advancing overland, General Benjamin F. Butler occupied New Orleans on May Day, and for the duration of the war the Stars and Stripes waved over the Confederacy's largest city. The reconstruction of Louisiana began almost immediately. In Crucible of Reconstruction, Ted Tunnell examines the byzantine complexities of Louisiana's restoration to the Union, from the capture of New Orleans to the downfall of the Radical Republicans a decade and a half later. He writes with insight about wartime Reconstruction and the period of presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson, but his ultimate concern is with Radical Reconstruction and that uneasy coalition of Unionists, free blacks, and carpetbaggers that formed the Louisiana Republican party after Appomattox and struggled fitfully for a biracial society based on equality and justice. One of the distinguishing features of Crucible of Reconstruction is its concern with the origins of Radicalism. Tunnell finds that nearly two-thirds of Louisiana Unionists were actually outsiders, men who had come to Louisiana from the North or from abroad. Of the remainder, many had either been born in the border slave states that sided with the North in 1861 or had been deeply influenced by Northern culture. The free blacks were the most radical element of the Republican party and for a brief but critical moment actually dominated the reconstruction process; with a black majority in the constitutional convention of 1867-1868, they drafted a civil rights program that made Louisiana's Reconstruction constitution, along with South Carolina's, a model of Republican Radicalism. In the end, though, the carpetbaggers dominated Republican Reconstruction. Although few in number, they controlled the immense federal bureaucracy centered in New Orleans, and in a government that depended on support from Washington for its very survival, they alone had influence on the Potomac. For a generation historians have struggled to explain the destructive factionalism that crippled the Republican regimes in Louisiana and other Reconstruction states. In a thesis of wide applicability, Tunnel shows how Republican factionalism was actually rooted in a larger "crisis of legitimacy." Louisiana Republicans confronted enemies who challenged not merely their policies but their very right to exist, enemies whose overriding goal was to expunge the Republican party from the polity. Led by Governor Henry Clay Warmoth, a carpetbagger from Illinois, the Republicans responded to the crisis with a twofold strategy embodied in what Tunnell calls the policy of force and the policy of peace. The policy of force, while it partially deterred assaults on Republican voters, undermined northern support for Reconstruction. The policy of peace not only failed to conciliate white Louisianians, it generated the vicious factionalism that destroyed the Republican party from within. The Warmoth strategies were in fact mutually contradictory; they negated each other and demolished his government. In his final chapter, Tunnell recounts the career of Marshall Harvey Twitchell, a Vermont carpetbagger who settled in north Louisiana in 1866. Twitchell's tragic story, gleaned from his unpublished autobiography and government records, provides a stunningly immediate reminder of the violent and unlawful conditions that existed during the final years of Reconstruction in Louisiana. Tunnell's analyses of Unionism, of black and white political leadership, of Republican factionalism, and of the brutal eradication of Republicanism in the state make this one of the most fascinating and provocative of recent books on Reconstruction.
Reconstruction
Author: Eric Foner
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006203586X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 742
Book Description
From the "preeminent historian of Reconstruction" (New York Times Book Review), a newly updated edition of the prize-winning classic work on the post-Civil War period which shaped modern America, with a new introduction from the author. Eric Foner's "masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history" (New Republic) redefined how the post-Civil War period was viewed. Reconstruction chronicles the way in which Americans—black and white—responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It addresses the ways in which the emancipated slaves' quest for economic autonomy and equal citizenship shaped the political agenda of Reconstruction; the remodeling of Southern society and the place of planters, merchants, and small farmers within it; the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations; and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans. This "smart book of enormous strengths" (Boston Globe) remains the standard work on the wrenching post-Civil War period—an era whose legacy still reverberates in the United States today.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006203586X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 742
Book Description
From the "preeminent historian of Reconstruction" (New York Times Book Review), a newly updated edition of the prize-winning classic work on the post-Civil War period which shaped modern America, with a new introduction from the author. Eric Foner's "masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history" (New Republic) redefined how the post-Civil War period was viewed. Reconstruction chronicles the way in which Americans—black and white—responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It addresses the ways in which the emancipated slaves' quest for economic autonomy and equal citizenship shaped the political agenda of Reconstruction; the remodeling of Southern society and the place of planters, merchants, and small farmers within it; the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations; and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans. This "smart book of enormous strengths" (Boston Globe) remains the standard work on the wrenching post-Civil War period—an era whose legacy still reverberates in the United States today.