Retreat From Reconstruction, 1869 - 1879 PDF
Preview Retreat From Reconstruction, 1869 - 1879
RETREAT FROM RECONSTRUCTION Winner of the JULES F. LANDRY AWARD for 1979 RETREAT FROM RECONSTRUCTION 1869-1879 WILLIAM GILLETTE Louisiana State University Press BATON ROUGE AND LONDON Copyright © 1979 by Louisiana State University Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Design: Dwight Agner Typeface: VIP Aster Composition: Graphic Composition, Inc. Printing: Thomson-Shore, Inc. Binding: John H. Dekker and Sons, Inc. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Gillette, William. Retreat from Reconstruction, 1869-1879. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Reconstruction. 2. United States—Politics and government—1865-1877. I. Title. E668.G45 973.8'2 79-12450 ISBN 0-8071-0569-4 For Elisa CONTENTS Preface ix 1 / Reveille for Reconstruction, 1867-1870 1 2 / Bullets and Ballots: Enforcing the Right to Vote 25 3 / Double Liability: The Presidential Campaign of 1872 56 4 / Federal Power Tested: Grant’s Early Southern Policy in Five States 76 5 / The Longest Battle: Intervention in Louisiana 104 6 / Politics or War? The Federal Response to Arkansas and Mississippi 136 7 / A Study in Incongruities: Grant s Southern Policy and Performance 166 8 / Racism and Reconstruction: Congress and the Country Debate Equality After 1872 186 9 / Black and White: Civil Rights and Counterrevolution 211 10 / Referendum on Reconstruction: The Congressional Election of 1874 236 11 / Insignificant Victory: The Civil Rights Act of 1875 259 12 / Symbolic Defeat: The "Force" Bill in Congress and Election Enforcement in the Supreme Court 280 13 / Centennial Coda: Patriotic Fervor and Presidential Politics 300 14 / Peace Without Justice: Hayes's Southern Policy 335 15 / Reconstruction in Retrospect 363 Notes 381 Bibliographical Essay 439 Acknowledgments 451 Index 453 PREFACE although historians have written a great deal about reconstruction, they have attempted surprisingly little intensive analysis of recon struction politics during the 1870s. To be sure, in the last two decades a number of excellent studies have concentrated on Andrew John son’s presidency, and others have dealt with various states during reconstruction. Few, however, are concerned exclusively with the ad ministration of Ulysses S. Grant, and still fewer of these are of much worth. None at all concentrates on national reconstruction between 1869 and 1879. Of the larger works, only Allan Nevins' Hamilton Fish and William B. Hesseltine s Ulysses S. Grant are still valuable.1 Both were published in the 1930s, when comparatively limited re search resources were available; both place inordinate emphasis on motives of economic gain and give no interpretation of the racial dimension of politics; and, on certain matters, both take the southern view of reconstruction at face value. The two works are nevertheless comprehensive, surveying all domestic events and diplomatic devel opments during Grant s tenure. Understandably they cannot cover all the complex developments of reconstruction politics. To fill the gap, I have undertaken a detailed assessment of national reconstruction during the 1870s. My hope is that with the benefit of a variety of historical sources and the assistance of modem photo duplication, I have succeeded in deepening the understanding of a crucial and controversial period in American history. PREFACE Retreat from Reconstruction treats the politics of reconstruction directly before, during, and directly after the administration of Presi dent Ulysses S. Grant. The purpose of the book is to analyze the na ture of the reconstruction program and the reasons for its having ended. Working from frequently incomplete evidence, I have tried to trace how policy was made and by whom, as well as how it was administered, in order to explain the gap between what had been intended and proclaimed and what had in fact been accomplished or left undone. This study is concerned primarily with the course of reconstruc tion as national policy, rather than with the individual southern states and their internal political fortunes. It does, however, inter weave local and national developments in following the course of federal policy and the process of administration. It is not a study of the history of the Negro, of the Democratic or Republican parties, or of the abolitionists, although all are considered when relevant. Nor is it primarily concerned with nonpolitical developments, even though racial attitudes as well as social, economic, intellectual, and educa tional influences are treated as they bear on the politics of recon struction. This study is not a history of public opinion, of Congress, or of the Supreme Court, though all are touched on at various points. Retreat from Reconstruction does assess presidential, and to a lesser extent, congressional purposes, policies, and performance in achiev ing reconstruction; the book also delineates the declining support for—and retreat from—postwar reform as shown by events in the South as well as by political developments in the North during the 1870s. One must keep in mind that the fate of reconstruction was "by no means decided by events in the South alone. No matter how impor tant southern white recalcitrance and resistance happened to be, the national government's will and ability to carry out reconstruction depended ultimately on popular support and partisan interest in the North. The disintegration of reconstruction and the accompanying disillusionment went hand in hand. Moreover, the reconstruction ef fort was not confined to the southern states, for the elimination of legal caste and the enfranchisement of blacks were also undertaken in the northern states. X
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