The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 PDF
Preview The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896
The Republic for Which It Stands The Oxford History of the United States David M. Kennedy, General Editor robert middlekauff THE GLORIOUS CAUSE The American Revolution, 1763–1789 gordon s. wood EMPIRE OF LIBERTY A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 daniel walker howe WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 james m. mcpherson BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM The Civil War Era richard white THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1896 david m. kennedy FREEDOM FROM FEAR The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 james t. patterson GRAND EXPECTATIONS The United States, 1945–1974 james t. patterson RESTLESS GIANT The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore george c. herring FROM COLONY TO SUPERPOWER U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1896 RICHARD WHITE 1 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Richard White 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: White, Richard, 1947– author. Title: The republic for which it stands : the United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1896 / Richard White. Other titles: United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1896 Description: New York City : Oxford University Press, [2017] | Series: The Oxford history of the United States | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017002719 (print) | LCCN 2017016846 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190619060 (Updf) | ISBN 9780190619077 (Epub) | ISBN 9780199735815 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865–1877) | United States—History—1865–1921. | United States—Politics and government—1865–1933. Classification: LCC E668 (ebook) | LCC E668 .W58 2017 (print) | DDC 973.8—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002719 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Printed by Edwards Brothers Malloy, United States of America To my family I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. —Original pledge by Francis Bellamy, Youth’s Companion, 1892 Acknowledgments I have written a book about a time of rapid and disorienting change and failed politics, and now I finish it in a parallel universe. Fittingly, I decided to write this book about the Gilded Age, in part for the money, but the era came to fascinate me. I lost myself in it. I needed money because my mother had dementia. She died more than a year before this book was finished. I would lie if I said I didn’t at times find my retreat into the late nineteenth century, with all of its tur- moil, pain, and suffering, a relief. The past is the secret refuge of histori- ans. It was a retreat my wife, stuck in the present and sharing the care for my mother over nearly ten years, did not have. This only increases my love for her and my gratitude to her. The Gilded Age delivered me up to the doorstep of my own family his- tory in the United States. One of my grandparents was the child of Jewish immigrants from Poland who arrived during the Gilded Age. My Jewish grandfather came from Belarus around the turn of the century. My mater- nal grandmother came from Ireland about the same time. My Irish grand- father, following his relatives, came later. One grandfather was an illegal immigrant; the other was nearly deported back to Russia. They stepped into the world whose origins I describe here. They did not have easy lives. Both of my Irish grandparents returned to where they came, but not at the same time. They lived apart in different countries for years. They left chil- dren here. My family now, as my brothers and sister, children, and nephews have married, contains Catholics, Protestants, Jews, agnostics, and atheists. Some come from Mexico; part of my nephew’s wife’s family comes from India. Some have roots stretching back deep into America for generations.
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