The death of Reconstruction : race, labor, and politics in the post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 / Heather Cox Richardson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richardson, Heather Cox.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )--History--19th century.

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ).

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--Public opinion.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877).

Freed persons--Southern States--Public opinion.

Freed persons.

African Americans--Civil rights--Public opinion.

African Americans.

Public opinion--Northeastern States.

Public opinion.

African Americans--Civil rights--History--19th century.

Working class--United States--History--19th century.

Working class.

United States--Politics and government--1865-1900.

United States.

United States--Economic conditions--1865-1918.

Northeastern States--Race relations.

Northeastern States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (336 p.)

Edition:

1st Harvard University Press pbk ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2004, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The author examines such issues as black suffrage, disengranchisement, taxation, westward migration, lynching and civil rights to detect the trajectory of Northern disenchantment with Reconstruction.

Historians overwhelmingly have blamed the demise of Reconstruction on Southerners' persistent racism. Heather Cox Richardson argues instead that class, along with race, was critical to Reconstruction's end. Northern support for freed blacks and Reconstruction weakened in the wake of growing critiques of the economy and calls for a redistribution of wealth. Using newspapers, public speeches, popular tracts, Congressional reports, and private correspondence, Richardson traces the changing Northern attitudes toward African-Americans from the Republicans' idealized image of black workers in 1861 through the 1901 publication of Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery. She examines such issues as black suffrage, disenfranchisement, taxation, westward migration, lynching, and civil rights to detect the trajectory of Northern disenchantment with Reconstruction. She reveals a growing backlash from Northerners against those who believed that inequalities should be addressed through working-class action, and the emergence of an American middle class that championed individual productivity and saw African-Americans as a threat to their prosperity. The Death of Reconstruction offers a new perspective on American race and labor and demonstrates the importance of class in the post-Civil War struggle to integrate African-Americans into a progressive and prospering nation.

Contents:

Preface Prologue: The View from Atlanta, 1895 1. The Northern Postwar Vision, 1865-4867 2. The Mixed Blessing of Universal Suffrage, 1867-1870 3. Black Workers and the South Carolina Government, 1871-1875 4. Civil Rights and the Growth of the National Government, 1870-1883 5. The Black Exodus from the South, 1879-1880 6. The Un-American Negro, 1880-1900 Epilogue: Booker T. Washington Rises Up from Slavery, 1901 Notes Index

Notes:

Originally published: 2001.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-302) and index.

ISBN:

9780674266650

067426665X

9780674042698

0674042697

OCLC:

923111147