Retreat From Reconstruction, 1869 - 1879

479 Pages·1979·9.796 MB·English

by  William Gillette

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