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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009
If the Civil War had erupted in 1861 because the two sections had failed to produce a formula capable of reconciling their many differences, then it would not be inaccurate to assert that in 1865, four years later, that long-sought basis of settlement was even more remote and unlikely. Yet the search for mutually acceptable terms of agreement continued. As practitioners of the art of negotiation and reconciling differences, Reconstruction politicians on both sides aimed at reunion and talked of compromise. One hundred years later, many revisionist historians also assumed that compromise solutions were available after the war. Somehow both politicians and historians manifested a conventional response in presuming that bargain and negotiation leading to settlement were applicable and meaningful approaches to the problem of reconstruction. Yet perhaps the underlying reality was such that this traditional political approach was likely to be ineffective and quite inappropriate. Perhaps the interests and attitudes of the groups in power within each section were irreconcilable short of the capitulation or extinction of one of them. In that case political realism would have required that attempts to conciliate, moderate or compromise should be rejected, and other methods of achieving political goals tried and experimented with.
1 McKitrick, Eric L., Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960)Google Scholar; Stampp, Kenneth, The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–1877 (New York: Vintage Books, 1967)Google Scholar; La Wanda, and Cox, John, Politics, Principle and Prejudice, 1865–1866 (Chicago: Free Press, 1963).Google Scholar
1 McPherson, Edward, The Political History of the United States During the Period of Reconstruction (Washington, D.C.: Philip and Solomons, 1871), p. 194.Google Scholar
1 Editorial, Raleigh Sentinel, 14 06 1866.Google Scholar In a speech delivered in Brooklyn on 21 September, the Alabama Whig, C. C. Langdon, said something similar: ‘It is you, proud and exultant Radical, who should give the guarantees, guarantees that you will not again violate the Constitution, that you will not again deny to any portion of the people their rights, that you will not again goad to madness a brave and generous people, and that the government henceforth shall be so administered as to protect the rights of all States, and all citizens within the limits of this great Republic.’
2 Editorial, Augusta Constitutionalist, 10 01 1867.Google Scholar
3 Editorial, Richmond Enquirer, 30 04 1866.Google Scholar
4 Ibid. 28 June 1866.
1 Ibid. 13 November 1866.
2 Editorial, Richmond Times, 21 06 1866.Google Scholar
3 Editorial, New Orleans Times, 9 11 1866.Google Scholar The word ‘disfranchises’ was used very loosely throughout both sections at this time. Here the editorial means ‘disqualifies from office’. The usage is, however, quite correct, because a public office and a vote were both franchises or privileges. Nonetheless, since both offices and votes were under discussion in Reconstruction, a more precise categorization should have been employed.
1 Medill, Joseph to Trumbull, Lyman, Chicago, 2 05 1866Google Scholar; Trumbull MSS, Library of Congress.
2 Editorial, Flake's [Galveston] Bulletin, 7 11 1866.Google Scholar
3 Editorial, Richmond Enquirer, 29 12 1866.Google Scholar
4 MacGowan, Samuel to Perry, Benjamin F., Abbeville, S.C., 21 11 1866Google Scholar: Perry MSS, Dept. of Archives and History, Montgomery, Ala.
1 Editorial, Richmond Enquirer, 31 12 1866.Google Scholar
2 Stephens, Alexander H. to Randall, James R., editor, Augusta Constitutionalist, Augusta, Ga., 2 11 1866Google Scholar; A. H. Stephens MSS, Library of Congress. When Stephens refers to ‘the Constitution as it now stands amended’ he has in mind the Thirteenth Amendment, which had already altered the Constitution since the war.
1 Worth, Jonathan to Hedrick, Benjamin S., Raleigh, N.C., 4 07 1966Google Scholar; B. S. Hedrick MSS, Duke University.
2 Editorial, Jackson Clarion, 20 06 1866.Google Scholar
3 Worth, Jonathan to Hedrick, Benjamin S., Raleigh, N.C., 1 10 1866Google Scholar; B. S. Hedrick MSS.
4 Perry, Benjamin F. to Johnson, Andrew, Greenville, S.C., 10 11 1866Google Scholar; Johnson MSS, Series I, Library of Congress.
5 Editorial, Raleigh Sentinel, 22 06 1866.Google Scholar
1 Editorial, Montgomery Advertiser, 9 11 1866.Google Scholar
2 Graham, William A. to Swain, David L., Hillsboro, N.C., 6 11 1866Google Scholar; W. A. Graham MSS, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina.
3 Editorial, Richmond Enquirer, 1 11 1866.Google Scholar
1 Orr, James L. to Johnson, Herschel V., Charleston, S.C., 11 11 1866Google Scholar; H V. Johnson MSS, Duke University.
2 Editorial, Jackson Clarion, 25 10 1866.Google Scholar
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1 Editorial, Raleigh Sentinel, 15 09 1866.Google Scholar
2 Perry, Benjamin F. to the New York Herald, late 09 1866Google Scholar; Perry Scrapbooks, Southern Historical Collection.
3 James L. Orr to Herschel V. Johnson, loc. cit.
4 Samuel MacGowan to Perry, loc. cit.
1 Editorial, Charleston Daily News, 20 11 1866.Google Scholar
2 Ibid. 23 November 1866.
3 Editorial, Richmond Enquirer, 14 09 1866.Google Scholar
1 Editorial, Arkansas Gazette, 22 09 1866.Google Scholar
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1 Editorial, Richmond Enquirer, 12 09 1866.Google Scholar
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1 Editorial, Augusta Constitutionalist, 22 01 1867.Google Scholar
2 Washington, Lucius Q. to Hunter, Robert M. T., Washington, D.C., 11 12 1866Google Scholar; R. M. T. Hunter MSS, University of Virginia.
3 In addition to the two separate initiatives mentioned above there were also other indicators of a restlessness in some quarters in the South. The Mobile Register, the Memphis Bulletin and the Selma Times broke ranks and followed the lead of the Northern Democratic Chicago Times by advocating Southern implementation of a qualified Negro suffrage. Also the well-worn formula of universal amnesty and universal suffrage was reconsidered as a possible method of reconciliation; a suggestion of Horace Greeley's, it had been out of consideration since the early months of 1866, when Congress rejected it during its initial deliberations to produce a counter to the President's programme.
1 Chase saw Andrew Johnson previously in November and suggested he urge the South to ratify the amendment or, failing that, that he modify sections II and III of it so as to substitute universal suffrage and universal amnesty.
2 The sequence of events in this initial attempt can be followed very well in a series of letters to and from Swayne located in the Chase MSS at the Library of Congress.
3 Parsons, Lewis to Patten, Robert M., Washington, D.C., 17 12 1866Google Scholar; Patton Official Correspondence, Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Ala. Patton received similar discouraging advice from Walter H. Crenshaw, the President of Alabama's Senate, whom he had asked to accompany him to Washington over Christmas: ‘The main purpose [of the trip] would be to obtain as mild terms as possible as a finality, and some guarantee that no further demands would be made. We should by no means represent that our people are ready to assent to any proposition. Superior power will make them submit to any demand, but it will only be because they feel their inability to prevent its imposition. If possible, obtain as a finality, some better terms than the Constitutional Amendment. I do not think our refusal to ratify the Amendment will result in the abrogation of our State Goverment. They will in all probability exclude us from representation until after the next Presidential election; but we can bear that better than the adoption of the Constitutional Amendment. We should not show too great a desire to accept of terms’ (Crenshaw to Patton, Greenville, Ala., 10 December 1866, Patton Official Correspondence). Parsons and Crenshaw were substantially in agreement and they rather than Patton represented Confederate orthodoxy in late 1866.
1 Hanes, Lewis to Worth, Jonathan, Washington, D.C., 20 01 1867Google Scholar; Worth MSS, Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, N.C.
2 Brown, Bedford and Leach, James M. to Worth, Jonathan, Washington, D.C., 13 01 1867Google Scholar; Worth MSS.
3 Washington, Lucius Q. to Hunter, Robert M. T., Washington, D.C., 15 02 1867Google Scholar; R. M. T. Hunter MSS.
1 New York Times, 5 02 1867.Google Scholar
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3 Sharkey, William L. to Humphreys, Benjamin G., Washington, D.C., 3 02 1867Google Scholar; Humphreys Official Correspondence, Dept. of Archives and History, Jackson, Miss.
4 Parsons, Lewis to Patton, Robert M., Washington, D.C., 9 02 1867Google Scholar; Patton Official Correspondence.
5 Orr, James L. to Stephens, Alexander H., Columbia, S.C., 21 02 1867Google Scholar; A. H. Stephens MSS. Howell Cobb no doubt would have agreed with Orr's analysis. (See L. Q. Washington to Hunter, 15 February, loc. cit.)
1 Hanes, Lewis to Worth, Jonathan, Washington, D.C., 20 01 1867Google Scholar; Worth MSS.
2 Hanes, Lewis to Graham, William A., Washington, D.C., 4 02 1867Google Scholar; W. A. Graham MSS.
1 Editorial, Augusta Constitutionalist, 8 02 1867.Google Scholar