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Carl Schurz's 1865 Southern Tour: A Reassessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2009

Hans L. Trefousse
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Extract

During the summer of 1865, the German-American leader, Carl Schurz, undertook a fact-finding tour through five Southern states. Although he entered upon the journey at President Andrew Johnson's request, Schurz was highly critical of the administration's Reconstruction policies. Rebuffed by the White House upon his return, he insisted upon incorporating his findings in a detailed report that was printed by Congress. It was widely circulated at the time; because of the persistent popularity of the pro-Southern views of William A. Dunning and his followers, however, only recently did it receive the attention it deserves. As Michael Burlingame has pointed out in his introduction to a modern edition, it is an important historical source. It ought to be reexamined in the light of recent scholarship.

Type
Research Article
Information
Prospects , Volume 2 , October 1977 , pp. 293 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

NOTES

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38. Ibid.

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63. Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Part II, 139–40.Google Scholar

64. Van Lew, Elizabeth to Doolittle, James, 02 7, 1866Google Scholar, Doolittle Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. Although Schurz did not visit Virginia, conditions there were similar to those elsewhere in the South.

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