Benjamin Franklin Wade: Radical Republican from Ohio (review)

BOOK REVIEWS207 Federals been properly reinforced, "Grant would never have had the opportunity to carry out his brilliant campaign of April and May, 1863, because Vicksburg would have fallen a full year before it did." John D. Milligan State University of New York at Buffalo Benjamin Franklin Wade: Radical Republican from Ohio. By H. L. Trefousse. (New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1963. Pp. 404. $6.50.) It comes as no surprise that the United States of our own day, which has witnessed opposition to discrimination against Negroes in court decisions, in "sit-ins," and in other ways, has also witnessed the publication of books which reflect sympathy for individuals who, in the nineteenth century, opposed slavery and other forms of discrimination against Negroes. Such a book is Professor Trefousse's biography of Benjamin Franklin Wade, Senator from Ohio during the Civil War era. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the biography is its favorable assessment of Wade. In contrast to the unflattering appraisals to which we have become accustomed in writings published from the turn of the century to the Second World War, stands Professor Trefousse's description of the Ohio Senator as "a great fighter for human freedom." The Wade who emerges from the pages of this new biography possesses some faults and blemishes, but he is pictured as essentially a striver for "equal rights for all," who not only sought to free Negroes from slavery but also supported suffrage for women, free land for settlers, and "a fair deal for the laboring man." How is Benjamin Franklin Wade to be evaluated? This reviewer has mixed sentiments. On the one hand, the new biography presents a much more complete record of Wade's life than has previously been available and thus renders a distinct service. Thanks to the labors of Professor Trefousse , we can now trace in detail many facets of Wade's private and public life, and his public life had significance for the entire country. He served, during the Civil War, as chairman of the powerful and controversial Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. In March, 1867, he was elected president pro tern, of the Senate, and from tiiat post he would have succeeded to the presidency of the United States in 1868 had not Andrew Johnson, by a margin of one vote, escaped conviction under the impeachment charges. Moreover, this biography does more than just provide additional information about Wade. By describing sympathetically the actions of a Northern white who opposed at least some forms of discrimination against Negroes, it helps to fill in a segment of United States history which was slighted in the writings by Dunning and his followers, by Beard and Beale and their followers, and by other scholars. On the other hand, I am troubled at the manner in which Professor Trefousse at times seems to justify almost any action by Wade on the general ground that "he was engaged in a good cause." For one representative ex- 208CIVIL WAR HISTORY ample of this tendency, see the description of the actions of committee chairman Wade with regard to Charles P. Stone, the Union general accused by Wade of disloyalty in time of war (p. 166). In addition, this biography does not reflect the assimilation of some important recent scholarship concerning the Reconstruction era. The writings of Sharkey, Coben, and Unger, for example, have presented provocative analyses of economic issues and attitudes in the 1860's and 1870's, and Sharkey's 1959 volume, in particular, described and explained the complex combination of economic views held by Wade—support for high tariff, for inflated currency, and for the aspirations of laborers. To cite another example, Riddleberger's article in the Journal of Negro History (April, 1959) compared the ideas and actions of Wade and five other prominent Radical Republicans in the election of 1872. Professor Trefousse does not have to accept the conclusions of these other scholars concerning Wade, of course, but a knowledge of their findings would have added depth and insight to Benjamin Franklin Wade. Thus, this biography will be of value to anyone interested in the Civil War and Reconstruction era, but that its contribution is not as...