The Other South: Southern Dissenters in the Nineteenth Century by Carl N. Degler (review)

354 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW tune bookshe refersto, clearstatements of whatthe participants in camp-meetings perceivedtheir religionto be. 'Asfolk songcollections whichhavesurvivedto the presenttime,thetunebooksarestorehouses for thestudyof ante-bellum Southern religion.' Includedin thisvolumeare a number of illustrations and mapsrelatingto personalities , songs, and camparrangements, aswell asan extensive bibliographyof primaryandsecondary sources. A.B. STAVERT TrinityCollege, University ofToronto TheOtherSouth:Southern Dissenters in theNineteenth Centu,•y. C^l•I•N. DEGLER. New York, Harper & Row[Toronto,Fitzhenry& Whiteside],1974.Pp.392.$• 1.5o. The experience ofwhiteSoutherners in theUnitedStates, says awell-known historical axiom, wasshapedin large part by the fact that Southernersare the only Americans everto sufferdefeatin war. Amongthe defeated,however, bothbefore andaftertheCivilWar, werewhiteSoutherners whowerethemselves defeatedbya permanent majoritywithintheregion.These'losers' among thelosers haveattracted the attentionof Carl Deglerwhoanalyses their dissent from majoritarianSouthern assumptions, actions, andgoalsin relationto four issues: slavery, secession, Reconstruction ,and the distributionof powerin the New South.To studythesepeople, writesDegler,isto discover how'class hasbeensubordinated to racein the life of nineteenthcenturySoutherners (7)-'In fact,hearguesthatSoutherners persistently actedcontrarytowhatshouldhavebeentheir class interests. To supportthistheme,hesubmits examples of slaveholders whoopposed slavery andsecession andofpoorwhites whojoinedwiththeirexploiters tokeeptheblacks in their place.Disagreements overbasicissues amongmasters raisedoubts,he says, aboutthetheorythattherewasa growingsense of class consciousness, interest,and solidarity amongslaveholders beforethe war. Amongnon-slaveholders and small farmerstherewasanevenmoreexasperating andstubborn determination torepress class interests for thesakeof racialsolidarity.Thus, errantantislavery aristocrats and anxiety-ridden but angrydirt farmersboth exemplifythe inadequacy of class interpretations ofSouthernsociety. The remarkable case ofVirginiaReadjusters inthe 188os andthefamiliarstoryof Populists in thenineties remindusthatdissent which seemed to beonthe vergeof claimingpowerthroughclass solidarity founderedon race.White Southerndissenters were after all, Southern,Degleremphasizes, and differed asmuchfrom Nothern dissenters asfrom their antagonists in the South. Compromised byracialloyalty thoughtheywere,these dissenters wereremarkably independent peopleinmanyinstances although opportunistic inothers. Some were boldand otherswere cautious if determined.It tookgreatstrengthof characterto challenge Southern orthodoxy eventhoughmanydissenters couldretreattoahaven providedby raceor class. Blackdissenters had neitheralternativeopento them althoughthey,likemanyalienated whites,couldleavetheSouth. In thisprovocative book,Deglerhasdemonstrated thecomplexity ofsocial interac- REVIEWS 355 tion in the South but not that class consciousness, action, and even conflict were 'subordinated torace.'Dissenting slaveholders proveonlythatactions of individuals mayraisequestions of naiveviewsof class interest;but they may alsobe taken as examples of peoplesosecure in theirsocial positionandsosurethattheirclass could controllabourandwealthin supervising social changethattheycouldmakeadjustmentsin legal arrangementswithout givingup real power. They might alsobe idiosyncratic individuals whose actions challenge butdonotdisprove a'theoryofclass consciousness. Degler's bookcouldbetakenasindication that•51ites retainedpowerin theSouththroughemploying the'raceissue' for class ends.Discussion continues on the social basis and character of dissent in the United States and the South, and Deglerhasenhanced it in thisadmirablework. DONALD G. MATHEWS University ofNorthCarolina atChapel Hill TheAlabama Claims: American Politics andAnglo-American Relations ß865-• 872. aDRIaN COOK. Ithaca,CornellUniversityPress,•975. PP.26•. The AlabamaClaimscontroversy haslong requireda full-lengthstudyand Mr Cook'spossesses the undoubtedvirtue of presentingthe post-wardiscussion and negotiation of theclaims inaclear,if dullandunimaginative way.Thisisin itselfno meanfeat,for thestoryisacomplicated one.He dulychartshiscourse throughthe Britishrefusalsto settleimmediatelyafterthewar,thedisastrous diplomaticmission of Reverdy Johnson, andthefamous publicintervention of Charles Sumnerin •869, whichcreatedfor a newsecretary of state,HamiltonFish,additionaldifficulties namely , theneedtorecover fromSumner controlofAmerican policy andtowinthe countryoverto a lessextremeviewof the problem.His taskwasnot easedby his president's initialdetermination to prolongthequestion until Britainwasreadyto giveup Canada.However,by theendof •87o Grant'shopesfor re-election were alreadyprovidingFishwith the meansof separatingthe claimsfrom Canadian independence, independence beingtheeuphemism for cession totheUnited States. Ironically,Sumner's restraint alsoprovedtobean essential ingredientfor success. Althoughhestillclungtothecondition of Canadianindependence, whichtheGrant administrationhad nowabandoned,and althoughhe wasprovokedbeyondreason by its engineeringof his disposition aschairmanof the SenateCommitteeon Foreign Relations, Sumner refrainedfromlaunching thekindofpublic anti-British crusade whichmighthave influenced sufficient ofhiscolleagues intheSenate todeny theTreatyof Washington ratification. Yet,thisachievement notwithstanding, thebookisadisappointing one.There are anumberof minordeficiencies, suchasCook'sfailure toexaminecarefullySeward's policy of attempting toexploittheBritishdesiretoresolve theNaturalization issue in order to extracta settlement of theclaims.Much moreimportant,however,are the weaknesses inherentin hisdecision nottotakethecontroversy backtoitsoriginsand examineitsdevelopment during the war. Cookhimselfconcedes that the antecedentsof Sumner's 'novel'charges in •869layin thewar-timediplomatic correspon- ...