America in the Gilded Age: Third Edition

7. Reconstruction and the New South

CHAPTER 7 Reconstruction and the New South No stor y i n th e Gilde d Ag e i s mor e harrowin g tha n th e traged y o f American Reconstruction . I t proceeded inevitabl y fro m a skein of histor ical contradictions . Th e America n Revolutio n wa s achieve d b y radical s in th e nam e o f libert y bu t th e institutio n o f slaver y wa s preserved . Abraham Lincol n fough t th e Civil War t o free th e slaves, but to save the Union h e woul d hav e free d none . Th e victor y o f th e Unio n arm y ove r the Confederac y dispossesse d th e ver y peopl e i t ha d emancipated . Afri can -American leade r Frederic k Douglas s describe d th e pligh t o f freed men . The African-America n was free from the individual master but a slave of society. He had neither money, property, nor friends. H e was free fro m th e old plantation, but he had nothing but the dusty roa d unde r hi s feet. H e was free fro m th e old quarter tha t once gave him shelter, but a slave to the rains of summer and the frosts of winter. He was turned loose, naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky. Yet the courage, resilience, and lack of vindictiveness of the new African American citizen s unde r extrem e provocatio n somewha t redeem s th e bitter tragedy tha t unfolded i n the South . The victor y o f th e Nort h ha d retie d th e kno t o f Union , bu t th e rop e itself wa s i n shreds . Th e Sout h ha d bee n devastated . Majo r cities , suc h 203 204 Reconstruction and the New South as Charlesto n an d Richmond , ha d bee n badl y damage d b y bombard ment an d fire. Banking had collapsed ; agricultur e was stagnant; an d th e entire regio n la y prostrate . Th e Sout h was , however , conquere d rathe r than subdued . Becaus e it s arm y ha d bee n defeate d i n th e field di d no t mean tha t th e forme r Confederate s accepte d th e politic s o f th e North . They were determined tha t when the South rose from th e ashes of defea t it would b e on the basis of southern, not northern ideas. They recognize d that the South's lack of industry was one of the prime reasons it had los t the war . The y therefor e sough t capita l t o buil d a Ne w Sout h wit h industrial muscle . Norther n businessme n bega n t o inves t i n souther n plantations, railroads , an d mills . However , the y to o wante d t o shap e Reconstruction t o their own economi c ends. There wer e thre e distinc t phase s o f Reconstruction : presidentia l res toration i n the mid-1860s ; radica l Reconstructio n o f th e late 1860 s an d early 1870s ; and souther n redemptio n thereafter . Reconstructio n engen dered a legacy o f bitternes s i n the Sout h greate r tha n th e hatre d cause d by the Civil War. I t was perhaps the most controversial even t during the Gilded Ag e an d provoke d passionat e historica l dispute s fo r a centur y afterward. Thi s ensure d tha t thoug h th e subjec t wa s black , th e book s were read . Ye t th e final outcom e o f Reconstructio n wa s a compromise , economic and politica l o n th e part o f the South, social an d racis t on th e part o f th e North . Th e achievement s o f th e war—preservatio n o f th e Union an d abolitio n o f slavery—wer e no t mad e th e foundatio n fo r political and economic progress in the New South . Presidential Restoration Abraham Lincol n announce...