![]() ![]() Burgess, a founder of modern political science. ![]() ![]() Dunning, Lieber Professor of History and Political Philosophy at Columbia, and his colleague John W. ![]() The tone of American historiography concerning Reconstruction was set by William A. For too long, Reconstruction has been widely regarded as a time of rampant misgovernment thrust on the South by a vindictive cabal of Radical Republicans abetted by unscrupulous carpetbaggers, duplicitous scalawags, and former slaves totally lacking any capacity for self-government. Americans have been weaned on Gone With The Wind's rosy depiction of the antebellum South, with gleeful pickaninnies frolicking in massa's cotton patch. Yet today, to reject slavery as the Civil War's root cause is akin to denying the Holocaust.Ĭoming to grips with Reconstruction has proved even more difficult. My generation was assured during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s that slavery had nothing to do with secession, that it was purely a matter of conflicting constitutional interpretation, including such esoteric points as the Supreme Court's ultimate jurisdiction under §25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789. A review of Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction, by Eric Fonerįew aspects of American history have been subject to such fluctuating interpretations as the causes and consequences of the Civil War. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |