Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines how statesmanship in reconstruction could have spared the South some severe hardships after the Civil War. Despite the vast change in public opinion on race relations over the last nearly 150 years, there are still lessons drawn from this study that can be applied to present day Civil Rights Policy.
Trade ReviewLyon's . . . great contribution is demonstrating that Reconstruction was not one thing, but quite different experiences in different states. . . .[The book] show[s] very persuasively that Reconstruction was not 'the most soul-sickening spectacle' of American history. . . .We are left to polnder the possibility Lyons . . . raises: how different would it have been had Lincoln . . . vied for common ground on Reconstruction, marginalizing the radicals on both sides? * Claremont Review of Books *
Philip Lyons has made an outstanding contribution to the study of Reconstruction and to an understanding of the practical meaning of statesmanship by bringing these two concerns together in an unprecedented manner. -- Michael Zuckert, University of Notre Dame
In Statesmanship and Reconstruction: Moderate versus Radical Republicans on Restoring the Union after the Civil War, Philip Lyons conducts a painstakingly thorough review of Reconstruction historiography and the primary sources to give us a work that will enrich Civil War and Reconstruction literature. It will enlighten both the general reader and challenge the professional to critically examine their thinking on both Reconstruction and the Civil War. -- Charles R. Smith, Marymount University
At a time when ethnic and sectarian strife is undoing new democracies in other parts of the world, Statesmanship and Reconstruction reminds us how hard it was to build multi-racial democracy after our own Civil War. This fine study documents that many statesmen at the time understood the challenge and their efforts were not hopeless. Even with all their failures, they left a legacy that still shapes our country. -- Jeremy Rabkin, George Mason University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Why A Study of Reconstruction Statesmanship?………………………………………………………………………………… Chapter 2: Lincoln and Reconstruction………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Chapter 3: Johnson and Restoration ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Chapter 4: Bringing the Declaration of Independence to the South: Drafting the Fourteenth Amendment ………………………………….. Chapter 5: Recipe for Factionalism in the Defeated States: Drafting the Congressional Reconstruction Act and Supplements thereto……… Chapters 6 through 9. Introduction: Reconstruction of the Eleven Formerly Rebellious States………………………………………………… Chapter 6: The Collapse of Reconstruction in Mississippi, North Carolina and Georgia…………………………………………………………. Chapter 7: The Hunt for a Middle Ground: South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee…………………………………………………………….. Chapter 8: Strong Leaders but to No Avail: Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas………………………………………………… Chapter 9: Reconstruction Statesmen at Work: Virginia and Florida……………………………………………………………………………….. Chapter 10: Grant’s Disillusionment………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Chapter 11: Moderate Republicanism and the End of Reconstruction…………………………………………..…………………….
