The Abolitionist Legacy [Paperback]

James M. McPherson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 069110039X | ISBN-13: 978-0691100395 | Publication Date: February 1, 1976 | Edition: 2

Building on arguments presented in The Struggle for Equality, James McPherson shows that many abolitionists did not retreat from Reconstruction, as historical accounts frequently lead us to believe, but instead vigorously continued the battle for black rights long after the Civil War. Tracing the activities of nearly 300 abolitionists and their descendants, he reveals that some played a crucial role in the establishment of schools and colleges for southern blacks, while others formed the vanguard of liberals who founded the NAACP in 1910. The author's examination of the complex and unhappy fate of Reconstruction clarifies the uneasy partnership of northern and southern white liberals after 1870, the tensions between black activists and white neo-abolitionists, the evolution of resistance to racist ideologies, and the origins of the NAACP.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These volumes, published in 1975 and 1964, respectively, chronicle the abolitionist movement from before the Civil War to the part it played in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. LJ's reviewer found The Abolitionist Legacy an "ably researched, well-written book" (LJ 12/15/75).
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Review

The Abolitionist Legacy shows many of the same graces as its predecessor: wide-ranging and careful research, a strong sense of story line, an eye for good quotations, unyielding sympathy for those who devoted their lives to uplifting the freedmen. -- Reviews in American History



In addition to discussing the complex blend of egalitarianism and paternalism in the thought of white proponents of black advancement, McPherson offers suggestions of the intricate mixture of racial consciousness, individual ambition, and racial romanticism that continues to fuel modern black separatism. -- Political Science Quarterly



Must surely be assigned an important place in the literature of the history of ideas and of race relations in the United States. -- The Times Literary Supplement

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; 2 edition (February 1, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069110039X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691100395
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,546,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. He has published numerous volumes on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, Crossroads of Freedom (which was a New York Times bestseller), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, which won the Lincoln Prize.

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This review is from: The Abolitionist Legacy (Paperback)

This is the second volume of a pair of books devoted to a systematic narrative and analysis of the abolitionist movement. McPherson's focus is the white abolitionists though there is some information about black abolitionists. This book traces the experience of the abolitionists during Reconstruction, its destruction in the late 1870s, and events leading up to the founding of the NAACP. McPherson provides both narrative and an effort at quantification by measuring attitudes to a variety of issues in a group of militant pre-war abolitionists and their descendents.

McPherson is particularly concerned with rebutting the idea that abolitionists lost interest in black rights after the Civil War. Not surprisingly, this is a complex story. Indeed, some abolitionist figures did fall away. The experience of Reconstruction, which like much of Gilded Age America, was characterized by quite a bit of political corruption in Southern states, alienated some former abolitionists. Others became more committed to genteel political reform (mugwumpism), which others were attracted by the idea of pursuing alliances with "moderate" paternalistic southern whites. MacPherson shows, however, that a core majority of pre-war abolitionists remained committed strongly to ideals of black political and social equality, providing considerable support for Reconstruction policies. As they were before the Civil War, this core remained an important and militant fringe movement in American life.

After the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South, many of these individuals remained outspoken advocates for black rights. The end of Federal intervention in the South, however, caused a number to focus on gradualist, meliorist strategies, pursuit of alliances with relatively liberal Southern whites, and strong emphasis on education for blacks. Quite a bit of this book is devoted to educational efforts in the South, describing the very impressive efforts of white abolitionists to support black colleges and educational institutions, some initially integrated. These efforts were often complicated by Southern white resistance and violence, and as time went on, by black efforts to escape what was partially a paternalistic system.

The 1890s saw the extinction of hopes of progress through alliance with Southern "moderates" and gradualism. The wholesale disenfranchisement of black voters, imposition of Jim Crow laws, and frequent lynchings eventually led to a new relative militancy, neo-abolitionism, led in several cases by descendents of pre-Civil War activists. Oswald Garrison Villard, a principal founder of the NAACP, was the grandson of the great William Lloyd Garrison. McPherson has interesting chapters on Booker T. Washington, the relationship between abolitionism and women's rights, and the interesting role of opposition to American imperialism as a factor in the re-emergence of neo-abolitionism.

Despite the wavering of some members of the movement, the paternalism of many, and their sometimes sanctimonious and rigid piety, these individuals, particularly those associated with Garrison and his family, were the only consistent white supporters of equality of African-Americans across many decades.