Reconstruction: Political and Economic 1865-1877 (Classic Reprint) [Paperback]

William Archibald Dunning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2010

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION MR. GLADSTONE once let fall an expression . about the difference between "war and a state of war." The phrase might almost be applied to the condition of the United States before and after the surrender of the southern armies described in the previous volume of this series (Hosmer, Outcome of the Civil War); for from 1865 to 1877, the field of the present volume. Federal troops remained in the South, almost as garrisons in a hostile country. Yet it must never be forgotten that when the guns were once silenced no person was deprived of life or property because of his connection with the Confederacy. The North also had its reconstruction, and in the process suffered terribly from unfit officials, the plundering of public treasuries, and the degradation of civic standards. To the mind of Professor Dunning, reconstruction appears, therefore, not to be simply a process applied by the victorious section to the defeated; but a realignment of national powers, a readj

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; CHAP PAOB; Editor's Introduction xiii; Author's Preface xv; i Problems op the Restored Union (1865) 3; 11 Working towards a Peace Basis (1865) 18 in The Policy and Ambition of President; Johnson (1865) 35; iv The First Congressional Policy of Recon-; struction (1865-1866)51; v The Judgment of North and South on; Reconstruction (1866-1867) 71; vi Radical Reconstruction at Washington; (1866-1868)85; vii Radical Reconstruction in the South; (1867-1868)109 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (1867-1868)109      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; viii The Election of Grant (1868)124; ix Economic and Social State of the Nation; (1865-11869)136; x A Critical Period in Foreign Relations; (1865-1873)i$t; xi The Climax of Radical Reconstruction; (1869-1872)174; xn The Liberal Republican Movement and its; Failure (1870-1872)190; xii CONTENTS; CHAP PAGE; xiii Political and Social Demoralization w; the South (187

Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: Forgotten Books (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 144005147X
• ISBN-13: 978-1440051470
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dunning was historically accurate, not racist, June 30, 2004

By 

James S. Moore (Seattle, Washington, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Reconstruction: Political & Economic 1865-1877 (History - Unted States Series) (Hardcover)

I have just read "Reconstruction, Political & Economic, 1865-1877" by William A. Dunning and also the books on Reconstruction by Stampp, DuBois, Foner, and DuBose & Greer's "Alabama's Tragic Decade" and I wish to say that Dunning and the "Dunning School" was historically accurate and academically sound in his analysis of the "scar of Reconstruction" as recorded by the various historians and politicians during the 50 years after the war between the Confederacy and the United States (what was left of it after secession). The reviewer who stated that Dunning was "rationalizing the horrors of Reconstruction and Jim Crow segregation" and that "Dunning continues to exert a malevolent influence on Americans who seek to justify their racist views" is the one who is discredited. Dunning's book and works still play a major role in recording the errors of Reconstruction and the background to the politics and economics being played out by the Congress and the Reconstruction "governments" in the south during the "tragic decade". While Stampp, Dubois, and Foner have produced important works on the history of Reconstruction, nonetheless these authors revise the subject matter with a particular bias and with their own prejudices based on ethnicity. I rate all of them scholarly and accurate but the "elephant" they are describing is not just the tusks, trunk, legs, tail, and body of the elephant, but a total creature. Each has touched a part of the history of Reconstruction, including Dunning. Dunning is still historically accurate.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still a Must Read for All Those Interested in Reconstruction, September 5, 2010

By 

John Blangero (San Antonio, TX, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reconstruction: Political and Economic 1865-1877 (Classic Reprint) (Paperback)

Anyone interested in the post-civil war period of Reconstruction must read Dunning. It is still a valuable recapitulation and interpretation of the events of one of our darkest American periods. It is indisputably a classic text in American history. Claims of its utter refutation are based purely on the left-leaning political bias of "modern" historians/polemicists such as Eric Foner and other Marxist-influenced revisionists. Racism is NOT the dominant force behind Dunning's text. Reconstruction, as pursued by the Radical Republicans, was a period of excessive punishment of the South for their beliefs in their God-given right to secede from a nation that had lost sight of the Constitutional constraints on an increasingly tyrannical Federal government. The immorality of slavery provided these ideologues with the cover they needed to justify the destruction of what they considered to be a dangerous Southern agrarian, unapologetically Christian, and anti-statist culture. It was a period of wanton theft of Southern wealth and what we would now call ethnic cleansing and forced "cultural" reeducation. The South was illegally occupied, systematically disfranchised, and abused by the most unethical and illegitimate of civil governments in the history of the USA. Given such a military occupation, it is amazing that there was so little subsequent guerrilla-based irregular warfare. The relative lack of such a response is due to the utter military defeat and subsequent brutal (and illegal) punishment meted out by a vengeful North. History is always driven by the politics of the observers. Read Dunning if you want to understand better the foundations of the Southern perspective of Reconstruction, now lost in our propaganda-spewing public education system. The label of "racism" is applied to all thoughts outside of the monolithic politically correct progressive viewpoint of our current group of "professional historians". Such labels damage the pursuit of historical understanding.

5 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but dead wrong, October 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Reconstruction: Political & Economic 1865-1877 (History - Unted States Series) (Hardcover)

The "Dunning School," centered at a Columbia University where Dunning taught, provided the academic underpinnings for rationalizing the horrors of reconstruction and later of Jim Crow segregation. Dunning made "Birth of a Nation" possible.

Some of the material is useful for professional historians or students who are aware of the context. Much of the data is relevant.

But nearly 80 years after his death, Dunning continues to exert a malevolent influence on Americans who seek to justify their racist views. A tragedy, because Dunning himself would likely have acknowledged that he was wrong.

As it is, the "Dunning School" is totally discredited.