State of Rebellion: Reconstruction in South Carolina [Hardcover]

Richard Zuczek (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1570031053 | ISBN-13: 978-1570031052 | Publication Date: October 1996

State of Rebellion recounts the volatile course of Reconstruction in the state that experienced the longest, largest, and most dynamic federal presence in the years immediately following the Civil War. Richard Zuczek examines the opposition of conservative white South Carolinians to the Republican-led program and the federal and state governments' attempts to quell such resistance. Contending that the issues that had driven secession-the relationship of the states to the federal government and the status of African Americans-remained unresolved even after Northern victory, Zuczek describes the period from 1865 to 1877 as a continuation of the struggle that began in 1861. He argues that Republican efforts failed primarily because of an organized, coherent effort by white Southerners committed to white supremacy. Zuczek details the tactics-from judicial and political fraud to economic coercion, terrorism, and guerrilla activity-employed by conservatives to nullify the African American vote, control African American labor, and oust northern Republicans from the state. He documents the federal government's attempt to quash the conservative challenge but shows that, by 1876, white opposition was so unified, widespread, and well armed that it passed beyond government control.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570031053
• ISBN-13: 978-1570031052
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,750,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Reconstruction as seen by the victors, July 20, 2010

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This review is from: State of Rebellion: Reconstruction in South Carolina (Hardcover)

State of Rebellion focuses on Reconstruction from the point of view of native white Carolinians. Most local studies of Reconstruction during the past fifty or so years have focused on the experiences of former slaves, white northern immigrants, or white supporters of the Republican party. Most of these books also study Reconstruction from the perspective of it being a failure to secure rights for blacks or maintain Republican governments. Zuzcek looks at Reconstruction as being a success for white southern resistance. South Carolina whites faced some of the longest odds by 1867 of any other southern state to return to what they saw as an acceptable governmental and social situation. Nearly 60% of the state's population being former slaves, it would take a strong, cohesive, resistance movement to regain power. It took Carolinians almost ten years, until 1876, for them to be in a position to "redeem" the state. Whites used withering criticism of the Republican Reconstruction regime and intimidated blacks and other Republicans with wide-scale violence in order to undermine their enemies. But it was only with the tepid response of the northern government and public, weary over the years-long struggle with the South, which allowed the Redeemers to finally prevail via the violence-marred elections of 1876. The vast majority of native Carolina whites would not tolerate Republican rule; their undying opposition-a key component to any resistance movement-allowed them to prevail despite their minority position.