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Tragic Era; The Revolution After Lincoln (BCL1 - U.S. History)

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This book deals with the Reconstruction period, 1865-77. Bowers is of the older school that found the Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, with their ideas of punishing the South for seceeding and forcing equality for blacks in the South, especially at the polls, were disastrous for the South. This view has been hotly debated; for a revisionist view see Stampp's "The Era of Reconstruction." Bowers, despite his controversial views, is an interesting historian: his style is personal and flamboyant. His emphasis is on tragedy, and his tone echoes that sentiment. To him Andrew Johnson was fighting the good fight of A. Lincoln and sought moderation in black suffrage and ease at allowing Southerners to become US citizens again; Stevens et. al. were evil monsters. An interesting book, nowhere dull.

Claude Bowers, The Tragic Era, is a brilliant politically incorrect history of the most corrupt time in the history of the United States. Bowers starts with the assumption of the Presidency of Andrew Johnson, a heroic but much maligned man in history. Johnson was a staunch Unionist and patriot, but he was also an avid believer in Jeffersonian government. He correctly saw the centralization of power by the Republican Party as dangerous to freedom.

Next Bowers delves into the "Radical Republicans" led by Thaddeus Stevens, a vicious fanatic and a man who despised white Southerners. Stevens, an ardent aboitionist and crusader for negro equality, hated the South and it's white population. He wanted "Reconstruction" to be as harsh and unforgiving as could be. Overall a true scoundrel. Next we see the abolitionist fanaticism of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Sumner,as radical as Stevens also hated southern whites and was a fanatic for negro equality. Sumner, like all Radical Republicans, wanted immediate equality of the races, negro voting( even when most could not read or write), disenfanchisement of all whites, and Southern governments dominated by carpetbaggers and negroes. These carpetbaggers, along with negroes and southern "scalawags" plundered the South.

Also exposed is the lunacy and fanaticism of the abolitionists. Beloved today, they were seen as a threat to southern whites and as proponents of a bloody race war. William Lloyd Garrison, a modern hero, was Puritan of the worst stripe. He called the US Constitution a "covenant with death" and encouraged blacks to rise against the whites. Left out of modern histories of the era is the scandalous and sick call for extermination, not just of slaveholders, but of all southern whites. New England clergymen were the main culprits. This was borne out of religious fanaticism of the most extreme fundamentalist type: uncomprimising, violent, and hateful.

The phony politically motivated impeachment of Johnson, the military governing of the South, the bribery, corruption, and violence perpetrated on southern whites shows a time of disgrace and despotism. The instigating of race tensions and war by Republican governors, and their lies, and promises to freed slaves that they would give whites land to them caused innumerable tensions throughout the South.

Lastly the stolen election of 1876 where the votes of three states, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were manipulated causing the election of Rutherford B. Hayes. The Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, won the popular vote by 260,000 votes and more than likely the real electoral votes. In order to make a comprimise the Republican Party ended Reconstruction,and pulled federal troops out of the South.

This is a very politically incorrect, but accurate history, unlike the deconstructionist and anti-southern histories of today. It also shows that the Republican Party began as a party of Big Government and looking at today, still is.

Overall, a great read.

I can only say that it is difficult reading, due to the over whelming amount of graft and political corruption of that era. They made some of today's political corruptions seem mild by comparison! I have a personal letter from one of Kentucky's Representatives of that era, and he compares much of what was going on in Washington, D.C., to a cesspool of coruption. Mr. Lincoln's war to change the voluntary confederated union of sovereign states into a consolidated "Nation" of people en masse, opened the door, and the Radical Republicans (who made today's liberal Democrats look good)were only too glad to pour through it! They went far beyond what Lincoln had in mind, and we are not likely to ever get over it! Actually, some historians seem to suggest that opposition to their extreme policies might have contributed to his assasination, as well as the impeachment of President Johnson! Interesting to ponder on, to say the least! An important book about a subject which many would prefer to keep behind the closet door, so to speak.

The politically correct can moan all they want about "how" Bowers says what he says, but they cannot refute WHAT he says. What he says actually happened. Buy the book. It's worth it. And if you've been previously brainwashed by the "contemporary" view (or as one reviewer put it, the "rose colored" view) of Reconstruction, ask yourself a common sense question before you begin reading.... How is it that a people not more than 2 years removed from slavery, most of whom could not read and write, most of them now on their own for the first time in their lives, find not only the expertise necessary to run for and hold political office, but the free time? Such a leap of progress in such a short time has never occurred in the annals of human history?!When you fail to find a logical answer for the question, then the smoke and mirrors imposed on your brain by the "contemporary" view of the period should begin to fade away like a bad dream. Then you are ready to see the truth.

This book is a vital read for those who truly want to know how much vicious hatred was inflicted upon the defenseless South after the Confederacy was defeated. In truth, the Germans and Japanese were treated far better than our fellow Southern Americans! Also,as a result of the Radical Republican rule for over 10 years, the entire country was transformed from a former Constitutional Republic into the Mobocracy that we have today. The South was right!

This book dealt more with the crooked politics of the reconstruction era. It did not tell much about the hardships the people of the south had to endure due to the low lifes from the north.

As both an author and a historian, I have to say THE TRAGIC ERA is simply the best book ever written on The Reconstruction and the post-War for Southern Independence Era -- period. Written well before either publisher or self-censorship due to political correctness became the norm, this book pulls no punches whatsoever as it lays out the cold hard truth about this vital period in history when the partial reintegration of the South into the US was less important than the fundamental changes in the US Government itself. Race, politics and personalities of the time are all handled with equal bluntness, with truth being the author's only concern. If you have not read this book, you cannot understand either that period in history or the current one. Yes, it is just that important, and of equal importance, it is highly readable.

Gregory Kay, author of The Third Revolution Series.

This will really refresh your attitude to the tragic era it really shows what it was all about!

The author used extensive research. We can not honestly look back at history, through 'rose-colored [PC]glasses'. This book was written, when authors were not pressured to be "politically correct". I wish to draw attention to the extensive Bibliography used for this book. (If you wish the 'true story' of 'Reconstruction'; this book is a must)

MANUSCRIPTS, BOOKS, AND NEWSPAPERS CONSULTED AND CITED

MANUSCRIPTS

Baruch: MS. Letters of Dr. Simon Baruch. In possession of Bernard M. Baruch, New York.

Daughters of the Confederacy: MS, Letters and Diaries. Collected for the author by the Daughters of the Confederacy.

Gary: MS. Biography of Martin W. Gary, by David Duncan Wallace. In possession of the Honorable John Gary Evans, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Hayes: The Rutherford B. Hayes MSS. Fremont, Ohio

Holden: W. W. Holden MSS.; political and personal letters. North Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh.

Holden: Recollections of Gov. W. W. Holden, by his daughter. In author's possession.

Julian: Diary of George W. Julian, 1865-1877. In possession of Grace Julian Clarke, Indianapolis.

Morton: MS. Letters of Oliver P. Morton. Henry County, Indiana, Historical Society.

Thurman: The Allan G. Thurman Papers. Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society.

Warmoth: MS. Reminiscences of Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth. In his possession, New Orleans.

BOOKS

Abbott, Josiah Gardner. See Cowley.

Adams, Henry: Education of Henry Adams. Boston, 1918.

Allen, Walter: Governor Chamberlain's Administration. New York, 1888.

Armes, W. D., editor: The Autobiography of Joseph LeConte. New York, 1903

Avery, I. W.: History of Georgia. New York, 1881.

Badeau, Adam: Grant in Peace. A Personal Memoir. Hartford, 1887.

Barnes, Thurlow Weed. Editor: Memoir of Thurlow Weed, Two Volumes, Boston, 1884.

Barnes, W. H.: History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. New York, 1868.

Bayard, Thomas F. See Spencer.

Beales, H. S. B.: Letters of Mrs. James G. Blaine. Two volumes, New York, 1908.

Bellows, Henry W.: Historical Sketch of the Union League Club. New York, 1879.

Bigelow, John: Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden. Two volumes, New York, 1908.

Bigelow, John: Retrospections of an Active Life. Five volumes, New York, 1908-13.

Bigelow, John: Life of Samuel J. Tilden. Two volumes, New York, 1895.

Blaine, James G.: Twenty Years in Congress. Two volumes, Norwich, 1884.

Blair, Frank P. See Croly.

Boutwell, George S.: Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs. Two volumes, New York, 1902.

Bowen, Herbert W. Recollection, Diplomatic and Undiplomatic. New York, 1926.

Boyd, W. K.: Governor W. W. Holden. Trinity College Historical Papers, Durham, 1999.

Brown, Joseph E. See Fielder.

Brownlow, W. P.: `Defence and Vindication of Andrew Johnson," Taylor-Trotwood Magazine, September, 1908.

Buck, S. J.: The Granger Movement. Cambridge, 1913.

Burgess, John W.: Reconstruction and the Constitution. New York, 1902.

Burton, Theodore E.: Finical Crises and Periods of Industrial and Financial Depression. New York, 1909.

Butler, Benjamin F.: Butler's Book. Boston, 1892.

Bryant, William Cullen. See Godwin.

Callender, E. B.: Thaddeus Stevens. Boston, 1882.

Carpenter, Matthew Hale. See Flower.

Chamberlain, Rose S.: Old Days at Chapel Hill. London, 1926.

Chandler, Zachariah: `Life and Public Services,' Detroit Post, 1880.

Chase, Salmon P. See Schuckers and Warden.

Chestnut, Mary Boyden: A Diary from Dixie. New York, 1905.

Clark, Grace Julian: George W. Julian. Indiana Historical Collection, XI, Indianapolis, 1923.

Clay, Mrs.: A Bell of the Fifties. New York, 1905.

Clayton, Powell: The Aftermath of Civil War in Arkansas. New York, 1915.

Clemenceau, Georges: History of American Reconstruction. Letters to Le Temps. New York, 1928.

Colfax, Schulyer. See Hollister.

Conkling, A. R.: Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling. New York, 1889.

Cooke, Jay. See Oberholtzer.

Cortissoz, Royal: Life of Whitelaw Reid. Two volumes, New York, 1921.

Coulter, E. Merton: Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky. Chapel Hill, 1926.

Cowley, Charles: Memoirs of Josiah Gardner Abbott. Boston, 1892.

Cox, S. S.: Three Decades of Federal Legislation. Providence, 1888.

Croly, David G.: Seymour and Blair: Their Lives and Services. New York, 1868.

Crook, William H.: Through Five Administrations. New York, 1910.

David, S. L.: Authentic History of the Ku-Klux Klan. New York, 1924.

Dawson, Sarah Morgan: A Confederate Girl's Diary. Boston, 1913.

Dewitt, David Miller: The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. New York, 1903.

Dickens, Charles, See Forster.

Dunning, William A.: Reconstruction, Political and Economic. New York, 1907.

Eckenrode, H. J.: A Political History of Virginia During Reconstruction. Baltimore, 1904.

Evarts, William Maxwell: Arguments and Speeches. Three Volumes, New York, 1919.

Fessenden, Francis: Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden. Two volumes, Boston, 1907.

Ficklen, John Rose: History of Reconstruction in Louisiana. Baltimore, 1910.

Fielder, Herbert: Life, Times and Speeches of Joseph E. Brown. Springfield, 1883.

Fleming, Walter F.: Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama. New York, 1905.

Fleming, Walter F.: Documentary History of Reconstruction. Two Volumes, Cleveland, 1906.

Flower, Frank A.: Edward McMasters Stanton. Arkon, 1905.

Flower, Frank A.: Life of Matthew Hale Carpenter. Madison, 1884.

Forney, John W.: Anecdotes of Public Men. Two volumes, New York, 1873.

Forster, John: Life of Charles Dickens. Three volumes, Philadelphia, 1874.

Foulke, William Dudley. Life of Oliver P. Morton. Two volumes, Indianapolis, 1899.

Fuller, Robert H.: Jubilee Jim: The Life of Colonel James Fisk. New York, 1928.

Garfield, James A. See Smith.

Garner, James W.: Reconstruction in Mississippi. New York, 1901.

Godkin, Edwin Lawrence. See Ogden.

Godwin, Parke: Life of William Cullen Bryant. Two volumes, New York, 1883.

Gorham, George C.: Life and Public Services of Edwin M. Stanton. Two volumes, Boston, 1872.

Grant, U. S.: Personal Memoirs. New York, 1885.

Greeley, Horace. See Seitz.

Grimes, James W. See Salter.

Guroski, Adam: Diary. Three volumes, Boston, 1862-66.

Hamilton, Gail: Biography of James G. Blaine. Norwich, 1895.

Hamilton, J. G. De Roulhac: Reconstruction in North Carolina. New York, 1914.

Hamilton, J. G. De Roulhac: The Correspondence of Jonathan Worth. Two volumes. Publications of the North Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh, 1909.

Hamilton, J. G. De Roulhac, editor: The Papers of Thomas Ruffin. Publications of the North Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh, 1920.

Hamlin, Charles Eugene: Life and Time of Hannibal Hamlin. Two volumes, Boston, 1899.

Hayes, Rutherford B. See Williams.

Hendricks, Thomas A. See Holcombe.

Hensel, W. U.: The Christiana Riot and the Treason Trials of 1851. Lancaster, 1911.

Hill, Benjamin H., Jr.: Senator Benjamin H. Hill: His Life, Speeches and Writings. Atlanta, 1895.

Hill, Benjamin H. See Pearse.

Hoar, George F.: Autobiography. Two volumes, New York, 1903.

Holcombe, John W.: Life of Thomas A. Hendricks. Indianapolis, 1886.

Holden, W. W.: Memoirs of W. W. Holden. John Lawson Monographs, Trinity College Historical Society, Durham, 1911.

Hollister, C. J.: Life of Schuyler Colfax. New York, 1886.

Holloway, Laura C.: The Ladies of the White House. Philadelphia, 1881.

Hull, George H.: Industrial Depressions. New York, 1926.

Ingersoll, Robert G.: Works. Dresden edition.

Johnson, Andrew, See Winston, Stryker, Jones, Dewitt, Moore.

Jones, James S.: Life of Andrew Johnson. Greeneville, 1901.

Julian, George W.: Speeches on Political Questions. Chicago, 1884. See also Clarke.

Lamar, Lucius Q. C. See Mayes.

Lathers, Richard. See Sanborn.

Lee, Captain R. E.: Recollections of Letters of Robert E. Lee. New York, 1926.

Leigh, Francis Butler: Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation. London, 1883.

Leslie, J. C. (and W. L. Wilson): The Ku-Klux Klan. New York, 1905.

Logan, Mrs. John A.: Reminiscences of a Soldiers Wife. New York, 1918.

Lonn, Ella: Reconstruction in Louisiana After 1868. New York, 1918.

Lowery, Robert (and W. H. McCardle):A History of Mississippi. Jackson, 1891.

McCall, Samuel: Thaddeus Stevens. Boston, 1899.

McCarthy, Charles H.: Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction. New York, 1901.

McCulloch, Hugh: Men and Measures. New York, 1888.

McDonald, John: Secrets of the Whiskey Ring. Chicago, 1880.

McNeilly, J. S.: Climax and Collapse of Reconstruction in Mississippi. Vol. XII of the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society.

McPherson, Edward: A Political History of the United States During Reconstruction. Washington, 1875.

Marble, Manton: A Secret Chapter of Political History. Pamphlet, New York, no date.

Maverick, August: Henry J. Raymond. Hartford, 1870.

Mayes, Edward: Lucius Q. C. Lamar His Life, Times and Speeches. Nashville, 1896.

Merriam, George S.: Life and Times of Samuel Bowles. Two volumes, New York, 1885.

Mitchell, Edward P.: Memoirs of an Editor. New York, 1924.

Moore, Frank: Life and Speeches of Andrew Johnson. Boston, 1865.

Morton, Oliver P.: See Foulkes.

Nast, Thomas. See Paine.

Nevins, Allan: Emergence of Modern America. New York.

Nicolay, Helen: Our Capital on the Potomac. New York, 1924.

Nordhoff, Charles: The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1875. New York, 1875.

Oberholtzer, E. P.: Jay Cooke, Financier of the Civil War. Two volumes, New York, 1907.

O'Connor, Mary D.: Life and Letter of M. P. O'Connor. New York, 1893.

Ogden, Rollo: Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin. Two volumes, New York, 1907.

Paine, Albert Bigelow: Thomas Nast: His Period and his Pictures. New York, 1904.

Pierce, Haywood J.: Benjamin H. Hill: Secession and Reconstruction, Chicago, 1928.

Perry, Benjamin F.: Reminiscences of Public Men. Philadelphia, 1883.

Pierce, S.: The Freedmen's Bureau. Iowa City, 1904.

Pike, James: The Prostate State: South Carolina Under Negro Government. New York, 1874.

Ramsdell, William: Reconstruction in Texas. New York, 1910.

Rawlins, John A. See Wilson.

Reagan, John H.: Memoirs. New York, 1906.

Reid, Whitelaw: After the War: A Southern Tour. Cincinnati, 1866. See Cortissoz.

Reynolds, John S.: Reconstruction in South Carolina. Columbia, 1905.

Riddle, A. G.: Life of Benjamin F. Wade. Cleveland, 1886.

Ross, Edmund G.: History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Santa Fe, 1896.

Ruffin. See Hamilton.

Salter, William: Life and Times of James W. Grimes. New York, 1876.

Sanborn, Alvan F., editor: Reminiscences of Richard Lathers. New York, 1907.

Schofield, John M.: Forty-Six Years in the Army. New York, 1897.

Schuckers, J. W.: Life and Public Services of Solomon P. chase. New York, 1874.

Schurz, Carl.: Reminiscences. Two volumes, New York, 1908.

Seitz, Donn C.: Horace Greeley. Indianapolis, 1926.

Sherman, John: Recollections. Two volumes, New York and Chicago, 1895.

Smedes, Susan Dabney: Memoirs of a Southern Planter. Baltimore, 1888.

Smith, Theodore Clark: Life and Letter of James A. Garfield. Two volumes, New Haven, 1925.

Somers, Robert: The Southern States Since the War. London, 1871.

Spencer, Edward: Public Life and Services of Thomas F. Bayard. New York, 1880.

Staples, Thomas.: Reconstruction in Arkansas, New York, 1923.

Stevens, Thaddeus. See Woodburn, McCall, Callender, and Hensel.

Stewart, William M.: Reminiscences. New York, 1908.

Stovall, Pleasant A.: Life of Robert Toombs. New York, 1892.

Stowe, Charles Edward: Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Boston, 1889.

Stryker, L. P.: Andrew Johnson: A Study in Courage. New York, 1920.

Stuart, A. H. H.: A Narrative of Leading Incidents of the Organization of the First Popular Movement in Virginia. Richmond, 1888.

Sumner, Charles. See Pierce.

Tarbell, Ida M.: History of the Standard Oil Company. Two volumes, New York, 1904.

Taylor, A. H.: The Negro in South Carolina During Reconstruction. Washington, 1924.

Taylor, Richard: Destruction and Reconstruction. Washington, 1924.

Thompson, Henry T. Reconstruction in Georgia. New York, 1915.

Thompson, Henry T.: Ousting the Carpetbagger from South Carolina. Columbia, 1926.

Thorndike, Rachel Sherman: The Sherman Letters, New York, 1894.

Trumbull, Lyman. See White.

Turpie, David: Sketches of My Own Times. Indianapolis, 1903.

Vallandigham, J. L.: A Life of Clement L. Vallandigham. Baltimore, 1872.

Wallace, John: Carpetbag Rule in Florida. Jacksonville, 1888.

Warden, Robert B.: Private Life and Public Services of Salmon P. Chase. Cincinnati, 1874.

Watterson, Robert B.: Marse Henry: An Autobiography, Two volumes, New York, 1920.

Way, William: History of the New England Society of Charleston. Charleston, 1920.

Welles, Gideon: Diary. Three volumes, Boston, 1911.

Wells, Edward: Hampton and Reconstruction. Columbia, 1907.

White, Andrew D.: Autobiography. Two volumes, New York, 1905.

White, Horace: The Life of Lyman Trumbull. Boston, 1913.

Williams, Alfred B. See Newspapers.

Williams, Charles R.: Life of Rutherford B. Hayes. Two volumes, Boston, 1914.

Wilson, James Grant: General Grant's Letter to a Friend. New York, 1897.

Wilson, James Harrison: Life of John A. Rawlins. New York, 1916.

Wilson, Peter Mitchell: Southern Exposure. Chapel Hill, 1927.

Winston, Robert W.: Andrew Johnson Plebeian and Patriot. New York, 1928.

Wise, John S.: Recollections of Thirteen Presidents. New York, 1905.

Woodburn, James A.: Life of Thaddeus Stevens. Indianapolis.

Worth. See Hamilton.

PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

The numerous Congressional Reports and Investigations need not be enumerated here. They are each cited in full where referred to in the text. Aside from these:

Congressional Globe and Congressional Record, 1865-1877.

Impeachment Trial of W. W. Holden. Three volumes, Raleigh, 1871.

Messages and Papers of the Presidents.

Official Report of the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson.

Report of Joint Investigating Committee on Public Frauds, South Carolina, 1877-78.

Third Annual Message of W. W. Holden with Appendix. Doc. I, Sess. 1870-71.



Newspapers

Abbeville Press and Banner (South Carolina), 1876-77.

The Columbia State, August 8, 1926, to March 13, 1927, containing Alfred B. Williams's graphic reminiscences of the final fight for the redemption of South Carolina.

Harper's Weekly.

The Independent.

Lancaster Intelligencer, 1865-68.

McMinnville (Tenn.) Enterprise (Radical Southern paper), 1867.

The Nation.

New York Herald.

New York Sun.

New York Times.

New York Tribune.

New York World.

(The New York papers, especially The World, quoted extensively from newspapers of the West and South.)

Source-"The Tragic Era", (The Revolution After Lincoln)- Claude G. Bowers-copyright Ó 1929 by Claude G. Bowers, pages 541-547; Simon Publications 2001

First Published by The Literary Guild of America; Library of Congress Control Number: 29017848; Printed by Lighting Source Inc. La Vergne, TN Published by Simon Publications, P. O. Box 321, Safety Harbor, FL 34695

ISBN 1-931541-49-3

The Tragic Era was considered a legitimate text book during the Depression and for many years afterward. However its historical view is pro-confederate, racist, and totally propagandistic. In this book you will find the arguement that slaves were happy and treated well, that after the Civil War the evil Northerners raped and pillaged the South unmercifully for 12 years, and that the angelic white men of the South only became racially bigoted because it was forced on them by the uppity freed slaves. This piece of trash is on the same quality level as Mein Kampf. If you want a realistic exploration of the Reconstruction period read Kenneth M. Stampp's "The Era of Reconstruction".