Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876

Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876

In my preface to "The Middle Period" I wrote that the re-establishment of a real national brotherhood between the North and the South could be attained only on the basis of a sincere and genuine acknowledgment by the South that secession was an error as well as a failure. I come now to supplement this contention with the proposition that a corresponding acknowledgment on the part of the North in regard to Reconstruction between 1866 and 1876 is equally necessary. In making this demand, I must not be understood as questioning in the slightest degree the sincerity of the North in the main purpose of the Reconstruction policy of that period. On the other hand, I maintain that that purpose was entirely praiseworthy. It was simply to secure the civil rights of the newly emancipated race, and to re-establish loyal Commonwealths in the South. But there is now little question that erroneous means were chosen. Two ways were open for the attainment of the end sought. One was that which was followed, namely, placing the political power in the hands of the newly emancipated; and the other was the nationalization of civil liberty by placing it under the protection of the Constitution and the national Judiciary, and holding the districts of the South under Territorial civil government until the white race in those districts should have sufficiently recovered from its temporary disloyalty to the Union to be intrusted again with the powers of Commonwealth local government. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 50295
Author: Burgess, John William
Release Date: Oct 24, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English