Besides massive race prejudice and the perceived vindictiveness of the radical Republicans, another factor that contributed strongly to the derailment of reconstruction after the Civil War was the conflicting decisions taken by the political leaders. Lincoln warned against differences between the friends of freedom, and to overcome these, took charge of the reconstruction of Louisiana and showed how it should be done by pitting benefits of enlightened free government against the prejudices of the populace. Unfortunately, his example was lost on his successor, Andrew Johnson, whose encouragement of Southern resistance to the North’s terms aggravated factionalism within the Republican party. The moderates dominated in the drafting of the Fourteenth Amendment, where they incorporated the statesmanlike principle of a benefit, self-government in exchange for Southerners protecting the rights of all their citizens, black and white. However, this statesmanlike bargain was practically abandoned in Congress’s response to the Southern states’ rejection of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Congressional Reconstructions Act. The fears of the moderates that the new state governments would not protect rights led them to propose universal suffrage, while the fears of the radicals that disloyal men would rule led them to provide for the disfranchisement of many ex-rebels and to hold any governments established, provisional only, subject to congressional change at will. As result the incentive for native white Southerners to participate in the new state governments in exchange for rights protection was drastically weakened. The consequences of this legislative "straight jacket" made it extremely difficult for Republicans in the defeated states to establish permanent political footholds. Some tried to hold onto power without attempting to cultivate native white support and lost their states for the Republicans. Three other leaders’ efforts to strike a balance between radicals and Democrats fell flat. Imprudent decisions of the Grant Administration shattered the attempts of three more states to establish a common ground with moderate Democrats. On the positive side, there was a leader in Virginia who figured out the kind of political arrangement necessary for Republicans to survive, and in Florida, a moderate Republican Governor, Ossian Bingley Hart, exercised real statesmanship to lead the most successful of all reconstruction governments. Statesmanship in reconstruction could have spared the South some severe hardships. Despite the vast change in public opinion on race relations over the last nearly 150 years, there are still lessons drawn from this study that can be applied to present day Civil Rights Policy.

A groundbreaking new history, telling the stories of hundreds of African-American activists and officeholders who risked their lives for equality-in the face of murderous violence-in the years after the Civil War. By 1870, just five years after Confederate surrender and thirteen years after the Dred Scott decision ruled blacks ineligible for citizenship, Congressional action had ended slavery and given the vote to black men. That same year, Hiram Revels and Joseph Hayne Rainey became the first African-American U.S. senator and congressman respectively. In South Carolina, only twenty years after the death of arch-secessionist John C. Calhoun, a black man, Jasper J. Wright, took a seat on the state's Supreme Court. Not even the most optimistic abolitionists thought such milestones would occur in their lifetimes. The brief years of Reconstruction marked the United States' most progressive moment prior to the civil rights movement. Previous histories of Reconstruction have focused on Washington politics. But in this sweeping, prodigiously researched narrative, Douglas Egerton brings a much bigger, even more dramatic story into view, exploring state and local politics and tracing the struggles of some fifteen hundred African-American officeholders, in both the North and South, who fought entrenched white resistance. Tragically, their movement was met by ruthless violence-not just riotous mobs, but also targeted assassination. With stark evidence, Egerton shows that Reconstruction, often cast as a “failure” or a doomed experiment, was rolled back by murderous force. The Wars of Reconstruction is a major and provocative contribution to American history.

The text begins with the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States, explaining how the Declaration contains all the underlying principles and truths that our country was founded on, and continues on through the writing of the Constitution and the forming of the government, and how the founding fathers incorporated all the fundamental principles within the Constitution. The program next discusses the challenges our country faced in the past and how they were eventually solved, and how those same problems apply to America today.

Joshua Houston (1822- 1902) was born on the Temple Lea plantation in Marion, Perry County, Alabama. In 1834 Templeton Lea died and willed Joshua to his daughter, Margaret, as her personal slave. In 1840 Margaret Lea married General Sam Houston and moved to Texas. She took Joshua with her. Joshua faithfully served the Houston family during their many political and financial ups and downs. In 1862 Sam Houston freed his slaves. Joshua elected to remain with the Houston family and took Houston as his surname. In 1866 he homesteaded in Huntsville, Texas, near the Houston family. He became a well-known and respected public figure in Huntsville where he served as city alderman and later served as county commissioner of Wlker County. In 188 he was elected as a delegate to the National Republican Convention from Texas. He was the father of seven or eight children by three different women. Descendants live in Texas.

Introduction: interpreting the "great war governor" and reconstruction senator -- A native son -- A rising republican star -- The election of 1860 -- The war governor -- One-man rule -- Copperheads, treason, and the election of 1864 -- Peace and paralysis -- Waving the bloody shirt -- A radical champion for African Americans -- Stalwart Republican -- The election of 1876 and the end of an era -- Morton and the politics of memory

A political biography of the first African American hero of the Civil War A native of Beaufort, South Carolina, Robert Smalls was born into slavery but—through acts of remarkable courage and determination—became the first African American hero of the Civil War and one of the most influential African American politicians in South Carolina history. In this largely political biography of Smalls's inspirational story, Edward A. Miller, Jr., traces the triumphs and setbacks of the celebrated U.S. congressman and advocate of compulsory, desegregated public education to illustrate how the life and contributions of this singular individual were indicative of the rise and fall of political influence for all African Americans during this rough transitional period in American history.

Konrad Adenauer was one of modern Germany's great statesmen and perhaps its most remarkable representative: his long life spanned all important epochs, ranging from Bismarckian Empire to the Federal Republic. We are therefore pleased to present the first volume of this major biography in English, written by one of Germany's most influential ......