The Reconstruction Presidents

by Brooks D. Simpson

During and after the Civil War, four presidents faced the challenge of reuniting the nation and of providing justice for black Americans—and of achieving a balance between those goals. This first book to collectively examine the Reconstruction policies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes reveals how they confronted and responded to the complex issues presented during that contested era in American politics.

Brooks Simpson examines the policies of each administration in depth and evaluates them in terms of their political, social, and institutional contexts. Simpson explains what was politically possible at a time when federal authority and presidential power were more limited than they are now. He compares these four leaders' handling of similar challenges—such as the retention of political support and the need to build a Southern base for their policies—in different ways and under different circumstances, and he discusses both their use of executive power and the impact of their personal beliefs on their actions.

Although historians have disagreed on the extent to which these presidents were committed to helping blacks, Simpson's sharply drawn assessments of presidential performance shows that previous scholars have overemphasized how the personal racial views of each man shaped his approach to Reconstruction. Simpson counters much of the conventional wisdom about these leaders by persuasively demonstrating that considerable constraints to presidential power severely limited their efforts to achieve their ends.

The Reconstruction Presidents marks a return to understanding Reconstruction based upon national politics and offers an approach to presidential policy making that emphasizes the environment in which a president governs and the nature of the challenges facing him. By showing that what these four leaders might have accomplished was limited by circumstances not easily altered, it allows us to assess them in the context of their times and better understand an era too often measured by inappropriate standards.

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1998

About the author

Brooks Donohue Simpson is an historian who is the ASU Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University, specializing in studies of the American Civil War.

Reviews

[Austin Barselau · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE RECONSTRUCTION PRESIDENTS studies the relationship between presidential power, national politics, and public policy during four presidencies of the Civil War Reconstruction period. Brooks D. Simpson, Professor of History at Arizona State University, surveys how the prerogatives of presidential power and personality clashed with civil and political realities during the presidencies of Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, and Hayes. In Lincoln, Simpson finds a pragmatist who elevated national unity and civil rule over maximalist solutions. His successor, the surly obstructionist Johnson, weaponized the institutional prerogatives of the presidency to sacrifice progress on black enfranchisement to reconstitute southern loyalty in the aftermath of the war. A Republican presidency was restored under Grant, who sought to unleash federal force to halt political terrorism and preserve black rights, but ultimately failed to broaden the Republican coalition to include white southerners. Lastly, the Hayes administration retired intervention by “putting aside the bayonet,” but ultimately fell short of achieving larger goals of both bolstering black rights and garnering the support of the South. In each of these eras of presidential power, Simpson shows how both presidential ambition and attitudes on race were tempered by countervailing political forces that fragmented the country during Reconstruction. The author’s conclusion is that the legacy of Reconstruction, while paved with good intentions, is ultimately stained by its shortcomings, with lofty ideals of racial reconciliation being subverted to political exigencies and campaign politicking.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was particularly good on Johnson and Hayes, the two reconstruction presidents I knew the least about. I hadn't realised quite how much Johnson determined the future of Reconstruction. I had hitherto seen Johnson as good in a negative sense, that his awfulness gave more power to the Radical Reconstructionists than they would otherwise had had. But Johnson also limited quite severely what Reconstruction could achieve in treating the rebels with great leniency. Simpson is good as usual on Grant (though one of the lacunae he notes in the Bibliography, a proper study of the Grant Presidency, has been fulfilled now by Charles Calhoun's superb The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, which fills in a lot more about Grant's contribution to the Reconstruction), and it was interesting to learn about what Lincoln had in mind and how that changed towards the end of the war as the circumstances changed. Simpson is a fun author to read too, prose style wise. Highly recommended.

[Earl Ecklund III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reconstruction was a deeply divisive time for the United States, in this volume Simpson takes a fresh look at how Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grant and Hayes approached the challenge of Reconstruction in terms of what was politically possible at the time.

For Lincoln the main focus was preserving the Union and winning the war, his experiments at creating loyal governments in Louisiana, North Carolina and Tennessee were attempts to bring the war to a close and not a clear indication of future policy.

In the case of Andrew Johnson his desire to to quickly restore the old Confederate states so he could build a political base of white Southerners loyal to him without any real regard to the rights of the newly freed blacks. This quickly led to conflict with the Republican Congress which undermined any real chance of a true reconstruction of the South.

Grant took office at a time when the north was already waning in support for Reconstruction, he used the military to try to protect the rights of the freedmen while also building support among the white Southerners for the Republican Party, an impossible task that was undermined by many in both the north and South.

Hayes is usually remembered for pulling the last troops out the South shortly after becoming President but as Simpson states Hayes had not other choice. Hayes' belief that this act would endure his administration and party to wealthy white Southerners who would in term protect black civil rights was misguided at best.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this period and how these Presidents dealt with these near impossible challenges.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comparative analysis of the Reconstruction policies of four presidents. It emphasizes the difficulties they faced and the limits on their ability to affect change. The common view of Ulysses S. Grant as a bungler is refuted, although his failures are pointed out.