Conceiving a New Republic: The Republican Party and the Southern Question, 1869-1900

American Political Thought

by Charles W. Calhoun

During the late nineteenth century, Republicans struggled to reinvent America in the wake of civil war—and were consumed by the question of how the South should fit within the reconstituted Union. But the unity that Republicans had shown during the war was far from evident in facing this new challenge.

Conceiving a New Republic examines the Republicans’ ideological struggle, focusing on how party thought—particularly concerning the concept of republicanism—determined the contours of that effort and was in turn shaped by it. In relating how Republicans strove to fashion a new democratic polity in the face of fierce southern opposition, Charles Calhoun focuses on what they thought about their actions, particularly their beliefs about the meaning and nature of the American Republic.

Calhoun revolutionizes our understanding of this era by showing that although it eventually failed in its lofty purpose, the party set out to reconstruct a nation that would abide by the promises of the Declaration of Independence. While earlier scholars have blamed Republicans for not being more steadfast advocates for blacks, Calhoun shows that southern Democrats so strongly resisted the breakdown of white supremacy that Republicans ultimately could not prevail. He assesses their actions in the election of 1876 and the ensuing electoral crisis less as an abandonment of black rights than as an effort to salvage as much of the republican experiment as possible. He also examines their struggle to revive the experiment with the Lodge Federal Elections bill of 1890—the last serious attempt at civil rights legislation until the 1950s.

Offering new insights into Presidents Grant, Hayes, Harrison, and McKinley, Calhoun shows that even before the latter’s administration had begun, a confluence of forces had conspired to defeat the Republicans’ attempt to create a new Republic. He spells out the reasons why Republicans, defeated by southern and Democratic intransigence, ultimately abandoned the effort to remake the Republic and found ways to accommodate themselves intellectually and morally to the failure of their earlier ideals.

In showing how Republican leaders envisioned nothing less than an essential reordering of the Republic, Conceiving a New Republic offers a bold reinterpretation of the Gilded Age that reflects a deep understanding of the period and its issues.

358 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2006

About the author

Charles W. Calhoun is an American historian and professor at East Carolina University. He holds a BA from Yale University and a PhD from Columbia University. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and resides in Greenville, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Tash Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall thesis - the Republican Party's attitude toward the Southern Question evolved as its members debated what "republicanism" and its promise of "government by the people" actually meant. For some, republicanism meant upholding the 14th and 15th amendments; for others, it meant keeping federal authorities out of local and state government. As Northern interests waned, the latter definition eventually won out. Calhoun's work, though dry in places with its focus on the thinking of political leaders, does show this process as gradual. Republican leaders struggled with their moral and legal commitment to Southern Blacks in the face of stiff white resistance and the reality of Southern life.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a blow-by-blow account of how the Republican party slowly came to surrender the gains of the Reconstruction. It follows the main characters involved, the bills, the debates, the speeches, and the attitude of the press. Benjamin Harrison and Rutherford Hayes come out of the book very well, and McKinley badly. For a 300 page book, this is all quite an achievement, but I would have liked a little bit more explanation of what it was that made a few of the specific individuals involved change sides (McKinley being one of them, Schurz another).