The Trial of Democracy: Black Suffrage and Northern Republicans, 1860-1910

by Xi Wang

Overview

After the Civil War, Republicans teamed with activist African Americans to protect black voting rights through innovative constitutional reforms—a radical transformation of southern and national political structures. The Trial of Democracy is a comprehensive analysis of both the forces and mechanisms that led to the implementation of black suffrage and the ultimate failure to maintain a stable northern constituency to support enforcement on a permanent basis.

The reforms stirred fierce debates over the political and constitutional value of black suffrage, the legitimacy of racial equality, and the proper sharing of power between the state and federal governments. Unlike most studies of Reconstruction, this book follows these issues into the early twentieth century to examine the impact of the constitutional principles and the rise of Jim Crow. Tying constitutional history to party politics, The Trial of Democracy is a vital contribution to both fields.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820340845
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	01/15/2012
Series:	Studies in the Legal History of the South Series
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

XI WANG is a professor of history at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His books include Principles and Compromises: The Spirit and Practice of the American Constitution (in Chinese), and Discovering History in America: Reflections of Chinese Historians in the United States (in Chinese, coedited with Yao Ping). He also serves as the editor of the Chinese Historical Review, a transnational journal of history. A native of China, Wang regularly lectures on American history in Peking University, where he holds a Changjiang Professorship in the History Department.

XI WANG is a professor of history at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His books include Principles and Compromises: The Spirit and Practice of the American Constitution (in Chinese), and Discovering History in America: Reflections of Chinese Historians in the United States (in Chinese, coedited with Yao Ping). He also serves as the editor of the Chinese Historical Review, a transnational journal of history. A native of China, Wang regularly lectures on American history in Peking University, where he holds a Changjiang Professorship in the History Department.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xi

Preface xiii

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1 The Road to the Fifteenth Amendment, 1860-1870 1

Chapter 2 The Making of Federal Enforcement Laws, 1870-1872 49

Chapter 3 The Anatomy of Enforcement, 1870 -1876 93

Chapter 4 The Hayes Administration and Black Suffrage, 1876-1880 134

Chapter 5 The Survival of a Principle, 1880-1888 180

Chapter 6 The Rise and Fall of Reenforcement, 1888 -1891 216

Epilogue: Equality Deferred, 1892 -1910 253

Appendix 1 Enforcement Act of May 31, 1870 267

Appendix 2 Naturalization Act of July 14, 1870 275

Appendix 3 Enforcement Act of February 28, 1871 278

Appendix 4 Enforcement Act of April 20, 1871 288

Appendix 5 Enforcement Rider in the Civil Appropriation Act of June 10, 1872 292

Appendix 6 Sections from the Enforcement Acts in the Revised Statutes, Their Repeals, and Amendments 294

Appendix 7 Criminal Prosecutions under Enforcement Acts, 1870 -1894, by Section and Year 300

Appendix 8 Strength Distribution of the Major Parties in the Federal Government, 1861-1909 302

Abbreviations 303

Notes 305

Selected Bibliography 375

Index 397

Editorial Reviews

Carefully researched and clearly written . . . Wang’s evidence has broad implications and might well force historians to rethink standard narratives of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age.

Journal of Southern History - Eric Anderson

Wang's account . . . extends beyond the local and immediate origins of [Reconstruction’s] failure and in so doing provides a fuller account of the national-level forces and long-term costs.

Virginia Quarterly Review

The Trial of Democracy covers this time period like no other work and provides a better context for discussion of Republican efforts to enfranchise African Americans.

author of A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863–1869 - Michael Les Benedict

Extensively researched and well written. Wang utilizes published and unpublished government documents as well as diaries, letters, and personal papers to synthesize the debate between Republican liberals, conservatives, and moderates and their opponents over the suffrage and enforcement issues.

Civil War History

"The Trial of Democracy covers this time period like no other work and provides a better context for discussion of Republican efforts to enfranchise African Americans."--Michael Les Benedict, author of A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863–1869

"Extensively researched and well written. Wang utilizes published and unpublished government documents as well as diaries, letters, and personal papers to synthesize the debate between Republican liberals, conservatives, and moderates and their opponents over the suffrage and enforcement issues."--Civil War History

From the Publisher