Why Were The Radical Republicans Radical?

[Liz Rosenthal]

(05-01-2013 07:49 AM)Thomas Thorne Wrote:  Everyone except the former slaves and their children benefited from the overwhelming desire to have the White North and White South reconcile. Both sides now agreed that slavery and disunion were wrong but how the South handled its internal affairs was its own business.
Tom.

Tom, I assume you mean by "both sides" agreeing on the South managing its own affairs is that that's how people felt at the time (1877), and that that is not how people generally look at it today.

With respect to my statement regarding military service being the chief way out of the slave economy, I would recommend, if you haven't already read it, The Militant South: 1800-1861 by John Hope Franklin. He makes an excellent case with regard to southern militancy; other books I've read about the era seem to support Franklin's general thesis.

I didn't mean to suggest that southerners relied on going to West Point to make it in the military; there was an enormous militia culture in the South, too, along with a proliferation of military colleges, which I believe were much more numerous than non-military colleges. Militia drills in southern town squares were a prime form of public entertainment.

Also, while I agree that the South had railroads, I'm sure you will agree that the South nevertheless seriously lagged behind the North in development of railroads. In general, the South lagged behind the North in just about every area of economic development. This is exactly why they had to rely on theft of northern armaments (before and during the war) and blockade running in order to keep their armies supplied. I think there was only one major armaments factory in the entire Confederacy.

Eva: I do think that the North's military victory was inevitable, so long as whoever was in charge was committed to bringing the full power of the North to bear against the South during the Civil War. To me, it was a matter of will. Lincoln provided the necessary will. Not just anyone would have done so. Look at Seward, who seemed obsessed, early on, with starting a foreign war that would allegedly bring the North and South back together. Look at McClellan, who seemed to favor a negotiated peace that would have preserved slavery.

Eva, for a general overview of the war, I would recommend the fascinating Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. The book also gives you a superb review of American history leading up to the war by showing how different political and social elements developing over several decades led up to the crisis of 1860-61.