Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction : : The Louisiana Experiment / / Peyton McCrary.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1931-1979
• VerfasserIn: McCrary, Peyton,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©1979
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1407
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (444 p.)

After victorious federal troops swept through southern Louisiana in 1862, the state became the testing ground for Abraham Lincoln's approach to reconstruction, and thus the focal point for the debate over post-war policy in Washington. Peyton McCrary offers a comprehensive account of the social and political upheavals in Louisiana, set against the background of a new interpretation of the revolutionary dimensions of the Civil War party system. He compares the moderate Republican regime set up by Lincoln with the antebellum social and political system, and contrasts it with the reactionary government established in 1865 under the aegis of Andrew Johnson and the Democratic Party. The author also explores the social history of the contract labor system, the evolution of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the growing participation of blacks in the Louisiana Republican movement. Drawing on extensive research in unpublished manuscripts, party records, and newspapers, and using sophisticated quantitative analysis of electoral and legislative behavior, Professor McCrary suggests a significant revision of earlier interpretations of Lincoln's reconstruction policies. He finds that the real architect of the gradualist approach with which the President was publicly identified was his commanding general in Louisiana, Nathaniel P. Banks, who was less open to the idea of Negro suffrage than was Lincoln himself.Originally published in 1979.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Tables -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Prologue "Mr. Lincoln's Model Of Reconstruction" -- I. The Old Regime: Society And Politics In Antebellum Louisiana -- II. War And Social Change: Benjamin F. Butler And The Assertion Of Federal Power -- III. The Failure Of Conciliation: Nathaniel P. Banks And The Planters -- IV. Between Slavery And Freedom: The Labor System Of General Banks -- V. Reconstruction As A Problem In Party Building: Thomas J. Durant And The Free State Movement -- VI. The Suffrage Issue: General Banks Takes Command -- VII. Radicals Vs. Moderates: The Ideological Dimension Of Unionist Politics -- VIII. The Moderates In Power: The Constitutional Convention Of 1864 -- IX. Lincoln Vs. Sumner: The Louisiana Question In National Politics -- X. Counterrevolution: The Return Of The Confederates -- Epilogue. The Politics Of Revolution -- Appendix A. Regression Analysis Of Electoral Behavior In Antebellum Louisiana, 1840-1861 -- Appendix B. The Occupational Background Of Delegates To The Louisiana Constitutional Convention Of 1864 -- Appendix C. A Scale Analysis Of Voting Behavior In The Louisiana Constitutional Convention, 1864 -- Bibliographical Essay -- Index