Reconstruction Politics in a Deep South State: Alabama, 1865–1874

Abstract

In this fine political history, William Warren Rogers Jr. contributes to our understanding of Reconstruction in Alabama. While it is not a full history of Reconstruction in the Cotton State, the book expertly explains how the struggle over political power animated the era. “Reconstruction shook Alabama to its core” (p. 3). The defeat of the Confederacy resulted in revolutionary change in Alabama politics, especially with the end of slavery. Rogers rightly places race and the struggle for civil rights at the center of his study. He deftly interweaves the issues of race into a deep analysis of other matters such as economics, education, and partisanship. The reader finds inspirational stories of success and achievement as well as the bitter fruits of disappointment and failure as African Americans experienced the realities of freedom and political power in the postwar period. While race is the central focus, the plot is the story of the Republican party in Alabama. A coalition of white Alabamians, African Americans, and northern transplants, the state's Republican party emerged in large part because of the refusal of Democrats to accept the push for racial equality. Democratic stubbornness led those whites who wanted to move forward on other issues (such as railroads and economic development) to join the freedmen and radicals who also sought civil rights and equality. Thus, the Republican organization was tenuous and subject to division from the outset. Meanwhile, Democratic resistance to Reconstruction only solidified and grew more powerful. Rogers does well showing the players involved, whatever side they were on.