Scholarly Biography Research Articles

The Cox Plan of Reconstruction: A Case Study in Ideology and Race Relations

THE COX PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION: A Case Study in Ideology and Race Relations Wilbert H. Ahem Summer 1865 was a season of momentous debate. With the end of the Civil War, the discussion of its implications for a policy of Reconstruction acquired increased relevance. The issues ranged from constitutional theory and the concept of "state suicide" to the penalties to be imposed on the Confederate supporters. But as recent studies have demonstrated , that issue which dominated the era and encompassed the other questions was the status of the freedman. All men agreed that the end of slavery forecast new relationships between whites and blacks in the South. Disagreeing on the value of this change, they offered plans to either diminish or extend the transformation. The debate over this question of emancipation from the beginning of the war suggested the central role it would play after the North triumphed. By mid-summer, 1865, divisions among Unionists over Reconstruction were becoming apparent. Critical of the limits of Andrew Johnson's version of Presidential Reconstruction, Radicals and moderates were calling for some federal guarantees for the rights of the freedmen. Thaddeus Stevens, estimating economic power to be crucial to political power, advocated the redistribution of property and impartial suffrage.1 Lyman Trumbull, Carl Schurz and other liberal reformers, believing that political power would guarantee economic opportunity, called for impartial suffrage and urged southerners to guarantee the civil rights of the freedmen.2 Andrew Johnson, demonstrating little concern for the former slaves, followed a policy which would leave the social relationship of the races unchanged.3 To this well-known spectrum of Unionist positions on Reconstruction, we must add the plan of Jacob Dolson Cox, Civil War general and, in 1865, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio.4 Although 1 Richard N. Current, Old Thad Stevens: A Story of Ambition (Madison, 1942), pp. 214-17. 2 Wilbert H. Ahem, "Laissez Faire Versus Equal Rights: Liberal Republicans and the Negro, 1861-1877," (Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1968), ch. v. 3 LaWanda and John H. Cox, Politics, Principles ir Prejudice, 1865-1866: Dilemma of Reconstruction America (New York, 1963), ch. via. 4 No scholarly biography of Jacob D. Cox has been published, but William Cox Cochrane, "Political Experiences of Major General Jacob Dolson Cox" (MS, Cincinnati , 1940), an informative but filiopietistic work, provided much biographical 293 294civil war history the Cox plan was never realized, his argument in its support raised some themes of continual importance in the history of American race relations. Cox addressed himself to the degree of conflict between groups divided by race and economic status and the ability of republican political institutions to resolve that conflict. His solution and the reaction of other Republicans to it offers insight into the motivation and political theories of those who shaped the first Reconstruction. More generally, an analysis of his plan sheds light on the relationship between racism and broader social ideologies. Jacob D. Cox entered the Reconstruction debate in his role as the Republican candidate for the governor of Ohio. On the surface, the question of federal policy toward the freedmen was of little relevance to the Ohio gubernatorial campaign, since that office had no jurisdiction over the question. However, in 1865 no politician, at whatever level he operated, could ignore Reconstruction. Federal officeholders would use the state campaigns of 1865 to gauge public opinion on this issue. Moreover, the Ohio Unionist party reflected the divisions of the national party over the question of Negro suffrage; antislavery men from the Western Reserve advocated it, southern Ohio Unionists opposed it, and the majority of the party's 1865 convention delegates wished to take no immediate position. Although the party platform ignored the question , many members, especially the antislavery Republicans, insisted that Cox define his position concerning the status of the freedmen.5 Cox announced his plan reluctantly. While he had outlined his position on Reconstruction privately to his representative at the Ohio nominating convention, he made no public statement prior to his nomination . Disagreeing with the call for immediate Negro suffrage coming from Western Reserve Republicans, the candidate claimed that declarations by state parties or nominees would be premature and would make more...

Rebellion in Missouri: 1861 (review)

Book Reviews337 also inescapably a bore, with an intellect more ponderous than imaginative. His achievements stemmed more from the honest and strenuous application of a superbly balanced mind to a succession of limited problems than from innate characteristics of brilliance and vision. This image of Adams as a character etched in cold stone is the traditional one, and here it is reproduced faithfully; but like many images it is largely a myth. Adams was in fact essentially human, a man with a full quota of passions and prejudices and deep perceptions who developed an iron selfcontrol only through constant inward struggle. He had periods of mental torment and deep despair, as anyone who will read his diary and personal correspondence for the period of the Trent affair can readily ascertain. Genuine humor, usually acerbic, occasionally broke through a studied reserve into his conversations and writings. He was not at all a placid man but had a temper easily roused; he was as capable of sustaining antagonisms as of grimly and mercilessly prosecuting them. Although his joyous moments were never boisterously manifested, he did on occasion experience profound elation . As for his shallowness, one has only to read his incisive analyses of European politics in the form of periodic reports to the Secretary of State during his London mission and place these reports against die background of subsequent developments in European history to become persuaded of his vision and mental acumen. That Dr. Duberman has failed to catch the essence of Adam's personality in this, the first full-length scholarly biography ever published about this son and grandson of American presidents, is the book's chief fault. Its virtues, however, are many: solid and extensive research combines with judicious selection and careful analysis to give die volume distinction and character as history. The book is written with restraint and simplicity, but not always with tiie clarity one might expect of one who had lived for several years in close proximity to the Adams style. For an Adams to have written the jargon found at the top of page 267, for example, would be almost unbelievable. Verdict: a thorough and eminentiy serviceable biography of a notable American. Norman B. Ferris University of Southwestern Louisiana Rebellionin Missouri: 1861. By Hans ChristianAdamson. (Philadelphia: The Chilton Co., 1961. Pp. xix, 305. $5.00.) "Rebellion in Missouri: 1861" is tiie third and best story of an American hero, General Nathaniel Lyon. The others were eulogistic, written in the stilted and artificial speech of the 1860's, and unobtainable. In this new treatment Colonel Adamson, who directed the writing of all the humaninterest history of the Army Air Forces in World War II, ably presents Lyon as a daring political and military leader in Missouri during the first months of die Civil War. His political leadership is courageous, his miUtary leadership is reckless, albeit brave and effective. 338civil wa ß history Less tiian three months elapsed from tiie time Lyon seized the initiative in St. Louis until he sacrificed himself in battle. The climax to that whirlwind campaign came on August 10, 1861. The scene was the crest of a scrub oak hill, twelve miles southwest of Springfield, overlooking Wilson's Creek, a tributary of the James Branch of White River. Here Lyon elected to play the role of a captain of infantry and to throw away his life for the cause he espoused. The Confederate forces possessed the field after the battle and owned a victory; however, despite General Sterling Price's strong prodding, General Benjamin McCulloch refused to follow up and the Southern advantage frittered away. Lyon's efforts in Missouri were significant to the outcome of the war. He secured to the Union the important river city of St. Louis and its arsenal, relieved tiie state capital at Jefferson City of secessionist Governor Claiborne Jackson and the pro-Southern legislature, insured the navigability of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Upper Mississippi rivers, and kept the faith with loyal Union citizens in the West. Although Lyon's actions ultimately retained Missouri in the Union, his death at Wilson's Creek bore heavily on the conscience of the Lincoln government . Congress went so far as to pass...

The Continuing War

The Continuing War EDITED BY RICHARD B. HARWELL 35 Malvern Avenue, Apt. 5 Richmond, Virginia exactly conversely to the campaigns and battles of the Civil War the books about the War slow down in frequency during the summer. The Confederate and Union armies held what novelist John Esten Cooke called "the mire truce" of winter. Their spiritual descendants, the Civil War buffs of 1956, relax the continuing literary war during the heat of summer — perhaps to read the manifold productions of the months preceding , perhaps to work out on actual fields what they have learned from books, perhaps to renew acquaintance with wives and families. But the summer is soon over, and the 1956-57 book season promises a steady stream of new items about the War. Two of the leading fall books are delayed items from the spring. Bell Wiley's fine edition of Nat Wood's Reminiscences of Big 7 is a selection of the Civil War Book Club and should be in your hands by the time this number of Civil War History reaches you. Also postponed from the spring was Bruce Catton's This Hallowed Ground. Another selection of the CWBC, this volume is eagerly awaited, the first major historical publication of Pulitzer Prize winning Catton since his wonderful trilogy of Lincoln's army. Burke Davis, like Catton a reporter turned historian, has come up with two winners in his recent one-volume biographies of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. He, again like Catton, aims at the transmission of the spirit of the war, the essence of his subject, rather than at definitive biography. He strives to produce in short compass a lively, realistic portrayal of an individual. The success of They Called Him Stonewall and The Gray Fox is measure enough of his success. Mr. Davis is now at 85 86RICHARD B. HARWELL work on a book about a third great Confederate hero — J. E. B. Stuart. There is doubtless a third winner in the making, but the author, who faced hard tasks in the wake of G. F. R. Henderson's Jackson and of D. S. Freeman's Lee, faces an even harder job here. The Henderson and Freeman books were serious, scholarly biographies. With an account of Stuart, Mr. Davis will be competing with the still in print and still popular JEB Stuart of the late John Thomason. To maintain his high average, Mr. Davis will have to develop previously unused materials to a higher degree than was necessary before. The results will be interesting — and interesting to read. Still on the Confederate side: Clifford Dowdey is finishing a novel on the James River plantation country of Virginia that will be enlightening in its background for Virginia at war. The book is the story of Berkeley Hundred from the days of its first settlement across more than two hundred years to the beginning of the Civil War. Next on Mr. Dowdey's work schedule is a minute-by-minute account of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg to be titled, appropriately enough, Pickett's Charge. Another forthcoming book which will give much of the background of the War is John Hope Franklin's The Militant South, 1800-1861 which Harvard will publish in September. And Oxford's fall lists will include a history of cotton, certainly a product directly related to the causes of the War. Rinehart will publish the major fall book on Lincoln — a new collection of comments on him by contemporaries that reflects tremendous research and promises some really new material. Bruce Lancaster and F. Van Wyck Mason, old pros among Civil War novelists, each has a new book for the fall season. Lancaster's is Roll Shenandoah, a story of the closing months of the War in the Valley of Virginia. Mason's is a third volume in his series of novels on the naval history of the War. This one, Our Valiant Few, is a story of besieged Charleston and of Confederate efforts to break the blockade. The Virginia State Library will undertake publication of the first supplement to Marjorie LyIe Crandall's monumental bibliography, Confederate Imprints. The completed publication is a long way off, but additional entries...

Science and its Background

This book tells the story of scientific discovery from the beginnings of civilization to the present day against a background of history. This object is achieved by grouping most of the material around brief biographies of outstanding scholars and scientists, and convenient Summaries are given periodically in the form of time charts.

The De Incarnatione of Athanasius . Part 2: The Short Recension by Robert Pierce Casey (review)

248BOOK REVIEWS Mon Premier Voyage au Canada 1881-1882, comprises a series of articles originally published in the Revue du Tiers Ordre of Montreal in 1885-1886, in which the Servant of God describes some of the most memorable incidents during his now historic first visit to Canada. Despite the author's supernatural modesty, the facts themselves indicate that this trip resulted in a profound and lasting revival of Franciscanism in French Canada. For instance, in the small village of Pointe du Lac, after a week's mission, about 170 of the parish total of 700 persons had entered the Third Order (p. 45) — and this was before the Rule was mitigated. Yet when recording such fruitful success, as well as several marvelous cures, Good Father Frederick simply comments : "A Domino factum est istud !" (p. 49). Both of these edifying and historically invaluable booklets include on the back covers a complete list of publications in French and English which are available at the office of the Vice Postulator in Three Rivers (890 rue St. Maurice). Rev. Romain Legaré, O.F.M., is preparing a scholarly biography of Good Father Frederick which will eventually be translated into English. Throughout 1947, Les Missions Franciscaines of Quebec is publishing a series of articles by Father Romain on Father Frederick's work in the Holy Land, and La Revue Franciscaine of Montreal and the Annales de Notre Dame du Cap are printing a series of articles by the reviewer on his work for the Shrine of Our Lady at the Cap de la Madeleine. Washington, D. C. Raphael Brown. The De Incarnatione of Athanasius. Part 2 : The Short Recension. By Robert Pierce Casey. London : Christophers, and Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1946. Pp. L + 86. $4.00. Under the general title of Studies and Documents published by Kirsopp Lake, Silva Lake and Carsten Hœg, the Pennsylvania University Press offers another volume, a study on the short recension of the De Incarnatione of St. Athanasius. The editor first discusses the four codices in which this recension is extant. This he follows with a discussion and comparison of the quotations from the short recension found in early writers. The editor's conclusion in regard to the relation of the short recension to the long one is that the long one is the original ; the short one is a literary revision with no clearly defined dogmatic tendency. Moreover, this short recension may have been made by Athanasius himself or by one of his immediate circle. Next the editor collates codex d (of Dochiariou 78) with the text of Archibald Robertson. Then he reproduces Robertson's Greek text page for page and line for line. It would have been more convenient for the reader to add the collation of codex d in the proper place at the bottom of each page in the text of Robertson. It would also be handy if a key to the abbreviations of the periodicals quoted had been given. To have the authentic and genuine text of any of the Fathers is a BOOK REVIEWS249 necessary condition for making a translation and for studies of the Fathers. So we welcome this new study and presentation of the text of St. Athanasius' classic De Incarnatione. Dominic Unger, O.F.M. Cap. Capuchin College, Washington, D.C. Our Lady of Sorrows. A Book of Mediations. By Rev. Hilary Morris, O.S.M. Westminster, Md. : The Newman Bookshop, 1946. Pp. 8VO-I-101. Someone has said that the poetry of suffering entered this world with Christianity. Be that as it may, the fact remains that the Cross is the very center of the history of mankind. Theologians may disagree as to the primary motive of the Word's Incarnation, but it is undeniable that in the present economy, the fall of Adam having been foreseen, Christ did come into this world as the "Man of Sorrows", as a suffering Savior. And so it is that the great tragedy of Calvary stands out so prominently among the other episodes of His earthly career. In order to better understand the full significance of the divine drama enacted on Calvary, men have always turned to the Mother of...