The Forces behind Reconstruction

Abstract

In order to interpret Reconstruction one startling fact must be explained. The Republican party attained and maintained a solidarity which was without precedent and which was not to be equalled in the future. The nearest parallel is found in the early days of the New Deal, but the Democratic party was then acting with its President, with all the apparatus of executive influence on its side, and with a powerful conviction that the country demanded action. During die Reconstruction crisis the Republican party acted consistently against the President and without access to the normal instruments by which the loyalty of doubtful members can be secured. Moreover this solidarity was maintained in spite of a progression which took die whole party nearer and nearer to die extremes which had, at the outset, been represented only by the Radical minority. The impression then is one of power and coherence such as the American political system seldom produces, and this cannot be explained without an assessment of the forces in Northern society which the politicians served or to which they responded.