Mary - Journeytohistory

Chapter 13 Losing the Peace _73HE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINATIONThe war was hardly over before the victors found out that it was easy to sit inWashington and proclaim peace by presidential decree or legislative enactmentbut very difficult to establish peace in a country so recently torn apart by civilconflict. Despite the fact that General Grant thought that the South would acceptthe verdict of the battlefield, others believed that the South was irreconcilable.Carl Schurz returned from a tour of the region with the verdict that theSouth had submitted only because it saw no alternative. He was alarmed athaving found "no expression of hearty attachment to the great republic." To hishorror, treason was not odious in the South. The tragic dispersion of the Confederatetroops at the end of the \-var contrasted miserably with the presence ofNorthern invaders-not only white soldiers but also black troops although, infact, far fewer than the former Confederates claimed-stationed at strategicpoints to maintain the peace. The deployment of black troops in the south waseV.idence of the North's conviction that the South was barbarous and that thespirit of slavery had "debased the Southern mind, destroyed liberty and law,and vitiated all white elements upon which a restored union might be erected."Each section was thoroughly convinced that the other was wicked and, underthe circumstances, not to be trusted to do the right thing.The Republicans, haVing the upper hand even in the early years of Reconstruction,were determined to strengthen their position and perpetuatetheir power. They had effective propaganda for these purposes. They could remindthe country that it was the South that had treasonably fou,ght to destroythe Union, that former slaveholders were only waiting for an opportunity toreenslave blacks, and that the Republican party had saved the nation fromcomplete ruin at the hands of Democrats, North and South. The vulnerableposition of the Democrats was summed up by Schurz: "There is no heavierburden for a political party to bear, than to have appeared unpatriotic in war."To be sure, the Democrats claimed they were dedicated to peace and union,but it was a modest claim compared to the extravagant and righteous pretensionsof the Republicans. Many Republicans, whatever their altruistic motives,were moved to adopt the cause of blacks almost solely by considerations of politicalexpediency and strategy. It would have been unnatural for them not tohave strengthened their party by enfranchising African Americans and enlistingthem as loyal voters. It would have been equally unnatural for the Democrats,especially the Southern wing, to have abided this clever politicalmaneuver.The struggle of these two parties to dominate national politics shaped thehistory of Reconstruction and led to the final defeat of both in attaining peace.Democrats generally opposed all Republican measures regardless of their merits.Republicans, convinced of the perfidy if not downright treason of the Democrats,sought to create a coalition that was too self-centered to be eitheraltruistic or effective. To each party must be ascribed some share of the guiltfor their utter failure to establish peace between the sections and the races.