The Louisiana Scalawags

Politics, Race, and Terrorism during the Civil War and Reconstruction

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877), Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book The Louisiana Scalawags by Frank J. Wetta, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Frank J. Wetta ISBN: 9780807147481
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: January 2, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Frank J. Wetta
ISBN: 9780807147481
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: January 2, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

During the Civil War and Reconstruction, the pejorative term "scalawag" referred to white southerners loyal to the Republican Party. With the onset of the federal occupation of New Orleans in 1862, scalawags challenged the restoration of the antebellum political and social orders. Derided as opportunists, uneducated "poor white trash," Union sympathizers, and race traitors, scalawags remain largely misunderstood even today. In The Louisiana Scalawags, Frank J. Wetta offers the first in-depth analysis of these men and their struggle over the future of Louisiana. A significant assessment of the interplay of politics, race, and terrorism during Reconstruction, this study answers an array of questions about the origin and demise of the scalawags, and debunks much of the negative mythology surrounding them.
Contrary to popular thought, the southern white Republicans counted among their ranks men of genuine accomplishment and talent. They worked in fields as varied as law, business, medicine, journalism, and planting, and many held government positions as city officials, judges, parish officeholders, and state legislators in the antebellum years. Wetta demonstrates that a strong sense of nationalism often motivated the men, no matter their origins.
Louisiana's scalawags grew most active and influential during the early stages of Reconstruction, when they led in founding the state's Republican Party. The vast majority of white Louisianans, however, rejected the scalawags' appeal to form an alliance with the freedmen in a biracial political party. Eventually, the influence of the scalawags succumbed to persistent terrorism, corruption, and competition from the white carpetbaggers and their black Republican allies. By then, the state's Republican Party consisted of white political leaders without any significant white constituency. According to Wetta, these weaknesses, as well as ineffective federal intervention in response to a Democratic Party insurgency, caused the Republican Party to collapse and Reconstruction to fail in Louisiana.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During the Civil War and Reconstruction, the pejorative term "scalawag" referred to white southerners loyal to the Republican Party. With the onset of the federal occupation of New Orleans in 1862, scalawags challenged the restoration of the antebellum political and social orders. Derided as opportunists, uneducated "poor white trash," Union sympathizers, and race traitors, scalawags remain largely misunderstood even today. In The Louisiana Scalawags, Frank J. Wetta offers the first in-depth analysis of these men and their struggle over the future of Louisiana. A significant assessment of the interplay of politics, race, and terrorism during Reconstruction, this study answers an array of questions about the origin and demise of the scalawags, and debunks much of the negative mythology surrounding them.
Contrary to popular thought, the southern white Republicans counted among their ranks men of genuine accomplishment and talent. They worked in fields as varied as law, business, medicine, journalism, and planting, and many held government positions as city officials, judges, parish officeholders, and state legislators in the antebellum years. Wetta demonstrates that a strong sense of nationalism often motivated the men, no matter their origins.
Louisiana's scalawags grew most active and influential during the early stages of Reconstruction, when they led in founding the state's Republican Party. The vast majority of white Louisianans, however, rejected the scalawags' appeal to form an alliance with the freedmen in a biracial political party. Eventually, the influence of the scalawags succumbed to persistent terrorism, corruption, and competition from the white carpetbaggers and their black Republican allies. By then, the state's Republican Party consisted of white political leaders without any significant white constituency. According to Wetta, these weaknesses, as well as ineffective federal intervention in response to a Democratic Party insurgency, caused the Republican Party to collapse and Reconstruction to fail in Louisiana.

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book Hunting Nazis in Franco's Spain by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book The Papers of Jefferson Davis by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Shakespeare, Midlife, and Generativity by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Artisan Workers in the Upper South by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Chickasaw, a Mississippi Scout for the Union by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Tomorrow is Another Day by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Two Charlestonians at War by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Girocho by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Mosquito Soldiers by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Overtones of Opera in American Literature from Whitman to Wharton by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Dawn to Twilight by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Planting a Capitalist South by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Lee and His Generals in War and Memory by Frank J. Wetta
Cover of the book Cosmos by Frank J. Wetta
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy