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.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
December 2012 |
First published: |
February 2013 |
Authors: |
Frank J. Wetta
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 140 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
256 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-4746-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8071-4746-X |
Barcode: |
9780807147467 |
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