South Carolina scalawags

the long version

"South Carolina Scalawags tells the familiar story of Reconstruction from a mostly unfamiliar vantage point, that of white southerners who broke ranks and supported the newly recognized rights and freedoms of their black neighbors." "South Carolina Scalawags delves into the lives of representative white Republicans, exploring their backgrounds, political attitudes and actions, and post-Reconstruction fates. For cooperating with the freedmen and northern immigrants, many scalawags suffered criticism, ostracism, and even physical attack. Rubin contends that a resentment of the old ruling class planters who had dominated the state and led it into war motivated scalawags to align themselves elsewhere after the conflict. The Republicans succeeded in creating a much more representative and responsive government than the state had seen before or would see for generations. During its heyday the party began to attract wealthier white citizens, many of whom were moderates favoring cooperations between open-minded Democrats and responsible Republicans." "In assessing the eventual Republican collapse, Rubin does not gloss over disturbing trends toward factionalism and corruption that increasingly characterized the party's governance. Rather he points to these failings in explaining the federal government's abandonment of the party in 1876 and the Democrat's reassertion of white supremacy."--Jacket.