William Dunning and Eric Foner, Historians Evaluated Reconstruction on Basis of Their Background and Historical Context: Which Historian Is Better-supported?
The interpretations of historians show the general views of that period. After the Civil war, so-called Reconstruction Era (1865-1877) brought notable change to American society and transformed role of the American government. William Dunning is a historian who lived throughout the Civil War to the post-Reconstruction period, in which Jim-Crow segregation, a law separating African American from white, and white supremacy without effective restricting law prevailed. He was born in a wealthy family of New Jersey, and completed his degree in a prestigious school, Columbia University. Despite …show more content…
Dunning blamed northerners believing “much-exploited outrages,” meaning violence toward black in the South, that were “exaggerated or distorted reports of incidents,” insisting that the violence was occurred just in “criminal classes” and natural thing because of heightened social tension in the South (Dunning par.1). Furthermore, he avowed that “offensive acts…been repealed legislature themselves” and “duly superseded by the civil rights act” (Dunning par.1). The only primary source, of course from South, that supports Dunning is J. A. Williamson’s view in the White Tennessean to the Freedmen’s Bureau Superintendent of the Subdistrict of Mempis. Asserting blacks should be disarmed, Williamson suggested that blacks were “manifesting spirit of insubordination & frequently making such threats & demonstrations as are calculated to disturb the peace & tranquility” and “corporal punishment having been abolished” (Williamson 833-34). But it supports only part of Dunning’s view because he suggested need of corporal punishment, blacks’ subordination, and black’s working indolently (Williamson 833-34). Overall, those view of him was far from what was happening in the South; the whole South was trying to keep the slavery with laws and cruel violence. The MS enacted Mississippi Vagrant Law and Apprentice Law of 1865 to …show more content…
Dunning believed that Congress and northerners, implied radical Republicans and abolitionists, did not intend black equality but wanted only “radical politicians to prolong and extend their party power by means of negro suffrage” (Dunning par.2). Accusing northerners inconceivably using military command to force the southerners to believe blacks were equal to whites, Dunning clearly showed his opinion about “rational men of the North” approving black suffrage: “the only explanation of an otherwise unintelligible proceeding” (Dunning par.2). Also, he acclaimed southerners refusing the 14th Amendment as “a dignified refusal” to protect their honor and the men of South as “honorable men” (Dunning par.1). Likewise, when Arkansas refused to accept the 14th amendment, the document expressed fear losing states’ power to control state because of strong national government’s power and the committee believed that all the state legislature would be disgusted by the black suffrage that was “a calamity” (Fleming 236-237). The document also expressed a strong disapproval about the third section of the amendment, which disenfranchised “many of our best and wisest citizens” (Fleming 236-237) that were rebels. Once again, Foner’s idea was differed from that of Dunning. Stating that South’s act of violation on
The interpretations of historians show the general views of that period. After the Civil war, so-called Reconstruction Era (1865-1877) brought notable change to American society and transformed role of the American government. William Dunning is a historian who lived throughout the Civil War to the post-Reconstruction period, in which Jim-Crow segregation, a law separating African American from white, and white supremacy without effective restricting law prevailed. He was born in a wealthy family of New Jersey, and completed his degree in a prestigious school, Columbia University. Despite …show more content…
Dunning blamed northerners believing “much-exploited outrages,” meaning violence toward black in the South, that were “exaggerated or distorted reports of incidents,” insisting that the violence was occurred just in “criminal classes” and natural thing because of heightened social tension in the South (Dunning par.1). Furthermore, he avowed that “offensive acts…been repealed legislature themselves” and “duly superseded by the civil rights act” (Dunning par.1). The only primary source, of course from South, that supports Dunning is J. A. Williamson’s view in the White Tennessean to the Freedmen’s Bureau Superintendent of the Subdistrict of Mempis. Asserting blacks should be disarmed, Williamson suggested that blacks were “manifesting spirit of insubordination & frequently making such threats & demonstrations as are calculated to disturb the peace & tranquility” and “corporal punishment having been abolished” (Williamson 833-34). But it supports only part of Dunning’s view because he suggested need of corporal punishment, blacks’ subordination, and black’s working indolently (Williamson 833-34). Overall, those view of him was far from what was happening in the South; the whole South was trying to keep the slavery with laws and cruel violence. The MS enacted Mississippi Vagrant Law and Apprentice Law of 1865 to …show more content…
Dunning believed that Congress and northerners, implied radical Republicans and abolitionists, did not intend black equality but wanted only “radical politicians to prolong and extend their party power by means of negro suffrage” (Dunning par.2). Accusing northerners inconceivably using military command to force the southerners to believe blacks were equal to whites, Dunning clearly showed his opinion about “rational men of the North” approving black suffrage: “the only explanation of an otherwise unintelligible proceeding” (Dunning par.2). Also, he acclaimed southerners refusing the 14th Amendment as “a dignified refusal” to protect their honor and the men of South as “honorable men” (Dunning par.1). Likewise, when Arkansas refused to accept the 14th amendment, the document expressed fear losing states’ power to control state because of strong national government’s power and the committee believed that all the state legislature would be disgusted by the black suffrage that was “a calamity” (Fleming 236-237). The document also expressed a strong disapproval about the third section of the amendment, which disenfranchised “many of our best and wisest citizens” (Fleming 236-237) that were rebels. Once again, Foner’s idea was differed from that of Dunning. Stating that South’s act of violation on