The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction - Updated Edition

by James M. McPherson, James M. McPherson (Preface by)

Overview

Originally published in 1964, The Struggle for Equality presents an incisive and vivid look at the abolitionist movement and the legal basis it provided to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Pulitzer Prize–winning historian James McPherson explores the role played by rights activists during and after the Civil War, and their evolution from despised fanatics into influential spokespersons for the radical wing of the Republican Party. Asserting that it was not the abolitionists who failed to instill principles of equality, but rather the American people who refused to follow their leadership, McPherson raises questions about the obstacles that have long hindered American reform movements.

This new Princeton Classics edition marks the fiftieth anniversary of the book's initial publication and includes a new preface by the author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691163901
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/26/2014
Series:	Princeton Classics , #12
Edition description:	Updated edition with a New Preface
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	932,105
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. His many books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom and the New York Times bestseller Crossroads of Freedom.

Hometown:

Princeton, New Jersey

Date of Birth:

October 11, 1936

Place of Birth:

Valley City, North Dakota

Education:

B.A., Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN) 1958; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1963

Table of Contents

Preface to the Princeton Classics Edition ix
Preface xiii
Key to Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 3
I The Election of 1860 9
II Secession and the Coming of War 29
III The Emancipation Issue: 1861 52
IVEmancipation and Public Opinion: 1861-1862 75
V The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment 99
VI The Negro: Innately Inferior or Equal? 134
VII Freedmen's Education: 1861-1865 154
VIII The Creation of the Freedmen's Bureau 178
IX Men of Color, to Arms! 192
X The Quest for Equal Rights in the North 221
XI The Ballot and Land for the Freedmen: 1861-1865 238
XII The Reelection of Lincoln 260
XIII Schism in the Ranks: 1864-1865 287
XIV Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction: 1865 308
XV The Fourteenth Amendment and the Election of 1866 341
XVI Military Reconstruction and Impeachment 367
XVII Education and Confiscation 1865-1870 386
XVIII The Climax of the Crusade: the Fifteenth Amendment 417
Bibliographical Essay 433
Index 451

Editorial Reviews

"The Abolitionist Legacy shows many of the same graces as its predecessor: wide-ranging and careful research, a strong sense of story line, an eye for good quotations, unyielding sympathy for those who devoted their lives to uplifting the freedmen."

Reviews in American History

Winner of the Warren F. Kuehl Prize, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

From the Publisher

"In addition to discussing the complex blend of egalitarianism and paternalism in the thought of white proponents of black advancement, McPherson offers suggestions of the intricate mixture of racial consciousness, individual ambition, and racial romanticism that continues to fuel modern black separatism."

Political Science Quarterly

"Must surely be assigned an important place in the literature of the history of ideas and of race relations in the United States."

The Times Literary Supplement

These volumes, published in 1975 and 1964, respectively, chronicle the abolitionist movement from before the Civil War to the part it played in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. LJ's reviewer found The Abolitionist Legacy an "ably researched, well-written book" (LJ 12/15/75).

Library Journal