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Stampp calls himself a revisionist and I agree and disagree with him about naming his views like this. To start out his first chapter of The Era of Reconstruction 1865-1877, he named it "The Tragic Legend of Reconstruction." This signifies to me that he thought the Reconstruction was a disaster. In short, I get the feeling of his whole overview in that one chapter title. .
The first problem I would like to address with Reconstruction is the treatment of the former Confederacy. In earlier Reconstruction writings, a lot of authors suggested that the southerners were treated with brutality. Most every Southerner who had fought for the Confederacy only had to take an oath of allegiance to get a pardon. After the oath of allegiance was made, they had all their rights back, they could even vote or hold public office. But what about the Confederacy's high officers? You would think that they paid the price of the whole Confederacy right? Only one arrest and conviction was made right after the war. His name was Henry Wirtz, he was tried, convicted, and executed for being guilty of "war crimes". Most of the other officers were paroled and sent home but only a couple that got arrested and never went to trial. After the surrender of the Confederacy to the Union, even General Robert E. Lee said his goodbyes and went back home undisturbed. I think the Confederacy's high officers should have paid a steeper price for their deeds, but not with their lives.
Chapter Three in his book deals with Andrew Johnson, the first Reconstruction President. After Lincoln's death, a small group of radical Republicans met to decide a political plan. These radicals were determined not to give the South back any power like Lincoln was going to do. They chose to back a man named Andrew Johnson, who they thought believed the same views on how things should be carried out. Johnson was a Southerner and a Democrat, but he never left his seat in the U.
