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In the United States, a Scalawag was a Southern white who joined the Republican party in the ex-Confederate South during Reconstruction. The term originally was pejorative and meant rascal. A more neutral term to use would be Southern Unionist, although that term can also refer to people before and during the Civil War, whereas scalawag was coined by hostile Democrats during Reconstruction after the war. They formed a coalition with Freedmen (blacks who were former slaves) and Northern newcomers (pejoratively labelled Carpetbaggers) to take control of their state and local governments. Two of the most prominent scalawags were General James Longstreet (Robert E. Lee's top general), and Joseph E. Brown, the wartime governor of Georgia. Those who had not supported the Confederacy were eligible to take the "ironclad oath," as required by the Reconstruction laws in 1867 to vote or hold office. In the 1870s, many switched from the Republican Party to the conservative-Democrat coalition, who called themselves Redeemers. This group used terror and extra-judicial killings to disenfranchise their opponents and African Americans. By these methods, Conservative Democrats replaced all Southern state Republican regimes by 1877. Southern Unionists were killed, encouraged to emigrate to other states, or threatened with reprisals if they spoke out or entered into politics. Image File history File links Circle-question-red. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... This article is 88 kilobytes or more in size. ... The term White American officially refers to people of European, Middle Eastern, and North African descent residing in the United States. ... The Republican Party of the United States was established in 1854 and is one of the two dominant parties today. ... Motto Deo Vindice (Latin: Under God, Our Vindicator) Anthem (none official) God Save the South (unofficial) The Bonnie Blue Flag (unofficial) Dixie (unofficial) Capital Montgomery, Alabama (until May 29, 1861) Richmond, Virginia (May 29, 1861–April 2, 1865) Danville, Virginia (from April 3, 1865) Language(s) English (de facto) Religion... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ... In the United States, Southern Unionists were people living in the Southern United States opposed to secession and against the Civil War. ... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ... A freedman is a former slave who has been manumitted or emancipated. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... American usage In the United States, the negative term carpetbagger was used to refer to a Northerner who traveled to the South after the American Civil War, through the late 1860s and the 1870s, during Reconstruction. ... James Longstreet (January 8, 1821 – January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War, the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his Old War Horse. ... // This article is about the Confederate general. ... Joseph Emerson Brown (April 15, 1821–November 30, 1894), often referred to as Joe Brown, was a Governor of Georgia from 1857 to 1865, and a U.S. Senator from 1880 to 1891. ... The ironclad oath was a key factor in the removing of ex-Confederates from the political arena during the Reconstruction of the United States in the 1860s. ... We dont have an article called Redeemers Start this article Search for Redeemers in. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ...

Political activities

A historian in 1961, John Hope Franklin, gave this assessment of the motives of Southern Unionists. He noted that as more Southerners were allowed to vote and participate... ^[1]

A curious assortment of native Southerners thus became eligible to participate in Radical Reconstruction. And the number increased as the President granted individual pardons or issued new proclamations of amnesty.

Their primary interest was in supporting a party that would build the South on a broader base than the plantation aristocracy of ante-bellum days. They found it expedient to do business with Negroes and so-called carpetbaggers; but often they returned to the Democratic party as it gained sufficient strength to be a factor in Southern politics.

In Alabama, Scalawags dominated the Republican Party. ^[2] 117 Republicans were nominated, elected, or appointed to the most lucrative and important state executive positions, judgeships, and federal legislative and judicial offices between 1868 and 1881. They included 76 white southerners, 35 northerners, and 6 blacks. In state offices during Reconstruction, white southerners were even more predominant: 51 won nominations, compared to 11 carpetbaggers and one black. 27 scalawags won state executive nominations (75%), 24 won state judicial nominations (89%), and 101 were elected to the Alabama General Assembly (39%). However, fewer scalawags won nominations to federal offices: 15 were nominated or elected to Congress (48%) compared to 11 carpetbaggers and 5 blacks. 48 scalawags were members of the 1867 constitutional convention (49.5% of the Republican membership); and seven scalawags were members of the 1875 constitutional convention (58% of the minuscule Republican membership.) Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

In South Carolina there were about 10,000 Scalawags, or about 15% of the white population. During its heyday, the Republican coalition attracted some wealthier whites, especially moderates favoring cooperation between open-minded Democrats and responsible Republicans. Rubin shows that the collapse of the Republican coalition came from disturbing trends to corruption and factionalism that increasingly characterized the party’s governance. These failings disappointed Northern allies who abandoned the state Republicans in 1876 as the Democrats under Wade Hampton reasserted conservative control, using the threat of violence to cause many Republicans to stay quiet or switch to the Democrats.^[3] Official language(s) English Capital Charleston(1670-1789) Columbia(1790-present) Largest city Columbia Largest metro area Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32° 2′ N to 35° 13′ N  - Longitude... Wade Hampton during the Civil War Wade Hampton III (March 28, 1818 – April 11, 1902) was a Confederate cavalry leader during the American Civil War and afterwards a politician from South Carolina, representing it as governor and U.S. Senator. ...

The most prominent Scalawag was James Lusk Alcorn of Mississippi. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865 but, like all southerners, was not allowed to take a seat while Congress was pondering Reconstruction. He supported suffrage for Freedmen and endorsed the Fourteenth Amendment, as demanded by the Republicans in Congress. Alcorn became the leader of the Scalawags, who comprised about a third of the Republicans in the state, in coalition with carpetbaggers and Freedmen. He was elected by the Republicans as governor in 1869 and served from 1870 to 1871. As a modernizer he appointed many like-minded former Whigs, even if they were Democrats. He strongly supported education, including public schools for blacks only, and a new college for them, now known as Alcorn State University. He maneuvered to make his ally Hiram Revels its president. Radical Republicans opposed Alcorn and were angry at his patronage policy. One complained that Alcorn's policy was to see "the old civilization of the South modernized" rather than lead a total political, social and economic revolution. ^[4] James Lusk Alcorn (November 4, 1816–December 19, 1894) was a prominent American political figure in Mississippi during the 19th century. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ... The Fourteenth Amendment may refer to the: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - contains the due process and equal protection clauses. ... Alcorn State University, located in Claiborne County, Mississippi is a public land grant university. ... Hiram Rhoades Revels (September 27, 1827–January 16, 1901) was the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate representing Mississippi. ...

He resigned the governorship to become a U.S. Senator (1871-1877), replacing his ally Hiram Revels, the first African American senator. Senator Alcorn urged the removal of the political disabilities of whites southerners and rejected Radical Republican proposals to enforce social equality by federal legislation^[5] he denounced the federal cotton tax as robbery ^[6] and defended separate schools for both races in Mississippi. Although a former slaveholder, he characterized slavery as a cancer upon the body of the Nation and expressed the gratification which he and many other Southerners felt over its destruction.^[7] The Radical Republicans were an influential faction of American politicians in the Republican party during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras, 1860-1876. ...

Alcorn led a furious political battle with Senator Adelbert Ames, the carpetbagger who led the other faction of the Republican Party in Mississippi. The fight ripped apart the party, with most blacks supporting Ames, but many—including Revels, supporting Alcorn. In 1873, they both sought a decision by running for governor. Ames was supported by the Radicals and most African Americans, while Alcorn won the votes of conservative whites and most of the scalawags. Ames won by a vote of 69,870 to 50,490, and Alcorn retired from state politics. ^[8] Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 12, 1933) was a Union general in the American Civil War, a Mississippi politician, and a general in the Spanish-American War. ...

Origins of the term

The term was originally a derogatory epithet but is used by many historians as a useful shorthand. The term originally meant rascal. Here is a quote by historian Ted Tunnell on the origins of the term: ^[9]

Reference works such as Joseph E. Worcester's 1860 Dictionary of the English Language defined scalawag as "A low worthless fellow; a scapegrace." Scalawag was also a word for low-grade farm animals. In early 1868 a Mississippi editor observed that scalawag "has been used from time immemorial to designate inferior milch cows in the cattle markets of Virginia and Kentucky." That June the Richmond Enquirer concurred; scalawag had heretofore "applied to all of the mean, lean, mangy, hidebound skiny [sic], worthless cattle in every particular drove." Only in recent months, the Richmond paper remarked, had the term taken on political meaning.

Accusations of corruption

Scalawags were denounced as corrupt by Redeemers. The Dunning School of historians sympathized with the claims of the Democrats. Agreeing with the Dunning School, Franklin said, that the Scalawags "must take at least part of the blame" for graft and corruption. "But their most serious offense was to have been loyal to the Union during the Civil War or to have declared that they had been loyal and thereby to have enjoyed full citizenship during the period of Radical Reconstruction." ^[10] The Dunning School was from 1900 to 1960 the dominant school of historiography regarding the Reconstruction period in American history, 1865-1877. ...

The Democrats, who were the conservatives of the Reconstruction era, alleged the scalawags to be financially and politically corrupt, and willing to support bad government because they profited personally. One Alabama historian claimed: "On economic matters scalawags and Democrats eagerly sought aid for economic development of projects in which they had an economic stake, and they exhibited few scruples in the methods used to push beneficial financial legislation through the Alabama legislature. The quality of the bookkeeping habits of both Republicans and Democrats was equally notorious." ^[11] However, historian Eric Foner argues there is not sufficient evidence that scalawags were any more or less corrupt than politicians of any era, including Redeemers.^[12] Eric Foner (born February 7, 1943 in New York City) is an American historian. ... We dont have an article called Redeemers Start this article Search for Redeemers in. ...

In terms of racial issues, "White Republicans as well as Democrats solicited black votes but reluctantly rewarded blacks with nominations for office only when necessary, even then reserving the more choice positions for whites. The results were predictable: these half-a-loaf gestures satisfied neither black nor white Republicans. The fatal weakness of the Republican party in Alabama, as elsewhere in the South, was its inability to create a biracial political party. And while in power even briefly, they failed to protect their members from Democratic terror. Alabama Republicans were forever on the defensive, verbally and physically." ^[13]

Social pressure forced most Scalawags to join the conservative/Democratic Redeemer coalition. A minority persisted and formed the "tan" half of the "Black and Tan" Republican party, a minority in every southern state after 1877. ^[14]

Influence

White Southern Republicans included formerly closeted Southern abolitionists as well as former slaveowners who supported equal rights for freedmen. (The most famous of this latter group was Samuel F. Phillips, who later argued against segregation in Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)). Included, too, were people who wanted to be part of the ruling Republican Party simply because it provided more opportunities for successful political careers. Many historians have described scalawags in terms of social class, showing that on average they were less wealthy or prestigious than other whites. ^[15] This English poster depicting the horrific conditions on slave ships was influential in mobilizing public opinion against slavery. ... Samuel Field Phillips was born in New York City on February 18, 1829, to English mathematician, James Phillips, and Judith Vermeule Phillips, of New Jersey. ... Plessy v. ...

The mountain districts of Appalachia were often Republican enclaves. ^[16] They had few slaves, poor transportation, deep poverty, and a standing resentment against the low country politicians who dominated the Confederacy and conservative Democracy in Reconstruction. Their strongholds in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, western Virginia, and North Carolina, and the Ozark region of northern Arkansas, became Republicans bastions to the present day. These rural folk had a long-standing hostility toward the plantation class; they had harbored pro-Union sentiments during the war. Andrew Johnson was their representative leader. They welcomed Reconstruction and much of what the Radical Republicans in Congress advocated. It has been suggested that Poverty in Appalachia be merged into this article or section. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Area  Ranked 41st  - Total 24,244 sq mi (62,809 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 240 miles (385 km)  - % water 0. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,774 sq mi (110,785 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (240 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (901 km)  - % water 9. ... Ozark redirects here. ... Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Area  Ranked 29th  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2. ... In this map:  Union states prohibiting slavery  Union territories  Border states on the Union side which allowed slavery  Kansas, which entered and fought with the Union as a free state after the Bleeding Kansas crisis  The Confederacy  Confederate claimed and sometimes held territories During the American Civil War, the Union... Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was the seventeenth President of the United States (1865–1869), succeeding to the presidency upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. ...

As Thomas Alexander (1961) has shown, there was a persistent Whiggery (support for the principles of the defunct Whig Party) in the South after 1865. Many ex-Whigs became Republicans who advocated modernization through education and infrastructure—especially better roads and railroads. Many also joined the Redeemers in their successful attempt to replace the brief period of civil rights promised to African Americans during the Reconstruction era with the Jim Crow era of segregation and second class citizenship that persisted into the 20th century. The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. ... The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965. ...

Baggett profiled 742 Scalawags, comparing them to 666 Redeemers who opposed and eventually replaced them. He compares three regions, the Upper South, the Southeast, and the Southwest. Baggett follows the life of each scalawag before, during, and after the war, with respect to birthplace, occupation, value of estate, slave ownership, education, party activity, stand on secession, war politics, and postwar politics. ^[17]

Baggett thus looked at 1400 political activists across the South, and gave each a score:

• score = 1 an antisecessionist Breckinridge supporter in 1860 election
• 2 1860 Bell or Douglas supporter in 1860 election
• 3 1860-61 opponent of secession
• 4 passive wartime unionist
• 5 peace party advocate
• 6 active wartime unionist
• 7 postwar Union party supporter

He found the higher the score the more likely the person was a Scalawag. Presidential electoral votes by state. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ...

See also

• Carpetbagger
• Southern Unionist
• Freedmen
• Reconstruction
• Redeemers
• wiktionary:scallywag

In United States history, carpetbaggers were Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction between 1865 and 1877. ... In the United States, Southern Unionists were people living in the Southern United States opposed to secession and against the Civil War. ... A freedman is a former slave who has been manumitted or emancipated. ... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ... We dont have an article called Redeemers Start this article Search for Redeemers in. ...

Notes

References

• Thomas B. Alexander, “Persistent Whiggery in the Confederate South, l860—77," Journal of Southern History 27 (1961) 305-29, in JSTOR
• Baggett, James Alex. The Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction Louisiana State University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8071-2798-1
• DeSantis, Vincent P. Republicans Face the Southern Question: The New Departure Years, 1877—1897 (1998)
• Donald, David. "'The Scalawag in Mississippi Reconstruction.” Journal of Southern History 10 (1944) 447—60 in JSTOR
• Ellem, Warren A. “Who Were the Mississippi Scalawags?” Journal of Southern History 38 (May 1972): 2 17—40 in JSTOR
• Franklin, John Hope. Reconstruction after the Civil War (University of Chicago Press: 1961) ISBN 0-226-26079-8
• Garner; James Wilford. Reconstruction in Mississippi 1901. Dunning school monograph
• Kolchin, Peter. “Scalawags, Carpetbaggers, and Reconstruction: A Quantitative Look at Southern Congressional Politics, 1868 to 1872” Journal of Southern History 45 (1979) 63—76, in JSTOR
• McKinney, Gordon B. Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865—1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community (1998)
• Pereyra, Lillian A., James Lusk Alcorn: Persistent Whig. LSU Press, 1966.
• Perman, Michael. The Road to Redemption: Southern Politics 1869—1879 (1984)
• Rubin, Hyman. South Carolina Scalawags (2006)
• Ted Tunnell, "Creating 'the Propaganda of History': Southern Editors and the Origins of Carpetbagger and Scalawag," Journal of Southern History (Nov 2006) 72#4 online at The Free Library
• Wiggins; Sarah Woolfolk. The Scalawag in Alabama Politics, 1865—1881 (1991) online at Questia

The Dunning School was from 1900 to 1960 the dominant school of historiography regarding the Reconstruction period in American history, 1865-1877. ...

Sources

• Fleming, Walter L. Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, and Industrial 2 vol (1906). Uses broad collection of primary sources; vol 1 on national politics; vol 2 on states
• Memoirs of W. W. Holden (1911), North Carolina Scalawag governor