The Politics of Reconstruction, 1863-1867

The Reconstruction Act of 1867 was one of the most controversial and far-reaching legislative measures ever enacted by an American Congress. The political motivations behind it, and other legislation regarding slavery, confiscation of Confederate property, Negro voting, and the readmission of the Southern states, have not been easy to define. David Donald uses the latest techiques of behavioral science, especially roll-call analysis, to suggest that a congressman's strength in his diestrict usually determined whether he voted with the radicals, moderates, or conservatives in the Republican Party.