SOUTH CAROLINA SCALAWAGS
Hyman Rubin III
South Carolina Scalawags tells the familiar story of Reconstruction from a mostly
unfamiliar vantage point, that of white southerners who broke ranks and supported
the newly recognized rights and freedoms of their black neighbors.
The end of the Civil War turned South Carolina’s political hierarchy upside down
by calling into existence what had not existed before, a South Carolina Republican Party, and putting its members at the helm of state government from 1868 to
1876. Composed primarily of former slaves, the burgeoning party also attracted the
membership of newly arrived northern “carpetbaggers” and of white South Carolinians who had lived in the state prior to secession. Known as “scalawags,” these South
Carolinians numbered as many as ten thousand—fifteen percent of the state’s white
population—but have remained a maligned and largely misunderstood component
of post–Civil War politics. In this first book-length exploration of their egalitarian objectives and short-lived ambitions, Hyman Rubin III resurrects the lives and
careers of these individuals who took a leading role during Reconstruction.
South Carolina Scalawags delves into the lives of representative white Republicans,
exploring their backgrounds, political attitudes and actions, and post-Reconstruction fates. The Republicans succeeded in creating a much more representative and
responsive government than the state had seen before or would see for generations.
During its heyday the party began to attract wealthier white citizens, many of whom
were moderates favoring cooperation between open-minded Democrats and responsible Republicans.
In assessing the eventual Republican collapse, Rubin does not gloss over disturbing
trends toward factionalism and corruption that increasingly characterized the party’s
governance. Rather he points to these failings in explaining the federal government’s
abandonment of the party in 1876 and the Democrats’ reassertion of white supremacy.
Hyman Rubin III is an associate professor of history at Columbia College
in Columbia, South Carolina, where
he teaches American and world history. He holds a Ph.D. in history from
Emory University.
May 2006, 232 pages, 19 illus.
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