Iron Confederacies

Southern Railways, Klan Violence, and Reconstruction

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book Iron Confederacies by Scott Reynolds Nelson, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Scott Reynolds Nelson ISBN: 9780807876107
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: October 12, 2005
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Scott Reynolds Nelson
ISBN: 9780807876107
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: October 12, 2005
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

During Reconstruction, an alliance of southern planters and northern capitalists rebuilt the southern railway system using remnants of the Confederate railroads that had been built and destroyed during the Civil War. In the process of linking Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia by rail, this alliance created one of the largest corporations in the world, engendered bitter political struggles, and transformed the South in lasting ways, says Scott Nelson.
Iron Confederacies uses the history of southern railways to explore linkages among the themes of states' rights, racial violence, labor strife, and big business in the nineteenth-century South. By 1868, Ku Klux Klan leaders had begun mobilizing white resentment against rapid economic change by asserting that railroad consolidation led to political corruption and black economic success. As Nelson notes, some of the Klan's most violent activity was concentrated along the Richmond-Atlanta rail corridor. But conflicts over railroads were eventually resolved, he argues, in agreements between northern railroad barons and Klan leaders that allowed white terrorism against black voters while surrendering states' control over the southern economy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During Reconstruction, an alliance of southern planters and northern capitalists rebuilt the southern railway system using remnants of the Confederate railroads that had been built and destroyed during the Civil War. In the process of linking Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia by rail, this alliance created one of the largest corporations in the world, engendered bitter political struggles, and transformed the South in lasting ways, says Scott Nelson.
Iron Confederacies uses the history of southern railways to explore linkages among the themes of states' rights, racial violence, labor strife, and big business in the nineteenth-century South. By 1868, Ku Klux Klan leaders had begun mobilizing white resentment against rapid economic change by asserting that railroad consolidation led to political corruption and black economic success. As Nelson notes, some of the Klan's most violent activity was concentrated along the Richmond-Atlanta rail corridor. But conflicts over railroads were eventually resolved, he argues, in agreements between northern railroad barons and Klan leaders that allowed white terrorism against black voters while surrendering states' control over the southern economy.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Time before History by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Amicable Agreement Versus Majority Rule by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Dislocating Race and Nation by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book The Road to Redemption by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Hot Peppers by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book American Civil Wars by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book To the Webster-Ashburton Treaty by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Women's Antiwar Diplomacy during the Vietnam War Era by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Pigmentocracies by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book The 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the Struggle against Atlantic Slavery by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Contesting the New South Order by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Dreaming of Dixie by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book The History of Randolph-Macon Woman's College by Scott Reynolds Nelson
Cover of the book Constructing the Dynamo of Dixie by Scott Reynolds Nelson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy