The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974 Page: 433
568 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Phantom Radicals
during the years I865 to 1877" lends credence to Bennett's earlier view
that the Negro suffered more than he gained.'
Certainly these authors have demonstrated valid points. They nonetheless
restricted themselves to testing radicalism within Texas. Neither they, nor
any other historians, have dealt with the congressional delegations which
represented the state in Washington during Davis's administration. A study
of both the Republican-dominated delegation to the Forty-First Congress
and the Democratic-dominated delegation to the Forty-Second Congress
fully supports Bennett's conclusion that radical Reconstruction in Texas
failed to get "off the ground."8
In the general election which placed E. J. Davis at the head of state,
held from November 30 to December 3, 1869, the Texas electorate chose
four representatives to Congress, three Republicans and one Democrat.'
Herein lies the first clue to understanding radical Reconstruction in Texas,
for in spite of the fact that this election occurred at the height of alleged
radical power, the radical party-the Republican Party-was unable to
sweep the congressional ticket. More significant, however, than these elec-
tion results are the words and actions of these men during their tenure in
office.
One of the Republicans, Edward Degener, appeared to possess all the
credentials of a bona fide radical. He was born in Germany in i8o9 and
actively participated in the German Revolution of 1848 when he served as
a member of the revolutionary Frankfurt National Assembly which con-
vened that same year. In 185o Degener emigrated to the United States,
where he settled near San Antonio in southwestern Texas. In 1861 he op-
posed secession and endured imprisonment for his beliefs after Texas be-
came a member of the Confederacy. After the Civil War, Degener entered
Texas politics and was a delegate to the Constitutional Conventions held in
Texas during 1866 and I868 before his election to the United States House
of Representatives.1o
7Barry A. Crouch and L. J. Schultz, "Crisis in Color: Racial Separation in Texas dur-
ing Reconstruction," Civil War History, XVI (March, I970), 49. In another article,
"A Historiography of Reconstruction in Texas: Some Myths and Problems," Southwestern
Historical Quarterly, LXXII (April, 1969), 435-448, Edgar P. Sneed also concluded
that radical Reconstruction never occurred in Texas. Nevertheless, Sneed differs substan-
tially from Bennett, Crouch, and Schultz, for racial problems are not the focal point of
his study.
8Bennett, Black Power, 280.
9Ramsdell, Reconstruction in Texas, 286.
10U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-7971 (Wash-
ington, 1971), 843; for Degener's attitude toward slavery, see Alwyn Barr (ed.), "Records
of the Confederate Military Commission in San Antonio, July 2-October Io, 1862,"
Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LXIII (October, 1969), 246-268.433
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974, periodical, 1973/1974; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117148/m1/495/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.