Was Reconstruction more 3T than 1T?

[Eric the Green]

(10-14-2022, 02:35 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(10-14-2022, 01:33 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(10-13-2022, 02:44 PM)JasonBlack Wrote: Unlike past and subsequent 1Ts, Reconstruction was an era of rugged self-determination and personal freedom, rather than trust, conformity and optimism. In place of collectivistic Civics leading the rebuilding of society, we had gritty,  individualistic Reactives (Gilded Generation), who chose to focus their rebuilding efforts primarily on industry and private enterprise.

All of this sounds more like a 3T to me than a 1T.

I can't deny that this is a probable view of the Gilded Age. Reconstruction though was a fine era and it lasted 12 years so it was a good attempt at a 1T. Far from being mediocre, fine black legislators were at work and civil rights laws were passed. It was hard to say there was consensus though since the whites formed the KKK and the late sixties were an "age of hate". 

THere are lots of documentaries and interviews available that correct the wrong impression conveyed in the older history textbooks that say Reconstruction was a failed, extreme or inadvisable experiment. That is all wrong. The only thing wrong is that it ended, and the "redeemed" confederacy got even worse in the 2T.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_q...ion+on+pbs

https://youtu.be/eLnHXzCRtF0

The Gilded in the North... and for as long as they could, Freedmen, took the Civic role even if they were not the ideal people to do so. 

I think something like this is what the T4T authors had in mind. Socialism and Labor Union power did not get going in the USA until the following 2T starting in 1886. So there was not ready-made ideological framework yet for that kind of collectivism in the USA. So the more-collectivist civic order consisted of larger corporate structures and capital formation. Monopoly expanded. This may be free enteprise but it's not rugged individualism. The protectionist state as advocated by List took root after 1879 because of some high tariff laws, and this expanded up and into the Great Depression.