Date of Graduation
8-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
History
Advisor/Mentor
Williams, Patrick G.
Committee Member
Parry, Janine A.
Second Committee Member
Whayne, Jeannie M.
Third Committee Member
Pierce, Michael C.
Keywords
Arkansas; Political History; Reconstruction; Redemption; Southern History; State Constitution
Abstract
This dissertation examines the making of Arkansas’s constitution of 1874, which drew the curtain on Reconstruction in the state and remains in force in the twenty-first century. It contributes to the scholarship of Arkansas history, Southern history, and U.S. political and constitutional history by showing that Arkansas’s Redeemers were not unified or homogeneous, but rather a fractured group who fought about how restrictive the state’s new constitution would be. In the end, it was more generous in some sections than some Democrats wished. This dissertation, thus, challenges a traditional narrative of a likeminded convention and relentlessly restrictive constitution-making. However, it also shows delegates partook of political and constitutional trends present in the North and West as well as in the South, demonstrating that Redemption was part of a larger political current rather than simply a regional political reaction to the perceived and real abuses of Reconstruction.
Citation
Harris, R. W. (2017). Arkansas's Divided Democracy: The Making of the Constitution of 1874. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2446