At the Edge of Democracy

This chapter summarizes key discussions and presents some final thoughts. This book's goal has been to understand what happened during the six decades when the South originated, developed, and protected its new system of racial hierarchy, including: how the white South reentered the world of national lawmaking during this period, how this return affected lawmaking, and how the South's role in Congress reshaped the region and the nation on terms that violated Hayes's expectations. To that end, it has systematically assessed southern preferences and behavior in congressional debate, negotiation, and decision. In the five and a half decades following Reconstruction, the United States became a southern nation by reinforcing federalism and decentralization, especially in matters of education. The wide array of progressive, sometimes populist-inspired legislation enacted in the early twentieth century was also shaped and enacted by southern influence.