Two Counties in Crisis Volume 8: Measuring Political Change in Reconstruction Texas(Texas Local Series)

Two Counties in Crisis offers a rare opportunity to observe how local political cultures are transformed by state and national events. Utilizing an interdisciplinary fusion of history and political science, Robert J. Dillard analyzes two disparate Texas counties—traditionalist Harrison County and individualist Collin County—and examines four Reconstruction governors (Hamilton, Throckmorton, Pease, Davis) to aid the narrative and provide additional cultural context. Commercially prosperous and built on slave labor in the mold of Deep South plantation culture, East Texas’s Harrison County strongly supported secession in 1861. West Texas’s Collin County, characterized by individual and family farms with a limited slave population, favored the Union. During Reconstruction, Collin County became increasingly conservative and eventually bore a great resemblance to Harrison County. By 1876 and the ratification of the regressive Texas Constitution, Collin County had become firmly resistant to all aspects of Reconstruction.

About the Author :
Robert J. Dillard received his PhD in political science from Texas Tech University and MA in history from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. He now serves as an associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.

Review :
“Two Counties in Crisis is unique both in its focus on political change in two of the state’s counties in the era 1850–1876 and also in its use of theory developed in the field of political science. It is a new approach to the study of Texas Reconstruction and represents original thinking.”—Carl H. Moneyhon, author of Texas after the Civil War: The Struggle of Reconstruction “Dillard is right on the money in arguing that Texas’s Constitutions and the processes by which they have been produced make a strong central focus, and continue to distort political practices to this day. It helps explain Texas to an unknowing world. The cross-disciplinary emphasis is a real strength, and clearly when it comes to Texas history Dillard knows his stuff.”—Michael Johnston, author of Syndromes of Corruption “As Dillard so effectively demonstrates, the Constitution of 1876 was a product of the evolving contemporary political culture in Texas. Now amended over five hundred times, that Constitution now stands as an almost incomprehensible array of amendments upon amendments, many of which are rarely consistent with the best interests of the voters it purports to serve. Featuring a lively prose style, a strong foundation of primary source materials, a deep understanding of existing literature on the subject, and a sophisticated application of political science theory, Two Counties in Crisis will be an important new addition to the field.”—Robert Wooster, co-editor of Lone Star Blue and Gray: Essays on Texas and the Civil War “A thoughtful investigation into how the regional differences in support for succession and Reconstruction consolidated statewide, Two Counties in Crisis is a rewarding read for anyone interested in cultural and political change in Texas during this critical period in the state’s history. The legacy of these issues persists today.”—Brandon Rottinghaus, Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston and author of Inside Texas Politics and Underestimated: The Political Life of Rick Perry and the Transformation of Texas Politics