"We cannot go backwards if we would," the Republican told its readers. "Forward is…the very law of our being, from which there is no escape." In place of tradition, the Radicals offered "progress" which the Republican defined as "thriving cities, smiling fields, blooming valleys and vine-clad hills, and over all the glad sunshine of peace, happiness, and prosperity."
"The people want prosperity," the Republican editorialized on November 20, 1868. "They are earnest in the matter. The dominant party must bring it about. That is its pledge, and it must not be broken."
Placing all other issues aside, the Clayton's Radicals staked their political future on the promotion of economic progress. They sensed that this was their only hope for isolating the old elite and forging a new Republican majority out of the disparate elements of Arkansas society. Moreover they realized that their time was limited. Disenfranchisement and other controversial Reconstruction measures would buy them a decade at most. Their only hope was to embark upon a bold and risky development effort - the economic equivalent of Pickett's Charge. Central was the notion that Arkansas must remake itself in the image of the North. The two most important elements of this transformation were railroads and public education. Clayton called it his "New Era" program. This twin platform of railroads and public education was the same the ex-Confederates had proposed in 1866. The difference was one of degree. The Republicans spent money as if there was no tomorrow.
By January of 1871, the Clayton administration had awarded $9,900,000 of state aid to eight different railroads and boasted that almost 200 miles of track had already been laid and many more were in the works. Another $3,000,000 in bonds had been provided reclamation of swamp lands and the construction of levees. Thousands of acres of swamps had been reclaimed in the Cache River Valley and 53 miles of levees built on the Arkansas, Mississippi, White and St. Francis Rivers, with another 167 miles under construction.
The Radicals had also taken over control of the state's blind school from private charity and had created a similar institution for the deaf. The Republicans also founded the state's first public university at Fayetteville.
Perhaps the most far reaching reform of the Clayton administration was the establishment of a system of free public schools. Work for this had already begun in the ex-Confederate legislature of 1867, which levied a tax on white citizens that had garnered $64,875.32 by the time Clayton took office. The Republicans greatly increased the taxes supporting education. They also created the office of State Superintendent and ten Circuit Superintendents. Conservatives complained that $28,000 were being squandered on the salaries of the eleven superintendents and argued that such heavy taxation was inappropriate, given Arkansas's war-ravaged economy.
According to historian Orval Truman Driggs, by 1869 the Republicans claimed that 1,400 public schools had been created. A year later 2,000 were in operation, though many of these were subsidized by subscriptions or backed by churches. In 1870 the public employed about 2,000 teachers, double the number of the previous year. This rapid expansion came at a price, however. By 1871 the public school system was verging on bankruptcy.
State Superintendent Thomas Smith blamed much of the problem on the Circuit Superintendents who "through either incompetency or willful neglect, have failed to perform their work, and have brought reproach upon the system." The Gazette also blamed county administrators for having "squandered, misapplied, or stole outright" school funds.
The schools also inherited problems brought on by the state's escalating deficit. This was reflected in the rapid decline in the value of the state's scrip. In those days states issued money in much the same manner as the federal government. What supposedly assured the value of the scrip was the state's pledge to accept it at its stated value. By 1870, however, Arkansas's scrip was practically worthless. Because the state and counties had to accept it as payment of taxes, they in turn unloaded it in payment to teachers. As a result teachers found their buying power decreasing with each paycheck, forcing many to abandon the profession.
Next: The Cost of Reconstruction
Back to the Powell Clayton Menu Page
|
