Rhodes, James Ford
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James Ford Rhodes (May 1, 1848 – January 22, 1927), was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...
and
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
born in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
. After earning a fortune in the iron, coal, and steel industries by 1885, he retired from business to devote time to historical research. He wrote a seven-volume history of the United States from 1850, initially published from 1893 to 1906 with an eighth volume added in 1920. Another book, '' A History of the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (1918), won the second-ever
Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the histor ...
.


Early life and education

Cleveland was a center of the
Connecticut Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. Warren, Ohio was the Historic Capital in Trumbull County. T ...
, heavily settled by New Englanders like his parents. His father Daniel P. Rhodes was a Democrat and a friend of
Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...
. He opposed the Lincoln administration during the Civil War; Rhodes said he was a " Copperhead." That caused problems for his sister, who was finally allowed to marry the up-and-coming Republican businessman-politician
Mark Hanna Marcus Alonzo Hanna (September 24, 1837 – February 15, 1904) was an American businessman and Republican politician who served as a United States Senator from Ohio as well as chairman of the Republican National Committee. A friend and ...
. Rhodes attended
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, beginning in 1865. After graduation, he went to Europe, studying at the
Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...
. During his studies in Europe, he visited ironworks and steelworks. After his return to the United States, he investigated iron and coal deposits for his father.


Career

In 1874, Rhodes entered his father's highly profitable iron, coal, and steel businesses at Cleveland. Having earned a considerable fortune, he retired in 1885. Rhodes moved to
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
for access to its libraries and supportive intellectual community. He devoted the rest of his life to historical research and writing. He was never politically active. In evaluating the two parties in the
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
he generally supported the Republican Party. In the 1880s he was a
Bourbon Democrat Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States in the later 19th century and early 20th century (1872–1904) to refer to members of the Democratic Party who were ideologically aligned with fiscal conservatism or classical liberalism, es ...
who supported
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
and favored low tariffs, despite his own connection with the iron and steel industry. He supported Republicans
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
in 1896 and
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
in 1904. In 1912 he supported
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
, a Democrat. He supported Wilson's position calling for American entry in the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
. Rhodes told his grandson that he started life "as a strong Democrat, then became a strong Republican, then a lukewarm Democrat, and now I suppose I am a lukewarm Republican." His gyrations are important because one of the strongest features of his multi-volume history is the valuation of both political parties, finding both strengths and weaknesses in each party. His major work, ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850'', was published in seven volumes, 1893–1906; the eight-volume edition appeared in 1920. His single volume, ''History of the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (1917), earned him a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
in History in 1918. Rhodes joined the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
and was elected its president in 1899 for a one-year term.


Historical approach

Rhodes focused on national politics. Working from newspaper accounts and published memoirs, Rhodes tracked the process by which major national decisions were made. He evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of major leaders. He detailed corruption he found in the
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
Republican governments in Washington, D.C., and the Southern states. He said that granting of unqualified suffrage to blacks after emancipation was a mistake and added to problems during Reconstruction. Rhodes's interpretation of the role of slavery strongly influenced intellectual opinion and historiography. Unlike the first generation of historians, who had been personally deeply committed on the slavery issue, Rhodes approached it dispassionately. He argued that slavery was the main cause of the war. What he meant was an abstract political-economic system that voters and politicians put into position. He paid relatively little attention to slaves themselves, focusing on how the politicians and the foreigners used the issue to their advantage. He argued: : The judgment of posterity is made up: it was an unrighteous cause which the South defended by arms; and the tribunal of modern civilization, Calhoun and Davis must be held accountable for the misery which resulted from this appeal to the sword. By misery he referred to the casualties, deaths, and hardships during the war, not to the miseries of the slaves before the war. He argued it was an irrepressible conflict, that is an inevitable war by December 1860 that perhaps could have been delayed, but would happen sooner or later. For Rhodes, slavery was practically the only cause of the war, and he ridiculed "
Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, known simply as the Lost Cause, is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not cente ...
" Southerners who justified rebellion as an exercise of the right of revolution in the face of Yankee oppression. He rejected the Calhoun notion of state sovereignty. The issue, he argued, was that the South fought to extend slavery – an institution condemned by ethics, Christianity, and the modern world. Rhodes treated slavery as a calamity for the South, but not a personal issue for white Southerners, who he thought deserved sympathy rather than censure. The South was associated with slavery because of a long chain of events going back centuries. Rhodes downplayed the importance of the abolitionist movement, instead focusing on mainstream leaders such as
Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary o ...
for his promoting a deeper nationalism. Pressley says, "it was Webster's principle of 'Liberty and Union' which won in the Civil War, not Garrison's principle of 'no union with slaveholders.'


Reception

Sharp criticism came from
John R. Lynch John Roy Lynch (September 10, 1847 – November 2, 1939) was an American writer, attorney, military officer, author, and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician who served as Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives ...
, a black leader in Mississippi's Reconstruction who had served in Congress. Lynch said: :So far as the Reconstruction period is concerned, it is not only inaccurate and unreliable but it is the most biased, partisan and prejudiced historical work I have ever read....He believed it was a grave mistake to have given the colored men at the South the right to vote, and in order to make the alleged historical facts harmonize with his own views upon this point, he took particular pains to magnify the virtues and minimize the faults of the Democrats and to magnify the faults and minimize the virtues of the Republicans, the colored men especially."" Rhodes said that giving the vote to blacks was an attack on civilization. Lynch replied that the laws allowed time for transition away from the society that was built on slavery: "But for the adoption of the Congressional plan of Reconstruction and the subsequent legislation of the nation along the same line, the abolition of slavery through the ratification of the 13th Amendment would have been in name only, a legal and constitutional myth." Rhodes concluded that Reconstruction had failed. Lynch disagreed. While not all its goals had been accomplished, ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments made it a success, as all people of color were granted citizenship, which could not be restricted by race or color, and they were granted suffrage nationally. Lynch argued that, "The failure of the Reconstruction legislation was not due so much to the change of sentiment in the North as an unwise interpretation of these laws." Rhodes has been described as one of the major scholars who gave "authoritative support to the Southern interpretation of history... ndassumed the inferiority of the Negro...Rhodes, for example, in Volume VI of his monumental History of the United States, speaks of the freedmen as being 'Three and a half million of one of the most inferior races of mankind.'"


Legacy and honors

*1900, Rhodes was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
. *1901, Rhodes was awarded the
Loubat Prize The Loubat Prize was a pair of prizes awarded by Columbia University every five years between 1898 and 1958 for the best social science works in the English language about North America. The awards were established and endowed by Joseph Florimon ...
of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. *1910, he was awarded the gold medal of the
National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...
. *
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
and several United States universities gave him
honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
s. *
James Ford Rhodes High School James Ford Rhodes High School is located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, in the west-side neighborhood known as Old Brooklyn. It is part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and is commonly referred to as "Rhodes High School." The ...
in Cleveland was named for him.


Bibliography: Books and articles by Rhodes

* "The Battle of Gettysburg." ''American Historical Review'' 4#4 1899, pp. 665–677
online
* "Sherman's March to the Sea" ''American Historical Review'' 6#3 (1901) pp. 466–47
online
* ''History of the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (1918), one-volume version; Pulitzer Priz
online
* ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 1'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 2'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 3'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 4'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 5'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 6'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 7'' * ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 - Vol. 8'' * ''The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 1897–1909'' (1922) * ''Historical Essays'' (1909) * ''Lectures on the American Civil War'' (1913), delivered at Oxford University in 1913. * ''History of the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (1918), won the
Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the histor ...
; It is a completely rewritten history of the war.


References


Further reading

* Cruden, Robert. ''James Ford Rhodes: The Man, The Historian, and His Work'' (1961) * Howe, M. A. De Wolfe. ''James Ford Rhodes: American Historian'' (1929) * * * Lynch, John R. "More About the Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes." ''The Journal of Negro History'' 3.2 (1918): 139–157
online
* Miller, Raymond Curtis. "James Ford Rhodes: A Study in Historiography." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 15.4 (1929): 455–472
online
* Pressly, Thomas J. ''Americans Interpret their Civil War'' (1954) pp 166–181.


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, James Ford 1848 births 1927 deaths Historians of the United States New York University alumni Pulitzer Prize for History winners Businesspeople from Cleveland Presidents of the American Historical Association Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Historians from Ohio