One of the most far reaching failures of Radical reconstruction in the South was the inability of the southern Republican parties to evolve into stable political organizations in the accepted American tradition. The standard interpretation of this problem emphasizes the role of unyielding white opposition in undermining the southern Republican regimes. This thesis approaches the subject from a different angle. Focusing upon Louisiana during the administration of that state's first reconstruction Governor, Henry Clay Warmoth, party factionalism is examined as a source of Republican weakness.

This study of constitutional reform during the radical reconstruction of the South Atlantic states covers political organization and elections of 1867; locus of power; economic relief and homestead exemptions; civil rights, education, and state institutions; suffrage and eligibility to office; and structural reform.