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Liberty Billings, Florida's forgotten radical Republican

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Date Issued:
2012
Summary:
Unitarian preacher and Union Army officer Liberty Billings arrived in Florida in 1863 with the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. Billings settled in Fernandina and became active in Florida Reconstruction politics as a Radical Republican. Most ot the rhetoric regarding Billings focuses on his participation in the 1868 Florida Constitution Convention even though he went on to be State Senator and an influential citizen in Fernandina. This thesis examines the life of Liberty Billings focusing on events preceding and following the Convention. In doing so, it argues that Billings' participation in Reconstruction politics derived from his experiences prior to the Civil War as did his transition from emancipationist to reconciliationist. By examining the earlier years of Billings' life as well as the evidence of his campaigns during 1867, his term as State Senator and Supreme Court cases, it will be demonstrated that Billings abandoned racial equality for class supremacy.
Title: Liberty Billings, Florida's forgotten radical Republican.
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Name(s): Asarch, Rhonda V.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of History
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: vi, 115 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Unitarian preacher and Union Army officer Liberty Billings arrived in Florida in 1863 with the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. Billings settled in Fernandina and became active in Florida Reconstruction politics as a Radical Republican. Most ot the rhetoric regarding Billings focuses on his participation in the 1868 Florida Constitution Convention even though he went on to be State Senator and an influential citizen in Fernandina. This thesis examines the life of Liberty Billings focusing on events preceding and following the Convention. In doing so, it argues that Billings' participation in Reconstruction politics derived from his experiences prior to the Civil War as did his transition from emancipationist to reconciliationist. By examining the earlier years of Billings' life as well as the evidence of his campaigns during 1867, his term as State Senator and Supreme Court cases, it will be demonstrated that Billings abandoned racial equality for class supremacy.
Identifier: 820557234 (oclc), 3356895 (digitool), FADT3356895 (IID), fau:3991 (fedora)
Note(s): by Rhonda V. Asarch.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Billings, Liberty, 1823-1877
Billings, Liberty, 1823-1877
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
Political parties -- Florida -- History -- 19th century
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
Florida -- Politics and government -- 1865-1950
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356895
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU