Book Review: Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races

In 1864, an anonymous hardbound pamphlet was published entitled Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro. The word "miscegenation" was coined by the authors who claimed it was a scientific theory describing how racial blending enhances humanity. The pamphlet encouraged the interbreeding of people from different racial or ethnic groups through marriage or sexual relations.

During the Civil War period, the North was terrified that freed slaves would swarm their states. Racial bigotry was real and serious. Northerners were frightened for good reasons. For seven decades, slaveholders and their Democratic Party sympathizers had exclaimed on the floor of Congress, in newspapers, in churches, and in pubs that emancipation would cause hordes of black men to migrate north to take the White man’s job and daughters. Tribal instincts were fanned until they were burned into the subconscious of most Americans.

After their defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, realistic Confederates understood that the war was lost. Their only remaining hope was a General McClellan victory in the Union presidential election. Running as a Peace Democrat, the South assumed McClellan would negotiate a peace that would include independence and retain the institution of slavery.

This is the environment in which Miscegenation was tossed. An anonymous publication that purported to be the official position of the Republican Party. Here are a couple of quotes.

The object of this work is to show that the amalgamation of the two races is not only desirable, but that it is inevitable, and that the sooner it is accomplished, the better for all concerned.

The Republican Party, in its 1860 platform, implicitly favored this great reform. Let us carry it to its logical conclusion! Encourage intermarriages; let the white daughters of the North wed the sable sons of Africa. Thus, shall we purify the Republic and fulfill its destiny as a beacon of liberty?

Miscegenation was published in December 1863, and over 5,000 copies were distributed, along with countless newspaper articles and reviews. In July of 1864, the New York Times published an article tying the pamphlet to the pro-Confederate New York World. This article and subsequent investigative journalism proved that the pamphlet was written and published by Democrats to harm Abraham Lincoln’s reelection chances.

The pamphlet is an interesting read and quite artful in its subterfuge. The hoax fooled many at the time, and the term miscegenation has endured. Furthermore, it seems that hoaxes have become an integral part of politics in this country.

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