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Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-

1877Part II

It is easy to forget how decentralized the United States was in 1861, and how limited were thepowers of the federal government. There was no national baning system, no national railroadga!ge, no national ta" system, not even reliable maps of the areas where the war wo!ld tae place.The army in 1861 n!mbered 1#,$$$ men, the federal b!dget was min!sc!le, and nearly all f!nctionsof government were handled at the state and local level. The %ivil &ar created the modern nationalstate in 'merica. It also profo!ndly altered the federal government(s relationship to the 'mericaneconomy. To mobilize the )orth(s economic reso!rces, the *incoln administration instit!ted the first

national baning system and national c!rrency, the first national ta"es on income, and the first highlyprotective tariffs, and laid the fo!ndation for the first transcontinental railroad. &hether the warretarded or enco!raged economic growth in the short r!n remains a point of debate amonghistorians. +!t the economic policies of the Union forged a longlasting alliance between the-ep!blican arty, the national state, and the emerging class of ind!strial capitalists. The transfer ofpolitical power in &ashington from so!thern planters to allies of northern ind!strialists andmerchants created the political conditions !nder which the United States emerged by cent!ry(s endas the greatest economic power on earth.

%entral to the war(s meaning was the abolition of slavery. Slavery lay at the root of the political crisisthat prod!ced the %ivil &ar, and the war became, altho!gh it did not begin as, a str!ggle foremancipation. Union victory eradicated slavery from 'merican life. /et the war left it to f!t!regenerations to confront the n!mero!s legacies of slavery and to embar on the !nfinished 0!est for

racial !stice.

The destr!ction of slavery2by presidential proclamation, legislation, and constit!tional amendment2was a ey act in the nationb!ilding process. ' war beg!n to preserve the old Union witho!tthreatening slavery prod!ced one of the greatest social revol!tions of the nineteenth cent!ry. The oldimage of *incoln singlehandedly abolishing slavery with the stroe of his pen has long beenabandoned, for too many other 'mericans2politicians, reformers, soldiers, and slaves themselves2contrib!ted to the coming of emancipation. In 1863, with military s!ccess el!sive, -adical-ep!blicans in %ongress and abolitionists clamoring for action against slavery, and slaves by thetho!sands fleeing the plantations wherever the Union 'rmy appeared, *incoln concl!ded that hisinitial policy of fighting a war solely to preserve the Union had to change. The 4mancipationroclamation, iss!ed on 5an!ary 1, 186, profo!ndly altered the nat!re of the war and the f!t!re

co!rse of 'merican history. It was the roclamation, moreover, more than any other single wartimeevent, that transformed a war of armies into a conflict of societies. 'ltho!gh it freed few slaves onthe day it was iss!ed, as it applied almost e"cl!sively to areas !nder %onfederate control, the4mancipation roclamation ens!red that Union victory wo!ld prod!ce a social revol!tion within theSo!th and a redefinition of the place of blacs in 'merican life. There co!ld now be no going bac tothe prewar Union. ' new system of labor, politics, and race relations wo!ld have to replace theshattered instit!tion of slavery.

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+efore the %ivil &ar, the definition of those entitled to enoy the 7blessings of liberty protected by the%onstit!tion was increasingly defined by race. In the Dred Scott  decision of 189:, %hief 5!stice-oger +. Taney declared that no blac person co!ld be a citizen of the United States. The enlistmentof 3$$,$$$ blac men in the Union armed forces d!ring the second half of the war placed blaccitizenship on the postwar agenda. ;rom the war emerged the principle of a national citizenshipwhose members enoyed the e0!al protection of the laws. That principle, which we now today as

7civil rights, originated in the %ivil &ar and the t!rb!lent era of -econstr!ction that followed.

&ith Union victory, the stat!s of the former slaves in the re!nited nation became the focal point ofthe politics of postwar -econstr!ction. In a society that had made political participation a coreelement of freedom, the right to vote inevitably became central to the former slaves( desire forempowerment and a!tonomy. 's soon as the %ivil &ar ended, and in some parts of the So!th evenearlier, blacs who had been free before the war came together with emancipated slaves inconventions, parades, and petition drives to demand s!ffrage and, on occasion, to organize theirown 7freedom ballots. -adical -ep!blicans in the )orth s!pported blac male s!ffrage both as anact of !stice and as the only way to prevent former %onfederates from dominating so!thern politicallife.