Transcript Ed Ayers Civil War and Reconstruction Article - fchs

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a brief article by historian Ed Ayers
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Although we think of
the Civil War as a
domestic matter,
European nations and a
global audience
evaluated the United
States based on the war.
The destruction of
slavery – as an economic
issue and as a moral one
– was extraordinarily
important to the world.
Lincoln’s Views on the Future of
Democracy
 To Lincoln, the notion of
secession was anathema to a
functioning democracy.
Secession brought into doubt
whether or not “a
constitutional republic, or a
democracy… can, or cannot,
maintain its territorial
integrity.” In other words, if
the South could secede, then
why wouldn’t the West – or
the far West? Originally, the
war was fought to address
this issue exclusively.
The Southern Argument for SelfDetermination
 The Southern answer to
Lincoln’s advocacy for
democracy was to plea in
favor of “self-determination.”
To some extent, this was
simply an extension of a
longstanding states rights
philosophy – which went all
the way back to AntiFederalists stalwarts. But it
is probably fair to say that it
was also a convenient defense
to promote the institution of
slavery, too.
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Defining nationhood in a democratic, constitutional
republic.
The future of slavery in the world – not just the United
States.
The reinvention of modern warfare for an industrialized
world.
Reconstruction of an economy, and more importantly a
society in the former Confederacy.
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It is also important to recall that
other nations did not look to the
United States as an influential
world power in this period. We
were a regional power at best –
asserting influence over the
Western Hemisphere. Yet, as an
experiment in the limits of selfgovernment and as a nation with
enormous potential for growth,
it is fair to note that we
commanded the attention of a
world audience. England and
France both considered
intervention in the US Civil War
as a legitimate option.
The United States was uniquely situated as a product of many World
Cultures. The Nation was born of:
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European Ideas – the Enlightenment, the Reformation
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The Atlantic Trade – with Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa.
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African Slavery – was critical to the nation’s growth
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Conquest of the Land – from Europeans and Native Americans.
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Massive Immigration – from Europe, and increasingly now Asia.
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By the middle of the 19th Century, slavery was the key to
the Southern Economy, and the Southern Economy was
strong.
Cotton was a global commodity, and the American South
dominated that market.
The factory system in the American North and throughout
England and France was dependent upon a supply of cotton
which the South supplied.
“The slaves of the South were worth more than all the
railroads and factories of the North and South combined;
slavery was good business and shrewd investment.”
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The Confederacy viewed the
Civil War as a defense of the
profitable institution – and
saw numerous ways to
expand the system in terms
of geography and innovation.
Brazil and Cuba continued
slave economies long after the
United States had abandoned
them.
How slavery could be
changed to serve the needs of
an increasingly industrial
society was on the minds of
many Southern businessmen.
William Walker attempted to expand slavery into Central America.
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While Southerners became
more devoted to defending
the slave system, the greater
part of Europe was
abandoning the practice out
of moral concerns and
economic changes.
Slave revolts in Haiti made
the system impossible to
maintain.
The English condemned the
practice – and leading
Abolitionist Societies began
to influence American
thought.
The Russians freed the serfs
in 1863 – and had been
moving towards more
reforms for some time.
Abolitionism – The Liberator
and English Abolitionists
The Cotton Kingdom – Slavery
Affirmed
Even as the English and to a lesser extent the French condemned slavery as morally
wrong, they purchased the product of slave labor – cotton – in record amounts. The
most profitable years for Southern plantation owners were the middle 19th Century.
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In the South, ideas of ethnic unity – among whites – and
economic self-interest began to emerge as influential. (These
were not, in any way, exclusively regional ideas.)
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The Confederacy found justification for secession in recent
history – Italy, Poland, Mexico, and Greece all having
gained independence in roughly analogous circumstances
during the 19th Century.
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The American Revolution – and many of the most
important characters in the Revolution were Southerners –
was also critical to the South’s justification of their actions.
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If the minority will not acquiesce, the
majority must, or the Government must
cease. There is no other alternative, for
continuing the Government is acquiescence
on one side or the other. If a minority in
such a case will secede rather than
acquiesce, they make a precedent which in
turn will divide and ruin them, for a
minority of their own will secede from
them whenever a majority refuses to be
controlled by such a minority. For
instance, why may not any portion of a
new confederacy a year or two hence
arbitrarily secede again, precisely as
portions of the present Union now claim
to secede from it?... Plainly the central
idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.
• - Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, 1861
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Railroads
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Telegraphs
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Ironclad
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Submarines
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Hot Air Balloons
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Modern Weaponry
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Military Genius
The number of men who died in
the Civil War was heretofore
unknown in Europe – Southern
casualties were nearly as great
proportionally as the Great War.
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In some ways, the
modern armies were
foreshadowing future
horrors, but he lesson
went largely
unlearned. Using old
tactics against new
weapons created
casualties and death
never known at
Shiloh and Antietam.
Ulysses Grant would
be slandered as a
butcher of men for
recognizing these
realities and pressing
forth nevertheless.
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Both France and England
were courted heavily by
the Confederacy. They
sought weapons, financial
backing, and even military
alliances. These never
materialized, but it took
significant pressure from
the Union and moral
suasion within their
domestic fears to prevent
it. The English were
particularly critical of
Lincoln, until martyrdom
saved his legacy.
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When President Lincoln
issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, he did so a
military measure – and
carefully explained his
actions in the document
itself. By robbing the
Confederacy of their
enslaved labor and
benefiting from AfricanAmerican soldiers –
Lincoln executed an
effective measure in the
zero-sum competition for
the enslaved.
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Over 200,000 formerly
enslaved AfricanAmericans fought for the
Union during the Civil
War. The black soldiers
played a decisive role in
the war, and, perhaps
more importantly, set a
precedent for the
potential oppressed
people had for liberating
themselves from the
worst of circumstances.
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What if the Confederate States of America had survived?
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The enslaved population of the South would certainly have
been used in coal mines, steel mills, and railroad
construction – as it had been before the war started. During
the war, the roles of slaves expanded dramatically.
The survival of an industrialized state based on slavery
would have been contrary to all of the momentum towards
greater individual rights and representation in government
which had advanced over the past two hundred years or so
of world history.
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The goals of the
Reconstruction to create
freedom for the newly
emancipated African
American population
were large. Property
rights, citizenship,
dignity, and equality
before the law. The
Radical Republicans
directing the
Reconstruction
advocated for immediate
social and economic
equality for AfricanAmericans. Indeed,
many African-American
legislators and leaders
participated in the
process.
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The Freedman’s Bureau Established – the Freedman’s Bureau not only
provided formerly enslaved persons with food and shelter, it also helped
to negotiate wages as the economy changed over from a slave system to a
free labor market.
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The 13th Amendment – ended slavery in the United States.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1866 – redefined citizenship as a national
identity, asserting the power of the national government over the states.
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The 14th Amendment – provided citizenship rights to everyone born in
the United States – including African-Americans born into slavery. The
only exception was Native Americans.
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The 15th Amendment – gave African-American men the right to vote in
national elections.
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Black Codes were passed in Southern States to prevent
African-Americans from autonomy of movement, residence,
or employment.
Fines and imprisonment imposed on African-Americans
during the Reconstruction, allowing Southern whites to
arbitrarily imprison the formerly enslaved – and forcing
them to work long hours on plantations or in mines to pay
off unfair fines.
Violent hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan administered
vigilante justice in murderous night rides intended to
frighten and terrorize African-Americans and their
Republican supporters.
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African-Americans were not allowed to serve on juries or allowed
access to an objective justice system.
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African-Americans had little access to land ownership and were
frequently manipulated in contracted labor – preventing them
from obtaining economic justice.
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Southerners managed to create a false storyline – that they had
been humiliated by the Union and forced to endure subjugation to
not only the soldiers but also their African-American neighbors.
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Films like The Birth of a Nation (1915) and the revisionist Gone
With the Wind (1939) condemned the Reconstruction as a social
experiment gone too far – a mistake in judgment due to the over
exuberance of Radical Republican leaders.
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As Southerners began to
transform their economy into a
more productive and industrial
system, African-Americans
were excluded from the most
profitable aspects of the
recovery. After the
Compromise of 1877,
Southerners saw Union soldiers
removed from their states, and
resumed the system of racism
and segregation which had
prevailed previously. In some
ways, the circumstances
African-Americans lived in
resembled the servitude of
enslavement.
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The systematic
exclusion of AfricanAmericans from
economic prosperity
was a model for other
segregated systems in
other nations – South
African apartheid being
the longest lasting
model. There, the
system of white
supremacist rule
extended into the 1990s
– until Nelson Mandela
led a peaceful
revolution to create a
representative
democracy.
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At the same time as Reconstruction,
Americans began to project their
influence into the Pacific and the
world of Imperialism. Alaska was
acquired, and missionaries ramped
up the their work in the Pacific.
Focus on the West prompted
American settler to begin
assimilation efforts on Native
Americans as well, teaching a
“dying race” about private property,
Christianity, and the virtues of
American citizenship. In short, part
of the lesson learned from
Reconstruction was that it was the
duty of all white Americans – in the
North and the South, to raise up –
or “civilize” – non-Europeans
everywhere.
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Military strategy like Alfred
Thayer Mahan’s The Influence
of Sea Power Upon History,
business interests, missionaries,
and proponents of rigid racial
hierarchies and ideologies –
there was certainly no real
science behind the theories – all
agreed that American conquest
of foreign nations would
benefit the conquered.
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Consider Hawaii, Guam, the
Philippines, Panama, Cuba, the
reservation policy for Native
Americans, and any number of
other military or economic
policies to promote an
American Sphere of Influence
in the world.
“The White Man’s Burden”
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The railroad networks created an interdependent economy.
Financial systems provided capital to invest in innovative
technology and communication inventions.
Urbanization was spurred on by mechanization, cheap
immigrant labor, and improvements in transportation and
communication.
Westward expansion and steady population growth secured
American claims to the West.
Mining, fuel production, and the efficient use of natural
resources strengthened economic gains.
Corporations were strengthened and became more productive –
expanding their reach into international markets.
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During the late 1890s, the United
States adopted a foreign policy of
imperialist gain, acquiring Hawaii,
Guam, Puerto Rico, a protectorate
in Cuba, and most significantly the
Philippines. The Spanish-American
War – “A Splendid Little War”
according to Secretary of State
John Hay – is an example of the
mixed feelings Americans would
feel. Acquiring Guam, and Puerto
Rico were simple enough endeavors.
However, in suppressing a revolt for
independence in the Philippines,
the United States would be forced
to come to terms with the tragic
irony of a democratic, selfgoverning nation using military
force to subjugate colonies.
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1920s and 1930s: The Civil
War was something which
could have been avoided.
1940s and 1950s: The Civil
War was like World War II –
a conflict which destroyed
tyranny and promoted
democracy.
2000s: The Civil War had
contradictory meanings,
unfulfilled hopes, and –
particularly when the failed
Reconstruction is factored in
– many, many unintended
consequences.
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How did the experience of the Reconstruction in the
American South influence the reconstruction efforts in each
of these nations?
o Germany following World War II
o Japan after World War II
o Iraq
o Afghanistan
o Korea