
The First Reconstruction
Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War
Van Gosse(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Published on 28. February 2021
Book
Hardback
744 pages
978-1-4696-6010-3 (ISBN)
Description
It may be difficult to imagine that a consequential electoral black politics evolved in the United States before the Civil War--as of 1860, the overwhelming majority of African Americans remained in bondage. Yet free black men, many of them escaped slaves, steadily increased their influence in U.S. electoral politics over the course of the early American republic. Despite efforts to disfranchise them, black men voted across much of the North, sometimes in numbers sufficient to swing elections. In this meticulously researched book, Van Gosse offers a sweeping reappraisal of the formative era of American democracy from the Constitution's ratification through Lincoln's election, chronicling the rise of an organized, visible black politics focused on the quest for citizenship, the vote, and power within the free states.
Full of never-before-told stories and thorough examinations of political battles, this book traces a First Reconstruction of black political activism following emancipation in the North. From Portland and New Bedford to Brooklyn and Cleveland, black men operated as voting blocs, denouncing the notion that skin color could define citizenship.
Full of never-before-told stories and thorough examinations of political battles, this book traces a First Reconstruction of black political activism following emancipation in the North. From Portland and New Bedford to Brooklyn and Cleveland, black men operated as voting blocs, denouncing the notion that skin color could define citizenship.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
19 halftones, 5 maps, 8 tables
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Weight
333 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4696-6010-3 (9781469660103)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Van Gosse is professor of history at Franklin and Marshall College.