Reconstituting the Nation
This unit addresses various attempts to reconstitute the Union that had ruptured during the Civil War. While slavery ended with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, ex-slaves faced many difficulties in using their new freedom. Former Confederate States attempted to restore white supremacy by enacting a series of “black codes” that drastically limited the employment opportunities of blacks. They were also barred them from voting, serving in government and owning weapons. Congress responded by treating the former Confederate States as federal territories and placing them under military government. Eventually Congress adopted two constitutional amendments to permanently protect people of color. The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born in the US. It also prevented states from abridging the “privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” or denying anyone due process or equal protection of the laws. The Fifteenth Amendment prevented states from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
For a short time, it appeared as if Reconstruction might work. The former Confederate States were readmitted after they ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, and blacks were elected to local and state governments and even to Congress. However, whites used threats and violence to force most black officials out of their government positions, and when Reconstruction ended in 1877 the governments of southern states were entirely white. The Supreme Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as having only limited effect on the states, and by the 1890s most southern states had established segregated public institutions that would later serve as models for both Hitler’s Nazi Party and the apartheid regime in South Africa. The Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson illustrates the Court’s unwillingness to use the Constitution to establish political equality between blacks and whites.
Women seeking the right to vote were similarly disappointed after the Civil War. Representative Benjamin Butler promoted women’s suffrage and asked Victoria Woodhull to become the first woman to testify before Congress. She argued that a textual analysis of both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments supported the view that the Constitution now granted women the right to vote. But Congress did not seriously engage with her arguments and women’s suffrage would have to wait another half-century. Women’s equality was held back on other grounds as well. In 1873, the Supreme Court held in Bradwell v. Illinois that the Constitution did not bar Illinois from denying women the right to practice law even if they met all legal requirements. The fact that under common law women had no right to practice law was sufficient for the Court to find that the Illinois legislature had acted reasonably.
Another major subject of debate in postbellum America was the role that government should play in the economy. Since Andrew Jackson introduced the “spoils system” in the 1830s, public administration had been corrupted by political leaders who hired government employees based on personal loyalty rather than fidelity to the law. Many believed that the spoils system inhibited economic success and equal opportunity. Believers in minimal government regulation promoted a philosophy of laissez-faire that is illustrated by the selection from Yale Professor William Graham Sumner. Their opponents contended that the government was promoting the interests of the wealthy, and that progress meant doing more for those less well off. Brown Professor Lester Ward argued that government should promote the welfare of all rather than just powerful economic interests.
