The American Experiment [1] faced major setbacks in the years and decades following its inception. From the American War of Independence (1776-1783) to the 1812 War with Great Britain, the United States grappled with a plethora of threats that jeopardized its existence in a region dominated by hostile and expansionist imperial powers. Moreover, the country’s core ideals of liberty and human dignity – which were etched against its constitutional framework and socio-political fabric – were equally threatened by the rise of states’ rights movements (mainly in southern states)which have attempted to legitimize the institution of slavery, further entangling the nation in a state of political strife and civil discontentment. By the time Abraham Lincoln took office in 1861, the ever-widening rift between abolitionists and pro-slavery factions quickly worsened, and both sides took up arms against one another in what would be considered America’s deadliest conflict: the American Civil War.
An Uneasy Peace
Arriving in Washington D.C. to assume office, Abraham Lincoln – the 16th president of the United States of America – faced an impending national crisis. After years of governmental inaction and ineptitude on the part of presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchannan – both of whom harbored southern sympathies – Lincoln was left at the helm of a fractured country. Up to that point, the American political establishment tried to maintain a careful balance between the number of abolitionist and retentionist states in aneffort to preserve a fragile peace between both opposing camps of the slavery debate, especially as new states joined the Union and the US expanded westwards of the Mississippi River. Thus, the Missouri Compromise was made government policy in 1820, leading to the admission of Missouri as a “slave” state and Maine as a “free” state (leavingthe 1:1 ratio intact)[2]. Although this compromise was designed to stifle thenorthwardsexpansion of slavery, it was met with strong southern opposition and was eventually annulled by the US Supreme Court.
In an effort to put an end to this increasingly disruptive controversy, Senator Stephen Douglas pushed for the passage of the Nebraska-Kansas Act, which was inspired by the 1850 Compromise that temporarily resolved the slavery controversy in new states acquired as a result of the Mexican-American War. Upon its passage in 1854, the Nebraska-Kansas act allowed thepublic (the states’ inhabitants) to decide on the fate of their respective states vis-à-vis the slavery question, further inflaming the conflict especially in the state of Kansas as swaths of people from both sides of the aisle poured into the state to sway the vote. What followed was an ugly affair (known as “Bleeding Kansas”) that left hundreds of people dead. The bitter division that ensued, coupled with inadequate government intervention and a slew of fruitlesspolitical compromises, created the context that would ultimatelylead to the American Civil War.
The Spark that Ignited the Powder Keg
With the nation at the brink of a full-blown civil war, Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election gave 7 southern states the impetus to secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America [3]. After all, the election of a staunch abolitionist, in the eyes of southerners, was an affront on the political order that has hitherto enabled the continuation of slavery in the South –this, in effect, meant that serious change was underway. Following a successful rebel-led attack on Fort Sumter (a Union outpost)in April 12, 1861, the conflict between the Union and Confederacy took a different form, transforming into an all-out civil war. In keeping with general warfare protocol, Lincoln attempted to strangle the Southern economy by decreeing a naval blockade; he also instructed the Secretary of Treasury to dedicate 2 million USD to the raising of troops. Moreover, in his capacity as the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, his first order of business was to re-establish Northern hegemony over the Confederate states, with the issue of slavery being more of an afterthought at that point.
In January 1863, after almostthree years of continuous fighting, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamationfollowing a Union victory in the Battle of Antietam – thereby ordering the complete seizure and liberation of rebel-owned slaves (this fiat notably excluded slaves from loyal southern states; this would be addressed later on by the 13th amendment). Later that year, another major victory in the Battle of Gettysburg marked a watershed in the development of the civil war, greatly boosting Northern morale and inspiring the much-revered Gettysburg Address, which further cemented the North’s commitment towards restoring the Union. Fortunately, with the 1864 presidential election on the horizon, a string of victories – mainly delivered by General Ulysses Grant – restored faith in the Lincoln administration, allowing the Lincoln ticket to secure a second term against all odds. Months later, as countless Confederacy strongholds fell to the Union’s advancing army, General Robert E. Lee – the commander of the Confederate army – surrendered, effectively bringing this 4-year-long war to an end.
The North Won the War but the South Won the Peace
Although the war ended with a Northern victory, there was little to celebrate in the grand scheme of things. The bitter division that marked the civil war lived on, with the defeated south – which fought tooth and nail to preserve slavery – ever thirsty for vengeance. Amongst those most angered by the outcome of the war was John Wilkes Booth, who saw Lincoln as the prime“enemy”of the US constitution and “southern values”. This prompted him, along with a number of co-conspirators, to plot the assassination of Lincoln and a number of high-ranking officials in the federal government. In 1865, as Lincoln watched a theatrical rendition of Our American Cousin in the Ford Theater, Booth made his way to the president’sunguarded box and shot him from the back of his head. After a brief struggle with a nearby officer, Booth leaped over the box’s railing and fell onto the stage, supposedly screaming “Thus always to tyrants!The South is avenged!” as he escaped with a flare of drama fitting of his Shakespearean background.
The next morning, Lincoln sadly succumbed to his injury, dying one year into his 2nd term. This shocking turn of events left its mark on US history, essentially foreshadowing the subsequent failure of Lincoln’s most ambitious and radical post-civil war project: The Reconstruction Plan. Believed to have begun immediately after the Civil War, this plan was at the heart of the Radical Republican’s political agenda, with the aim of ensuring the complete enfranchisement and integration of Blacks into southern society. Initially, the Republican strategy centered around drafting and passing 3 key amendments to the US constitution – the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, which outlawed slavery nationwide, granted African-Americans citizenship rights and due process of law, and gave Black males complete voting rights, respectively. All of these amendments were passed and ratified by February 1870.
Although these 3 amendments formed the lifeline of the Reconstruction plan, Lincoln’s charisma and firmness were definitelymissing from the equation, leaving the federal government – which was led by the former vice president Andrew Johnson – in a state of disarray. In fact, one could argue that Andrew Johnson’s administration, in an effort to secure white southern support, showed extra leniency in dealing with the formerly rebellious southern states, allowing them to carry out business as usual with little-to-no consequences. Notwithstanding this key problem, Republicans in the US Congress were able to push through with most of their reforms and demands, which included dividing southern states (excluding Tennessee) into military occupation zones, forcing rebellious states to rewrite their constitutions and ratify the 13th and 14th amendment as a condition for their readmission (The Reconstruction Act of 1867), insisting on greater black representation in state legislatures throughout the country, and combatting anti-black violence and vigilantism through the increased use of law enforcement (The Three Enforcement Acts).
These radical policies met strong southern resistance and led to the rise of anti-black hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, which routinely attacked and lynched freed African Americans. To make matters worse, the 1874 mid-term elections produced a solid Democratic majority in the House of Representatives (lower chamber of the US Congress), bringing the Republican Reconstruction plan to a halt. By 1877, as the last federal troops withdrew from the south with the adoption of The Compromise of 1877, the remaining reconstruction governments in the south quickly fell, ushering in a new era of heightened racism (also known today as the nadir of American Race Relations) which saw the rise ofJim Crow regimes throughout the south, resulting in the complete disenfranchisement and dehumanization of southern African-Americans. Many historians remember this date as the end of the Reconstruction Era.
A Lasting Legacy
Even today, the legacy of the Civil War continues to inspire fiery debates and passion-filled rhetoric in the American political scene. With the rise of social justice movements – from the women suffrage movement of the late 19th century to the anti-Jim Crow activism of the 1950s and 60s – Americans of all backgrounds continue to look back at this episode with a degree of reverence and respect: After all, the American Civil War – a war that resulted in 750,000 deaths – is a testament to the country’s striking resolve in the face of oppression and moral decay. It is also living proof that, through collective action, much could be achieved; that the American experiment, with its promise of liberty and equality for all, could live on for as long as people are willing to fight for a More Perfect Union. This enduring legacy, coupled with the war’s short-term and long-term consequences, makes the American Civil War – and the following Reconstruction period – one of the most consequential episodes in US history.
[1] It’s arguably the world’s first serious experiment with liberty and human rights (as we understand them today), starting officially with the signing of the US Declaration of Independence (1776) and extending all the way to the adoption of the US constitution (1788) and the US Bill of Rights (1791)
[2] “Free” (abolitionist) states are US states that outlawed slavery prior to the ratification of the 13th amendment, whereas “slave” (retentionist) states are US states that held on to slavery.
[3] The northern part of the US comprised the states that favored preserving the union of states: in this essay, the “North” and “Union” are used interchangeably; On the other end, the southern part of the US (with a few exceptions) favored ending the union and establishing a separate Confederacy; hence, the “South”, “Confederacy”, and “Rebels” are used interchangeably.
By: Ali Mukhtar Mansoor
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