The Civil War Confiscation Acts: Failing to Reconstruct the South

The Civil War Confiscation Acts: Failing to Reconstruct the South
ISBN-10
0823224899
ISBN-13
9780823224890
Category
History
Pages
282
Language
English
Published
2005
Publisher
Fordham Univ Press
Author
John Syrett

Description

Syrett examines the role of the 1861-1862 First and Second Confiscation Acts, which authorized the Union federal government to seize Confederate properties, land, and assets. President Abraham Lincoln and his Attorney General, Edward Bates, eventually objected to the acts because they failed to restructure property holdings as much as emphasize Northern dominance. They also freed Southern blacks working for the Confederacy, causing great consternation. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment later made the acts moot, Syrett notes that they had lasting effects on racial and class relations during the Reconstruction and beyond.

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