The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War

Description

It may be difficult to imagine that a consequential black electoral politics evolved in the United States before the Civil War, for 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 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 Abraham 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 untold stories and thorough examinations of political battles, this book traces a First Reconstruction of black political activism following emancipation in the North. From Portland, Maine and New Bedford, Massachusetts to Brooklyn and Cleveland, black men operated as voting blocs, denouncing the notion that skin color could define citizenship. Cover Contents List of Figures, Maps, and Tables Introduction Chapter 1. Our Appeal for a Republican Birthright: The Ideology of Black Republicanism before the Civil War Part I. Caste versus Citizenship in Pennsylvania Chapter 2. Citizens for Protection: The Shadow Politics of Greater Philadelphia, 1780–1842 Chapter 3. A Large Body of Negro Votes Have Controlled the Late Election: Black Politics in Pennsylvania, 1790–1838 Coda. The Pennsylvania Default Part II. The New England Redoubt Chapter 4. All the Black Men Vote for Mr. Otis: Nonracial Politics in the Yankee Republic, 1778–1830 Chapter 5. The Colored Men of Portland Have Always Enjoyed All Their Rights: The Politics of Respect Chapter 6. The Very Sebastopol of Niggerdom: Measuring Black Power in New Bedford Chapter 7. We Are True Whigs: Reconstruction in Rhode Island Coda. The New England Impasse Part III. The New York Battleground Chapter 8. Negroes Have Votes as Good as Yours or Mine: Coming to Grips in New York, 1777–1821 Chapter 9. We Think for Ourselves: Making the Battleground, 1822–1846 Chapter 10. Consult the Genius of Expediency: Approaching Power, 1847–1860 Coda. Losing and Winning in the Empire State Part IV. A Salient on the West Chapter 11. We Do Not Care How Black He Is: Ohio’s Black Republicans Coda. Ohio, Flanked Conclusion: Going to War Appendix. Black Leaders and Their Electorates Acknowledgments Notes Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z