Chapter in Perspective

The Civil War resolved several long-standing problems in the Republic. For one, the threat of secession had been laid to rest; the Union was perpetual, as Andrew Jackson had proclaimed in 1832. Slavery had also been destroyed, and with it the most "peculiar" feature of the culture of the Old South. With the agrarian South vanquished and impoverished, the industrial North was now the dominant section politically and economically, and the nation's course toward full industrialization was established. But the war had also created new problems. What rights the former slaves would have, and what their place would be in American society, was unclear. Similarly, how the former states of the Confederacy would regain their rights was uncertain. These two interrelated issues constituted the "problem of Reconstruction."

Yet if the potential for far-reaching change existed at the end of the war, key elements of the American political tradition exerted a restraining influence. For example, although the federal government exercised greater power after the war than before, most Americans believed that protecting individual rights was the responsibility of the states. In addition, the fear of a standing army remained undiminished. Not only had the Union army been quickly demobilized, but Northerners were uncomfortable at the thought of a prolonged military occupation of the South or the active intervention of the army in domestic affairs. Finally, bolstered by the market revolution, Americans remained wedded to the doctrines of private property, self-reliance, and individual achievement, values that worked against any program of government assistance to the freed slaves. It was within this mix of change and tradition -- of the possibility to overthrow the past and the desire to conserve it -- that Reconstruction would take shape and eventually unravel.