United States Reconstruction across the Americas explores how emancipation, nationhood and nationalism, and the spread of market capitalism—all central to United States Reconstruction—were interwoven with patterns of post–Civil War global, political, social, and economic developments. The chapters answer these questions: How can an internationalization of US Reconstruction—through a consideration of national history as part of a process involving several state actors—enhance our understanding of this period? How did the American Civil War reshape the US’s relationship to the world, both region ... More

United States Reconstruction across the Americas explores how emancipation, nationhood and nationalism, and the spread of market capitalism—all central to United States Reconstruction—were interwoven with patterns of post–Civil War global, political, social, and economic developments. The chapters answer these questions: How can an internationalization of US Reconstruction—through a consideration of national history as part of a process involving several state actors—enhance our understanding of this period? How did the American Civil War reshape the US’s relationship to the world, both regionally and internationally? And in what respects did international developments affect the US South’s transition from a slave to a free society?