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c haPter 1

Reconstruction, Expansion,

and the Triumph of

Industrial Capitalism

T

he Civil War left the South devastated—economically, politically, and
socially. The task at hand for America’s leaders was to find a way to fix
that region, and thus the entire country. This period would therefore be
known as Reconstruction, the national effort to rebuild the South and restore
the United States, and move forward toward a more powerful, unified nation.
The first task was to fundamentally repair the states where most of the
fighting had taken place. The southern economy was a disaster, with so many
of its plantations and farms destroyed, its currency worthless, over 40 percent
of its wealth gone, and $1-2 billion in assets in slaves lost due to emancipation.
Politically, 11 southern states had left the United States and the federal gov-
ernment would have to devise a way for the Confederacy to return to the
Union. And socially, the most vital question of the day, and one that persists
even now, was how to address the race question, namely, what to do about
ex-slaves. Nearly 4 million Blacks had been freed by the 13th amendment
[enacted in 1865] and would be given citizenship and voting rights [for males
at least] with the 14th and 15th amendments in 1868 and 1870, yet any type
of legal or civil equality, indeed even basic civil or human rights, would not

be provided to African-Americans.