Title Confederate reckoning : power and politics in the Civil War South / Stephanie McCurry

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (449 pages) Series ACLS Humanities E-Book (Series) Summary The story of the Confederate States of America, the proslavery, antidemocratic nation created by white Southern slaveholders to protect their property, has been told many times in heroic and martial narratives. Now, however, Stephanie McCurry tells a very different tale of the Confederate experience. When the grandiosity of Southerners' national ambitions met the harsh realities of wartime crises, unintended consequences ensued. Although Southern statesmen and generals had built the most powerful slave regime in the Western world, they had excluded the majority of their own people-white women and slaves-and thereby sowed the seeds of their demise. Wartime scarcity of food, labor, and soldiers tested the Confederate vision at every point and created domestic crises to match those found on the battlefields. Women and slaves became critical political actors as they contested government enlistment and tax and welfare policies, and struggled for their freedom. The attempt to repress a majority of its own population backfired on the Confederate States of America as the disenfranchised demanded to be counted and considered in the great struggle over slavery, emancipation, democracy, and nationhood. That Confederate struggle played out in a highly charged international arena. The political project of the Confederacy was tried by its own people and failed. The government was forced to become accountable to women and slaves, provoking an astounding transformation of the slaveholders' state. "Confederate Reckoning" is the startling story of this epic political battle in which women and slaves helped to decide the fate of the Confederacy and the outcome of the Civil War Notes Originally published 2010; First Harvard University Press paperback edition, 2012 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version Subject Women -- Southern States -- Social conditions -- 19th century African Americans -- Southern States -- Social conditions -- 19th century Slavery -- Political aspects -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century Slavery -- Social aspects -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century African Americans African Americans -- Social conditions Politics and government Slavery -- Political aspects Slavery -- Social aspects Social aspects Social conditions Women Women -- Social conditions SUBJECT Confederate States of America -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85030856 Confederate States of America -- Social conditions. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85030860 United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Women. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140282 United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- African Americans. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140208 Subject Southern States United States United States -- Confederate States of America Genre/Form History Form Electronic book

Other Titles Power and politics in the Civil War South

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