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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: July 13, 2020 at 8:13:15 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-CivWar]: Powers on Link, 'United States > Reconstruction across the Americas' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > William A. Link, ed. United States Reconstruction across the > Americas. Frontiers of the American South Series. Gainesville > University Press of Florida, 2019. 136 pp. $34.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-8130-5641-8. > > Reviewed by Michael S. Powers (Angelo State University) > Published on H-CivWar (July, 2020) > Commissioned by Madeleine Forrest > > Examining the Civil War era in a global context has been a leading > avenue of recent study. Historians, such as Matthew Karp in _This > Vast Southern Empire: Slaveholders and the Helm of American Foreign > Policy _(2016) and those in Gregory P. Downs and Kate Masur's _The > World the Civil War Made _(2015), have demonstrated how focusing on > the global links of the era are apt case studies for an analysis of > slavery, emancipation, citizenship, capitalism, nation building, and > a host of other aspects of central interest to Civil War era > scholars. More recently, historians have begun to extend analysis of > Reconstruction beyond national borders. Grounded in research from > North America, South America, the Caribbean, and Great Britain that > examines a rich array of primary sources from newspapers and > government reports to private correspondence, _United States > Reconstruction across the Americas _admirably broadens the scope of > the Civil War's aftermath. > > This chronologically and geographically broad analysis of the end of > the Civil War and its implications builds on William A. Link's > previously excellent co-edited (with Brian Ward and Martyn Bone) > collection, _The American South and the Atlantic World _(2013). Link > begins _United States Reconstruction across the Americas_ with an > admirable introduction that weaves together the collection's three > essays, demonstrating that the themes in each are "all central to > U.S. Reconstruction" and "interwoven with patterns of post-Civil War > global political, social, and economic developments" (p. 3). In the > first essay, Rafael Marquese compares how American and Brazilian > landowners organized and employed labor in the transition from > slavery to freedom as a result of the Paraguayan War. Dan H. Doyle, > meanwhile, uses the lens of foreign relations to examine partnerships > between Mexican resistance to French intervention and the US > government under the guidance of William H. Seward to explore the > triumph of a more egalitarian republicanism above and below the Rio > Grande. Finally, Edward B. Rugemer argues that Jamaican freedmen's > protest against continued oppression, and the British government's > subsequent violent crackdown, known as the Morant Bay Rebellion, > significantly influenced the formation of Radical Republican > policies. Therefore, all three essays analyze the aftermath of each > area's most significant late nineteenth-century moment of violence > and conflict as cathartic events that further entangled the United > States, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil. > > In a blending of social history with macro-economic history, > Marquese's essay strives to internationalize the history of > Reconstruction without falling into the prevalent pitfall of > enhancing notions of US exceptionalism. "The Cotton Economies of the > United States and Brazil, 1865-1904" tracks the growth of European > immigrant labor in the _colonato _system of Brazil following gradual > emancipation brought on by the Free Womb Law of 1871. According to > Marquese, São Paulo planters observed the decentralized nature of > sharecropping and established a post-emancipation labor market on > coffee plantations that continued, and even consolidated, elite > control. Marquese's compelling essay raises questions for future > analysis, especially those that focus on how American and Brazilian > racial differences shaped the free labor system of each. > > "Reconstruction and Anti-imperialism: The United States and Mexico" > by Doyle is the most historiographically significant in the book. > Doyle counters the orthodox view that Secretary of State Seward's > postbellum policies in the Western Hemisphere were indicative of > commercial imperialism. Instead, Doyle posits that Seward resurrected > the Monroe Doctrine and sought to bring US power to bear against the > French Intervention in Mexico to provide a "defensive shield for all > American republics against the depredations of European monarchies" > (p. 57). While Doyle's essay is firmly within the vein of recent > scholarship that applauds the legacy of Ulysses S. Grant, it > implicitly extends some positive qualities to the much-maligned > Andrew Johnson. Doyle highlights that Johnson, perhaps as more of a > puppet than a president, firmly backed republicanism in the Americas > against foreign interference. From Emperor Maximilian's successful > recruitment of hundreds of Confederate exiles to pro-Benito Juárez > "Friends of Mexico Clubs," Doyle's work likewise demonstrates more > acutely than the other essays on the ways foreign affairs shaped > American politics and society. The only aspect of Doyle's work likely > to raise the eyebrows of many Civil War scholars is his contention > that without trading with the French in Mexico "the South could never > have sustained its rebellion" (p. 60). > > In line with his previous work, _The Problem of Emancipation: The > Caribbean Roots of the American Civil War _(2009), Rugemer's analysis > of Jamaica's Morant Bay Rebellion argues that what began as a local > property dispute became a flashpoint for Reconstruction debates. > Rugemer argues that the white Southern press "saw the recent history > of Jamaica, alongside that of Haiti, as evidence that demonstrated > 'the utter incapacity of the negro race for self-government'" (p. > 102). Yet the interpretation Radical Republicans offered of the > tragedy won out. According to Rugemer, Charles Sumner and Carl > Schurz, the German immigrant and veteran of the 1848 revolutions, > spoke most fervently of the Morant Bay Rebellion in their successful > support of the 1866 Civil Rights Act. Finally, the essay demonstrates > how Protestant Christianity was a transnational force that continued > to shape racial politics well after emancipation. A revival that > began in the US spread to Jamaica in 1860 and became the crucial > event that motivated the radical politics of former slaves, Native > Baptists. > > In conclusion, Link makes "no claim that this book is 'transnational' > history" (p. 4). Such an assertion reflects the ongoing debates over > the definition of transnational scholarship. It is my opinion that > all three essays are exemplary examples of transnational analysis. > For as Link also states, the book analyzes "national history as part > of a process involving several state actors" (p. 3). Each essay > demonstrates that internationalizing the Civil War and its aftermath > cannot be accomplished in a two-state comparison between the United > States and another country. For while American ties to Mexico, > Brazil, and Jamaica are featured, the collection as a whole also > significantly weaves global connections from Central America to Asia. > _United States Reconstruction across the Americas_ is an admirable > collection that adds to our understanding of the Civil War era in a > global context. > > Citation: Michael S. Powers. Review of Link, William A., ed., _United > States Reconstruction across the Americas_. H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews. > July, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54957 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
