105 Americans Debate the Meaning of the Constitution

1844–1877

The Civil War era was driven by themes of politics and power. The political crisis over slavery and territorial expansion that surfaced in the wake of the war with Mexico engaged reformers, politicians, and ordinary Americans in heated debates over the true meaning of the Constitution, the relationship between federal and state government, and the definition of citizenship. The outbreak of war in 1861 was evidence of the failure of those debates to reach agreement. While many no doubt harbored a hope that the Union victory had settled accounts, fundamental disagreements persisted into the Reconstruction era and linger even today. Different political and social groups during these years competed for influence, shaping political institutions and values, and contested the meaning of citizenship. The status of enslaved African Americans was, of course, central to these debates, but so too were the rights of women and Native Americans and the participation of immigrant groups who diversified the nation’s growing population. In the boisterous democracy of the mid-nineteenth century, all those who called America home were caught up in the deafening argument over the values shaping the political system and the part they were to play in strengthening the political process.