Bonds Burst Asunder: The Revolutionary Politics of "Getting By" in Civil War and Emancipation

This project examines the transformation of southern political economy during the era of the American Civil War and African American emancipation, exploring how crisis and transition exposed weaknesses in slavery’s cruel paternalist bargain. Spanning the crisis from South Carolina’s secession in 1860 to the rise of Radical Reconstruction in 1867, it focuses on two central questions: how did white and black southerners recreate and transform relations of power in the chaos of civil war and emancipation? And how did the political economy of “getting by” in wartime shape the way old ties were exploded and new ways negotiated?