The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War

by Van Gosse

It may be difficult to imagine that a consequential black electoral politics evolved in the United States before the Civil War, for as of 1860, the overwhelming majority of African Americans remained in bondage. Yet free black men, many of them escaped slaves, steadily increased their influence in electoral politics over the course of the early American republic. Despite efforts to disfranchise them, black men voted across much of the North, sometimes in numbers sufficient to swing elections. In this meticulously-researched book, Van Gosse offers a sweeping reappraisal of the formative era of American democracy from the Constitution's ratification through Abraham Lincoln's election, chronicling the rise of an organized, visible black politics focused on the quest for citizenship, the vote, and power within the free states.

Full of untold stories and thorough examinations of political battles, this book traces a First Reconstruction of black political activism following emancipation in the North. From Portland, Maine and New Bedford, Massachusetts to Brooklyn and Cleveland, black men operated as voting blocs, denouncing the notion that skin color could define citizenship.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

760 pages, Hardcover

Published February 22, 2021

About the author

Van Gosse is professor of history at Franklin and Marshall College.

Reviews

[LARRY WEISMAN]

Don’t be deterred by the size of this book or it’s academic credentials. It is surprisingly readable and full of revelations about the role of African-Americans in the founding of this country. You will be surprised to find that much of what you thought was true is not.
Professor Gosse is an author who not only knows his subject but writes about it with grace and perception.
A really good read.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously, this is one of the best history books I've read since... graduate school? It completely shifted my understanding of antebellum Black history and helped to substantiate some ideas I've had about overarching trends in Black history. It's long, meticulous in its documentation, but chock full of amazing anecdotes and pretty pleasant to read. If you want to know more about Black life prior to the Civil War, read this book!