| With Malice Toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era Contributor(s): Blair, William A. (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 1469652099 ISBN-13: 9781469652092 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $35.10 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2019 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) - History | Military - United States |
| Dewey: 973.7 |
| LCCN: 2013046758 |
| Series: Littlefield History of the Civil War Era |
| Physical Information: 1.03" H x 7.85" W x 9.51" (1.38 lbs) 432 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Few issues created greater consensus among Civil War-era northerners than the belief that the secessionists had committed treason. But as William A. Blair shows in this engaging history, the way politicians, soldiers, and civilians dealt with disloyalty varied widely. Citizens often moved more swiftly than federal agents in punishing traitors in their midst, forcing the government to rethink legal practices and definitions. In reconciling the northern contempt for treachery with a demonstrable record of judicial leniency toward the South, Blair illuminates the other ways that northerners punished perceived traitors, including confiscating slaves, arresting newspaper editors for expressions of free speech, and limiting voting. Ultimately, punishment for treason extended well beyond wartime and into the framework of Reconstruction policies, including the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment. Establishing how treason was defined not just by the Lincoln administration, Congress, and the courts but also by the general public, Blair reveals the surprising implications for North and South alike. |
Contributor Bio(s): Blair, William A.: - William A. Blair, Walter L. and Helen P. Ferree Professor of Middle American History at the Pennsylvania State University, serves as director of the Richards Civil War Era Center and as Founding Editor of the Journal of the Civil War Era. |