German Immigrants, Race, and Citizenship in the Civil War Era

This study of Civil War–era politics explores how German immigrants influenced the rise and fall of white commitment to African-American rights. Intertwining developments in Europe and North America, Alison Clark Efford describes how the presence of naturalized citizens affected the status of former slaves and identifies 1870 as a crucial turning point. That year, the Franco-Prussian War prompted German immigrants to reevaluate the liberal nationalism underpinning African-American suffrage. Throughout the period, the newcomers’ approach to race, ethnicity, gender, and political economy shaped American citizenship law. Recreates the German-language debate in the United States based on a range of under-utilized sources Provides a transnational history of the Civil War era, intertwining developments in North America and Europe Integrates ethnic construction and naturalization into an interpretation of race and citizenshiphttps://epublications.marquette.edu/marq_fac-book/1136/thumbnail.jp