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The United States federal government expanded its roll during the Reconstruction period. The federal government, led by Republicans helped the passage of the Reconstruction Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment provided equal protection and citizenship rights for all persons. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination of voting rights by “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The Amendments expanded the federal government while enforcing the protections. How was the federal government able to enforce the protections in the south and the far west? What challenges did the federal government face during the Reconstruction period? The World the Civil War Made is a collection of essays that help answer these questions. When historians began to study the aftermath of the Civil War they focused on the “political power and the organization of labor.” (p. 4). Gregory P. Downs and Kate Masure in the introduction state, “Reconstruction refers to the dynamic period of political debate and social upheaval in the South that followed the Civil War.” (p. 4) The essays concentrate on how the federal government had a limited role due to the state local forces. Downs and Masure express this period at the Stockade State, “a collection of outposts—both military and civilian—powerful within narrow geographical boundaries but limited in their reach, sometimes capable of enforcing their will, sometimes overpowered…” (p. 6) I agree with yaremenkolena that “The World the Civil War Made has shifted the focus on the history of the Civil War era from the influence of the federal and state governance to the entitles on the ground…” Local resistance on the ground made it difficult to enforce Reconstruction protections due to the federal governments reach was overstressed. “…federal officials were often frustrated by the army’s incapacity, its limited size, and it dispersal across the vast lands.” (p. 8)
One example of local forces challenging the federal government Reconstruction protections was the physical and psychological terrorization of African Americans from white southern night riders. The terrorization was to stop African Americans newly gained equality. Southern white intimidation imposed fear on African Americans to the point they were afraid to fight. “Oftentimes, the night riders’ mere presence…had the power to reduce, as Herman puts it, “victims’ sense of autonomy” and undermine their willingness and ability to resist.” (p. 163) Even though African American had full and legal protection of the federal government, their lack of reach prohibited protection due to the brutal coercion of the southern night riders. This one example demonstrates how the federal “Stockade State” was undermined by local ground forces in the Reconstruction protections.