Liberty protected by law: race, rights, and the Civil War in Illinois

Heinzel, Sally E

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Description

Title

Liberty protected by law: race, rights, and the Civil War in Illinois

Author(s)

Heinzel, Sally E

Issue Date

2015-04-20

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Levine, Bruce

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Levine, Bruce

Committee Member(s)

• Hoxie, Frederick E.
• Roediger, David
• Gifford, Ronald

Department of Study

History

Discipline

History

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Illinois
• race
• politics, 19th century
• Black laws
• Civil War

Abstract

Illinois was a hostile place for free blacks to live before the Civil War. Its racial laws, built on the principles of white supremacy and exclusivity, were among the most restrictive in the antebellum North. Illinois’s legal code discouraged blacks from moving to the state and severely circumscribed the rights of those who did. Yet, only weeks before the Civil War ended, Illinois lawmakers repealed the state’s most oppressive black laws. This dissertation explores how the war destabilized the racial order that white Illinoisans had constructed. It travels from the home front to the frontlines in order to understand the ways civilians and soldiers responded to a war that evolved into an assault on slavery. As Illinois soldiers became willing participants in the process of emancipation, Republicans back at home strove to eliminate the vestiges of slavery by striking down state statutes that denied blacks natural rights and equal protection under the law.

Graduation Semester

2015-5

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/78635

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 Sally E. Heinzel

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