A government without citizens -- The rise and fall of a slaveholder's republic -- Schools of citizenship -- Defining loyalty in an age of emancipation -- Loyalty under fire -- It looks much like abandoned land
Summary
Mathisen tells the story of how Americans attempted to define what it meant to be a citizen of the United States, at a moment of fracture in the republic's history. As the author demonstrates, prior to the Civil War, American national citizenship amounted to little more than a vague bundle of rights. But during the conflict, citizenship was transformed
