Becoming American Under Fire: Irish Americans, African Americans, and the Politics of Citizenship during the Civil War Era (review)

Civil War Settlers

“…136 Notably a small handful of Democratic candidates at the local county clerk level -Hans Borchsenius, Ole Heg, and Farmer Risumall lost also, while John A. Johnsen, a Republican, won in Dane County. 137 On the topic of slavery's extension, Scandinavian immigrants likely disagreed with their Irish-and German-born counterparts. As Frederick Luebke has argued, "Lutheran and Catholic Germans in rural areas remained loyal to the Democracy in 1860, while other Protestants and the freethinking liberals were attracted to Republicanism.…”

“…Our people want nothing to do with the negro.'" 137 Inadvertently underscoring Benjamin's point, President Lincoln on August 14, 1862the very same day that the Confederate Secretary of State wrote to Ambassador Mannheld a meeting with five leading delegates from Washington's Black community. 138 At this meeting Lincoln advocated colonization more directly than ever before.…”

“…In the wake of the April 16, 1862, compensated emancipation act in Washington, DC, the Danish diplomat reported home that he had "heard people say" they regretted the president's approval of the bill and that, if Lincoln had not signed the emancipation bill, it would have been in accordance with the views he had always maintained. 142 These statements indicated a lack of belief in Black people's capacity for citizenship in the 137 Quoted in Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, 222. 138 Lincoln administration, a perspective supported by the DC emancipation bill's appropriation of $100,000 for "voluntary colonization of African Americans living in the capital," which, as Kate Masur has noted, was "a nod to those, including Lincoln, who doubted that black and white people could peacefully coexist in the United States once slavery was over."…”

“…136 American Indians, for example, were notably absent when Republican congressman George S. Boutwell, on the Fourth of July, 1865, pointed to the service by "whites and negroes born on this continent," as well as "the Irish and the Germans" and "representatives from every European race," as proof that they all deserved voting rights and, by extension, recognition as citizens. 137 For many, war service was therefore not without importancebut even in this final push to reunite the nation was also not without risk. While digging trenches outside Fort Spanish by Mobile Bay, Fritz Rasmussen on April 6 described one shell wounding twenty-one men, filling the trench with smoke, and the blast wave nearly concussing the entire unit.…”