Federal Government During Civil War

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Recommended: Interrelationships between the three branches of government

America's republican form of representative government was premised upon the idea of three co-equal branches of government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The three branches, in theory, operate independent of one another and serve as check upon one another. It is this structure of this government, the founders believed, that would retard any establishment of monarchial government that the American Revolution was fought upon. However the civil war, and more specifically the Reconstruction period following it tested these principles to the core. While it may be accurate to characterize governmental struggles that defined Reconstruction as ones that were inter-branch, a more detailed and nuanced survey reveals it was borne more so out of ideologies that were incumbent within each branch. This essay surveys the ideological battles between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government, and evaluates its impact on the idea of American Federalism from the past going forward.

In order to have a coherent survey of the impact of the reconstruction era on federalism, it is first necessary to define what federalism and reconstruction meant to the nation. The structure of American government was widely debated during the time of this country's founding. Specifically, following the several state's victory during the Revolutionary War, two distinct factions formed in regards to the form of the new government of the victors. This debate was colored with strong resistance from a considerable portion of the country who wanted to keep the autonomy of the states. While another faction advocated for a strong central government with states maintaining some autonomy. In the end, a compromise was struck whereby a we...

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...cope of what the founders likely envisioned. Furthermore, these struggles also disenfranchised a whole section of the country for an extended period of time, and in turn brought about the antithesis of what American democracy was all about.

Hans L. Trefousse, Andrew Johnson: A Biography ( New York, 1989), p. 197; D. Simpson, The Reconstruction Presidents (Lawrence, Kansas, 1998), p. 68

James M.McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction 3rd ed. (McGraw-Hill 2001), p. 548-549.

James M.McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction 3rd ed. (McGraw-Hill 2001), p. 512-513.

James M.McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction 3rd ed. (McGraw-Hill 2001), p. 436

James M.McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction 3rd ed. (McGraw-Hill 2001), p. 425-426.

Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (U.S. 1857)

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