An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle Over Equality in Washington, D.C.

"An Example for All the Land" reveals Washington, D.C. as a laboratory for social policy in the era of emancipation and the Civil War. In this panoramic study, Kate Masur provides a nuanced account of African Americans' grassroots activism, municipal politics, and the U.S. Congress. She tells the provocative story of how black men's right to vote transformed local affairs, and how, in short order, city reformers made that right virtually meaningless. Bringing the question of equality to the forefront of Reconstruction scholarship, this widely praised study explores how concerns about public and private space, civilization, and dependency informed the period's debate over rights and citizenship.

Review :
"This is a model study, integrating social and political history, on an important but under-examined topic. Masur skillfully explores the implications of race and development politics in Washington, D.C., drawing a clear connection with the broader fate of Reconstruction and the public perception of urban corruption. I'm astonished that no one has tackled these issues before, and I'm pleased that Masur has done so this well."--Michael W. Fitzgerald, St. Olaf College "The constriction of citizenship rights in the nation's capital is a story little told but rich with both symbolic and practical meaning. Masur's intriguing history of Reconstruction in the District is justified and fruitful."--Jane Dailey, University of Chicago ""An Example for all the Land", clearly argued and deeply researched, represents a significant breakthrough in the crowded field of Reconstruction scholarship. Showing how Washington, D.C. became a laboratory for political experimentation, Masur reveals important new facets to the process of emancipation, the fight for racial justice, and the reconstruction of democracy for all Americans."--Laura F. Edwards, author of "The People and Their Peace: Legal Culture and the Transformation of Inequality in the Post-Revolutionary South" "Until now, Washington, D.C. has been considered anomalous and marginal in the history of Reconstruction. But Kate Masur's study of the turbulent, and ultimately tragic, struggle to define and expand equal rights in the District will change that perception dramatically. This is an important and intriguing contribution to the scholarship on Emancipation and Reconstruction."--Michael Perman, author of "Pursuit of Unity: A Political History of the American South" "Kate Masur takes us to a distinctive place where the local and national struggles of Reconstruction coincided, and where the promises and limits of change--and the new meanings of equality--foreshadowed political dynamics on the many stages of late nineteenth-century America. "An Example for All the Land" is, for us, an example of freshly conceived and very thoughtful historical writing."--Steven Hahn, University of Pennsylvania