The First War of the New Order: How Rule of Law and the Form of Government Changed in America's Second Revolution

Abstract

The War Between the States should be seen as the first modern war of centralization and nation building. On the international level it was a paradigm shift in the way nations would come to view themselves and what was acceptable in both the treatment of citizens and in the conduct of warfare. Internally it was truly another revolution; the form of government looked the same after but it was radically different in function. The Constitution and the rule of law had very different meaning in the aftermath.