NCWM Lessons in History: Shaping the Contours of Federalism with Dr. Stephen Engle

The National Civil War Museum's Lesson in History - July 17, 2021, with Florida Atlantic University history professor Dr. Stephen D. Engle examines how and why the states that remained loyal to the Union--won the American Civil War while confirming their centrality to American federalism. Certainly, the war was a “turning point in the history of American federalism,” as Michael Les Benedict asserted 30 years ago, largely because it redefined the relationship between government and its citizenry in more definitive, national terms. The Union victory reinforced an understanding that the national government was not merely an agent for the states but also recognized the divided nature of sovereignty, the diffusion of power, and the shared governance of citizenship that bound Americans in a new national identity.