Reconstruction and the Regulation of Sexuality

For decades, a powerful freedom narrative has shaped the historiography of Reconstruction. Informed by scholarship that privileges the extension of rights to the newly emancipated as a major benefit of Reconstruction, that narrative has typically privileged state regulation as a necessary tool for ensuring the maintenance of those rights. Drawing on recent strands of the historiography that have begun to complicate that narrative, this essay examines recent scholarship from historians of Reconstruction and of sexuality in relation to marriage, abortion, sex work, immigration, the Page Law, the Comstock Act, and sexual violence. In doing so, the essay encourages scholars of Reconstruction to rethink the role of federal regulation and its impact in policing intimate lives. The essay concludes that for historians of Reconstruction, the lens of sexuality provides insights that could lead to more nuanced explorations of understanding the benefits and limitations of the state’s regulatory power.