LAUSR

ABSTRACT This essay compares the American South and French Algeria from 1865 to roughly 1900. Their similarities and connections reveal the paradox of republicanism in an era of growing nation-state power. The Civil War’s outcome, particularly slavery’s abolition, inspired American and French liberals alike. But after bold initiatives to establish full citizenship for people of color in the 1860s, provincial, white rule was established in both territorial areas. Fears of socialism provoked by the Paris Commune figured in this pivot. The essay shows us transnational aspects of race-based, contingent citizenship in the post-slavery era of these two republican empires.