Journal Article
Leadership in Social Movements: Evidence from the "Forty-Eighters" in the Civil War
Autoren
Erscheinungsdatum
DOI
10.1257/aer.20191137
JEL Classification
Schlagworte
Arbeitsmarkt
Innovation und Strukturwandel
This paper studies the role of leaders in the social movement against slavery that culminated in the US Civil War. Our analysis is organized around a natural experiment: leaders of the failed German revolution of 1848–1849 were expelled to the United States and became antislavery campaigners who helped mobilize Union Army volunteers. Towns where Forty-Eighters settled show two-thirds higher Union Army enlistments. Their influence worked through local newspapers and social clubs. Going beyond enlistment decisions, Forty-Eighters reduced their companies' desertion rate during the war. In the long run, Forty-Eighter towns were more likely to form a local chapter of the NAACP.
