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Updated in [July 27th, 2023]
This XSeries course, Civil War and Reconstruction - 1865-1890: The Unfinished Revolution, examines the pivotal but misunderstood era of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. It is the first effort in American history to construct an interracial democracy. The course begins with a discussion of the dramatic change in historians’ interpretations of the period in the last two generations. It then goes on to explore how Reconstruction turned on issues of continued relevance today, such as who is an American citizen and what are citizens’ rights, the relationship between political and economic freedom, and which has the primary responsibility for protecting Americans’ rights – the federal or state governments. It also looks at how public authorities should respond to episodes of terrorism. The course further examines the rewriting of the laws and Constitution to incorporate the principle of equality regardless of race, the accomplishments and failings of Reconstruction governments in the South, the reasons for violent opposition in the South and for the northern retreat from Reconstruction, and the consolidation at the end of the nineteenth century of a new system of white supremacy. This XSeries will provide students with an understanding of the most pivotal era in American history, and the questions it raised that remain central to their understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation.
