Video: The Reconstruction Era

Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency. A southerner and former slave-holder, Johnson advocated for the rapid reassimilation of the southern states into the Union. In pursuit of this, he pressed for southern states to be allowed to determine the rights of former slaves. His policies would come to characterize the Reconstruction Era, as the nation struggled to heal from its years of bitter war.

What were the long-term effects of Reconstruction on American unity?

This webinar event features William Barney, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Forrest Nabors, associate professor and chair of the department of political science at the University of Alaska, Anchorage; and Michael Les Benedict, professor of history emeritus at The Ohio State University. The discussion will be moderated by David Randall, director of research at the National Association of Scholars. 

Photo by Unknown author - 19th-century illustration via New York Public Library Digital Collection, Public Domain.