HIS 111
Dr. Pierce
Viewing Guide
for
Reconstruction: A Second Civil War. PBS. The American Experience series.
DVD.
We begin our semester course with a look at the saddest, most tragic period in
American history. It was a time that interests few students today. It does not
have a happy ending, even now. Yet, that period is vitally important to
understanding why many things are the way they are in our nation.
As you view the two parts of the program, you should note several things. Listen
to the several historians who continually provide short insights into the subject.
One of them is Eric Foner, the author of your textbook and the definitive history
of Reconstruction.1 Others include Drew Gilpin Faust, a prize-winning author and
Harvard historian.2 Another is David W. Blight; well-known professor of history at
Yale; author; and authority on the Underground Railroad.3 Yet another scholar
who frequently comments in the course of the program is Edward L. Ayers; a
weekly co-host of the PBS radio program, “Back Story;” President of the University
of Richmond; acclaimed historian; and holder of the National Humanities Medal
presented by President Obama in 2012.4 Ayers also received a Pulitzer Prize for
his book about southern life after Reconstruction. Carefully consider these
scholars’ continuing comments.
Be sure that you read the sections of your text book assigned in the syllabus.
Although we will not be taking the time to view the accompanying PowerPoint
slides in detail, be sure that you consider them as well. They help illuminate what
you will see in this DVD. They also provide some local perspective on several
topics like support for the Freedmen’s Bureau; President Andrew Johnson’s 1866
election year tour; Johnson’s impeachment; “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags.”
Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York. Harper
Collins. 1989.
2 Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York.
Vintage Books. 2008. Dr. Faust is also president of Harvard University.
3 Blight, David W.
(ed.). Passages to Freedom: The Underground Railroad in History and
Memory. Washington, DC. Smithsonian Books. 2004; Race and Reunion: The Civil War in
American Memory. Cambridge, MA Belknap Press. 2001.
4 Ayers, Edward L. In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Civil War in the Heart of America. New York.
W.W. Norton. 2004; The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction. New York. Oxford
Univ. Press. 2007.
1
As you view Part I (90 min.) of the DVD, “Revolution,” consider the answers to the
following questions. They are listed here in the order in which the topics appear
in the program. Look over the PowerPoint slides for Reconstruction. Compare
the ideas and facts presented in both the PowerPoint and the DVD with your
text. Take notes!
1. What did the concept of freedom mean to the former slaves initially?
2. What emotions did white southerners feel in the final years of the Civil
War?
3. What was the importance of land, and land ownership to both black and
white southerners?
4. What problems were posed by “contrabands,” or slaves who took their
freedom before the end of the war?
5. What was the immediate impact of Lincoln’s assassination on the course
of Reconstruction? [Note the Lincoln plan explained in your text and
PowerPoint slides.]
6. Why was the passage of a civil rights law by congress so difficult?
7. What was the attitude of Andrew Johnson that initially prompted
northerners to support him as president?
8. Who did Andrew Johnson want to support?
9. What did the Freedman’s Bureau do?
10. Why was the Freedman’s Bureau resented by white southerners?
11. What was President Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction? Why was it so
controversial?
12. What was the Radical Republican vision for Reconstruction?
13. Why was education so important to the Freedmen?
14. How did supporters in the north support Freedmen’s schools?
15. What role did the concept of property rights play in making
Reconstruction bitter?
16. Why were many Confederate veterans confused?
17. How were President Johnson’s beliefs reflected in his pardon policy?
18. What did Johnson order with regard to lands confiscated by the Union
army?
19. Why were fears that the Freedmen would not work so critical to white
southerners?
20. How was violence used as an enforcement tool?
21. How was the legal system used to subjugate the Freedmen?
Codes?]
[Black
22. What was the reaction in Congress when former Confederate leaders
were elected to that body?
23. Why did President Johnson object to the 1866 Civil Rights bill?
24. Why did the radicals in Congress think it was necessary to amend the
Constitution? [14th Amendment?]
25. What were the arguments for and against the 14th Amendment?
26. What were the “lessons” of the New Orleans massacre?
27. How did the 1866 elections change national politics? What happened?
What was the impact?
28. What was the Radical Republican plan that proposed in 1867?