Tattered Remains: Challenges of Rebuilding Southern Society
The South faces enormous challenges after the Civil War, mainly how to reconstitute its economic and social base without slavery. The responsibility for resolving these issues falls to the Republicans. At first, many white males are excluded from vo...
Final Stages: Final Days of the Civil War
Both commanders attempt to break the trench deadlock at Petersburg, Lee with Early's raid on Washington and Grant by digging a tunnel under Confederate fortifications and planting explosives. The Battle of the Crater which begins early in the mornin...
Final Stages: Presidential Election of 1864, The
1864 is a presidential election year, a dangerous and depressing time for the embattled president whose nomination by his party and re-election by the American people are in question. With George McClellan as his Democratic opponent, the entire Unio...
Battle Cry: Politics of Emancipation, The
In 1862 President Lincoln's Cabinet urges him to wait for victory in the war with the Confederacy before issuing Emancipation Proclamation. Lee invades Maryland, hoping that victories in the Eastern Theater will convince Europe to support the Confed...
Battle Cry: North and South Seek Support from Foreign Governments
The military initiative in the Civil War lies mainly with the North. Its task is to defeat the Confederacy; the South needs only to avoid defeat. Diplomatically the situation is reversed. The South must enlist the recognition and support of foreign ...
What Price Freedom: Republicans Legislate Harsher Approach to Reconstruction
Republicans in Congress legislate a more radical version of reconstruction through a series of Reconstruction Acts they pass over Johnson's veto. It is clear that they don't want treasons Southerners in Congress within months of the war's end. They ...
What Price Freedom: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, The
Just a few days into his second term in office, Lincoln's life comes to an abrupt end. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife are attending a play at Ford's Theater when actor John Wilkes Booth slips into the presidential box and shoot...
What Price Freedom: Confusion and Devastation Marks End of Civil War
In 1865, as it becomes clear that the war is drawing to a close, no one in Washington knows quite what to do. Abraham Lincoln cannot negotiate a treaty with a government he insists has no right to exist, but neither can he simply readmit Southern st...
What Price Freedom: President Johnson impeached by Congress
President Johnson is no longer a serious obstacle to the passage of radical legislation, but he still is the person responsible for administering Reconstruction programs. The Radicals have little confidence in his motivation to do so and begin impea...
What Price Freedom: Reconstruction and Financial Issues Plague Grant's Administration
The influence of radical Republicans, more progressive as far as blacks are concerned, is diminished as moderate Republicans come into power. They nominate Ulysses S. Grant for the presidency in 1868, perhaps the only man who could be elected during...