American Experience; Interview with David W. Blight, Historian, Yale University, part 3 of 6 : Reconstruction: The Second Civil War
Description:
In the tumultuous years after the Civil War (1863-77), America grappled with how to rebuild itself, how to successfully bring the South back into the Union and how to bring former slaves into the life of the country. Blight talks about debates over reconstruction policy, Thaddeus Stevens, Andrew Johnson's 1866 speaking tour, voting rights as a central issue, how federal enforcement of radical reconstruction might have worked, reconstruction as a Yankee conquest, Freedmen voting in 1868, African Americans felt more close to the nation than ever before, black legislators, funding and public policy.
