The Reconstruction Era & its Aftermath

Unsung History

As the Civil War was drawing to a close, President Lincoln was preparing for what came after, with plans for reunification of the country, and he began to advocate for limited suffrage for Black Americans. John Wilkes Booth’s bullet cut short those plans, and Southerner Andrew Johnson, who was much more sympathetic to the former Confederacy, succeeded Lincoln. It wasn’t until Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, over Johnson’s veto, that federal troops enforced a true remaking of the former Confederate states, and for a brief period Black men voted and ran for office in the South in large numbers. In 1877, however, the federal troops withdrew, formally ending the Reconstruction era and leaving Black Americans alone to face a terror campaign of white supremacist violence.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Manisha Sinha, the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut and author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Brethren Rise!” performed by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers in New York City on February 3, 1916; the song is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Black Legislators Elected During Reconstruction,” an 1872 lithograph by Currier and Ives; image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

• “Lincoln's Evolving Thoughts On Slavery, And Freedom,” Fresh Air NPR, October 11, 2010.
• “Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation,” Library of Congress.
• “Hannibal Hamlin (1861–1865),” UVA Miller Center.
• “Lincoln’s Successor Problem,” by Julie Witcover, Politico Magazine,” April 13, 2015.
• “How did Lincoln end up with a Democrat for a vice president?” by Roger Schlueter, Belleville News Democrat, April 6, 2017.
• “Andrew Johnson's Inauguration,” United States Senate.
• “A Call for Reconciliation: Lincoln’s Final Speech,” by Nathan Cooper, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, July 29, 2020.
• “The President's Last Public Address: April 11, 1865,” The American Presidency Project.
• “Andrew Johnson,” The White House.
• “​​Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction,” National Park Service.
• “Reconstruction,” History.com, Originally posted October 29, 2009, and updated January 24, 2024.
• “14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868),” National Archives.
• “A Short Overview of the Reconstruction Era and Ulysses S. Grant's Presidency,” National Park Service.
• “The Legacy of the Reconstruction Era’s Black Political Leaders,” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, February 7, 2022.
• “Disputed Election of 1876: The death knell of the Republican dream,” by Sheila Blackford, UVA Miller Center.
• “Reconstruction Didn’t Fail. It Was Overthrown,” by Allen C. Guelzo, Time Magazine, April 30, 2018.

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