21. Andrew Johnson and the Radicals: A Contest over the Meaning of Reconstruction

The Civil War and Reconstruction (HIST 119) Uploaded 21-11-08 In this lecture, Professor Blight begins his engagement with Reconstruction. Reconstruction, Blight suggests, might best be understood as an extended referendum on the meaning of the Civil War. Even before the war's end, various constituencies in the North attempted to control the shape of the post-war Reconstruction of the South. In late 1863, President Abraham Lincoln offered his lenient "Ten Percent Plan." Six months later, Congressional Republicans concerned by Lincoln's charity rallied behind the more radical provisions of the Wade-Davis Bill. Despite their struggle for control over Reconstruction, Congressional Radicals and President Lincoln managed to work together on two vital pieces of Reconstruction legislation in the first months of 1865--the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery in the United States, and the Freedmen's Bureau bill. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Reconstruction 05:11 - Chapter 2. Reconstruction as a Forum to Understand the Civil War 13:37 - Chapter 3. The Early Debates on Reconstruction and Lincoln's Ten-Percent Plan 24:49 - Chapter 4. The Development of the Wade-Davis Manifesto 36:04 - Chapter 5. The Passing of the 13th Amendment and the Freedmen's Bureau 43:51 - Chapter 6. The Election of Andrew Johnson and Conclusion Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses This course was recorded in Spring 2008. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices