Reconstruction: Voices from America's First Great Struggle for Racial Equality (LOA #303) (Library of America (Hardcover))

The violent aftermath of the Civil War comes to dramatic life in this sweeping new collection of firsthand writing Few periods in American history are more consequential but less understood than Reconstruction, the tumultuous twelve years after Appomattox, when the battered nation sought to reconstitute itself and confront the legacy of two centuries of slavery. This anthology brings together more than one hundred contemporary letters, diary entries, interviews, testimonies, and articles by ordinary men and women and well-known figures such as Frederick Douglass, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Andrew Johnson, Thaddeus Stevens, Ulysses S. Grant, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mark Twain, and Albion Tourgée. Through their eyes readers experience the fierce contest between President Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans resulting in the nation's first presidential impeachment; the adoption of the revolutionary 14th and 15th Amendments; the first achievements of black political power; and the murderous terrorism of the Klan and other groups that, combined with northern weariness, indifference, and hostility, eventually resulted in the restoration of white supremacy in the South. Throughout, Americans confront the essential questions left unresolved by the defeat of secession: What system of labor would replace slavery, and what would become of the southern plantations? Would the war end in the restoration of a union of sovereign states, or in the creation of a truly national government? What would citizenship mean after emancipation, and what civil rights would the freed people gain? Would suffrage be extended to African American men, and to all women? The defeat of the Confederacy and the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 brought about the final destruction of slavery in the United States. Americans were confronted for the first time with the possibility of creating a republic dedicated to the principle of racial equality. What followed over the next twelve years was one of the most complex, inspiring, and ultimately tragic eras in American history. Reconstruction: Voices from Americas First Great Struggle for Racial Equality brings this tumultuous and fateful period to dramatic and violent life through the vivid testimony of more than sixty participants and observers. Here is a vitally important book for anyone interested in this crucial period and its inescapable relevance for today. Historian Brooks D. Simpson presents more than 120 speeches, letters, newspaper and magazine articles, reports, and testimonies by famous figuresFrederick Douglass, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Andrew Johnson, Thaddeus Stevens, Ulysses S. Grant, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Mark Twain, Albion Tourgeas well as dozens of lesser-known men and women, black and white, northern and southern. Through their words, readers experience the fierce contest between President Andrew Johnson and the Republican Congress that led to the nations first presidential impeachment; the adoption of the revolutionary Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments; the growth of black political power in the South; and the murderous violence of the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups that, combined with northern weariness, indifference, and hostility, eventually resulted in the restoration of white supremacy in the former Confederate states. Testimony by Cynthia Townsend, Maria Carter, and Margaret Ann Caldwell records the relentless cruelty of white mobs and assassins, while speeches by Joseph H. Rainey, Robert Brown Elliott, and Richard Harvey Cain demonstrate the eloquence, passion, and courage with which the first African American congressmen addressed the nation in the cause of racial justice. Reconstruction includes a chronology of events, brief biographies of the writers and helpful historical notes, full-color endpaper illustrations, and an index. The Defeat Of The Confederacy And The Adoption Of The Thirteenth Amendment In 1865 Brought About The Final Destruction Of Slavery In The United States. Americans Were Confronted For The First Time With The Possibility Of Creating A Republic Dedicated To The Principle Of Racial Equality. What Followed Over The Next Twelve Years Was One Of The Most Complex, Inspiring, And Ultimately Tragic Eras In American History. Reconstruction: Voices From America's First Great Struggle For Racial Equality Brings This Tumultuous And Fateful Period To Dramatic And Violent Life Through The Vivid Testimony Of More Than Sixty Participants And Observers. Here Is A Vitally Important Book For Anyone Interested In This Crucial Period And Its Inescapable Relevance For Today. -- Presidential Reconstruction, 1865-1866 -- Congressional Reconstruction, 1866-1869 -- Let Us Have Peace, 1869-1873 -- The End Of Reconstruction, 1873-1877 -- Coda, 1879. Brooks D. Simpson, Editor. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.