In the opening program of "Reconstruction," the conclusion of one of the scholars interviewed was that the 1860s was for blacks in America "the decade that advanced the greatest possibility for freedmen in a hundred years."
The death of Abraham Lincoln had dealt a cruel blow to that possibility in 1865. His successor, Andrew Johnson, began to implement a hopelessly inadequate plan while Congress was not in session. But when the Republicans returned and were led by Thaddeus Stevens, they thwarted the Johnson plan and replace it with their own.
Congress formulated a more disciplined assimilation of the Southern states back into the union in the wake of riots in Memphis and New Orleans and the start of the insidious black codes in the South. It would be the Fourteenth Amendment that aspired to the goal of "setting the nation on a new footing" with a change in the Constitution that offered black citizens "due process and equal protection of the laws." The bold, new plan of Congress was underway by 1867.
The South was divided into five military districts in which the goals of Reconstruction were to be enforced by the army. Some in the South referred to the plan as "bayonet rule." The states could only be readmitted to the Union by ratifying the 14th Amendment.
In the election of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1867, a half a million blacks had voted in the election. At the start of the year 1867, 1% of blacks in America could vote. At the end of 1867, the figure had risen to 80%. In July, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment became the law of the land.
One of the scholars interviewed for the program placed this phase of Reconstruction in context: "No other New World slave society that emancipated slaves implemented equal citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage for half of the population within five years."
The presidential election of 1868 was a "moment in the sun" as apparent in the turnout of black voters who elected Grant. A new age was dawning at least in spirit before setbacks would arise.
The death of Abraham Lincoln had dealt a cruel blow to that possibility in 1865. His successor, Andrew Johnson, began to implement a hopelessly inadequate plan while Congress was not in session. But when the Republicans returned and were led by Thaddeus Stevens, they thwarted the Johnson plan and replace it with their own.
Congress formulated a more disciplined assimilation of the Southern states back into the union in the wake of riots in Memphis and New Orleans and the start of the insidious black codes in the South. It would be the Fourteenth Amendment that aspired to the goal of "setting the nation on a new footing" with a change in the Constitution that offered black citizens "due process and equal protection of the laws." The bold, new plan of Congress was underway by 1867.
The South was divided into five military districts in which the goals of Reconstruction were to be enforced by the army. Some in the South referred to the plan as "bayonet rule." The states could only be readmitted to the Union by ratifying the 14th Amendment.
In the election of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1867, a half a million blacks had voted in the election. At the start of the year 1867, 1% of blacks in America could vote. At the end of 1867, the figure had risen to 80%. In July, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment became the law of the land.
One of the scholars interviewed for the program placed this phase of Reconstruction in context: "No other New World slave society that emancipated slaves implemented equal citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage for half of the population within five years."
The presidential election of 1868 was a "moment in the sun" as apparent in the turnout of black voters who elected Grant. A new age was dawning at least in spirit before setbacks would arise.
