eric foner a short history of reconstruction

“(pg114） According to this section of the reading, civil rights become the foundation of the 14 amendments, which establish the notion of citizenship for all Americans born in the United States and enable the federal government to protect their rights. Since Republicans were not prepared to force black suffrage upon the South, they offered white Southerners a choice-enfranchise the freedmen or sacrifice representation in Congress. “Before the war, three-fifths of the slaves had been included in the calculation of Congressional representation now, as free persons, all would be counted. However, it may be said that reconstruction was a success and that the South attempted to change, but was hampered by the presence of freedmen. Despite the best efforts of the northern Radical Republicans, Eric Foner’s Reconstruction theory is right in claiming that southern whites were more concerned with re-creating the past than with renovating a new civilization. In Eric Foner’s “The Makings of Radical Reconstruction,” Eric investigates the growing influence of radical Republicans on reconstruction policies.

Reconstruction addresses issues such as how the southern states re-join the union, the citizenship of the Confederacy’s leaders, and the legal status of the Black Freedman. The term “American reconstruction” refers to the period in American history from 1866 to 1877 when the Confederacy and slavery were both abolished in an attempt to resolve the Civil War’s legacy.

Eric foner a short history of reconstruction