Lecture 02: Reconstruction Concluded (From the 11:00 section)

In this lecture we take a closer look at the reasons why the old "Tragic era" interpretation of Reconstruction does not survive the test of documentary and historical scrutiny. I know of no historians who still subscribe to that older interpretation. Certainly Reconstruction was not a story of heroes and villains and the Radical Republicans had their ulterior motives along with all the others involved. But old facts have been looked at anew in the last fifty years, resulting in the now-respected revisionist view of such historians as Eric Foner.

Lecture 02: Reconstruction Concluded (from the 11:00 section)