![]() After all, the Constitution knows no category of semi-citizen you’re either a citizen or an alien, and with the end of slavery, it would have been unthinkable to classify the freedpeople (180,000 of whom had fought for the Union) as mere aliens. ![]() First, he needed to move the freedpeople toward civil equality, starting with the vote. But in real terms, Lincoln faced some serious problems in Reconstruction that were almost as formidable as the wartime ones. Even that is mostly based on the not-unreasonable assumption that nothing Lincoln would have done could have been worse than what Andrew Johnson did. ![]() Sara Gabbard: When you are “on the road” lecturing about Lincoln and the Civil War, what questions do members of the audience ask most frequently? Do responses from your students reflect the same interests?Īllen Guelzo: Far and away, the most-frequently-asked question I encounter from audiences is, “Would things have been different if Lincoln had lived?” What they mean, in most cases, is, would a Lincoln-managed Reconstruction have healed the nation’s wounds more effectively than the one we got, as managed by Johnson and Grant, and spared us a century-and-a-half of racial suffering and turmoil? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |