Episode
American Experience: Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (1): Revolution
Overview
"Reconstruction: The Second Civil War," a two-part report, follows political leaders and ordinary Americans alike as it chronicles one of the most contentious periods in American history. "An old social order had been destroyed," says Columbia University historian Eric Foner. "Everything was up for grabs." Part 1 begins with the end of the war, as President Johnson, no friend of the freed slaves, squares off against Republicans in Congress. In 1868 they pass the 14th Amendment, which is "the origin of the concept of civil rights," Foner notes. Johnson vetoed it and, says narrator Dion Graham, "the lines were drawn."
Details
- Series
- American Experience
- Season
- Season 16
- Episode
- Episode 2
- Air date
- 2004-01-12
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (1): Revolution is Episode 2 in Season 16 of American Experience. It aired on 2004-01-12. The runtime is 55 min.
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Episode 1: New York (8): The Center of the World
Filmmaker Ric Burns adds a poignant postscript to his series "New York: A Documentary Film" with this chronicle of the World Trade Center's rise and fall. Burns recounts Sept. 11 wrenchingly, but he devotes more than half the film to the Center's rise. This isn't a pretty story: It's one of economic, political, architectural and engineering labyrinths. The result was a critical and commercial flop, though historian Kenneth Jackson says: "It's more important to history now that it's gone."
Episode 3: Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (2): Retreat
"Reconstruction" concludes by following whites and blacks in Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana between 1867 and 1877. It begins with the granting of widespread voting rights for blacks in the South, and with whites "preparing for the worst," says narrator Dion Graham. It wouldn't end that way for South Carolina rice planter Frances Butler, who was not at all pleased to "negotiate" with her family's former slaves. Their leader: Tunis Campbell, who would soon be elected to the state Senate. In Georgia, too, blacks were elected to the legislature. And in Louisiana, Vermonter Marshall Twitchell began amassing both cotton lands and political power. Local whites, who resented Twitchell deeply, called him a "carpetbagger."
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