The lack of focus on the Reconstruction Era is one result of over a hundred years of students of American history being taught to scorn the “excesses” of its policies. But this second founding has also left a complicated legacy littered with devastating reversals of justice that demand our continued attention today. marked by the greatest expansion of constitutional rights since the document’s ratification. For historian Eric Foner, the Reconstruction Era was nothing less than a second founding of the U.S. Yet for all the attention paid to the war itself, the Reconstruction Era is almost treated as an afterthought. Wars are dramatic events-deadly ruptures that invariably bring changes to political and social orders-and therefore attract a lot of scholarly and amateur interest. The Civil War is ubiquitous in media depictions of that century and generations of students have learned to recognize the significance of Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, and Appomattox.
If you were asked to name the defining moment of American history in the 19th century, more likely than not, your answer would be “The American Civil War.” This is an understandable response. Thomas holds a master's degree in History from Georgetown University and is a core member of Facing History's Marketing and Communications team. Guest writer Thomas Simpson offers a review of historian Eric Foner's towering new book, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.
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