The Political Struggle, 1865-1866

Before watching the video “The Political Struggle,” it is important to introduce students to one of the key dilemmas that fueled much of the political debate during this era: the tension between the demands of healing and the demands of justice. One way to introduce this tension is to examine a political engraving from the time.

As a class, look carefully at the two-panel Thomas Nast engraving “Pardon/Franchise” (Handout 5.5 (p. 96) in The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy). Follow the steps of the Analyzing Visual Images strategy to think deeply about this image and the message Nast intends to communicate.

Wood engravings by Thomas Nast, first appearing in Harper's Weekly, 1865.

After analyzing the Nast engraving, introduce students to the dilemma of healing and justice after the Civil War more explicitly. You can do this by asking the class to make connections between the perspective expressed by Nast and the analysis of a contemporary historian of this history.

Historian David Blight describes two central, and often conflicting, challenges of Reconstruction:

One was healing and the other was justice. How do you have them both? What truly constitutes healing of a people, of a nation, that’s suffered this scale of violence and destruction, and how do you have justice?  And justice for whom?

Discuss the following questions with the class:

• How does the Nast image represent a tension between the ideas of healing and justice?  
• What could Americans do in the late 1860’s, as they debated plans for Reconstruction, to balance the demands of healing and justice?

Now that students have been introduced to dilemma of how to balance healing and justice after the Civil War, they are ready to view the video “The Political Struggle.” This video provides an overview of how this dilemma fueled the political battle between President Andrew Johnson and Congressional Republicans over Reconstruction policy.

Show the video--pausing at the 9:00 mark. Before showing the video, share the following questions with students to guide their note taking:  

• What questions about Reconstruction remained unresolved as the war ended and Lincoln was assassinated?
• Who was Andrew Johnson? What details about his background seemed to influence his thinking about Reconstruction the most?
• What was Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction?
• What were the results of Johnson’s plan? What were the responses of different groups of Americans?

Before watching the second half of “The Political Struggle,” it will be helpful to pause and provide students the opportunity to look more closely at President Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction.  

The Big Paper teaching strategy provides an effective structure to engage students in silent, written conversations about “Presidential Reconstruction" which is Handout 5.4 (p. 95) from the unit. Share the following questions with students to guide their written discussions:

• Who benefits from President Johnson's plan and who is harmed?
• How does this plan propose to reunite and heal the country?
• How will this plan bring about justice after the war? Does it deny justice to any group of Americans?

Reading

Race in US History

Presidential Reconstruction

Investigate aspects of President Andrew Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction that outlined how to bring former Confederate citizens and states back into the Union.

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The second part of “The Political Struggle” outlines how the policies we refer to as Radical Reconstruction emerged from the conflict between Congressional Republicans and President Johnson.

Share the rest of the video--from 9:00 to the end. Before showing the video, share the following questions with students to guide their notetaking:

• How did Republicans initially respond to President Johnson’s Reconstruction plan?  How did Moderate and Radical Republicans differ in their response?  
• What specific position did Radical Republicans take that separated them from both the Moderates and most other Americans in 1865?
• How did Republicans seek to modify Johnson’s plan?
• What happened to unite Republicans around a common vision for Reconstruction?
• What specific laws and amendments did Republicans in Congress enact to redefine the nation’s plan for Reconstruction? What did those laws and amendments do?

After students finish watching the video “The Political Struggle,” it will be helpful to ask students to examine carefully the plan for Reconstruction that emerged from the Republican Congress, and to compare it to the Johnson plan that the Congressional plan replaced.

Read and analyze with students the details of Radical Reconstruction, as enacted in the 1867 Reconstruction Acts. The Big Paper teaching strategy provides an effective structure to engage students in silent, written conversations about “The Reconstruction Acts of 1867, which is Handout 7.4 (p. 124) in The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy. Students should use the same questions they used to guide their written discussion of Presidential Reconstruction:

• Who benefits from President Johnson's plan and who is harmed?
• How will this plan help to reunite and heal the country?
• How will this plan bring about justice after the war? Does it deny justice to any group of Americans?

Reading

Race in US History

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Examine measures of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.

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Follow up the silent discussions with a brief class discussion about how Presidential and Radical Reconstruction addressed questions of healing and justice differently.