Reconstruction: A Revolution in Reverse

Although I am on a European history track, I've been racking up some U.S. history on my transcript. I've gone back and taken a course on American history from Reconstruction until the present day. It's kinda weird when you're the only non-TA graduate student in the whole lecture hall, but it provides for some unique insight.

The textbook I'm reading for this course is one compiled by the very professor teaching my course, Dr. Kevin Schultz. I had to buy a new copy and turn in my used one when I realized I had to get an access code for the online content. Anyways, this will be my first attempt at compiling my thoughts into a notes-blog format. It's a new way for me to converse with myself and the content to better expand my understanding of the course content.

We started off the semester by discussing Reconstruction. Having taken AP U.S. History in junior year, Mrs. Spiegel (my APUSH teacher) did drill our heads with entertaining mnemonic devices to get us 5's on the AP exam, whether it was dancing, singing, or compiling a student film.

Recap: The Civil War just ended, and now the time has come to reintegrate the former Confederate States back into the Union. All enslaved African-Americans have been freed by way of the Thirteenth Amendment. As one can see, there was a lot on the government's plate to sew the nation back together.

Many in the Republican-dominated Congress wanted a hardline approach to readmission; namely, the South needed to be punished for the sins of treason and slavery. President Abraham Lincoln, however, wanted to emphasize the process of healing by providing a lenient avenue to readmission, out of concern for the nation's integrity should the South develop any more bitter feelings against the victorious North.

After Lincoln's assassination and the subsequent terms of Johnson, Grant, and Hayes, the aspirations of Reconstruction were not only fading away, but even being reversed by the efforts of white Southerners wanting to revert their society to the antebellum state of racial hierarchy. In spite of early victories in suppressing racial discrimination and violence, many of the Radical Republican policies in the South were being stymied by organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. The crusade to "redeem" the South was successful in that it weaved its way around the amendments meant to protect the newly freed slaves and essentially instituted a system of social and economic slavery to maintain their old way of doing things.

Reconstruction was, as one author put it, an "unfinished revolution". In reading this chapter, however, one can argue that it was a revolution set in reverse.

A Glorified Notebook

Another fall semester begins for me! After having taken a much-needed rest this summer, it's back to the books.

As a quick introduction for those reading my blogs for the first time, my name is Mark. I am currently a second-year graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, currently pursuing a master's degree in history education. Once that is done, I will hopefully be certified to teach for the State of Illinois as a public school educator. On the side, I am also pursuing an officer's commission through Army ROTC at the same school, but that's a whole different story that won't get as much mention on this particular site.

I began this new blog as a fresh, new platform for my academic notes. I do have a personal blog called The Mapping which documents tidbits of my personal life, so you can check that as well on your free time. But this blog in particular will be a tracker for my school notes that I take for my academic years when I do a particular reading or an occasional bit of research.

I decided to start this up as I realized blogging was a good way to jog my mind and thought process. For me, it was easy to read a book, but once it came to discussion, I locked up and had trouble thinking of something to say. Hopefully, this blog will alleviate that issue and give me some things to talk about on my end. As for you, humble reader, I hope you enjoy the content being posted here and perhaps consider reading what I'll be reading in the years to come.