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This chapter explains reconstruction and redemption after the Civil War. Bishop Benjamin Tanner was convinced that Congressional Reconstruction heralded the beginning of a New World. Reconstruction brought the abolition of slavery and the restoring of their family life on a more permanent basis. Despite the gains of Congressional Reconstruction for black families, the Civil War was a lingering catastrophe for South Carolina's children.

This chapter examines the collective identity crisis Mississippians underwent in the years immediately following the Civil War. White Mississippians faced an uncertain identity within the Union. Some hoped to retain their identity as Confederates without appearing as traitors and rebels. Transitioning back into the Union proved much more difficult than their previous decision to secede. The end of slavery shattered the social structure on which many whites built their sense of identity, causing them to struggle with their place in society. Black Mississippians started to form their own sense of national identity in the wake of the Civil War as Congressional Reconstruction brought full citizenship and the ability to participate in politics.

In this lecture Woodward reviews the weaknesses of the current historiography on Reconstruction as well as examines the internal political debates within the Republican Party during Congressional Reconstruction. He highlights three looming issues: what would the process of Reconstruction look like, who should govern the country, and what rights would be extended to the freedpeople. The third issue proved to be the most vexing because the party relied on northern voters who believed in white supremacy. Woodward found little evidence to support the claim that the Republican Party was united in purpose. In fact, he highlights the ways in which the bulk of the party failed to fully commit to the Civil Rights Act (1866) and the Fourteenth Amendment. He admires the vision of Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens but regrets they were ignored by the moderate Republicans.

This lecture details southern interest in northern elections. Woodward argues that white southerners viewed this as the litmus test to judge Northern commitment to racial equality. The bulk of northern states voted against black suffrage thus prompting charges of hypocrisy. After Ulysses S. Grant assumed the office of the presidency in 1869, Republicans began debating whether to pass a constitutional amendment supporting black suffrage. Moderates and conservatives, however, ultimately shaped the Fifteenth Amendment’s wording leading some to conclude that the North’s commitment to racial equality was tepid at best. Northern apathy encouraged white southern defiance which manifested itself in terrorism and violence. Woodward concludes that white northerners never fully committed to Reconstruction, Charles Sumner notwithstanding, and thus cautions scholars and activists not to look to it as inspiration for the modern Civil Rights Movement or what he called the Second Reconstruction.