Youre looking at some of the images from the 1884 election and listening to songs in support of james g. Blaine of maine and his running mate, john logan. Tonight our series continues and were live in the home of james g. Blaine, and since 1920, the official residence of maines governor. Were inside the blaine house with governor page. Welcome to maine and welcome to the peoples house. Mr. Blaine is here every day and we see his spirit every evening, because we always say good night to him. What is your sense of living the house was built many years ago, many people have lived in it over the years, but he really is president in a lot of ways. What have you come to learn about the man by living in his midst . He not only was a very strong supporter and founder of the Republican Party in maine but a national leader, and started maine on its course to where we are now. And very, very influential both in the press, in state government, federal government. The man was a powerhouse, bigtime
Constitutional rights given to africanamericans or as a failure because Racial Discrimination was legal and africanamericans remain unequal. So today, we are going to be talking about reconstruction. Right . So what is reconstruction . Its really the period immediately after the civil war. The period of reconstruction. Why is it called reconstruction . Because we are talking about the reconstruction of the union. Right . Of the seceded states that had formed the confederacy, theyre now defeated and the question then becomes is how do they reenter the union . How do we reconstruct the union . And that is why this period is known as reconstruction. It is not that well known in American History. As the civil war, so so far, we have been talking about the civil war, right, before the midterms, we covered the civil war. And everyone knows about the civil war. It has kind of a triumphant end. You know, at least if youre not a neoconfederate. The union wins. Slavery is destroyed. Reconstructi
Africanamericans come to congress in the 19th century is not one a lot of people are familiar with. We actually had 22 africanamericans serve between 1870 and 1901. 20 in the house, two in the senate. Its largely a house story. And it has to do with the role of congress during the civil war and the in decade after. During the civil war there were a group of radicals in congress, radicals because they believed in the equality of africanamericans and wanted to create a society in the south after the war that was a multiracial society. These were radicals in the house like Thaddeus Stevens who was chairman of the ways and Means Committee and a very powerful leader. Also people like henry winter davis. In the Senate People like charles somner and benjamin wade. And they led to not only prosecute the war more vigorously but also to have a reconstruction after the war but was one that was not so lenient towards Southern States and was going to ensure that Political Rights were extended to af
Every saturday, at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Lectures in history is also available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Each week, American History tvs american artifacts explores the history of the United States through objects. Up next, we visit capitol hill to talk to house historian and curator about the history of africanamericans in congress and see a selection of artifacts from the collection. The story of how africanamericans come to congress is not one that a lot of people are familiar with. We had 22 africanamericans serve between 1870 and 1901. 20 in the house, two in the senate. Its largely a house story. And it has to do with the role of congress during the civil war and in the decade after. During the civil war, there were a group of radicals in congress, radicals because they believed in the equality of africanamericans and wanted to create a society in the south after the war that was a multiracial society. These were radicals in the house like Thaddeus Stevens
Hate. [laughter] it is a little daunting. Trace the arc. Im going to do a historian thing and think generally. I guess i would say if yo they e looking at american politics from the beginning, we could even go past the civil war, we are talking about paradoxes and conflict and improv. The periods but i tend to focus on more at that part, its the improvisational nature of that fascinates me more than anything else. Its because the nation was founded in the world of monarc monarchy. What that means wasnt so clear at the moment. There is a lot of improv in those early decades about what the nation is, how it functions, the tone of the f government, hp a nationon is going to stand out among the nations of the world. What does it mean to be in a world of monarchies and was the nation going to get any degree of respect and equally and if not more significant as far as the inside of the nation is concerned, what kind of nation is tha it going to be and that s true on every level you could s a