Synopsis

The two-part report, "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War," charts one of the most fiercely debated chapters in American history, focusing on both political figures and everyday citizens. As Columbia University historian Eric Foner explains, "An old social order had been destroyed; everything was up for grabs." The first part opens with the war's conclusion, depicting President Johnson’s conflict with the Republican-controlled Congress, a Congress that in 1868 ratified the 14th Amendment – a me