Agent Zero’s Blog

The chapter that I was given is titled Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction and it was written by Eric Foner. It focused on the changing interpretations of these three topics. The author begins by saying that no period in history is as fascinating as this one and that interpretations are changing because of the increased focus on the everyday lives of ordinary Americans. He dissects each of these three topics beginning with slavery. He talks about how views of slavery have changed from, it was maintained by whites for cultural reasons, to that slaves maintained it on their own because of particulary their views on church and family. Next he talks about the civil war and specifically the emancipation proclamation as the turning point in the war. The increased division between blacks and whites is a reoccuring focus throughout this section of the chapter. The next area that is discussed is the reconstruction. The author talks about how views on the reconstruction have been completely reevaluated. He focuses on the change in views throughout the north and south and the heavy corruption that took place immediatley after the civil war. Throughout this chapter the author mainly uses secondary sources to show the evolution of each of these topics over the years.