“The civil war had given leave to one set of revolutionary forces; Reconstruction gave leave to another still more formidable. The effects of the first were temporary ... the effects of the second were permanent, and struck to the very centre of our forms of government.”
The Atlantic revisits Reconstruction.
James Longstreet became a champion of Reconstruction. Why?
“No republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class, or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them.”
Leading conservative pundits today are pounding themes that were popular among opponents of Reconstruction.
The Reconstruction era is not just a distant, bygone time. It’s also a living history.