Reconstruction Era | The Radical Revolution | 2

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In December 1865, the first postwar Congress convened in Washington, D.C. With Black Southerners still facing rampant violence and discrimination, the Republican majority blocked the former Confederate states from rejoining the Union.

Determined to protect Black rights and curb the power of ex-Confederates, Radical Republican leaders Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner vowed to seize control of Reconstruction. But President Andrew Johnson wielded his veto power to fight back. While the rift between the President and Congress deepened, millions of freed people struggled to maintain their autonomy and economic independence.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:10.0	Imagine its December 4th, 1865 in Washington, D.C.
0:23.9	You're the clerk of the House of Representatives, and today Congress is convening for the first
0:28.4	time since the Civil War ended, and the mood is tense.
0:32.4	Newly elected representatives from the South, many of them former Confederates, have
0:36.5	brazenly arrived to take their seats.
0:38.8	It's the first time that Northern Representatives and their Southern counterparts have been
0:43.0	in the same room since the fighting ended, and it's your job to call roll to begin the
0:47.6	new session.
0:48.9	What Republican leaders have instructed you to omit the names of all the Southern delegates
0:53.2	until you decide how and when to re-admit the former rebel states.
0:57.7	You followed those instructions, but now you're reaching the end of the roll call.
1:01.6	Honorable Walter A. Berley, Honorable Ed Hallbrook.
1:06.6	Two men raise their hands in acknowledgement of hearing their name, but then a third jumps
1:11.0	to his feet.
1:12.0	Mr. Clerk.
1:13.7	You look up to find the source of the interruption.
1:16.4	You recognize the man as Horace Maynard, a representative from Tennessee.
1:20.6	I am compelled to object to any interruption of the roll call.
1:25.1	Maynard looks incredulous.
1:26.8	Has the clerk declined to hear me?
	...

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