Videos

Legal historian Paul Finkelman and Harvard law Professor Randall Kennedy presented talks on the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Reconstruction era. Paul Finkelman detailed why he belie…

University of Kentucky history professor Mark Summers talked about the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. This event was part of a symposium hosted by the U.S. Capitol Historical Socie…

Clemson University history professor Orville Vernon Burton talked about the origins of the 14th Amendment, and why it was essential and necessary to ratify after the South’s defeat in the Ci…

A panel of historians took questions on the 14th Amendment and Reconstruction era. This question and answer session was part of a symposium hosted by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society comm…

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War during the Reconstruction era. The amendment’s first clause, known as the “Citizenship Clause,” states that “All per…

Author and law professor Rebecca Zietlow looked at the life and work of James Mitchell Ashley, an abolitionist and Republican congressman from Ohio during the Civil War and early Reconstruct…

Professor Michael Vorenberg spoke about the 14th Amendment and efforts by Congress to use the U.S. military to enforce civil rights for African Americans during the post-Civil War Reconstruc…

Eric Foner talked about the challenges of establishing civil rights for freedmen in the Reconstruction period and beyond. This talk was part of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s annual s…

Professor Brook Thomas talked about the imagery and context of Horatio Bateman’s 1867 engraving called “Reconstruction.” The highly detailed work is a utopian allegory of how federal Reconst…

Paul Finkelman talked about the military trial of Henry Wirz, the Confederate commander of Andersonville Prison, where approximately 13,000 Union prisoners died. The concept of war crimes wa…

Gregory Downs talked about the role of Congress following the end of the Civil War. Professor downs said that when Congress met in December of 1865, occupation of the South, resignation of w…

Michael Vorenberg talked about the legacy of Confederate Captain Henry Wirz, who was in charge of the Andersonville Prison Camp from March 1864 to his arrest in May 1865 for war crimes. Prof…

Virginia Tech history professor Peter Wallensetin talked about the reconvening of Congress following the Civil War and how it attempted to address the end of slavery. “Restoration’s Unfin…

Carole Emberton talked about the pervasion of poverty among freed slaves during Reconstruction. She described the government’s attempt to provide aid by establishing the Freedmen’s Bureau, a…

Matthew Pinsker talked about Stephen Spielberg’s film, Lincoln, analyzing what was fact and what was Hollywood fiction. Professor Pinsker spoke about the historical significance of the event…

Anne Sarah Rubin talked about Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea and the concept of “civilized war.” In November and December 1864, General Sherman marched his troops …

Guy Gugliotta talked about the development and evolution of the U.S. Capitol building, which was started in 1790 with the help of slave labor. The Capitol was rebuilt after it was partially …

Author Kenneth Winkle talked about the transformation of Washington, DC during the Civil War, from a town with pockets of pro-slavery sympathizers, to the nerve center of the Union and a ref…

Albany Law School professor Paul Finkelman talked about the Dakota Sioux rebellion that took place in 1862 in the midst of the Civil War. Mr. Finkelman spoke about the political and military…

This week on The Civil War, author Iver Bernstein discussed the causes and consequences of the New York City Draft Riots of mid-July 1863, that resulted from the federal draft for additional…