Department of History

On a misty April evening in 1865, a jubilant crowd packed the White House lawn to hear President Abraham Lincoln's first speech since the end of the Civil War. They expected a stirring celebration of the Union victory - but instead got harsh reality. Even with the South defeated, Lincoln warned, the future would be "fraught with great difficulty." He called the tas ahead Reconstruction.Even as Lincoln spoke, opposing forces were gathering. Some Americans saw Reconstruction as a chance to build a new nation out of the ashes of war and slavery. Others vowed to wage a new war to protect their way of life, and a racial order they believed ordained by God. Three days after delivering his warning, Lincoln was shot dead by a Confederate sympathizer. Reconstruction would have to go forward without him.Spanning the momentous years from 1863 to 1877, RECONSTRUCTION: THE SECOND CIVIL WAR tracks the extraordinary stories of ordinary Americans - Souther and Northern, white and black - as they struggle to shape new lives for themselves in a world turned upside down.