US History Links

Student Site

Chapter 15: Reconstruction, 1863-1877

Links

Harper's Weekly's, "The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson"
The site provides an analysis of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and a review of the political climate of the early reconstruction period, including primary documents from Harper’s Weekly magazines of the period. Harper’s Weekly was a popular magazine during the era and covered the event closely. Short biographies and images of the major participants in the early reconstruction period are included. The primary material includes political cartoons and complete articles from the period. The site also reviewed Johnson’s and congressional reconstruction policies. The site contains brief overviews of the causes of the conflict. This is “must see” site for the early reconstruction period!
Please note: Some on the depictions and language are offensive. The primary documents contain images, and uses language, that will shock the sensibilities of a modern reader. The editors of the site left the material as it was published in the mid 1800’s.

Famous Trials Page's, "The Andrew Johnson Impeachment Trial"
Created and maintained by Professor Doug Linder, of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Contains the rules for impeachment, as well as the complete Senate trial records. The site focuses on the legal aspects of the trial and provides the opinions of the participants. Well written and an excellent second source to compare with the Harper's Weekly site.

Virtual Library's, “WWW-VL HISTORY: USA. RECONSTRUCTION 1865-1880” The site is part of the Virtual Library project and Lynn H. Nelson, professor of History at the University of Kansas, who maintains this section on Reconstruction. The site, which is a "links page", contains many useful web links for the period. Be aware that some of the links are broken. You will also need to be cautious of the information contained on some of the links, while the webmaster has attempted to verify the information it is still the responsibility of the user to verify the facts. Much of the web is maintained with little money and few proof readers, so errors are common! Before using this link, you should take some time to read in the Researcher's Toolbox, link is at the bottom of this web page, about how to evaluate a website for content.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, "A Chronology of American History: 19th Century" This site contains an excellent time line of the 19^th century.

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project's, "Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867" The Freedmen and Southern Society Project is preparing a multi-volume documentary history of the transition from slavery to freedom in the United States South. Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867 depicts the drama of emancipation in the words of the participants: liberated slaves and defeated slaveholders, soldiers and civilians, common folk and the elite." While the project is not complete and only sections of the books are offered, the site does contain some interesting primary documents from the period.

A Hypertext on American History's:

"Biographies": "The project 'From Revolution to Reconstruction (and what happened afterwards)' is located at the Department of Humanities Computing (Alfa-Informatica), which is part of the Faculty of Arts (Faculteit der Letteren) of the University of Groningen. Coordinator of the project is prof. dr. George Welling who is surrounded by longterm or shortterm assistants. Assistant supervisor is Mr. Peter Scholing." This site contains numerous short biographical entries about various individuals from American history.

"Presidents": "This area is an index on the presidents of the United States and contains information and documents of their speeches, writings, biographies and anything else related to their person or the office they are holding." This site also contains links to other web sites with information about the presidents of the United States.

    African-Americans on Reconstruction, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/aaphome.html
"A searchable collection of 300 pamphlets pertinent to African American life after the Civil War. Maintained by the Library of Congress, the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection can be searched by keyword or browsed by subject and author index. Among the authors represented are Frederick Douglas, Alexander Crummel, and Emanuel Love."*

    First-Person Narratives of the American South
http://metalab.unc.edu/docsouth/fpn/fpn.html
"A collection of narratives on the South by southerners. Part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's 'Documenting the American South' collection, the reminiscences span from the antebellum period to 1920. With the full texts online along with thumbnail images of the book's illustrations, covers, and spines, the sources consist of autobiographies, memoirs, and diaries by a variety of southerners from former slaves to Confederate soldiers to women at home."*

    The Emma Spaulding Bryant Letters
http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/bryant/
"A series of letters from Emma Bryant to her husband John during the summer of 1873. John worked with the Freedmen's Bureau in Georgia that summer, and the letters relate his wife's activities in Ohio and Illinois while he is away. Housed by Duke University's Special Collections, the letters shed light on relationships between husbands and wives at the time, as well as on the problems of Reconstruction."*

* sv. "Links", http://bedfordstmartins.com/tap/