ABSTRACT
It is common today to regard the period of Reconstruction as a revolution, albeit an unfinished one. 2 In the crucible of the 1860s, a war was fought, slavery was forbidden, birthright citizenship was established, and the principle of equality under law was enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1870, the freedmen became members of the American political community, marking another momentous step in this critical era. 3 If the architects of Reconstruction described themselves as “in the midst of a revolution,” 4 this hardly seems surprising.
