This has been a busy three weeks for historians being asked by news organizations for comparisons between the current political situation and the Reconstruction Era. Confederate flags in the Capitol, attempted armed seizures of state government buildings, the plots to kidnap elected officials, the mobilizing of white supremacist militia, the invocation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, impeaqchment and a disputed election all bring up memories of Reconstruction. Historians Greg Downs and Kate Masur had an article in the Washington Post earlier this month on why the seemingly insane events of the last week reflect our long history.
From the article:
Among President-elect Joe Biden’s first words when he addressed the nation Wednesday were: “The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect the true America. This is not who we are.
But this is not quite true, and Biden seemed to recognize that fact on Thursday, when, in appointing an attorney general, he reminded Americans that the Justice Department was created in 1870 “to enforce the civil rights amendments that grew out of the Civil War — the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. To stand up to the Klan. To take on domestic terrorism.
It is reasonable that elected officials are concerned with building consensus and elevating this nation’s best ideals, but we cannot achieve those ideals without confronting the more shameful aspects of our shared history. As this week’s events so glaringly reminded us, the anti-democratic and racist strains of our past remain very much with us. These traditions too are part of our nation’s fabric, and we must address them if we are to prevent them from shaping our future, as they have shaped our past.
