Lincoln Group Studies New View of Reconstruction - See the Video
- John O’Brien
- Jul 24
- 2 min read
By John A. O'Brien
Denver, Colorado
Thursday, July 24, 2025
The Lincoln Study Forum just concluded a multi-session review of a magnificent work that takes an expansive view of the history of the Reconstruction era. The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, by Manisha Sinha, considers that the rebuilding of the nation actually began with Lincoln's election in November 1860 and did not conclude until the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment allowing women to vote in 1920. Sinha writes that Reconstruction was not simply something done to the South but rather was a multi-pronged effort toward reshaping all of American society and setting the stage for the colonization era of the early 20th Century and the Civil Rights struggle.
Thirty Lincoln Group of DC members participated in the discussions held once each month for four months. The final meeting featured a conversation with the author, Professor Sinha, on July 12. Manisha Sinha is chairperson of the History Department at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Her first book was The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition, which won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. The Rise and Fall was for some of our members, a striking introduction to the issues of Reconstruction. For others, it was a startling refutation of the "Lost Cause" storyline that Reconstruction was an abuse of the defeated South. Sinha carefully details how Reconstruction created the opportunity for the formerly enslaved and all Black Americans to demonstrate their abilities to advance a fully democratic society. It was the relentless violence by white insurgents like the Ku Klux Klan that undid a brief period of progress. This allowed the "Lost Cause" narrative to take hold that caricatured the era as one of corruption and governmental incompetence that justified the bloody reaction.
The Study Forum Q & A with Dr. Sinha has been posted on our YouTube channel. Here is the link that will take you right to the video.
The Lincoln Study Forum will hold an organizational session on August 16 to plan for future book selections and begin discussion of Richard Carwardine's Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln's Union. Professor Carwardine is scheduled to meet with us via Zoom on October 11. New participants are welcome. The only requirement is to be a current dues-paying member of the Lincoln Group. Reply using the contact form on this site.
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