1. Reconstruction
Revisionism

2. Revisionism
Revisionists rejected the Dunning School, which believed Reconstruction was taking jobs from qualified whites and giving them to unqualified blacks, who were being used by “carpetbaggers and scalawags.”
Revisionists instead focused on economic greed by northern businessmen
In recent years, “neoabolitionist” revisionism has become a standard school of thought

3. Revisionists Charles A. Beard (November 27, 1874 – September 1, 1948)
Author of “The Rise of American Civilization”
Born in Indiana to a wealthy family
Graduated from DePauw University, and received his graduate degree from Oxford, and his doctorate from Columbia University.
Howard Beale (April 8, December 27, 1959)
American historian, specializing in 19th and 20th Century American history
Born in Chicago, graduated from the University of Chicago
Completed his M.A. as Harvard University
Kenneth M. Stampp (12 July 1912 – 10 July 2009)
Born in Wisconsin
Worked a lot of small jobs during the Great Depression to save money for school
Received his B.A., M.A., and Ph. D from the University of Wisconsin, Madison

4. William Appleman Williams (June 12, 1921 – March 8, 1990)
Born in a small town in Iowa
Earned a degree in Engineering from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis
Served in WWII
Earned a masters and PhD from the University of Wisconsin- Madison
John Hope Franklin ( January 2, 1915 – 25 March 2009)
Born in Oklahoma and gained his doctorate in history from Harvard
Author of “From Slavery to Freedom,” in 1947
Eric Foner (born February 7, 1943)
Born in New York City
Earned a B.A. and a PhD from Columbia University
Author of “Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, ”

5. Charles A. Beard The leader of “progressive historiography”
Believed that economics were the reason for controversies
Saw ideology as a product of “economic interests”
Author of “Rise of American Civilization” (1927)

6. Howard Beale Was a ‘student’ of Charles Beard
Like Beard, believed that economics were behind the failure of the Reconstruction
Believed Reconstruction was an attempt by financiers, railroad builders, and industrialists in the Northeast to control the government for their own economic gain.

7. Kenneth M. Stampp Author of “The Era of Reconstruction,”
Believed Reconstruction to be a success
Author of the “Peculiar Institution,” which counters the argument that slavery is a benign institution that promotes harmony by asserting that the African Americans actively resisted slavery.

8. William Appleman Williams
Instead of writing on the spread of freedom, he wrote on the spread of an empire after the civil war
“The cause of the Civil War was the refusal of Lincoln and other northerners to honor the revolutionary right of self-determination…”

9. John Hope Franklin A ‘neoabolitionist’ historian
Discusses the role of former slaves during the Reconstruction effort
Argued that the Reconstruction failed because whites created a movement to restore white supremacy

10. Eric Foner
Author of “Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877” (1988)
Also a ‘neoabolitionist,’ argued that the Reconstruction was never completed

11. How the Reconstruction has changed
Revisionists came about largely in response to the Dunning School of thought
‘Dunningites’ viewed the Reconstruction as a failure, revisionists see it as something praiseworthy
Some revisionists say there needs to be a ‘Second Reconstruction’
Revisionism offers different interpretations of the past