reconstruction is really which is we usually say is the period right after the Civil War really has to be understood as the effort of the nation to come to terms with the Titanic changes that took place in American Life as a result of the Civil War uh and the two most important as you know were the preservation of the American Union and the destruction of slavery and the destruction of slavery of course put onto the national agenda the critical question of this whole era which was is what was going to be the status of the 4 million emancipated slaves the 4 million men women and children who had gained their freedom as a result of the Civil War and emancipation what role were they going to play in American society the Civil War answered the question question of the his of the future of slavery in American life it answered the question of whether the United States would continue to be a house divided between freedom and slavery as Abraham Lincoln in the phrase of Abraham Lincoln in his great speech of 1858 but that did not but but that then threw on to the agenda these other questions what was going to be the status of these former slaves were they going to enjoy the same rights as white Americans and indeed what were the rights that American citizens were supposed to enjoy um those questions were relevant not only to the 4 million former slaves but to everybody in the society and they continue to be extremely relevant today I mean one of the things one of the things that has always struck me and I'm sure you understand this also is that that period of reconstruction is probably the least wellknown and least well understood era of American History um everybody knows the Civil War took place they may not know that much about it but they've heard of the Civil War most people know nothing about reconstruction or if they do think they know something it's generally misguided or misconception or very very out ofd historical uh interpretation but nonetheless as I say we are still living today with the Legacy and the consequences of the changes that took place in American society uh in that era just to give you one example and then I'm going to go back in the history since this is on the front pages right now every day is the immigration question the immigration question has many many um you know many many aspects of ramifications but one aspect of it which um alarms or annoys a lot of people is that there are supposed to be 12 million I don't know how they count this but 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States sometimes called illegal aliens people who have entered the United States without going through the legal process they are not citizens they do not have the rights of citizens but if a woman comes from Mexico or somewhere else illegally and then has a child in the United States that child is a citizen of the United States equal before the law to every other citizen of the United States why is that why is the child of an illegal immigrant a citizen of the United States that's not true by the way in many other countries you can be born in Germany and not be a German citizen if your parents are Turkish guest workers you can be born in many countries and not be a citizen but we have this concept Birthright citizenship that is an outgrowth of the Civil War that did not exist before the Civil War that concept you could be born in the United States and not be a citizen after all they were all slaves and free Negroes who were not deemed to be citizens they were born here their ancestors were here they were not citizens the struggle to abolished slavery and the debate over what was going to be the status of these people eventually led to the incorporation in the laws and the constitution in the 14th Amendment of this principle of Birthright citizenship ship