Appreciating that films can influence audiences’ political imaginations and expectations, this chapter looks at first lady characters in feature length presidential movies released during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama were all politically active, setting new standards as presidential advisors, campaign fundraisers, and policy advocates. Presidential movies partially reflected this change, though historic gender constraints on women characters endured. These movies set an affirming wife-husband relationship as a prerequisite for first ladies to exercise political influence. Still, the films presented those relationships as alliances between politically knowledgeable and engaged individuals. That depiction was not extended to first ladies’ interactions with other decision-makers, which were rare and seldom successful. As a result, while presidential movies present their audiences with politically knowledgeable first ladies, these films do not yet encourage ticket holders to recognize these women as actually exercising political influence.

This chapter returns to the question: What can we learn from history? Drawing not only on C. Vann Woodward but also on insights of Reinhold Niebuhr, Garry Wills, and Abraham Lincoln, among others, suggests that the irony of history alerts us to the folly of ignoring inconvenient history. History, at its best, should give us a keen awareness of the irony embedded in the human experience, and, as it does, it should temper our pride even when showing mercy and our zeal even when seeking justice.

Andrew Jackson rejected a strong national government as well as national investments such as in roadways as he sought to bring power to the people. This message was popular among the relatively prosperous farmers, small merchants, and others, who did recognize the role of government in creating this relative equality. Despite his anti-government sentiments, Jackson and his successors continued existing and started new government programs to expand the economy. Abraham Lincoln, elected by anti-slavery voters, is best known for fighting the Civil War and eliminating slavery, but he also returned the federal government to more visible efforts to promote economic development and in the process committed the country to building a middle class. It was Lincoln’s idea that all Americans should have a fair chance in life. A key part of this program was the expansion of public education.

This chapter focuses on constitutional disharmony as central to forging constitutional identity by looking at the place of Black citizenship prior to the Civil War. While there are powerful arguments that the Constitution could be seen as antislavery, even while it allowed for slavery to persist where it already existed, those who were antislavery did not give much thought to the place of Blacks within the constitutional order—particularly not to the question of Black citizenship. It was, rather, events such as the second Missouri Crisis of 1821 that forced the issue of Black citizenship onto the polity. Events forced constitutional actors to wrestle with questions that were not clear, or easily answered, by way of constitutional text. This chapter offers an important contrast to more prevalent approaches – to either originalism or moral readings – that too often try to dissolve constitutional disharmony.

Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger believed they could remake the international order in American interests to achieve greater international stability and reduce American costs and commitments. This required bringing China out of its isolation, which was an international bombshell. Under the Nixon Doctrine, the US would maintain its relationships but now bear less of the burden. Nixon and Kissinger used “linkage” to resolve issues with the Soviet Union and launched détente with Moscow. Moscow did what it wanted. Middle East involvement intensified, particularly with Israel and Saudi Arabia. Nixon wanted out of Vietnam but did not want to abandon South Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger tried to push Hanoi to its breaking point while negotiating America’s exit and drawing down. This was contradictory. Creighton Abrams ran the US war. He was ordered to abandon attrition but continued “search and destroy” operations and pacification. Vietnamization – turning the war over to South Vietnam – became a key strategy element. The US bombed and invaded the North’s sanctuary in Cambodia, backed a South Vietnamese invasion of Laos, helped thwart North Vietnam’s 1972 Easter Offensive into South Vietnam, partially via LINEBACKER, and coerced North Vietnam into signing a 1973 US withdrawal agreement via LINEBACKER II. The North conquered the South in 1975. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon.

With Lincoln having issued preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Unionists in Tennessee and southern Louisiana undertake to organize congressional elections so as to gain exclusion from the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Lincoln encourages southern Unionists – and provides them military assistance – in their efforts. Lincoln’s Annual Message in December 1862 puts forward compensated abolition plan, providing for abolition in the rebellious states. Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, but exclusion of Tennessee and southern Louisiana do not comport with specifications in the preliminary version. Exclusions will provide opportunity for proslavery Unionists to salvage slavery, but proclamation also raises issue of how fate of slavery will factor into restoring rebellious states to the Union.

The Federal Red River campaign of spring 1864 is a military and political disaster, casting a pall over Louisiana’s constitutional convention and the inauguration of Arkansas’s Unionist government. Federal forces ostensibly control most of Arkansas, but such control tenuous in places, and the Arkansas government encounters much resistance to its authority. The Louisiana constitutional convention crafts a free-state constitution, but conservative Unionists contest it relentlessly, and the large majority of free-state delegates oppose black political and legal equality. The organization of a free-state government and constitution in Tennessee remains on hold, although Andrew Johnson nominated as Lincoln’s running-mate in the 1864 election. Confederate atrocities against black Union troops at Poison Spring and Marks’ Mill, Arkansas, and at Fort Pillow in Tennessee underscore the determination to preserve slavery.

Emancipation Proclamation also provides for black military enlistment, and a significant percentage of black Union troops eventually come from the lower Mississippi valley. Proclamation also raises issue of how emancipation will factor into restoring rebellious states, and debate begins in Congress and northern society over securing free-state restoration. Unionist movements in Louisiana and Tennessee begin to divide into “free-state” and “conservative” factions. Free-state Unionists are committed to restoring rebellious states without slavery, though opposing black political and legal equality. Conservative Unionists develop argument for restoring states to the Union while maintaining slavery. Republicans formulate Reconstruction policy around the Constitution’s “republican form of government” in requiring the rebellious states to abolish slavery.

The Union capture of Atlanta in early September 1864 reframes the presidential election and the war. Louisiana’s free-state constitution wins voter approval and becomes operative, formally abolishing slavery in Louisiana, although military–civilian conflict continues to hamper the Unionist government. Free-state radicals and black leaders call for political and legal equality, but the Louisiana government takes no action in defining black freedom. The Arkansas Unionist government faces difficulties in asserting its authority, and it receives limited assistance from Federal military officials. In Tennessee, free-state and conservative Unionists offer competing plans for the state to conduct a presidential election, and black Tennesseans in Nashville hold their own election, but Tennessee’s electoral votes ultimately not counted. Andrew Johnson delivers “Moses of the Colored Man” speech during the campaign, affirming commitment to abolition. Republican support for the Thirteenth Amendment muted during the campaign, but Lincoln wins reelection.

During winter and spring of 1865, Tennessee amendments gain voter approval, abolishing slavery in the state, and loyalist government elected and inaugurated. Legislatures of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee approve Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln and congressional Republicans fail to reach accord on Reconstruction legislation before Congress adjourns in early March, and Congress refuses to seat Louisiana and Arkansas claimants but creates Freedmen’s Bureau. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address promises reconciliation for former Confederates and justice for freedpeople. Following Lee’s surrender, Lincoln’s “last” address defends his Reconstruction policy and the Louisiana government, although Lincoln also for the first time publicly endorses black suffrage and acknowledges black role in Reconstruction. Confederate surrender in western theater takes several more weeks. Andrew Johnson announces Reconstruction policy in late May 1865, recognizing governments of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana but rejecting calls for black role in Reconstruction.

The organization of a loyal government on a free-state basis in Louisiana in early 1864 under Lincoln’s ten-percent plan. Contrary to the free-state Unionists’ plan, General Nathaniel Banks orders an election for state executive officers before holding a constitutional convention to abolish slavery. In the campaign that follows, free-state Unionists split into “radical” and “moderate” factions, primarily over black political and legal rights but also over Banks’s interference. Conservative Unionists in Louisiana continue their campaign to restore Louisiana as a slave state, but Congress refuses to seat claimants elected in November 1863. Free-state moderate Michael Hahn is elected Unionist governor in March and takes office. In the planning for a state constitutional convention to abolish slavery, New Orleans free people of color advocate for voting rights, and Lincoln, after meeting with two black leaders, “privately” suggests to Hahn that Louisiana adopt limited black suffrage.

The success of the Federal military campaigns at Vicksburg and Port Hudson (Louisiana) give the Union control of the entire Mississippi River and alter the course of the war. The campaigns also bring about the first substantive combat experience of black soldiers in the war. Tennessee Unionists hold a convention in July 1863 that precipitates the split between free-state and conservative Unionists. In Louisiana, conservative Unionists petition Lincoln to recognize their efforts to organize a loyal, proslavery government, but Lincoln rejects the proposal. Free-state Unionists in Louisiana also develop plans for restoring the state predicated on abolishing slavery.

Focusing much attention on Unionist governments in Arkansas and Louisiana, congressional Republicans emphasize – in debating the Wade–Davis bill during spring 1864 – that Lincoln’s Reconstruction policy might allow the rebellious states to return to the Union without abolishing slavery. The US Senate also refuses to seat claimants from Arkansas’s Unionist government. The Republican national convention nominates Lincoln for reelection and endorses the Thirteenth Amendment, but the amendment fails to secure approval in the House of Representatives. Lincoln pocket vetoes the Wade–Davis bill, fearing it will invalidate Louisiana and Arkansas governments. The vitriolic language of the Wade–Davis manifesto disguises the substantive point – which historians almost always overlook – that the ten-percent plan might allow for the preservation of slavery. With the war stalled, it appears by August 1864 that Lincoln will lose the presidential election.

With reelection secure, Lincoln calls for US House approval of Thirteenth Amendment, and campaign launched in early 1865 to win passage. Lincoln also suggests Reconstruction policy may change when war is over, and efforts to enact Reconstruction legislation is revived. Black political convention in New Orleans in January 1865 calls for political and legal equality, but also reveals tensions within free black community. Tennessee convention, although contentious, drafts amendments to state constitution abolishing slavery and creating loyalist government, but refuses to implement racial equality, despite petition from black Tennesseans. US House passes Thirteenth Amendment in late January.

Military success in early 1862 leads to substantive Federal presence in the lower Mississippi valley. By mid-1862, Federal forces hold Helena, Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans. The Federal presence sparks large numbers of fugitive slaves to seek freedom, forcing Federal military officials to deal with the slavery issue. The lower Mississippi valley witnesses the first instance of extensive Federal territorial control and large numbers of fugitive slaves. It also experiences the first substantive efforts toward “Reconstruction,” though the failure of southern Unionists – in Louisiana especially – to seize the initiative influences Lincoln in issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The emancipatory provisions of the 1862 Confiscation Act partly in response to developments in the lower Mississippi valley, but contrasting responses of slaves and slaveholders to the Federal presence in the region, also reveal the difficulties of implementing the act.

The organization of loyal governments on a free-state basis in Tennessee and Arkansas during early 1864. Unionists in Arkansas hold a constitutional convention in January and draft a state constitution prohibiting slavery. Despite logistical challenges, constitution gains approval by voters in Union-held Arkansas in March. In Tennessee, Andrew Johnson formulates plan to hold local elections before holding a state constitutional convention. Johnson’s plan includes a loyalty oath that imposes stricter requirements for voting than Lincoln’s ten-percent plan. Local elections take place and officials began assuming office, but the unsettled military situation in the state forces postponement of the plan to hold a state constitutional convention.

Contests between free-state and conservative Unionists in Tennessee and Louisiana continue through summer 1863. Tennessee conservatives conduct a gubernatorial convention that Lincoln refuses to recognize. Despite Lincoln’s rejection, Louisiana conservatives also plan elections for the fall, while free-state Unionists – despite Lincoln’s support – encounter various challenges. Free-state Unionism arises in Arkansas after Federal capture of Little Rock in September 1863. In North, debate over Reconstruction intensifies after Federal victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, and antislavery advocates warn against any reunion that does not require rebellious states to abolish slavery in state constitutions, else slavery may survive war. Northern debate over Reconstruction intersects with contest between free-state and conservative Unionists in Louisiana and Tennessee.

The secession crisis of 1860-61 in the lower Mississippi valley represents the crisis in the South as a whole. Secession is more contentious, and southern Unionism more prevalent, in Arkansas and Tennessee than in Louisiana and Mississippi. Support for secession initially corresponds to areas of plantation agriculture and large slaveholdings, but the Confederacy receives overwhelming white support after secession. Events outside the region shape the Union’s initial approach to the rebellion and to the problem of fugitive slaves, though the region also experiences internal disruptions in mobilizing for war. The lower Mississippi valley initially experiences little direct effect from the war, but control of the Mississippi River soon becomes central to Union strategy. By early 1862, preparations were underway for Federal incursions into the region. Although the issue of slavery becomes unavoidable, notions of “Reconstruction” remain limited, and few Northerners envision a reunion predicated on the abolition of slavery.

Following Federal capture of Little Rock, Arkansas Unionists prepare during fall 1863 for free-state convention, to meet in early 1864. Conservative Unionists in Tennessee petition Lincoln to recognize their gubernatorial election, but Federal capture of Chattanooga revives hopes to organize free-state government in Tennessee. Andrew Johnson supports abolition of slavery in Tennessee. Conservative Unionists in Louisiana hold congressional elections in November and send members-elect to Congress. Free-state movement stalls in Louisiana during the fall, and Lincoln places General Nathaniel Banks in charge of organizing free-state government, warning of efforts by proslavery Unionists to organize a loyal government. “Etheridge Plot” features failed attempt by northern Democrats, along with southern and border-state conservative Unionists, to seize control of organizing closely divided House of Representatives in December 1863. Thirteenth Amendment introduced into Congress. Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction, the ten-percent plan, in December.

During the initial phase of the first session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress in early 1864, Congress deals with Reconstruction legislation. Congress also drafts the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Congressional Republicans initially expect to work in conjunction with Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction, but Republicans also express misgivings over Lincoln’s policy. Some Republicans also express reservations over inadequacy of the Thirteenth Amendment to address the issues of Reconstruction, and over the amendment securing ratification by the necessary number of states. By April 1864, the US Senate passes the amendment.