Starting with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the program compares and contrasts plans for Reconstruction and reports on notable failures and successes of the post-Civil War period.

The Civil War ended; Reconstruction during the Civil War; Slavery ended; The Freedmens Bureau; Presidential Reconstruction; Battle over Reconstruction; Congressional elections of 1866; Presidential election of 1868; Counter Reconstruction; Black Americans during Reconstruction; Carpetbaggers and scalawags; End of Reconstruction; Constitutional amendments and Supreme Court cases; Effects of Reconstruction.