Historian Eric Foner chronicles the way in which Americans -- black and white -- responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. He addresses the quest of emancipated slaves searching for economic autonomy and equal citizenship, and describes the remodeling of Southern society, the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations, and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority...

Examines the problems of slavery, expansion, and sectionalism between 1848 and 1861.

Discusses the first challenge to the new federal government of the United States, which began in 1794 when citizens of western Pennsylvania took up arms to fight against a new federal excise tax on whiskey.