What effect did Reconstruction have on former slaves? Were they better off after Reconstruction than they were before the Civil War?

The reconstruction had many effects on former slaves. first it gave former slaves all the rights that white people had. Second former slaves got more responsibility because now they had to make money to spend on their family and farm. I think that they had a better life as slaves because they had a free place to stay and free food instead of barley having food and paying the land owner for land to stay in and giving them most of their crops.

During Reconstruction there was great debate over whether the South should be granted amnesty. What are your thoughts? Defend your argument.

I think that it was a good idea that the south was granted amnesty because it told the people even though we went to war with each other we are still one nation and that we can forgive from each other from mistakes we done to each other like family members do.

Why was Abraham Lincoln's concern more focused on preserving the Union, rather than slavery?

From the beginning of the civil war Abraham Lincoln was more focused on preserving the union than slavery. This was because he knew that as two separate nations we can't do as much things as we can as one great nation which is now the United States of America.

"that government is best which governs least"

You can get many thoughts about what Thoreau meant by his quote. I think he meant that government that is more in contact with its people can become a great county with most of the people are supporting the government. I disagree with this quote because in order to run a stable country the government should let the people decide something but also should let some information away from the people so that if something unexpected were to happen the people won't go into panic and the government would handle the situation.    

Does history matter?

History does matter. Because without history people would forget the past. And through the past we learn about our present and how we achieved it. and our history will show us that if we do not think about the future then we won't be able to guide it to a civilization beyond our imagination.

"History is the lie commonly agreed upon."

What Voltaire meant by that quote was that people lie about history. And people that read it belive it. The only people that would know it's a lie is the people who lied about it to make themselves look better in our history.