Union, Freedom & Reconstruction

Gallery QuestionCould an expanding republic survive its deepest contradiction?

Expansion, sectional conflict, slavery, Civil War, emancipation, Reconstruction, and the remaking of citizenship.

How to use this gallery

Follow a question. Work the evidence.

Exhibits are independent experiences connected by this period's larger historical problems. You do not need to complete them in order. APUSH period labels provide chronology; the exhibits themselves are organized around interpretation, evidence, and argument.

Collection Status

Gallery in development

No exhibits are open here yet.

This is intentional: the museum architecture is ready, but exhibit titles will only appear when their historical question, evidence, and experience have been deliberately designed.