Hi, I’m a college student majoring in History. I’m currently moving into more advanced classes and I feel as though my lower level history courses didn’t properly prepare me to interpret history. I’ve only learned to absorb facts and just answer interpretive questions, but not to create my own arguments and questions. I’m trying to form an argument based on Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction plan and how it affected the Black population in the South. Could my argument be, “Andrew Johnson’s lack of consequences for the South post Civil War led to the political inequality, violence, and mistreatment of Blacks in the South.” I figured I could expand on this by asking questions about Andrew Johnson’s connection to the South, what was Johnson’s main goal, and how did Johnson’s blatant racism blind his goal of reconstruction. Any advice on how to make this idea better?
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