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Chapter 18: Reconstruction

Learning Goal: Students will understand how a deeply divided nation moved forward after the Civil War and the long-term economic, political, and social implications of Reconstruction.

Vocabulary –
Section 1 - Use page 570 to define:
Thirteenth Amendment – (p. 558) Constitutional amendment that ended slavery
Section 1 (page 570)
Radical Republican–Congressman who favored using federal power to rebuild the South and promote African American rights
Reconstruction - period from 1865-1877 in which the U.S. government attempted to rebuild Southern society and governments
Freedmen’s Bureau - federal agency set up to help former enslaved people
Andrew Johnson - Democrat who became president after Lincoln was assassinated
black codes - laws that limited the freedom of former enslaved people
Fourteenth Amendment - constitutional amendment that made all people born in the U.S. (including former slaves) Citizens.
Scalawag- White Southerner who helped with Reconstruction
Carpetbagger: White Northerner who “helped” with Reconstruction.
amnesty – official pardon
civil rights - rights granted to all citizens
impeach - to formally accuse the president of misconduct in office
veto - to prevent from becoming law (to object)
Section 2 (page 576)
freedmen’s school - school set up to educate newly freed African Americans
sharecropping - system under which landowners gave poor farmers seed, tools, and land to cultivate in exchange for part of their harvest
Ku Klux Klan - secret group that used violence to try to restore Democratic control of the South and to keep African Americans powerless
lynch–to kill without a trial / plantation–
Section 3 (Page 582)
Fifteenth Amendment - constitutional amendment that stated that citizens could not be stopped from voting “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
Panic of 1873–financial panic in which banks closed and the stock market crashed
Compromise of 1877 - agreement that decided the 1876 presidential election (p. 587)
stock market- place where shares of ownership in companies are bought and sold
depression - time of low business activity and high unemployment.
compromise - settlement of difference in which each side gives up something it wants
Ulysses S. Grant - former Union General who became president in the Election of 1868
electoral votes - votes made by members of the Electoral College, which elects the presidents and vice-president.
amendment–formal alteration (change)or addition to the U.S. Constitution
Ch. 20 Section 3 (pages 650-655)
Jim Crow laws- Laws enacted in Southern states designed to separate white and black people
segregation - The separation of races
Plessy v. Ferguson - 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld the legality of segregation
Booker T. Washington - African- American leader who did not believe in challenging segregation.
W. E. B. Du Bois - African- American leader who fought against segregation and for equal rights and who helped found the NAACP
NAACP -National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
literacy -the ability to read and write
s

Answer thoroughly in complete sentences on a separate sheet of paper. Answers on this sheet will not be accepted

Section 1

  1. List the goals of Presidential Reconstruction (Johnson) and its effects.

1.The Southern states had to ratify the 13th Amendment

  1. South had to accept the supreme power of the federal government
  2. Gave amnesty to or pardoned most Confederate officials and army officers allowing them to vote and hold office – this policy caused many problems.
  1. What was Congressional Reconstruction and the effects of Congressional Reconstruction (Radical Republicans)?

1. Their plan divided up the South into five military districts with federal troops sent to each.

2. To reenter the Union each Southern state needed to hold a constitutional convention, ratify the 14th Amendment

3. Guarantee Freedmen the right to vote.

  1. Why was Andrew Johnson impeached?

Andrew Johnson had conflicts with the Congress, so they passed a law called the Tenure of Office Act that said it was illegal for the President to fire any government official unless he had approval. Johnson went and fired his secretary of war, Stanton, and the House of Representatives impeached him, charged him with improper conduct. He went to trial in the Senate and was acquitted, found not guilty, by one vote.

Section 2

  1. How did newly freed African Americans work to improve their lives?

Newly freed slaves left plantations to seek jobs, look for family members, marry legally, or to “travel”. Adults and children also attended Freedman’s schools. They needed to learn to read and write to become economically independent.

  1. What prevented the former slaves from making greater economic advances in their lives?

Racial Violence: Racist Whites would kill teachers at freedman schools and burn schools down to prevent learning.

AA’s are also terrorized by groups like the Ku Klux Klan who would lynch AA’s and scare AA’s to keep AA’s from advancing socially and politically.

Two types of systems were developed by landowners (LO’s)for freedman to farm the land;

Contract system / Sharecropping (SC)
A)African Americans were paid for their labor.
B)AA’s chose who they worked for.
C)However, low wages
D)Often cheated by LO’s / A)Earned portion (share) of the crop to sell Approx. 50% of crop.
B)Supervise own work, no task masters
C)LO’s chose crop to grow, usually a cash crop
D)LO’s would sell supplies to the farmers at high prices which usually left the SC with little or no money. In debt to owner and had to stay to try & pay off debt.

What were the goals of the Ku Klux Klan?

The goals of the Ku Klux Klan were to restore the Democrats to power and keep AA’s powerless. How did KKK do this:

terrorize African Americans and the whites who supported them, they were Republicans, to prevent them from voting and return the Democrats to power in the South (the old leaders of the South and their prewar ideas about southern life).

Section 3

  1. What ways did the Republicans try to help the African Americans achieve their civil rights?

Radical Republicans wrote the 15th Amendment, which stated that citizens could not be stopped from voting because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude to the Constitution, so that the Democrats could not keep African Americans from voting if the future; it was ratified in 1870. Congress also passed anti-Klan legislation in 1871 and Federal Marshalls arrested thousands of Klansman and attacks declined.

  1. What effect did the scandals in the Grant Administration have on the Republican Party?

Grant did not choose advisors well and many of them were unqualified and took bribes which caused the Republican Party to become divided and Grant lost support. This reduced the power of the Republican Party and caused the power of the Democrats to increase after 1872.

  1. Explain what caused Reconstruction to weaken?
  1. Scandals in Grant’s Administration causing division in the party and Democratic power to increase
  2. The Panic of 1873- lasted five years largely starting with banks in the East closed due to making bad loans and the stock market temporarily collapsed causing a depression – Republicans were blamed and more Democrats were elected in 1874.
  3. Supreme Court Decisions which reversed civil rights gains made by Republicans for African Americans (voting, Klan law)
  1. What finally led to the end of Reconstruction and list its successes and failures? Use page 54 in packet to help answer this question.

The Compromise of 1877. The Presidential election of 1876 was so close no clear winner could be determined.A deal was made that Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, would become president and the federal troops were removed from the South

Successes

  • Reunified nation
  • 13th, 14th, 15 Amendments passed

Failures

  • Spirit of 14th and 15th Amendments not upheld
  • African Americans continued to live as second class citizens due to violence and lack of economic opportunity

Chapter 20 Section 3 (pp. 651-655)

  1. List and elaborate on three obstacles African-Americans faced regarding racism in the late 1800’s.

1)Ability to vote due to poll taxes and literacy tests, Grandfather clauses
2) Live in safety due to KKK and lynching
3) Jim Crow laws that reinforced segregation to separate whites and blacks in public places

  1. Recount the case and the decision made by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson.

1) 1892 - African American, Homer Plessy sued a Louisiana railroad company arguing segregation violated his 14th amendment rights against "equal protection under the laws".
2) District court judge John Ferguson ruled against his stating that LA had the right to make its own laws for railroad travel within the state.
3) Plessy appealed case to the U.S. Supreme Court
4) 1896 U.S. Supreme Court upheld Ferguson's ruling stating that although segregation treated races differently, it didn't treat one as legally unequal or inferior.
5) Ruling meant "separate but equal" and became the law of the land. Even still, facilities were far from equal.

  1. Distinguish between Booker T. Washington’s and W.E.B. DuBois’s disagreements about segregation.

Booker T. Washington: Atlanta Compromise - African Americans learn trades plus patience, enterprise and thrift. Advancement gained through economic security. Not openly challenging segregation.
W.E.B. DuBois: Sociology professor. Fought against industrial jobs and segregation because segregation limited opportunities. Fought for higher education and NAACP.