I.White Southerners and the Ghosts of the Confederacy, 1865

Chapter 16

RECONSTRUCTION 1865–1877

Chapter Summary

Chapter 16 presents an overview of the Reconstruction era, focusing on the following topics: the disparity between southern white and African American expectations for the post-war South, federal programs for Reconstruction, the successes and failures of Republican state governments in the South during Reconstruction, and the circumstances and decisions that brought an end to the Reconstruction era.

I.White Southerners and the Ghosts of the Confederacy, 1865

II.More than Freedom: African American Aspirations in 1865

A.Education

B.“Forty Acres and a Mule”

C.Migration to Cities

D.Faith and Freedom

III.Federal Reconstruction, 1865–1870

A.Presidential Reconstruction, 1865–1867

B.Congressional Reconstruction, 1867–1870

C.Southern Republican Governments, 1867–1870

IV.Counter-Reconstruction, 1870–1874

A.The Uses of Violence

B.Northern Indifference

C.Liberal Republicans and the Election of 1872

D. Economic Transformation

V.Redemption, 1874–1877

A.The Democrats’ Violent Resurgence

B.The Weak Federal Response

C.The Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877

D.The Memory of Reconstruction

VI.The Failed Promise of Reconstruction

A.Modest Gains

VII.Conclusion

Learning Objectives

After a careful examination of Chapter 16, students should be able to answer the following:

1.How did Southerners remember the war?

2.How did it shape their response to Reconstruction?

3.What were African Americans’ hopes for Reconstruction?

4.How did Presidential Reconstruction differ from Constitutional Reconstruction?

5.What role did violence play in Counter-Reconstruction?

6.Why did the federal government abandon African Americans after 1872?

7.How and why did Reconstruction end?

Chapter 16: Reconstruction, 1865–1877

Multiple Choice

WHITE SOUTHERNERS AND THE GHOSTS OF THE CONFEDERACY, 1865

Many southerners refused to accept their defeat as divine judgment and believed that God had spared the South for a greater purpose; they came to view the war as:

Which of the following statements about the Lost Cause is NOT true?

MORE THAN FREEDOM: AFRICAN-AMERICAN ASPIRATIONS IN 1865

In the early years of Reconstruction, the Freedmen’s Bureau was successful at:

General Sherman’s Field Order No. 15 gave hope to blacks because it:

Sharecropping:

All of the following statements about sharecropping are true EXCEPT:

After the Civil War, many southern blacks:

The church became the center of black life for all of the following reasons EXCEPT it:

FEDERAL RECONSTRUCTION, 1865–1870

The Wade-Davis Bill was rendered ineffective when:

Which statement would most likely have been said by a radical Republican in 1865?

President Johnson’s Reconstruction plan included all of the following proposals EXCEPT:

Which of the following was/were most conciliatory to the desires of white Southerners to deny rights and privileges to blacks?

The immediate response to President Johnson’s Reconstruction plan included:

Republicans in Congress became infuriated when:

Congress successfully managed to override President Johnson’s veto of:

Which statement about the Fourteenth Amendment is NOT true?

The radical Republicans’ goals for Reconstruction included all of the following EXCEPT:

The Tenure of Office Act attempted to:

The first United States president to be impeached in the House of Representatives was:

The winner of the 1868 presidential election was:

The Fifteenth Amendment:

Some southerners were drawn to the Republican Party because:

White southerners used the term carpetbaggers to describe:

In the Reconstruction South, African-Americans were an influential voice in:

The Colored Monitor Union club was:

Which statement about black voters in the South during Reconstruction is NOT true?

The Liberal Republicans of the early 1870s:

COUNTER-RECONSTRUCTION, 1870–1874

Southern Democrats realized they could regain their dominance of local power by:

Which statement about the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction is NOT true?

In the presidential election of 1872, Ulysses S. Grant defeated:

REDEMPTION, 1874–1877

The Redeemers portrayed themselves as the:

A long-lasting legacy of the ideas of the Redeemers was:

To challenge the state’s Republican government in Louisiana, a group of elite Democrats in New Orleans organized a military organization called:

Which statement best summarizes the outcome of the election of 1876?

Who were the main candidates in the presidential election of 1876?

The significant outcome of the presidential election of 1876 was that it:

In the post-Reconstruction period:

The ______Amendment calls for equality before the law.

The ______Amendment protected blacks’ right to vote.

Overall, regarding Reconstruction constitutional amendments and laws, the Supreme Court in the latter part of

In United Statesv.Cruikshank, the Supreme Court:

In the Slaughterhouse cases of 1873, the Supreme Court ruled that:

Legacies of Reconstruction in the South included all of the following EXCEPT:

Chronology

Which headline would have appeared in 1876?

a.“Hayes, Tilden Outcome Stalled in Contested Deadlock”

b.“Congress Passes Act in Effort to Stop Klan”

c.“Constitutional Amendment Gives Suffrage Rights to Ex-Slaves”

d.“Grant Steamrolls to Easy Second-Term Victory”

Which event happened last?

a.Field Order No. 15 was issued.

b.The Supreme Court nullified the Enforcement Act.

c.Southern blacks voted, in large numbers, for Ulysses S. Grant.

d.The Fourteenth Amendment was passed by Congress.

What is the correct order of presidential succession?

a.Grant, Johnson, Hayes

b.Johnson, Hayes, Grant

c.Grant, Hayes, Johnson

d.Johnson, Grant, Hayes

In what year was the Southern Homestead Act passed?

Which event happened first?

a.President Johnson impeached

b.Colfax Massacre

c.Fifteenth Amendment ratified

d.Ku Klux Klan founded

Short Essays

What were the accomplishments of the Freedmen’s Bureau during Reconstruction?

In what ways did southerners and northerners differ in expressing their memories of the Civil War?

Describe the characteristics that defined the sharecropping system.

During Reconstruction, what factors made the Republican Party a powerful force in all national elections?

What laws and amendments were passed by Congress in its effort to extend the parameters of democracy during Reconstruction?

Extended Essays

Historians are divided in opinion regarding Reconstruction’s events and outcomes. What do you feel were the events that best expressed the Reconstruction period? Why do you feel Reconstruction reforms were ended in 1877?

What factors accounted for the rise of the Republican Party in the South, and then the reemergence of the Democratic Party as the dominant power in the South?

W. E. B. Du Bois stated that Reconstruction was a time in which, “The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back toward slavery.” What historical evidence supports Du Bois’s thesis?

Describe how powerful whites in the South regained their position as political and economic elites.

Many historians feel that both the promise and disappointment of Reconstruction provided the foundation for the next 100 years of race relations in the South. In what ways is this true?