Reconstruction Review
US History/E. Napp Name: ______
Activity 1: Reading – Overview
“Northern troops occupied parts of the South from 1865 to 1877. This post-Civil War period is known as the era of Reconstruction.
After Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Union armies set free 3.5 million Southern slaves. There remained two major questions for the Republican government in Washington:
(1) On what terms should Southern states be readmitted to the Union?
(2) How would the government protect the rights of former slaves
Lincoln wanted the seceded states to rejoin the Union as states equal in status to those of the North. President Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln after his assassination, proposed a plan similar to Lincoln’s
· Ten percent of a state’s voters had to take an oath of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.
· The state must ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.
· It must deny the vote to a few Confederate leaders while granting it to all other Southern white men.
A large group in Congress known as Radical Republicans wanted to protect former slaves and punish the South. Their plan aimed to treat the seceding states as conquered territories:
· No state could deprive citizenship to anyone born on American soil or withhold the right to vote because of race or former slave status.
· No Confederate military leader of office-holder could hold state or federal office unless pardoned by Congress.
· The U.S. army would occupy and govern a state until it adopted a new constitution acceptable to Congress.”
~ Reviewing U.S. History and Government
Questions:
1- When did Northern troops occupy parts of the South? ______
2- What was this post-Civil War period known as? ______
3- What had Union armies done after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation? ______
4- What two major questions remained for the Republican government in Washington? ______
5- What did Lincoln want to happen to the seceded states? ______
6- Compare Lincoln’s and Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction. ______
7- What percentage of each seceded state’s voters were required to take an oath of loyalty to the United States Constitution in order for the state to be readmitted to the Union according to President Andrew Johnson’s plan for reconstruction? ______
8- According to President Andrew Johnson’s plan, what did each seceded state need to ratify in order to be readmitted to the Union? ______
9- What was the Thirteenth Amendment? ______
10- Who would President Andrew Johnson’s plan deny the vote to in the South yet who would be granted the vote to in the South? ______
11- What did the Radical Republicans want? ______
12- Who did the Radical Republicans insist no state could deprive citizenship to? ______
13- Who did the Radical Republicans believe could not be prevented from voting? ______
14- Who did the Radical Republicans insist could not hold state or federal office unless pardoned by Congress? ______
15- According to the Radical Republicans, when would the U.S. army no longer occupy and govern a state? ______
16- In your own words, state three differences between President Andrew Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction and the Radical Republicans’ plan for Reconstruction. ______
“The Radical Republicans enacted their Reconstruction plan despite President Johnson’s repeated vetoes. The most important parts of the plan were three amendments guaranteeing the rights of freed slaves and showing that federal powers could be made to protect the civil rights of all citizens, including minorities:
· The Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
- Slavery was declared illegal in every state.
- Thus the prime objective of the abolitionists was achieved.
· The Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
- The rights of American citizenship were defined as follows:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
The amendment also itemized the following prohibitions:
- States could not interfere with the ‘privileges and immunities’ of citizens.
- States could not deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
- States could not deny their citizens equal protection of the laws.
In other words, rights protected by the Constitution henceforth applied to state governments as well as to the federal government.
· Fifteenth Amendment (1870_
- Voting rights could not be denied because of a person’s ‘race, color, or previous condition of servitude.’”
~ Reviewing U.S. History and Government
Questions:
1- What did President Johnson try to do in order to prevent the Radical Republicans from enacting their Reconstruction plan? ______
2- Define veto. ______
3- Did President Johnson succeed in preventing the Radical Republicans from enacting their Reconstruction plan? ______
4- What three amendments were ratified by the Radical Republicans to guarantee the rights of freed slaves? ______
5- What did these amendments reveal about the power of the federal government? ______
6- What was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment? ______
7- Why is the Fourteenth Amendment called the equal protection amendment? ______
8- What could states not deprive a person of without due process according to the Fourteenth Amendment? ______
9- What did the Fifteenth Amendment state? ______
“In 1865, the defeated states, from South Carolina to Texas, drew up a list of measures called the ‘black codes,’ which restricted the movements and rights of former slaves. These prohibitions included the following:
· Carrying firearms
· Starting businesses
· Being in public after sunset
· Renting or leasing farmland
· Traveling without a permit
Southern whites argued that the codes were necessary to keep order, but other Americans viewed them as measures to deprive freed blacks of civil rights. Radical Republicans condemned the codes as illegitimate.
To protect Southern blacks and punish Southern whites, Radical Republicans enacted a series of Reconstruction laws:
The Freedmen’s Bureau (1865): / · The Freedmen’s Bureau was created to help the more than three million former slaves (‘freedmen’) adjust to freedom.· This agency ran schools to teach former slaves to read and write.
· This bureau also provided clothing, food, and medical supplies.
Civil Rights Act (1866): / · The Civil Rights Act was a law that protected the civil rights of blacks, which the black codes had tried to take away.
Military Reconstruction (1867): / · The South was divided into five military districts, each occupied by federal troops and commanded by a military governor.
Readmission of Seceded States (1867): / · To be readmitted to the Union, a state had to draw up a constitution recognizing the Fourteenth Amendment.
Force Acts (1870-1871): / · These laws authorized federal troops to break up anti-black terrorists organizations such as the Knights of the White Camelia and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).”
~ Reviewing U.S. History and Government
Questions:
1- What did the defeated states draw up a list of in 1865? ______
2- What did the “Black Codes” specifically prohibit? ______
3- What did Southern whites argue about the Black Codes? ______
4- What did other Americans view the Black Codes as? ______
5- What did Radical Republicans believe about the Black Codes? ______
6- Identify two facts about The Freedmen’s Bureau. ______
7- What was the purpose of the Civil Rights Act? ______
8- What was Military Reconstruction? ______
9- What did a seceded state need to do in order to be readmitted to the Union? ______
10- What is stated in the Fourteenth Amendment? ______
11- Identify one fact about the Force Acts? ______
12- What is the Ku Klux Klan? ______
“Angered by President Johnson’s support for Southern whites; Congress, in 1867, passed the Tenure of Office Act, which prohibited the president from firing a cabinet officer without Senate approval. Johnson then defiantly fired his secretary of war. In 1868, the House of Representatives impeached the president.
At Johnson’s trial, the Senate lacked one vote of the two-thirds majority required to remove the president from office. Johnson served until the end of his term.
The state governments after 1867 under Reconstruction were extremely controversial because Southern whites and blacks had entirely different points of view. For most whites, Northern control of their state governments was an insult. Blacks, on the other hand, hoped that federal control would mean freedom and equal opportunity.
Some whites hostile to Reconstruction turned to violence. Secret societies such as the Ku Klux Klan attacked, beat, and sometimes killed blacks.
Until 1872, blacks had the full support of Northern Republicans and U.S. troops. Many African Americans were elected to Southern legislatures. (In one house of South Carolina’s legislature, they were in the majority.) Fourteen Southern African Americans served in the U.S. Congress.”
~ Reviewing U.S. History and Government
Questions:
1- What angered Radical Republicans about President Andrew Johnson? ______
2- What did Congress pass in 1867? ______
3- Identify one fact about the Tenure of Office Act. ______
4- What did Johnson defiantly do that angered the Radical Republicans? ______
5- What did the House of Representatives do in 1868? ______
6- Why was Andrew Johnson not impeached? ______
7- Why were the state governments organized after 1867 extremely controversial? ______
8- How did most Southern whites view the Reconstruction governments? ______
9- What did African Americans hope federal control would mean? ______
“Northern Republican control of Southern state governments began to weaken in 1869. One by one, the states elected Democratic majorities, who supported Southern white control. By 1877, all the former Confederate states had regained membership in the Union.
Many Northerners, pursuing private goals, grew tired of Reconstruction and less concerned about the rights of African Americans.
Radical Republicans lost control of Congress. Toward the end of Ulysses S. Grant’s first term as president, Congress enacted the Amnesty Act, which restored voting rights to about 160,000 former Confederates.
Despite the Force Acts, federal troops had little success in curbing beatings and lynching by the Ku Klux Klan, which grew stronger. Many Southern blacks, fearful of terrorism, stopped going to the polls to vote.
In the close presidential election of 1876, the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden, claimed victory over the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. Electoral votes, however, were disputed in Oregon and the last three Southern states occupied by federal troops – Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina.
In a secret political compromise, Republican and Democratic leaders agreed that Hayes would be the next president. In exchange, federal troops would leave the South. In effect, Southern blacks were abandoned to the rule of the Democratic white majority. Reconstruction was over.”
~ Reviewing U.S. History and Government
Questions:
1- What began to weaken in Southern state governments in 1869? ______
2- What political party was elected to majorities in Southern states? ______
3- What had happened by 1877? ______
4- What did many Northerners grow tired of and less concerned about? ______
5- What political party lost control of Congress? ______
6- What Act did Congress enact toward the end of Ulysses S. Grant’s first term as president? ______
7- What did the Act restore? ______
8- What did federal troops have little success in curbing despite the Force Acts? ______
9- Why did many Southern blacks stop going to the polls? ______
10- What was disputed in the election of 1876? ______
11- What did Republican and Democratic leaders agree to in a secret political compromise? ______
12- What was given in exchange for this agreement? ______
13- What were Southern blacks abandoned to? ______
14- Why do some historians then write of the “failure of Reconstruction”? ______
Multiple-Choice Questions:
1. The label “Solid South” was applied to the former Confederate States after Reconstruction because they(1) consistently supported the Democratic Party
(2) could not participate in national politics
(3) rejected efforts to pass Jim Crow laws
(4) continued to support abolitionist causes
2. The dispute between President Andrew Johnson and Congress during the Reconstruction Era illustrates the constitutional principle of
(1) equality of justice under the law
(2) federalism
(3) one man, one vote
(4) separation of powers
5. The 14th amendment provides that no “state [shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
A direct result of this amendment was that
(1) the process of amending the Constitution became slower and more complex
(2) the guarantees in the Bill of Rights were applied to state actions
(3) every citizen gained an absolute right to freedom of speech and assembly
(4) the power of the Federal Government was sharply reduced
6. A major reason the Radical Republicans opposed President Abraham Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan was that his plan
(1) demanded payments from the South that would have damaged its economy
(2) postponed the readmission of Southern States into the Union for many years
(3) granted too many rights to formerly enslaved persons
(4) offered amnesty to nearly all Confederates who would swear allegiance to the United States
7. How were many African Americans in the South affected after Reconstruction ended in 1877?
(1) A constitutional amendment guaranteed their social advancement
(2) The Freedmen’s Bureau helped them become farm owners.
(3) Jim Crow laws placed major restrictions on their rights.
(4) Southern factories offered them job training and employment opportunities / 3. In their plans for Reconstruction, both President Abraham Lincoln and President Andrew Johnson sought to
(1) punish the South for starting the Civil War
(2) force the Southern States to pay reparations to the Federal Government
(3) allow the Southern States to reenter the nation as quickly as possible
(4) establish the Republican Party as the only political party in the South
4. The poll tax, the literacy test, and the actions of the Ku Klux Klan were all attempts to limit the effectiveness of
(1) the 14th and 15th amendments
(2) the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education
(3) civil rights legislation passed in all states after the Civil War