Download Reconstruction

Teacher’s name: Ryan Barnett Date of Lesson/Class/Period _____________
Subject: 11th Grade Virginia and United States History Topic: Reconstruction
Concepts:
The main purpose of this lesson is to understand the differing viewpoints on how
our government thought we should reconstruct the United States after the Civil War.
What are the similarities and differences between the three distinct reconstruction
plans?
General Objective[s]:
NCSS VI: Power, Authority, and Governance
d.) Compare and analyze the ways nations and organization respond to conflicts
between forces of unity and forces of diversity
f.) analyze and evaluate conditions actions and motivations that contribute to
conflict and cooperation within and among nations.
SOL: VUS.7c The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil War and
Reconstruction Era and its importance as a major turning point in American history by
c) examining the political, economic, and social impact of the war
and Reconstruction, including the adoption of the 13th, 14th,
and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of
America.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to:
Interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and documents
Understand Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction
Understand that Lincoln’s assassination gave Radical Republicans an opportunity to
influence Reconstruction
Understand that Johnson wanted harsh punishment toward former Confederates, but
continued Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan
Understand that the Radical Republicans plan for Reconstruction.
Content Outline:
Set induction (15) minutes
Handout Lincolns Second Inaugural Address at the beginning of class.
Begin the class by reading it out loud with the class. Then ask the class what they thought
was Lincoln’s Message in the speech. Let them give answers and debate with each other
on what they think Lincoln was trying to convey. How is this address and the issues he is
addressing different from the issues he and the country faced four years ago in his first
presidency? How does Lincolns overarching message in this address relate to his ideas
for his Reconstruction Plan?
Brief Lecture on overview of Reconstruction (10 minutes)
Lincoln’s view that the United States was one nation indivisible had prevailed
Lincoln believed that since secession was illegal, Confederate governments in the
Southern states were illegitimate and the states had never really left the Union.
He believed that Reconstruction was a matter of quickly restoring legitimate
state governments that were loyal t the Union in the Southern States.
 Lincoln also believed that once the war was over, to reunify the nation the federal
government should not punish the South but act “with malice toward non, with
charity for all…to bind up the nation’s wounds…”


The assassination of Lincoln just a few days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
enabled Radical Republicans to influence the process of Reconstruction in a
manner much more punitive towards the former Confederate states. The states
that seceded were not allowed back into the Union immediately, but were put
under military occupation.
 Radical Republicans also believed in aggressively guaranteeing voting and other
civil rights to African Americans. The clashed repeatedly with Lincoln’s
successor as President, Andrew Johnson, over the issue of civil rights for freed
slaves, eventually impeaching him, but failing to remove him from office.

Group work (Jigsaw activity) (30 minutes)
Students are divided into groups of 3 and each assigned a part of handout 2 to
read and answer the questions related to that section on handout 3. The handout is
divided into 3 sections discussing Lincoln’s, Johnson’s, and the Radical
Republicans’ plan for Reconstruction. Each student will complete their reading and
answer their assigned questions. The each member in the group will share the
important facts of what they learned with their other group members.
Review Activity- (5-10)
After the group activity is completed the teacher will ask each student to write 2
important facts they learned about the two plans for reconstruction they did not
read. This will be collected as a class work/participation assignment.
Poster Board Activity (20 minutes)
Students will be paired off to create a poster with a slogan for their specific plan
that they read in class. Students will present their poster and explain why they chose
the pictures, words or content etc. that they included. They will also explain why
this poster promotes their particular reconstruction plan
Exit pass- (5-10 minutes) answer the following questions in a short paragraph
each or construct a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts the different
Reconstruction plans.
1.
What was Lincoln’s, Johnson’s, and the Radical Republicans’ plan for
Reconstruction?
2.
How were they similar, and how were they different?
Important Definitions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Key Concept(s) include definition:
Reconstruction – The time period following the Civil War lasting from 1865 to
1877. This was the period in which the United States began to rebuild following
the conclusion of the Civil War.
Radical Republicans – A group of senators led by Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts and Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania who wanted to destroy the
political power of former slave holders.
Wade-Davis Bill – Proposed by Congress and declared that Congress, not the
president, be responsible for Reconstruction; this bill was pocket vetoed by
Lincoln.
Freedmen’s Bureau – Assisted former slaves and poor whites in the South by
distributing clothing and food and by setting up hospitals, schools, industrial
institutes, and teacher-training establishments.
Black codes – Discriminatory laws that severely restricted African-American’s
rights.
Handout 1
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
________________________________________________________________________
At this second appearing to take the oath
of the presidential office, there is less
occasion for an extended address than
there was at the first. Then a statement,
somewhat in detail, of a course to be
pursued, seemed fitting and proper.
Now, at the expiration of four years,
during which public declarations have
been constantly called forth on every
point and phase of the great contest
which still absorbs the attention, and
engrosses the energies of the nation,
little that is new could be presented. The
progress of our arms, upon which all else
chiefly depends, is as well known to the
public as to myself; and it is, I trust,
reasonably satisfactory and encouraging
to all. With high hope for the future, no
prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to
this four years ago, all thoughts were
anxiously directed to an impending civil
war. All dreaded it--all sought to avert it.
While the inaugeral [sic] address was
being delivered from this place, devoted
altogether to saving the Union without
war, insurgent agents were in the city
seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissole [sic] the Union, and
divide effects, by negotiation. Both
parties deprecated war; but one of them
would make war rather than let the
nation survive; and the other would
accept war rather than let it perish. And
the war came.
One eighth of the whole
population were colored slaves, not
distributed generally over the Union, but
localized in the Southern part of it.
These slaves constituted a peculiar and
powerful interest. All knew that this
interest was, somehow, the cause of the
war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and
extend this interest was the object for
which the insurgents would rend the
Union, even by war; while the
government claimed no right to do more
than to restrict the territorial enlargement
of it. Neither party expected for the war,
the magnitude, or the duration, which it
has already attained. Neither anticipated
that the cause of the conflict might cease
with, or even before, the conflict itself
should cease. Each looked for an easier
triumph, and a result less fundamental
and astounding. Both read the same
Bible, and pray to the same God; and
each invokes His aid against the other. It
may seem strange that any men should
dare to ask a just God's assistance in
wringing their bread from the sweat of
other men's faces; but let us judge not
that we be not judged. The prayers of
both could not be answered; that of
neither has been answered fully. The
Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe
unto the world because of offences! for
it must needs be that offences come; but
woe to that man by whom the offence
cometh!" If we shall suppose that
American Slavery is one of those
offences which, in the providence of
God, must needs come, but which,
having continued through His appointed
time, He now wills to remove, and that
He gives to both North and South, this
terrible war, as the woe due to those by
whom the offence came, shall we
discern therein any departure from those
divine attributes which the believers in a
Living God always ascribe to Him?
Fondly do we hope--fervently do we
pray--that this mighty scourge of war
may speedily pass away. Yet, if God
wills that it continue, until all the wealth
piled by the bond-man's two hundred
and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
sunk, and until every drop of blood
drawn with the lash, shall be paid by
another drawn with the sword, as was
said three thousand years ago, so still it
must be said "the judgments of the Lord,
are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none; with
charity for all; with firmness in the right,
as God gives us to see the right, let us
strive on to finish the work we are in; to
bind up the nation's wounds; to care for
him who shall have borne the battle, and
for his widow, and his orphan--to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just
and lasting peace, among ourselves, and
with all nation
What is Lincoln’s overarching
message?
Handout 2
Section 1
Reconstruction
Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil
War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical
destruction wrought by the invading Union forces was enormous, and the old social and
economic order founded on slavery had collapsed completely, with nothing to replace it.
The 11 Confederate states somehow had to be restored to their positions in the Union
and provided with loyal governments, and the role of the emancipated slaves in Southern
society had to be defined.
Lincoln
Even before the war ended, President Lincoln began the task of restoration. Motivated by
a desire to build a strong Republican party in the South and to end the bitterness
engendered by war, he issued (Dec. 8, 1863) a proclamation of amnesty and
reconstruction for those areas of the Confederacy occupied by Union armies. It offered
pardon, with certain exceptions, to any Confederate who would swear to support the
Constitution and the Union. Once a group in any conquered state equal in number to one
tenth of that state's total vote in the presidential election of 1860 took the prescribed oath
and organized a government that abolished slavery, he would grant that government
executive recognition.
Lincoln's plan aroused the sharp opposition of the radicals in Congress, who believed it
would simply restore to power the old planter aristocracy. They passed (July, 1864) the
Wade-Davis Bill, which required 50% of a state's male voters to take an “ironclad” oath
that they had never voluntarily supported the Confederacy. Lincoln's pocket veto kept
the Wade-Davis Bill from becoming law, and he implemented his own plan. By the end
of the war it had been tried, not too successfully, in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and
Virginia. Congress, however, refused to seat the Senators and Representatives elected
from those states, and by the time of Lincoln's assassination the President and Congress
were at a stalemate.
Section 2
Johnson
Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, at first pleased the radicals by publicly attacking
the planter aristocracy and insisting that the rebellion must be punished. His amnesty
proclamation (May 29, 1865) was more severe than Lincoln's; it disenfranchised all
former military and civil officers of the Confederacy and all those who owned property
worth $20,000 or more and made their estates liable to confiscation. The obvious intent
was to shift political control in the South from the old planter aristocracy to the small
farmers and artisans, and it promised to accomplish a revolution in Southern society.
With Congress in adjournment from April to Dec., 1865, Johnson put his plan into
operation. Under provisional governors appointed by him, the Southern states held
conventions that voided or repealed their ordinances of secession, abolished slavery, and
(except South Carolina) repudiated Confederate debts. Their newly elected legislatures
(except Mississippi) ratified the Thirteenth Amendment guaranteeing freedom for
blacks. By the end of 1865 every ex-Confederate state except Texas had reestablished
civil government.
The control of white over black, however, seemed to be restored, as each of the newly
elected state legislatures enacted statutes severely limiting the freedom and rights of the
blacks. These laws, known as black codes, restricted the ability of blacks to own land
and to work as free laborers and denied them most of the civil and political rights
enjoyed by whites. Many of the offices in the new governments, moreover, were won by
disenfranchised Confederate leaders, and the President, rather than ordering new
elections, granted pardons on a large scale.
Early Congressional Legislation
An outraged Northern public believed that the fruits of victory were being lost by
Johnson's lenient policy. When Congress convened (Dec. 4, 1865) it refused to seat the
Southern representatives. Johnson responded by publicly attacking Republican leaders
and vetoing their Reconstruction measures. His tactics drove the moderates into the
radical camp. The Civil Rights Act (Apr. 9, 1866), designed to protect African
Americans from legislation such as the black codes, and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill
(July 16), extending the life of that organization (see Freedmen's Bureau), were both
passed over Johnson's veto. Doubts as to the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act led
the radicals to incorporate (June, 1866) most of its provisions in the Fourteenth
Amendment (ratified 1868).
Section 3
The newly created Joint Committee on Reconstruction reported (Apr. 28, 1866) that the
ex-Confederate states were in a state of civil disorder, and hence, had not held valid
elections. It also maintained that Reconstruction was a congressional, not an executive,
function. The radicals solidified their position by winning the elections of 1866. When
every Southern state (except Tennessee) refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and
protect the rights of its black citizens, the stage was set for more severe measures.
The Reconstruction Acts
On Mar. 2, 1867, Congress enacted the Reconstruction Act, which, supplemented later
by three related acts, divided the South (except Tennessee) into five military districts in
which the authority of the army commander was supreme. Johnson continued to oppose
congressional policy, and when he insisted on the removal of the radical Secretary of
War, Edwin M. Stanton, in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act, the House impeached
him (Feb., 1868). The radicals in the Senate fell one vote short of convicting him (May),
but by this time Johnson's program had been effectively scuttled.
Under the terms of the Reconstruction Acts, new state constitutions were written in the
South. By Aug., 1868, six states (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana,
Alabama, and Florida) had been readmitted to the Union, having ratified the Fourteenth
Amendment as required by the first Reconstruction Act. The four remaining
unreconstructed states—Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia—were readmitted in
1870 after ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Fifteenth Amendment,
which guaranteed the black man's right to vote.
The Radical Republicans Governments in the South
The radical Republican governments in the South attempted to deal constructively with
the problems left by the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Led by so-called
carpetbaggers (Northerners who settled in the South) and scalawags (Southern whites in
the Republican party) and freedmen, they began to rebuild the Southern economy and
society. Agricultural production was restored, roads rebuilt, a more equitable tax system
adopted, and schooling extended to blacks and poor whites. The freedmen's civil and
political rights were guaranteed, and blacks were able to participate in the political and
economic life of the South as full citizens for the first time.
The bitterness engendered by the Civil War remained, however, and most Southern
whites objected strongly to the former slaves' new role in society. Organizations such as
the Ku Klux Klan arose. Their acts of violence kept African Americans and white
Republicans from voting, and gradually the radical Republican governments were
overthrown. Their collapse was hastened by the death of the old radical leaders in
Congress, such as Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, and by the revelation of
internal corruption in the radical Republican governments; the Grant administration was
compelled to lessen its support of them because of growing criticism in the North of
corruption in the federal government itself.
Handout 3
Name:___________________
Reconstruction
Directions: Using the handout, answer the following questions.
(Section 1) Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
What was Reconstruction?
Detail Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan.
What was the Wade-Davis Bill?
What prevented Lincoln from implementing his plan?
(Section 2) Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
Detail Johnson’s Reconstruction plan.
How did Johnson deal with former military and civilian officers?
What were the “black codes”?
How did Congress react to Johnson’s plan?
(Section 3) Congress
What did the Joint Committee on Reconstruction report in 1866?
What did the Reconstruction Act do?
How did Congress react to Johnson removing of Edwin Stanton?
Who were the Radical Republicans and what was their stance on Reconstruction?
Poster example
For All!
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
- Thomas Jefferson
Student and Teacher Activities with Estimated Time Blocks:
Teacher
Student
Set Induction (15 minutes)
-Handout Lincolns Second Inaugural
-Read Lincolns Second Inaugural Address
Address worksheet and ask question that goes and answer question that goes with it.
with it.
-participate in class discussion; make
-Ask questions about the importance of the
comments and/or ask questions
address and lead a class discussion on the
topic
Brief Lecture (10 minutes)
-Give background information on the
Reconstruction focusing on Lincoln’s,
Johnson’s and Radical Republican Plan
Group Work activity (30 minutes)
-Divide students into groups of three and have
them choose a section of the reading to
complete
-Ask them to answer the question that
correspond with their section
-Tell students to share their section with the
other kids in their group
-walk around the classroom making sure
students are on task and answering questions
Review Activity (10 minutes)
-tells students to write down two facts they
learned from each of their group members
-walk around the classroom
Poster Activity (20 minutes)
-Tell students to create a poster with a slogan
for their specific plan they read in class
-be prepared to present to class and explain
why you included what you did
-provide example on overhead for them to
refer to
-Listen to lecture
-Take notes
-Ask questions
-complete reading of assigned section and
answer questions
-teach your section to your other group
members
-listen and take notes as your other two
members teach you about their section
-ask questions if you need help
-write down two important facts you learned
from your two group members about
reconstruction plans
-create slogan for specific reconstruction
plan
-write a couple of sentences explaining the
importance
Exit pass (10 minutes)
-Have each student construct a Venn diagram
that compares and contrasts the different
Reconstruction plans.
-walk around the classroom giving students
feedback and answering questions
-Construct a Venn diagram that shows the
similarities and differences between the
three reconstruction plans
Materials Needed for the Lesson:
Reconstruction information Guide
Reconstruction Worksheet
Poster Example
Methods of Evaluating Student Progress/Performance:
Reconstruction Worksheet
Classroom assignment two facts learned on each plan
Poster slogan on reconstruction plan
Venn diagram comparing the three plans
Differention for Special Needs: This lesson plan involves more hands on activities and
discussions than lecture. It keeps the students on task because the activities are no more
than 20 minutes long. Also it gives the students a chance to teach and learn from each
other. It also allows students to use their creative side when creating a poster slogan for
their reconstruction plan.
Subject Matter Integration/Extension:
This lesson should be used to introduce a course being taught on reconstruction. It
draws on the students’ prior knowledge regarding the Civil War. This lesson can lead into
another lesson or discussion about 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of
the United States, as well as lessons regarding the social and economic impacts of the
Civil War.
Reflections/PPT’s in Lesson: I think this lesson fits into my philosophy of teaching very
well. I want to give the students many avenues to learn the content and I feel I have in
this lesson plan. I also feel it is important to let students display some creativity and have
some fun when learning.