Download Reconstruction - Lincoln Co Schools

Lincoln County Schools Patriot Day Instructional Expectations
Patriot Day 5
School: LCHS
Course/Subject: US History /
Honors US History
Teacher: Wesley &
Monhollen
Learning Target: I can evaluate different Reconstruction plans and their social, economic, and political
impact on the South and the rest of the United States. I can analyze the immediate and long-term
influences of Reconstruction on the lives of African Americans and U.S. society as a whole.
Lesson Expectations/Standard:
Standards - US History Quality Core – B. Building a Nation (Colonization –ca.1877) – 3. Civil War and
Reconstruction – d. Evaluate different Reconstruction plans and their social, economic, and political impact
on the South and the rest of the United States. e. Analyze the immediate and long-term influences of
Reconstruction on the lives of African Americans and U.S. society as a whole.
Expectations – Students will read the lesson and answer the corresponding questions. Students must be
80% accurate or higher to be considered proficient, thus meeting the benchmark standard for this
assignment.
Links to Other Assignment Options (websites or programs):
Links to Resources and Support:
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nowsS7pMApI – Crash Course: Reconstruction
Teacher Support: (list emails &/or phone numbers here):
[email protected]
Remind “app”
[email protected]
Remind “app”
*Reminder: Assignments are due back to teachers the next day we are in school, if possible, or within 1
week of the Patriot Day.
Reconstruction
The term Reconstruction refers to the period after the Civil War, beginning in 1865 and lasting until 1877. During this time,
the former Confederate states were brought back into the Union, and new organizations like the Freedmen's Bureau helped
former slaves. Though amendments and laws were passed to increase the civil rights and liberties of African Americans, these
were virtually ignored by the southern states. Many states managed to pass laws that left African Americans segregated and
without a voice or power in government. For the most part, many historians believe that the attempts to improve the status of
African Americans during Reconstruction failed to do any good.
Reconstruction Events
Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction
Abraham Lincoln's proposed plan for Reconstruction, also known as the Ten Percent Plan, called for 10% of the voters from
the 1860 election in southern states to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States. His plan would bring the southern states
back to the Union quickly, but it was never passed. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, Lincoln was assassinated. His vice
president, Andrew Johnson, was sworn in as the next president.
Presidential Reconstruction
Presidential Reconstruction was the period from 1865 to 1867 that was characterized by the policies of President Andrew
Johnson. Many people in the United States believed President Johnson was too lenient on the former Confederate states. In
the 1866 congressional elections, the Republican party took control of both houses of Congress in a landslide victory, an event
that marked the beginning of the period known as Congressional Reconstruction.
Congressional Reconstruction
Known as Congressional or Radical Reconstruction, this period was characterized by the imposition of martial law on 10
southern states with the passage of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. A major tenet of Congressional Reconstruction was the
idea that when new policies were declared, they should actually be enforced. Many people felt this aspect was lacking in
Presidential Reconstruction. Another important goal for Radical Republicans was to take land away from Southern plantation
owners and distribute it among the newly-freed slaves. Congress attempted to accomplish this through the Freedmen's
Bureau, but President Johnson used his executive powers to return Southern land to its original owners.
Reconstruction Amendments
Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction Amendments were adopted. The Reconstruction Amendments consist of the 13th
Amendment, 14th Amendment, and 15th Amendment, all of which are concerned with equal rights.
•
13th Amendment: Ratified in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery in the U.S.
•
14th Amendment: This amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, stated that all people born in the U.S., except Native
Americans, were U.S. citizens.
•
15th Amendment: This amendment gave African American men the right to vote and was ratified on February 3, 1870. This
amendment states that no citizen of the U.S. can be denied the right to vote based on race or color.
Freedmen's Bureau
Congress created this bureau in 1865 to assist former slaves. The bureau established schools for African Americans and
helped African Americans find employment.
Black Codes
Black codes were a series of laws passed by ex-Confederate states following the Civil War that restricted the rights of African
Americans living in the South. These codes included segregation in public spaces and restrictions on the rights of African
Americans. These included the rights to be free laborers, to own land and homes, and to testify in court. An African American
traveling without a permit, owning a firearm, or being seen out on the streets after sunset could be punished by law.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
This act granted African Americans citizenship and gave them the right to make contracts, sue, and own property. The
citizenship rights of African Americans were also protected under the 14th Amendment.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 divided the former Confederate states into five military districts that were then placed under
the administration of a Union general and occupied by Union soldiers. Tennessee was the only southern state not included in
the military districts because it had already ratified the 14th amendment and had been re-admitted to the Union in January of
1866. Other Reconstruction Acts included barring Confederate leaders from voting or holding office and making the
Confederate states ratify the 14th Amendment before being readmitted to the Union.
Tenure of Office Act & Johnson's Impeachment
Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act of 1867 to prevent President Johnson from interfering with new laws pass during
Radical Reconstruction. This act restricted the president's power in removing government officials, even from the Cabinet,
without the consent of the Senate. In early 1868, Johnson attempted to remove and replace Secretary of War Edwin M.
Stanton against the wishes of Congress and was quickly impeached by the House of Representatives. In the Senate, he was
one vote short of being convicted and therefore narrowly escaped being removed from office.
Election of 1876 & Compromise of 1877
In the 1876 presidential election, Democrat Samuel Tilden ran against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden won the
majority of the popular vote, but a dispute arose over who won electoral votes in several states, including some states from the
South. Following the election, Congress formed a committee in early 1877 to settle the dispute and eventually declared Hayes
the winner. Supposedly, an unwritten and informal agreement known as the Compromise of 1877 encouraged the committee
to come to its decision. Under this agreement, southern Democrats agreed to support Hayes' ascension to the presidency if
the Republicans in government met certain demands. These demands included the removal of federal troops from the former
Confederate states, the appointment of at least one southern Democrat to Hayes' new cabinet, legislation that would
encourage industrialization in the South, and the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad. Having agreed to meet
these demands, Hayes became the 19th president of the United States, and his presidency marked the official end of
Reconstruction.
Augusta Institute
The Augusta Institute was founded in Augusta, Georgia, to educate African Americans. The school moved to Atlanta in 1879,
and it was renamed Morehouse College in 1913. Other schools for African Americans that were established during this time
period include Alcorn State University, Alabama State University (Lincoln Normal School), and Lincoln University (Lincoln
Institute).
Grandfather Clause of 1895
This clause was added to the voting laws of some southern states to keep African Americans from voting while allowing poor
and illiterate whites to vote. This provision was included because many southern states required voters to pay poll taxes or
pass literacy tests. With the grandfather clause, however, any man could vote as long as their ancestors had also had the right
to vote as of January 1, 1867. No African Americans had been allowed to vote before this date, so they were all easily denied
voting rights. In this way, poor or even illiterate whites could vote.
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws established legal racial segregation in public places throughout the South and began to appear in the
1880s after Reconstruction had officially ended. These laws included many provisions, such as forcing African Americans to sit
on separate areas on trains and to attend different schools than whites. Literacy tests were also set up as a pre-condition for
the right to vote. Since many African Americans were not proficient in reading or writing, these tests excluded them from
voting.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that "separate but equal" was constitutional.
The Court claimed that if accommodations really were equal, then they were not in violation of the equal protection clause of
the Fourteenth Amendment. This court ruling was used to justify Jim Crow laws and other acts of segregation.
Reconstruction Terms
Carpetbagger: a derogatory term for a northerner who came to the
South during the Reconstruction period. This term originated from the use of cheap suitcases covered in carpet that many
travelers carried. The prevailing opinion was that these northerners were opportunists who came to the South only to make
money in the areas that needed to be rebuilt, but some wanted to help the newly freed slaves.
Ku Klux Klan: a group of white supremacists who wanted to keep white control of the South and did not want African
Americans to vote or hold office. They threatened African Americans to keep them from voting and were responsible for a
great deal of violence during the Reconstruction period. Though many Southerners approved of the Klan's actions early on, a
backlash eventually occurred when the violence escalated to a level most felt to be unacceptable. At this time, Southerners
started to blame the Klan for the continued presence of Northern troops throughout the South.
Radical Republicans: a group of Republicans who supported punishing the Confederate states. Radical Republicans wanted
to force the majority of white males in the Confederate states to take an oath to the U.S. and to exclude anyone who had
served in the Confederate government or army from participating in new government. Radical Republicans also wanted to take
land away from southern plantation owners and distribute it among the newly-freed slaves. Representative Thaddeus Stevens
of Pennsylvania was one of the leaders of the Radical Republicans.
Scalawag: a southern white who helped in the Reconstruction effort. Some southerners viewed scalawags as traitors to the
South.
Sharecropper: a person who grew crops on land owned by someone else and gave the landlord (owner of the land) a share
of the crop to pay for expenses. Many of these people were freed slaves who could not afford to buy their own land.
Solid South: the states of the southern U.S. that traditionally supported the Democratic Party after the Civil War. By 1876,
only three southern states (Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana) were under federal occupation and Republican rule.
Exodusters: A group of African Americans fled from the South to Kansas in 1879 and 1880. These people were known as
Exodusters. In Kansas, there was a large amount of land that was available at low prices. Many African Americans felt they
would have more freedom there than in the South because Kansas had been a free state all throughout the Civil War. The
movement was not an organized migration, but it did have some important leaders. Benjamin "Pap" Singleton was a major
promoter of migration out of the South to Kansas.
Reconstruction Quiz
1. What happened in 1877 that signified the official end of Reconstruction?
A.
The Freedmen's Bureau ended that year.
B.
There were more African Americans than whites in elected offices.
C.
African Americans had achieved equality with whites.
D.
Federal troops were withdrawn from the South.
2. Federal soldiers were present in the Confederate states as a part of the Reconstruction effort
until which event?
A.
the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
B.
the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau
C.
the passage of the Tenure of Office Act
D.
the Compromise of 1877
3. Which of the following Supreme Court cases decided that racial segregation in public places was
constitutional?
A.
Brown v. Board of Education
B.
United States v. Morrison
C.
Plessy v. Ferguson
D.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
4. Congressional Reconstruction is characterized by which of the following?
A.
declaration of martial law in southern states
B.
lax treatment of many important confederates
C.
race riots throughout many northern cities
D.
marked improvement of former slaves daily lives
5. Which of the following Supreme Court cases decided that racial segregation in public places was
constitutional?
A.
Plessy v. Ferguson
B.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
C.
United States v. Morrison
D.
Brown v. Board of Education
6. Why did Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies lead to his impeachment?
A.
Southern congressmen did not like Johnson's policies and voted to impeach him.
B.
The ideas that Johnson proposed gave too much freedom to African Americans.
C.
Congress thought Johnson's actions were too harsh on the former Confederate states.
D.
Johnson's policies went against the wishes and plans of Congress.
7. What was the name given to Northerners who came to the South during the Reconstruction with
the hopes of financial gain?
A.
carpetbaggers
B.
sharecroppers
C.
copperheads
D.
scalawags
8. After the Civil War, many freed slaves did not have enough money to purchase their own farms,
so they worked on farms owned by other people. They rented land and paid for it with the crops
that they grew. These people were known by what name?
A.
carpetbaggers
B.
homesteaders
C.
sharecroppers
D.
scalawags
9. Which amendment said that citizens may not be prevented from voting because of race or
previous status as a slave?
A.
the 15th Amendment
B.
the 13th Amendment
C.
the 16th Amendment
D.
the 14th Amendment
10. After the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau was set up primarily to help which group of people?
A.
northern factory workers
B.
Confederate soldiers
C.
immigrants
D.
former slaves
11.
• Five military districts were created in the Confederate states.
• Confederate leaders did not have the right to vote or hold office.
• The Confederate states had to ratify the 14th Amendment before being readmitted to the Union.
The items in the list above were all part of which federal legislation?
A.
the Wade-Davis Bill
B.
the Tenure of Office Act
C.
the Reconstruction Acts
D.
the Civil Rights Act of 1866
12. Which act of Congress extended the rights of citizenship to African Americans?
A.
the Homestead Act
B.
the Reconstruction Acts
C.
the Civil Rights Act of 1866
D.
the Tenure of Office Act
13. What is the name given to the laws that created a policy of "separate but equal" that meant
that blacks were segregated from whites?
A.
the Slave Codes
B.
the Alien and Sedition Acts
C.
the Reconstruction Acts
D.
the Jim Crow Laws
14. Which person was one of the Radical Republicans after the Civil War?
A.
Andrew Johnson
B.
Abraham Lincoln
C.
Thaddeus Stevens
D.
Jefferson Davis
15. Which statement best describes how members of the Ku Klux Klan felt about the fact that
African Americans had the right to vote?
A.
They opposed the right of African Americans to vote but took no actions against them.
B.
They actively encouraged African Americans to vote in elections.
C.
They supported efforts to give African Americans the right to vote.
D.
They used threats and violence in order to prevent African Americans from voting.
16. During the Reconstruction, which group wanted to punish the Confederate states for seceding
from the Union and wanted to make it difficult for the states re-enter the Union?
A.
Freedmen
B.
Radical Republicans
C.
Democrats
D.
Carpetbaggers
17. In 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached after he removed Secretary of War Edwin
Stanton from office without first getting approval from the Senate. President Johnson was
impeached because he had violated which law?
A.
the Civil Rights Act of 1866
B.
the Tenure of Office Act
C.
the Morrill Act
D.
the Kansas-Nebraska Act
18.
• Extended due process of the law to all citizens including former slaves
• Defined citizenship as "all persons born or naturalized in the United States"
• Denied Confederate leaders the right to hold office
Which amendment contained the provisions listed above?
A.
14th
B.
20th
C.
17th
D.
15th
19. Why was the 14th Amendment significant to the Civil Rights Movement?
A.
It stated that "separate but equal" facilities for African Americans were unconstitutional, starting the process of
integration in the South.
B.
It ensured that states guaranteed all people born or naturalized in the U.S. the rights granted by the Bill of
Rights.
C.
It guaranteed African Americans access to the polls.
D.
It guaranteed all former slaves a plot of land for farming.
20. What did the passage of the 15th Amendment during the Reconstruction Era accomplish?
A.
It barred discrimination in hiring procedures.
B.
It blocked states from denying any citizen equal rights.
C.
It outlawed voting discrimination based on race.
D.
It prohibited slavery in the United States.
Reconstruction Answers
1. D
2. D
3. C
4. A
5. A
6. D
7. A
8. C
9. A
10. D
11. C
12. C
13. D
14. C
15. D
16. B
17. B
18. A
19. B
20. C
Explanations
1. With the withdrawal of the last federal troops from the South in 1877, Reconstruction officially
came to an end. Although African Americans had legally been granted additional rights, these laws
were often not observed, and African Americans faced inequality and discrimination until the Civil
Rights movement brought about changes in the 1950s and 1960s.
2. Federal soldiers were present in the South until the Compromise of 1877. In the presidential
election of 1876, Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden won the majority of the popular vote;
however, there was a dispute over who won electoral votes in several states. A committee made
up of members of the House, Senate, and Supreme Court decided that Republican candidate
Rutherford B. Hayes was the winner of the disputed electoral votes, and with those votes, Hayes
was elected president. In accepting Hayes as president, the Democrats demanded that the federal
troops be withdrawn from the South. This agreement between the Democrats and the Republicans
is known as the Compromise of 1877.
3. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896 stated that the racial segregation of
public places was constitutional. This ruling applied to public schools, theaters, hotels, restaurants,
and even public transportation like buses and railroad cars. Part of this ruling was overturned with
the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 which stated that segregation of public schools was
unconstitutional, but segregation of many public places was still legal. The 1896 ruling was not
completely overturned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made segregation illegal in all
schools and public places as well as outlawed private businesses from racial discrimination.
4. Congressional Reconstruction was characterized by the imposition of martial law on 10 southern
states with the passage of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. This harsh punishment was, in part, a
response to the lax treatment of these same states at the hands of President Johnson during
Presidential Reconstruction. A major tenet of Congressional Reconstruction was that new policies
needed to be declared and actually enforced, which many felt was an aspect lacking in Presidential
Reconstruction.
5. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896 stated that the racial segregation of
public places was constitutional. This ruling applied to public schools, theaters, hotels, restaurants,
and even public transportation like buses and railroad cars. Part of this ruling was overturned with
the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 which stated that segregation of public schools was
unconstitutional, but segregation of many public places was still legal. The 1896 ruling was not
completely overturned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made segregation illegal in all
schools and public places as well as outlawed private businesses from racial discrimination.
6. Andrew Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination in 1865. He led the country
during the first years of Reconstruction. Many Congress members did not like Johnson's
Reconstruction policies because they were very lenient on former Confederate states and their
leadership. President Johnson was impeached after removing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from
office without the approval of Congress. This was in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, which had
been passed in 1867. Johnson faced a trial in the Senate in which he was one vote short of being
convicted and removed from office.
7. Carpetbaggers were Northerners who came to the South in the Reconstruction period. Some
came because they wanted to help the newly freed slaves, while others were primarily interested in
the opportunity to make money in the areas that needed to be rebuilt. These people were given the
name carpetbaggers because many of them carried their belongings in bags made out of carpet
material.
8. After the Civil War, many Southern plantation owners did not have money to pay people to work
on their farms, so a system called sharecropping evolved. Instead of receiving wages,
sharecroppers grew crops on land owned by someone else and gave the landlord a share of the
crop to pay for expenses.
9. The 15th Amendment states: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude." The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 and is one of the Reconstruction
Amendments.
10. In 1865, Congress set up the Freedmen's Bureau to assist former slaves. The bureau set up
schools for African Americans and helped set up farms on which the former slaves could work.
11. In 1867, Congress passed the first of the Reconstruction Acts. The Confederate states, except
Tennessee, were divided into five military districts. Tennessee was not included in the military
districts because it had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and had been readmitted to the Union.
A general was in charge of each district, and soldiers were sent to occupy the states.
12. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted African Americans citizenship and gave them additional
rights, including the right to make contracts, sue, and own private property. The citizenship rights
of African Americans were further protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, which was passed later
in 1866 and stated that all people born in the United States, except Native Americans, were
citizens.
13. The Jim Crow laws were laws that segregated blacks from whites. These laws affected many
aspects of daily life, including laws in which blacks were forced to sit in separate areas on trains
and were prohibited from attending the same schools as whites. Even though separate areas for
blacks were supposed to be equal to those used by whites, they were inferior. The "separate but
equal" policy was just one of the ways in which blacks faced discrimination during this time period.
14. Representative Thaddeus Steven of Pennsylvania was one of the leaders of the Radical
Republicans in Congress who wanted to punish the South for seceding and favored radical changes
for the South during the Reconstruction era.
15. The Ku Klux Klan wanted to maintain white control of the South and did not want African
Americans to be able to vote or hold office. They prevented African Americans from voting by
threatening them with violence.
16. Radical Republicans supported punishment of the Confederate states. In 1863, Abraham
Lincoln had issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction which outlined a plan for the
re-entry of Confederate states into the Union. According to the plan, once ten percent of the
number of people who had voted in the 1860 election took a loyalty oath to the United States, the
state could re-enter the Union and set up a new state government that recognized the freedom of
African Americans. Radical Republicans were opposed to this plan, and in 1864, Congress passed
the Wade-Davis Bill. This bill required that the majority of white males in the Confederate states
take a loyalty oath to the United States, and then the states could set up a new government.
Anyone who had served in the Confederate government or had served in the Confederate Army
was excluded from participating in the new government. Abraham Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis
Bill.
17. Passed by Congress in 1867, the Tenure of Office Act required that the president could not
remove a person from federal office without getting the approval of the Senate. In 1868, Andrew
Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office without the approval of the Senate.
The House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson, and he faced a trial in the Senate in
which he was one vote short of being convicted and removed from office.
18. The 14th amendment contained all the provisions above. It is a lengthy amendment. It also
declared that every man over 21 is entitled to one vote. The 14th amendment was important to life
in the United States because it stated that the states had to grant Constitutional rights to all,
ensuring that the states would have to respect a citizen's rights just as the federal government
does.
19. The 14th Amendment was significant to the Civil Rights movement because it held that states
must guarantee all people—including African Americans—their Constitutional rights, including those
rights in the Bill of Rights. The states were therefore subject to provide all citizens due process as
well as life, liberty, and freedom to pursue happiness, but it took a long struggle before they
complied with this Amendment.
20. The 15th Amendment gave all male citizens, including former slaves, the right to vote.
Unfortunately, Jim Crow laws that called for poll taxes and literacy tests effectively limited African
American access to the polls until the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.