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TEACHER’S GUIDE
TEACHER’S GUIDE
• After his firing of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was overseeing
the military’s Reconstruction efforts in the South, Democratic President
Andrew Johnson was impeached by a Republican-controlled Congress.
Ask students to research Johnson’s impeachment trial, develop a
comprehensive time line and assess the constitutional issues involved.
As a follow-up, students may conduct a mock trial of President
Johnson, offering their own interpretations of whether this case met
the Constitutional standard for high crimes and misdemeanors. A
wealth of information on the trial may be found at this Web site:
www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/impeach/impeachmt.htm
• Based on what your class has learned about the post-Civil War era, ask
students to analyze political cartoons by Thomas Nast, who extensively
covered Reconstruction, the Johnson impeachment trial and political
corruption. Students should speculate about Nast’s intended audience
and describe the symbols and stereotypes he used. As a follow-up,
students may debate the extent that Nast’s cartoons accurately reflected
social and political issues of the time period. A portfolio of Nast’s
cartoons and short descriptions of them may be found at this Web site:
www.lib.ohio-state.edu/cgaweb/nast/portfolio.htm
• Since a stable family structure was almost impossible to maintain under
slavery, countless numbers of freed Africans searched for family members
immediately after the Civil War. One of the tasks of the Freedman’s
Bureau was to try to reconnect African-American families that had been
forcibly separated. Break students into small groups and ask each group
to analyze a case associated with the Family Services branch of the
Freedman’s Bureau. Each group should attempt to develop a family
history and profile and describe the difficulties, successes and failures
associated with its case.A number of Family Service cases from the postCivil War period may be found at this Web site: www.iath.virginia.edu/
vshadow2/HIUS403/freedmen/fs-intro.html
• Homer Plessy, an African American, was arrested when he boarded
a train in Louisiana and refused to move to an all-black coach. Plessy
vs. Ferguson represents a profound moment in the history of racial
segregation.Ask students to analyze the constitutional issues involved in
this case, describe what the Supreme Court said about Constitutional
rights, and to speculate about the implications this case had on the
future. Comprehensive information on Plessy vs. Ferguson may be found
at this Web site: usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/33.htm
• www.nvcc.edu/home/nvsageh/Hist122/Part1/ForceActsEx.htm
Northern Virginia Community College offers the full text of the Force Acts
of 1870-1871.
• academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm
The University of Dayton Law School has compiled examples of Jim Crow
laws for teachers and students.
Suggested Print Resources
• Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877.
Perennial Classics, New York, NY; 2002.
• Morris, Roy Jr. Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden
and the Stolen Election of 1876. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY; 2003.
• Seidman, Rachel Filene. Civil War: A History in Documents. Oxford
University Press, New York, NY; 2001.
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TM
RECONSTRUCTION
AND SEGREGATION
(1865 – 1910)
Grades 5–12
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Jeffrey W. Litzke, M.Ed.
Curriculum Specialist, Schlessinger Media
Rudolph Lea
Historian
COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES
• Three Worlds Meet (Origins–1620)
• The Era of Colonization (1585–1763)
• Slavery & Freedom
• The American Revolution
• A New Nation (1776–1815)
• Expansionism
• Democracy & Reform
• Causes of the Civil War
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction & Segregation (1865–1910)
• Industrialization & Urbanization
(1870–1910)
• Immigration & Cultural Change
• A Nation in Turmoil
Teacher’s Guides Included
and Available Online at:
• The Progressive Movement
• U.S. & The World (1865–1917)
• The Great War
• The Roaring Twenties
• The Great Depression
& The New Deal
• World War II
• Post-War U.S.A.
• The Cold War
• Civil Rights
• The Vietnam War
• The Middle East
• U.S. Politics (1960–1980)
• U.S. Politics (1980–2000)
800-843-3620
Suggested Internet Resources
Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our Web site at
www.LibraryVideo.com
• www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1994/4/94.04.01.x.html
The Yale-New Haven Teacher’s Institute provides teachers with educational materials related to the subject of African-American reparations in
the post-Civil War era.
(Continued)
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Teacher’s Guide Copyright 2003 by Schlessinger Media,
a division of Library Video Company
P.O. Box 580,Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620
D6770
Program Copyright 1996, 2003 by Schlessinger Media
V7010
Executive Producer:Andrew Schlessinger
Original production produced and directed by Invision Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved.
T
his guide is a supplement designed for teachers
to use when presenting programs in the United
States History series.
Before Viewing: Give students an introduction
to the topic by relaying aspects of the program
summary to them. Select pre-viewing discussion
questions and vocabulary to provide a focus for
students when they view the program.
After Viewing: Review the program and vocabulary, and use the follow-up activities to inspire
continued discussion. Encourage students to
research the topic further with the Internet and
print resources provided.
This program correlates to the following
Prentice Hall textbooks:
The American Nation: Chapter 18
America: Pathways to the Present: Chapters 3 and 7
Program Summary
The end of the Civil War marked the end of slavery and the Confederacy but
the beginning of the monumental challenges of how to readmit the southern
states into the Union, and how to ensure the liberty of over three million
newly freed African Americans. Policies for reconstructing the South would
be fought over bitterly in Congress and would shape American race relations
for the next century.
The essential debate pitted advocates of leniency towards the southern states
against Congressional Republicans who wanted to impose more stringent
rules for their readmission to the Union.After the assassination of President
Lincoln, President Johnson expressed the condition that southern ratification
of the 13th Amendment would be all that was needed for readmission to the
Union. While all southern states agreed to these terms, they proceeded to
elect many former Confederate officials to Congress, and to pass new restrictions known as Black Codes on former slaves. A bitter political fight was
underway.Against President Johnson’s wishes, Congress refused to seat the
former Confederate leaders and passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which
included military rule and ratification of the far-reaching 14th Amendment.
By 1871, all former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union
with progressive democratic governments under Republican leadership
and voting participation by freedmen. But southern resentment led to the
formation of the Ku Klux Klan, which used terrorist tactics to try to win back
political control. Also, lacking in land and capital, many freedmen were
relegated to participation in the sharecropping system, a way of life not
much better than slavery itself.
Soon the nation grew weary of the political battles and racial tension of the
time, and after the disputed election of 1876, President Hayes removed troops
from the South, effectively ending Radical Reconstruction.The southern white
establishment regained control, and the Jim Crow South, legitimized by
Plessy vs. Ferguson, helped create two separate, but unequal societies.
Although Reconstruction can be viewed as a bitter failure, it can also be seen
as a time of Constitutional reform due to passage of the Reconstruction
Amendments, acts that laid the legal foundation for the Civil Rights
movement of the 20th century.
1876 — Rutherford B. Hayes is elected president.
1877 — Military occupation of the South is ended; Radical Reconstruction
is over.
1896 — The U.S. Supreme Court decides the Plessy vs. Ferguson case.
Vocabulary
Reconstruction — A set of policies designed to rebuild the South and to
bring the southern states back into the Union under terms and conditions set
by Congress.
The Civil War — A major war in the United States between 1861 and 1865
in which northern states battled southern states that were attempting to
leave the Union.
Ford’s Theater — The Washington, D.C. playhouse where President Lincoln
was assassinated on April 14, 1865.
13th Amendment — The first of the Reconstruction Amendments, abolishing slavery.
Black Codes — Laws passed by southern legislatures right after the war to
keep ex-slaves under strict white control.
14th Amendment — The second of the Reconstruction Amendments,
granting equal rights of citizenship and legal equality to all.
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 — A series of measures that Congress
established as conditions for southern states to follow in order to be readmitted to the Union.
1868 — The 14th Amendment is ratified.
1868 — Former Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant is elected president.
1870 — The Force Acts are passed.
1870 — The 15th Amendment is ratified.
(Continued)
impeachment — An action by Congress to try a president accused of high
crimes and misdemeanors.
15th Amendment — The third of the Reconstruction Amendments giving
the right to vote to formerly enslaved people.
Freedmen’s Bureau — An agency set up by Congress to help formerly
enslaved Africans during Reconstruction, especially in terms of education.
Ku Klux Klan — An organization set up to restore white control in the
South through the use of terror and violence.
The Force Acts — Along with the Ku Klux Klan Act, laws passed by
Congress in 1870 and 1871 to protect African Americans from the Klan and
ensure their right to vote.
segregation — Separation of a group from others. In many places in
America, certain laws kept blacks segregated from whites.
sharecropping — A system of tenant farming in the South after
Reconstruction that kept ex-slaves working the land and tied to the land,
under impoverished conditions.
Jim Crow laws — In U.S. race relations, laws enacted in the South to make
segregation a fact, named after a minstrel show character.
Plessy vs. Ferguson — An 1896 case in which the Supreme Court upheld
the notion of “separate but equal.”
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Time Line
1865 — President Lincoln is assassinated.
1865 — The 13th Amendment is ratified.
1866 — Over President Johnson’s veto, the Civil Rights Act is passed.
1867 — The Reconstruction Acts are passed.
1868 — President Johnson’s impeachment trial begins; he is narrowly
acquitted.
Pre-viewing Discussion
• What were the circumstances surrounding the assassination of President
Lincoln? Ask students to speculate about why he was killed and how
history was changed as a result of his death.
• Ask students to define the terms “segregation” and “discrimination,” and
to discuss the social, economic and political effects of these practices.
Students may also describe some examples from history when people
were discriminated against.
• What is impeachment? When is this measure used and why? Ask students
to offer examples from American history about when impeachment was
used.
Follow-up Discussion
• Ask students to analyze the historic and modern impact of the 13th,
14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.What impact do students
think these Reconstruction Amendments had on the development of the
Civil Rights movement of the 1960s?
• Discuss the successes and failures of the Reconstruction period.Ask students to interpret in their own words the statement that Reconstruction
was “a half-way revolution.”
• Why is the election of President Rutherford B. Hayes also known as
the Compromise of 1877? Do students think this compromise was an
effective way to decide the election? Why or why not?
Follow-up Activities
• Many significant African-American leaders were elected to Congress
from states in the former Confederacy at the end of the Civil War. Ask
students to research the lives and assess the contributions of African
Americans who served in state and national offices such as Hiram Revels
and Blanche Bruce.An excellent guide to prominent lawmakers in the
antebellum period is Eric Foner’s Freedom’s Lawmakers: A Directory of
Black Officeholders During Reconstruction (L.S.U. Press, 1999).
• W.E.B. Dubois, famous sociologist and educator, provides comprehensive
information and analysis on the African-American experience. Break
students into small groups and ask each group to read a chapter from
The Philadelphia Negro which was originally published in 1899 — just
over thirty years after the end of slavery — and is recognized as a classic
work in the social sciences.Ask students to summarize the issues their
chapters raise and to write journal entries comparing historical and
modern integration issues.The complete text of The Philadelphia Negro
may be found at this Web site: www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/DSS/
DuBois/pntoc.html
(Continued)
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