Download Reading with questions

Reconstruction
Rebuilding the Union
Complete the handout “The Challenges of Reconstruction”
READING WITH QUESTIONS
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Established by Congress in March 1865
• First American welfare system that
helped ex-slaves and poor whites with
food, clothing, education
• Biggest Success: education!!
Lincoln’s Plan
• Lenient toward the South; “with malice
toward none, with charity for all”
• Once ten-percent of a state’s voters
pledged allegiance to the Union, Lincoln
would readmit that state back into the
Union
• Congress rejected Lincoln’s “TenPercent Plan”
13th Amendment
• Prohibition of slavery
• "Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place subject
to their jurisdiction."
Johnson’s Plan
• Andrew Johnson believed in being lenient with the
South like Lincoln
• Did not consider African Americans to be on equal
terms with whites
• Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which
limited the President’s power to dismiss a member of
his cabinet
• Johnson dismissed his Sec’y of War anyway
• Johnson was impeached in 1868
• Only one vote saved him from removal
Black Codes
• Southern states tried to keep freedmen
from voting and obtaining same rights
as white people
• Passed “Black Codes”, which prevented
“persons of color” from voting, serving
on juries, testifying in court against
whites, holding office, marrying whites,
traveling freely
Congressional Reconstruction
• Moderate Republicans joined with
“Radical Republicans” – a smaller group
of Republicans who believed that the
South should be punished and that
African Americans should be granted
full political and civil equality
• Passed a civil rights bill and a bill to
enlarge freedmen’s bureau; Johnson
vetoed; Republicans overrode
Civil Rights Act
• Prohibited discrimination based on race,
thus overturning the Black Codes
• Made all persons born in the U.S. into
citizens, which gave them the same
rights as white citizens
14th Amendment
• To make sure freedmen got the rights
established in the Civil Rights Act,
Congress passed the 14th amendment
• Prevents states from denying African
Americans the rights and privileges of
citizens
• Southern states had to ratify to get
back into the Union
15th Amendment
“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”
Read and answer questions on the 14th Amendment
ACTIVITY
Reconstruction in the South
• Radical Republicans divided the South into 5
districts – each one occupied by Union troops
• New Southern governments were elected
• “Carpetbaggers” – not a nice term for
Northerners coming to the South for business
opportunities or to help freedmen
• “Scalawags” – Southern whites who
supported Reconstruction
Hiram Rhodes Revel
• Became the first African
American to be elected to
Congress in 1870
• Elected to the Senate from
Mississippi
• Fifteen other African
Americans sat in Congress
during Reconstruction
Imagine you are an African-American freedman, a Northern
“carpetbagger”, or a white “scalawag” in a Southern state. Write a
paragraph for an editorial in a local newspaper explaining your
views on Reconstruction in your state
ACTIVITY
The “New South”
• Sharecropping –
landowner provided land
and tools, farmer had to
pay back with crops
• Tenant farmers – rented
land from the landowner
but provided their own
tools and provisions
• Debt Peonage – if owed
any money at all to the
landlord, could not leave
until debt was paid
The “New South”
• New farming methods used
• New crops like fruits and vegetables
was added
• Railroads, cotton mills, and steel
furnaces were built
Reconstruction Ends with The
Compromise of 1877
• Rutherford B. Hayes was voted in as
President.
• In exchange, federal troops were
withdrawn from the South
Failure of Reconstruction
• Legacy of Racism
• Economic Dependence of African
Americans
• Freedmen Lacked Education and
Political Experience
• White Terrorism (KKK)
• Loss of Northern Interest in Southern
Reconstruction
Nadir – low point in American
race relations
• Openly targeted by the KKK
• Kept from voting through:
• Literacy tests
• Poll Taxes
• Grandfather Clauses
As a result, whites gained control of local,
state, and federal governments; became
supporters of Democratic Party (Solid
South)
“Jim Crow” laws
• Segregation
• Denied black citizens equal
opportunities and rights
• Reinforced white racism
• Conveyed message that whites were
superior
• Circumvented the 13th, 14th, and 15th
amendments
Plessy v. Ferguson
• Railroad cars were separated by race
• Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in
the white car – he sued
• The Supreme Court upheld racial
segregation
• “Separate IS equal”
Florida History
• Josiah T. Walls, former slave and Union
veteran, was first black Floridian elected to
the U.S. House of Representatives
• Jim Crow laws were in effect
• African Americans who sought work in a
turpentine camp were offered a bus ride to
camp – they had to work off the ride,
housing, and food – they became virtual
prisoners (debt peonage)
• Produced 1/5th of the world’s turpentine
Checkpoint
• What impact did Radical Republicans in Congress
have on Reconstruction?
A. They opposed the passage of the 14th amendment
B. They encouraged the freedmen to exercise their
new political rights
C. They persuaded President Johnson to pardon
former Confederate leaders
D. They prevented President Johnson from sending
federal troops to the South
Checkpoint
• What impact did Radical Republicans in Congress
have on Reconstruction?
A. They opposed the passage of the 14th amendment
B. They encouraged the freedmen to exercise their
new political rights
C. They persuaded President Johnson to pardon
former Confederate leaders
D. They prevented President Johnson from sending
federal troops to the South
Checkpoint
• What is the best contemporary definition
of a “scalawag”?
A. A Northern abolitionist who supported the
Freedmen’s Bureau
B. A Northerner who came to the South
after the Civil War
C. A white Southerner who supported
Reconstruction
D. A freedman entitled to vote
Checkpoint
• What is the best contemporary definition
of a “scalawag”?
A. A Northern abolitionist who supported the
Freedmen’s Bureau
B. A Northerner who came to the South
after the Civil War
C. A white Southerner who supported
Reconstruction
D. A freedman entitled to vote
Checkpoint
• What was an important effect of the sharecropping
system and debt peonage?
A. Freedmen achieved social and political equality in
the South
B. Freedmen played an important role in local and
state government
C. Freedmen achieved economic independence from
their former masters
D. Freedmen often remained in a state of economic
dependence on their former masters
Checkpoint
• What was an important effect of the sharecropping
system and debt peonage?
A. Freedmen achieved social and political equality in
the South
B. Freedmen played an important role in local and
state government
C. Freedmen achieved economic independence from
their former masters
D. Freedmen often remained in a state of economic
dependence on their former masters
Checkpoint
• Which two groups most helped the freedmen
during the Reconstruction Era?
A. Radical Republicans and carpetbaggers
B. Northern Democrats and Ku Klux Klan
members
C. Southern Democrats and supporters of the
Black Codes
D. Confederate veterans and supporters of
President Andrew Johnson
Checkpoint
• Which two groups most helped the freedmen
during the Reconstruction Era?
A. Radical Republicans and carpetbaggers
B. Northern Democrats and Ku Klux Klan
members
C. Southern Democrats and supporters of the
Black Codes
D. Confederate veterans and supporters of
President Andrew Johnson