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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
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
(4) immigration laws such as the
Gentleman’s Agreement and the
Chinese Exclusion Act
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
8. The provision of the Radical Republicans’
plan for Reconstruction that Southern
States found most objectionable was that a
former Confederate State could not be
readmitted to the Union unless that State
(1) gave land and money to former
slaves
(2) granted full citizenship to former
Confederate leaders
(3) ratified the 14th amendment
(4) agreed to modernize its economy
9. After the passage of the 13th, 14th, and
15th amendments, African Americans
continued to experience political and
economic oppression mainly because
(1) the amendments were not intended to
solve their problems
(2) many African Americans distrusted
the Federal Government
(3) Southern legislatures enacted Jim
Crow laws
(4) poor communications kept people
from learning about their legal rights
10. “No state shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges . . . of
citizens . . . nor shall any state deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law. . . .”
The major purpose of these provisions of the
7. How were many African Americans in the 14th Amendment was to
South affected after Reconstruction ended
(1) limit the power of the federal
in 1877?
government
(1) A constitutional amendment
(2) expand the civil rights of women
guaranteed their social advancement
(3) maintain competition in business
(2) The Freedmen’s Bureau helped them
(4) protect the rights of African
become farm owners.
Americans
(3) Jim Crow laws placed major
restrictions on their rights.
(4) Southern factories offered them job
training and employment
opportunities