Reconstruction 1865-1877

Terms and Names 1. Radical Republicans 11. Ku Klux Klan

2. Reconstruction 12. lynch

3. Lincoln’s 10% Plan 13. 15th Amendment

4. Freedmen’s Bureau 14. Compromise of 1877

5. Andrew Johnson 15. carpetbagger

6. black codes 16. scalawag

7. civil rights

8. 13th Amendment

9. 14th Amendment

10. sharecropping

Day 1 Bell Work

After reading the above nursery rhyme, on page 138 of your ISN explain how this could be the story of the South after the Civil War. Think about the people that the rhyme is talking about. Who would each item in the poem resemble in the Reconstruction Era?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty back together again.

I. What is Reconstruction? A. The process the federal government used to re-admit states into the Union and rebuild the South. It lasted from 1865-1877. The main problems to be addressed:

1. Four million African Americans without housing, employment, food, or the ability to read

2. Widespread Southern destruction-homes, farms, farm equipment, businesses, roads, railroads, livestock

3. Southern political leaders integrated back into American politics

B. Radical Republicans wanted to use federal power to create new order in the South and promote full citizenship for all African Americans (ex. Senator Thaddeus Stevens)

C. Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan for Reconstruction

1. a southern state could be readmitted once 10% of its voters swore an oath of allegiance to the Union.

2. voters could then elect delegates to draft revised state constitutions and establish new state governments.

3. all southerners except for high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials would be granted full pardons.

D. Andrew Johnson becomes president after Lincoln was assassinated. His vision of reconstruction was different.

1. New state governments must ratify the 13th Amendment

2. Pardoned most white Southerners and returned their property as long as they pledged allegiance to the U.S.

Day 2 Bell Work

On page 142 of your ISN, answer the following question: Why do you think the South has been separated into five districts which are under the supervision of Generals from the North?

II. Rebuilding brings conflict A. Whites in the South passed laws to keep African Americans under control

1. black codes

-examples: African Americans had to show proof of employment or be put back to work on a plantation, illegal for African Americans to meet in groups, or own guns

B. Northern Congressmen refused to “seat” Southern congressmen

C. Radical Republicans wanted the federal government to be involved in remaking southern politics and society

1. small farms, free schools, paid labor, and political equality for all

D. Ex-Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest found the Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865 in TN

1. The goal of the KKK is to re-establish white supremacy

a. resist the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies which were put into place to establish political and economic equality for blacks.

b. strategy to terrorize white Republicans and African Americans into either voting for Democrats or not voting at all

http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan

Day 3 Bell Work

On page xxx of your ISN, answer the following question: What civil right are African Americans exercising in the painting entitled, “The First Vote” by Alfred R. Waud 1867?

III. What were the Reconstruction Amendments?

A. Three amendments are attached to the Constitution in order to guarantee African Americans their civil rights

1. 13th Amendment =slavery abolished

a. sharecropping: a system in which a landowner gave farmworkers land, seed, and tools in return for part of the crops they raised

2. 14th Amendment=citizenship for African Americans; equal protection under the law

a. Plessy v Ferguson and lynching

3. 15th Amendment=suffrage; voting rights for African American men

a. literacy tests and poll taxes

Day 4 Bell Work On page xxx of your ISN, answer the following question: Does a business owner have the right to refuse service to a person based on his or her race?

IV. What was Plessy v Ferguson?

A. Homer Plessy, a man of mixed racial heritage, was arrested for sitting in a train car that was reserved for whites only. The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy in 1896.

B. They said that segregation (i.e. the separation of races in public places) was legal as long as “separate-but- equal” facilities were provided for African Americans.

C. In practice, the African American facilities were usually “separate-and-unequal.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slDT-ac8Ft4

Day 5 Bell Work On page xxx of your ISN, answer the following question: How are African Americans being portrayed in this image? Was this cartoon drawn by a Republican or a Democrat?

V. What were some responses to Reconstruction

A. Carpetbaggers were white citizens from the North who moved into the South carrying luggage made from carpeting. They were distrusted by Southerners who believed they came to make a profit from the South’s devastation.

B. Scalawags were Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and Republicans.

C. Freedmen’s Bureau a federal government agency set up to assist African Americans after the Civil War.

Day 6 Bell Work On page xxx of your ISN, answer the following question: What is this cartoonist saying about what happened to President Andrew Johnson?

VI. Reconstruction Comes to an End

A. President Andrew Johnson is impeached

1. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act. This law stated that the President could not fire certain government officials without the approval of Senate.

2. Johnson dismissed his Secretary of War due to disagreements they had over Reconstruction. In response, Congress impeached him under this act; they formally accused him of breaking the law.

3. Johnson was acquitted by one vote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvOBAfKbiMo

B. The Compromise of 1877

1. The presidential election of 1876 was extremely close. A commission of eight Republicans and seven Democrats made a “back room” deal which resulted in the following:

a. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes is chosen as president

b. federal troops are removed from the South

c. government would offer money to build new railroads connecting the South to the West and to support new construction projects in the South

d. Hayes would appoint a Democrat to his cabinet

e. Democrats promised to respect African Americans’ civil and political rights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqivN1GqiOY