AP U.S. History: Chapter Guides
Chapter 15
America’s History, Chapter 15, “Reconstruction, 1865-1877”
Key Concept: Reconstruction and the Civil War ended slavery, altered relationships between the
states and the federal government, and led to debates over new definitions of citizenship,
particularly regarding the rights of African Americans, women, and other minorities.
The Struggle for National Reconstruction
Presidential Approaches: From Lincoln to Johnson (p. 478-481)
1. Compare the policies in the 3 initial plans for Reconstruction.
Policy
Lincoln’s plan
Wade-Davis Bill
Johnson’s plan
Treatment of ex-
What wereleaders
the two provisions of the failed “Crittenden Compromise?”
2.Confederate
Requirement for states’
reentry to the Union
2. Give 2 examples of developments in southern states in 1865-1866 that illustrate the effort to sustain white
supremacy.
Congress Versus the President (p. 481-482)
3. How did the election of 1866 shift the balance of power between Congress and the President?
Radical Reconstruction (p. 482-485)
4. Under the Reconstruction Act of 1867, what conditions had to be met before a rebel state could be readmitted
to the Union?
5. On what grounds did the House impeach Andrew Johnson in 1868?
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AP U.S. History: Chapter Guides
Chapter 15
Woman Suffrage Denied (p. 485-487)
6. How did the debate over the 15th Amendment lead to a split within the women’s movement?
7. Where in the U.S. did women first receive full voting rights in 1869?
The Meaning of Freedom
The Quest for Land (p.487-493)
8. What did Congressman Thaddeus Stevens propose regarding land in the South?
Why did so few of his Republican colleagues support this idea?
9. Describe the system of “sharecropping” that became the norm in the South.
What were the disadvantages of this arrangement for laborers?
Republican Governments in the South (p. 493-495)
10. What group of voters was most essential to the electoral success of the Republican Party during
Reconstruction?
11. Identify 2 ways the Freedmen’s Bureau supported former slaves in the South.
12. List 4 examples of the achievements of Republican-led governments in the South during Reconstruction.
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AP U.S. History: Chapter Guides
Chapter 15
Building Black Communities (p. 495-496)
13. What role did churches play in the creation of post-emancipation black communities?
14. Why did Senator Charles Sumner struggle to find supporters for a proposed Civil Rights Bill in the early
1870s?
The Undoing of Reconstruction
The Republicans Unravel (p. 497-498)
15. How did economic conditions in 1873 undercut the Republicans’ programs in the South?
16. What happened during Grant’s second presidential term that reduced his credibility and prestige?
Counterrevolution in the South (p. 498-499)
17. What was the nature of the process of “Redemption” in southern states?
18. Why was it necessary for the federal government to enact “Enforcement Laws” in the early 1870s?
Why did prosecutions under these laws drop off after 1872?
Reconstruction Rolled Back (p. 499-501)
19. Explain the significance of the congressional election of 1874.
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AP U.S. History: Chapter Guides
Chapter 15
20. Why was the result of the 1876 presidential election disputed?
How did the resolution of the question help spell the end of Reconstruction?
Lasting Legacies (p. 501-504)
21. Why did many Americans in other parts of the nation accept Democratic control of the South when it was
clear that the “Redeemer” Democrats had used violence to gain power?
22. Use the table below to identify at least 3 successes and 3 failures of Reconstruction.
Successes of Reconstruction
Failures of Reconstruction
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AP U.S. History: Chapter Guides
Chapter 15
SUMMARY: Use the chapter summary on p. 504-505 to fill in the blanks.
Postwar _____________ faced two tasks: restoring ______________ states to the Union and
defining the role of _______________ _________. After Lincoln’s _________________, his successor,
__________ ___________, hostile to Congress, unilaterally offered the South _____ _____ for reentering
the Union. Exploiting this opportunity, southerners adopted oppressive ________ ________ and put ________________ back in power. Congress __________ Johnson and, though failing to convict him, seized
the initiative and placed the South under _________ rule. In this second, or ________, phase of
______________, Republican state governments tried to _____________ the South’s ____________ and
_______ institutions. Congress passed innovative _______ _______ _____ and funded new agencies like
the ____________ ___________. The ______________ Amendment defined U.S. _____________ and
asserted that states could no longer supersede it, and the ______________ Amendment gave ________
______ to formerly enslaved _____. Debate over this amendment precipitated a ______ among ________
________ advocates, since women did not win inclusion.
____________ found that their goals conflicted with those of Republican leaders, who counted on
_______ to fuel economic growth. Like southern landowners, national lawmakers envisioned former slaves
as ______________, while freedmen wanted their ____ ______. ________________, which satisfied no
one completely, emerged as a compromise suited to the needs of the cotton market and an
________________, credit-starved region.
Nothing could reconcile ex-Confederates to ______________ government, and they staged a
violent ______________ in the name of ______ supremacy and “_______________.” Meanwhile, struck
by a massive economic __________, northern voters handed Republicans a crushing defeat in the election
of 1874. By ______, Reconstruction was dead. _______________ __ _______ narrow victory in the
presidential election of that year resulted in ______________ of the last Union _______ from the South. A
series of ___________ ________ decisions also undermined the Fourteenth Amendment and civil rights
laws, setting up legal parameters through which, over the long term, ___________________ and
________________ would flourish.
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