Reconstruction
1865-1877
Terms and Names
1. Radical Republicans
2. Reconstruction
3. Lincoln’s 10% Plan
4. Freedmen’s Bureau
5. Andrew Johnson
6. black codes
7. civil rights
8. 13th Amendment
9. 14th Amendment
10. sharecropping
11. Ku Klux Klan
12. lynch
13. 15th Amendment
14. Compromise of 1877
15. carpetbagger
16. scalawag
Day 1 Bell Work
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.
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?
I. What is Reconstruction?
A. The process the federal government used to readmit 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-butequal” 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