Chapter 12 Reconstruction
Essential Question
What were the political struggles, accomplishments, and failures of Reconstruction?
Alabama Course of Study
Compare congressional and presidential reconstruction plans, including African-American political participation.
 Tracing economic changes in the post-Civil War period for whites and African Americans in the North and South,
including the effectiveness of the Freedmen’s Bureau
 Describing social restructuring of the South, including Southern military districts, the role of carpetbaggers and
scalawags, the creation of the black codes, and the Ku Klux Klan
 Describing the Compromise of 1877
 Summarizing post-Civil War constitutional amendments, including the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth
Amendments
 Explaining causes for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
 Explaining the impact of the Jim Crow laws and Plessey versus Ferguson on the social and political structure of
the New South after Reconstruction
 Analyzing political and social motives that shaped the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 to determine their longterm effect on politics and economics in Alabama
Vocabulary
1. Andrew Johnson
2. Reconstruction
3. Radical Republicans
4. Freedmen’s Bureau
5. Black codes
TH
TH
6. 14 Amendment
7. Impeach
8. 15 Amendment
9. Scalawag
10. Carpetbagger
11. Hiram Revels
12. 40 Acres and a mule
13. Sharecropping
14. Tenant farming
15. Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
16. Panic of 1873
17. Redemption
18. Compromise of 1877
19. Home-rule
12.1 The Politics of Reconstruction
1. How would you describe Lincoln’s Reconstruction policy?
2. Explain Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan.
3. What did Radical Republicans want to do to the South?
A.
B.
4. Did the Radical Republicans support Lincoln’s 10% Plan?
5. Who became president after Lincoln was assassinated?
6. Explain Johnson’s, Presidential Reconstruction Plan.
7. How would you describe Presidential Reconstruction to the 10% Plan?
8. What was the one major difference between Johnson’s plan and Lincoln’s plan?
9. What were the Radical Republicans upset with about Johnson’s and Lincoln’s plans?
10. What did Congress do to the newly elected southern legislatures?
11. Who was the Freedmen’s Bureau set up to help?
12. What were some restrictions black codes placed on African Americans?
13. Who did Congress feel should be in charge of Reconstruction?
14. What did Johnson’s vetoing of the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and Reconstruction Act of 1866, show about how he felt
about African Americans gaining greater rights?
15. What did the Reconstruction Act of 1867 do?
A.
B.
C.
16. Why did Johnson veto the Reconstruction Act of 1867?
17. Who impeaches federal officials?
Who tries the federal officials?
18. What was Johnson charged with?
12.2 Reconstructing Society
1. What were some major problems that needed to be fixed in the South?
2. Who made up the majority of scalawags in the South?
3. Why did carpetbaggers move to the South?
4. Who made up the largest group of Southern Republicans?
5. Why do you think freed slaves wanted to learn to read and write?
6. When did African Americans enjoy their greatest political freedom?
7. What was the purpose of 40 acres and a mule?
8. Why did Johnson end land reforms to help freed slaves?
9. What was the goal of sharecropping and tenant farming?
10. What actually happened to most sharecroppers and tenant farmers?
12.3 The Collapse of Reconstruction
1. What were the goals of the KKK?
2. How did the Amnesty Act help change the political power in the South?
4. What was going on in Grant’s administration causing people to turn away from the Republican Party?
5. How did the Slaughterhouse and Reese decisions affect African American’s pursuit of civil rights?
6. What brought an end to Reconstruction?
A.
B.
12.1 The Politics of Reconstruction
1. How would you describe Lincoln’s Reconstruction policy?
Lenient on the South
2. Explain Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan.
He favored a lenient Reconstruction policy. The government would pardon
all Confederates except high-ranking Confederate officials and those accused
of crimes against prisoners of war who would swear allegiance to the Union.
After ten percent of those on the 1860 voting lists took this oath of allegiance,
a Confederate state could form a new state government and gain representation
in Congress.
3. What did Radical Republicans want to do to the South?
A. wanted to destroy the political power of former slaveholders.
B. wanted African Americans to be given full citizenship and the right to vote.
4. Did the Radical Republicans support Lincoln’s 10% Plan?
No
5. Who became president after Lincoln was assassinated?
Andrew Johnson
6. Explain Johnson’s, Presidential Reconstruction Plan.
Each state would have to withdraw its secession, swear allegiance to the
Union, annul Confederate war debts, and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment,
which abolished slavery.
7. How would you describe Presidential Reconstruction to the 10% Plan?
Very similar
8. What was the one major difference between Johnson’s plan and Lincoln’s plan?
Johnson wished to prevent most high-ranking Confederates and wealthy
Southern landowners from taking the oath needed for voting privileges.
9. What were the Radical Republicans upset with about Johnson’s and Lincoln’s plans?
failed to address the needs of former slaves in three areas: land, voting rights,
and protection under the law.
10. What did Congress do to the newly elected southern legislatures?
Refused to admit them.
11. Who was the Freedmen’s Bureau set up to help?
Freed slaves and poor whites
12. What were some restrictions black codes placed on African Americans?
prohibiting blacks from carrying weapons, serving on juries, testifying against
whites, marrying whites, and traveling without permits. In some states, African
Americans were forbidden to own land.
13. Who did Congress feel should be in charge of Reconstruction?
Congress
14. What did Johnson’s vetoing of the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and Reconstruction Act of 1866, show about how he felt
about African Americans gaining greater rights?
He did not support greater rights for African Americans.
15. What did the Reconstruction Act of 1867 do?
A. divided the other ten former Confederate states into five military districts,
each headed by a Union general.
B. voters in the districts including African-American men would elect delegates
to conventions in which new state constitutions
C. state had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
16. Why did Johnson veto the Reconstruction Act of 1867?
he believed it was in conflict with the Constitution.
17. Who impeaches federal officials?
House of Representatives
Who tries the federal officials?
Senate
18. What was Johnson charged with?
Violation of Office of Tenure Act
12.2 Reconstructing Society
1. What were some major problems that needed to be fixed in the South?
Replacing or rebuilding charred buildings, railroads, bridges, roads,
farms, and population.
2. Who made up the majority of scalawags in the South?
Poor white farmers
3. Why did carpetbaggers move to the South?
1. To exploit the South’s postwar turmoil for their own profit.
2. Some were teachers, ministers, Freedmen’s Bureau agents, and to
start new businesses.
4. Who made up the largest group of Southern Republicans?
African Americans
5. Why do you think freed slaves wanted to learn to read and write?
It was their way to achieve social, political, and economic equality.
6. When did African Americans enjoy their greatest political freedom?
During Reconstruction
7. What was the purpose of 40 acres and a mule?
To allow former slaves to make a profit and be able to purchase their own land.
8. Why did Johnson end land reforms to help freed slaves?
He felt the Constitution did not give the federal government the power to
take land away from citizens.
9. What was the goal of sharecropping and tenant farming?
To make enough profit to eventually purchase their own land.
10. What actually happened to most sharecroppers and tenant farmers?
Most remained poor.
12.3 The Collapse of Reconstruction
1. What were the goals of the KKK?
To restore white supremacy.
Restore the Democrats back into power.
2. How did the Amnesty Act help change the political power in the South?
Allowed for former Confederates/ Democrats to vote and to take control
of state and federal offices.
4. What was going on in Grant’s administration causing people to turn away from the Republican Party?
Corruption and scandal
5. How did the Slaughterhouse and Reese decisions affect African American’s pursuit of civil rights?
Hurt African Americans’ pursuit of civil rights by limiting federal
government’s ability to protect those rights.
6. What brought an end to Reconstruction?
A. The Amnesty Act
B. The Compromise of 1877