Name
Date
In-Depth Resources: Unit 4
CHAPTER 15
Section 2 Congressional Reconstruction
15.2
Skillbuilder: Map & Geography
Pupil’s Edition,
pp. 328 –331
Five Military Districts
A
fter the Civil War ended in 1865, the northern
and southern states needed to reunite. According
to the Reconstruction Act of 1867, the Confederate
states, with the exception of Tennessee, were divided
into five military districts. Each district was under the
control of a Union official and armed troops. To rejoin
the Union, the Southern states under military rule
were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
Tennessee was exempted from military rule and
allowed to rejoin the Union because it had ratified
the Fourteenth Amendment.
Residents of the former Confederate states resented
military rule, but there was little they could do to
change it. Their states needed to meet the conditions
for readmission to the Union. By 1868 six states had
met the necessary requirements and regained statehood. Four of the remaining states—including
Texas—remained under military rule.
In 1869 Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment,
giving U.S. citizens the right to vote, which “shall not
be denied . . . on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.” Congress required the states
that had not fulfilled the Reconstruction Act to also ratify this amendment in order to rejoin the Union. More
than a year later, in April 1870, Texas was readmitted as
a state into the Union. This marked the end of military
rule in the state. It also brought an end to the Fifth
Military District.
40°N
District I
District II
VIRGINIA
1870
District III
District IV
35°N
District V
NORTH CAROLINA
1868
Not districted
TENNESSEE
1866
18-- Year of readmission
into the Union
SOUTH
CAROLINA
1868
ARKANSAS
1868
Copyright © Lone Star Publishing J. V.
MISSISSIPPI
1870
TEXAS
1870
ALABAMA
1868
75°W
GEORGIA
1870
ATL A N T I C
O C EA N 30°N
LOUISIANA
1868
FLORIDA
1868
Gulf of Mexico
0
0
105°W
100°W
95°W
25°
400 Miles
800 Kilometers
90°W
85°W
80°W
Texas and the Union ✯ 43
Five Military Districts continued
Interpreting Maps and the Text
1. Which state was in its own military district? Which district was it in?
2. Which pairs of states were combined into military districts?
3. Which three states were included in a single military district?
4. Which Confederate state was not placed in a military district? Why?
5. Which state was readmitted into the Union in 1866?
6. Which state made up the Fifth Military District with Texas?
7. Which states placed under military rule were the first ones to rejoin the Union?
Copyright © Lone Star Publishing J. V.
8. Which states were the last ones to rejoin the Union?
44 ✯ UNIT 4 CHAPTER 15