SENATE IMMERSION
MODULE [SIM]
Reconstruction
THE ENFORCEMENT
ACTS OF 1870-1871
The United States was torn apart by the Civil War,
and in the years that followed, the nation struggled
to put itself back together. Five years following the
war’s end, Congress debated the Enforcement Acts legislation meant to define the roles of the state and
federal governments in the enforcement of the 13th,
14th, and 15th amendments. In the
Reconstruction SIM, participants will grapple with a
variety of issues facing the postbellum Senate,
including (1) Is the protection of voting rights the
responsibility of the states or the federal
government? (2) For how long, and to what extent,
should federal programs like the Freedmen’s Bureau
continue? (3) Can the federal government intervene
in trials of terror organizations like the Ku Klux
Klan, and in what capacity? (4) In light of the
enfranchisement of recently freed slaves, should the
United States government grant amnesty to former
confederates and grant them the right to vote and to
hold elected office? The answers to these and other
questions would cause a realignment in the 19th
century political landscape, ultimately set the stage
for American political life in the modern era.
AUTHORS
Andrea Doremus-Cuetara, Nick Hubbard,
Ann Huntington, Abigail Hynes-Houston,
Daniel Nagler, Greg Trefry, Matthew Wilding
INSTITUTIONS
Gigantic Mechanic, Facing History & Ourselves,
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United
States Senate
DATE
2015
KEYWORDS
14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, Civil War,
Confederacy, Freedmen, Reconstruction
REVIEWERS
Edward L. Ayers, Tucker-Boatwright Professor of
the Humanities, President Emeritus, University
of Richmond; Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of
History, St. Olaf College