APUSH CHAP 15 LEARNING CURVE

What was the Union League, which began in the late 1860s?

A powerful political club for grassroots Radical Republicans → Beginning in the late 1860s, the Union League served as a powerful political club for grassroots Radical Republicans.

Which adjective accurately describes Republican state governments in the Reconstruction South?

Ambitious in goals -- Reconstruction governments were ambitious indeed, trying to undertake impressive reforms in public education, family law, social services, commerce, and transportation.

How was Reconstruction taught in American children schools at least until the 1960s?

As the illegitimate regime of lazy blacks -- After "Redemption," generations of schoolchildren were taught that ignorant, lazy blacks and corrupt whites had imposed illegitimate Reconstruction "regimes" on the South.

Why did the freedmen insist that they needed to receive grants of land?

As the only way to guarantee their freedom -- The freedmen wanted both political freedom and economic autonomy and needed land in order to achieve the latter. Without land, former slaves were left poor and vulnerable.

Under President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plan, how could high-ranking Confederate military officers regain their property and win amnesty?

By petitioning the president -- Johnson demanded that high-ranking officials go beyond the oath he required of everyone else and petition directly to him for a pardon.

Why did Congress believe it was important for military commanders in the occupied South to supervise new state constitutional conventions?

Congress wanted to ensure that new constitutions guaranteed black suffrage. -- Under the Reconstruction Act of 1867, southern states would rewrite their constitutions while under military occupation. Part of the military's objective was to prevent ex-Confederates from resuming leadership and to ensure that African Americans had protected access to political participation.

What position did Frederick Douglass assume on the issue of women's voting rights during Reconstruction?

Douglass asked women to allow black male suffrage to take priority -- At a convention of the Equal Rights Association, Douglass pleaded for white women to understand the plight in which former slaves found themselves, and to allow black male suffrage to take priority, saying, "When women, because they are women, are hunted down, . . . dragged from their homes and hung upon lampposts, . . . then they will have an urgency to obtain the ballot equal to our own."

Which of the following best assesses the role of Ulysses S. Grant in the impeachment crisis of 1868?

Grant had stepped down as secretary of war in favor of Edwin Stanton, precipitating the crisis. -- Andrew Johnson had suspended Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Radical Republican, and replaced him with Union General Ulysses S. Grant. But when the Senate overruled the suspension, Grant resigned and asked Stanton to resume his post. Johnson's subsequent firing of Stanton led to the vote to impeach him.

By the late 1870s, how did the majority of freedmen and freedwomen in the South live?

In poverty with uncertain political rights -- The majority of freedpeople remained in poverty, and by the late 1870s, their political rights were also eroding.

What general trend can be seen in the Reconstruction measures shown in this table?

Increasing congressional efforts to ensure the rights of African Americans -- All of the acts listed except the Tenure of Office Act were focused on protecting the civil rights of African Americans.

What was radical about the Fourteenth Amendment?

It defined citizenship in national rather than state terms. -- In a stunning increase of federal power, the Fourteenth Amendment declared that when people's essential rights were at stake, national citizenship henceforth took priority over citizenship in a state.

What benefit did sharecropping offer African Americans over the old institution of slavery?

It ended gang labor and allowed freedmen to work on their own terms. -- As sharecroppers, freedmen and freedwomen managed to resist gang labor and work on their own terms.

What statement describes Abraham Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan for Reconstruction?

It included general amnesty to all but high-ranking Confederates willing to pledge loyalty to the Union. -- Lincoln's plan was a generous attempt to avoid violence and prolonged conflict while the South began the process of reintegrating its political and economic systems with the North. It included a general amnesty to all but high-ranking Confederates willing to pledge loyalty to the Union and required that only 10 percent of white males take a loyalty oath for readmission.

Why did the Grant administration's reaction to the depression that began in 1873 deepen resentment toward Washington Republicans?

It rejected calls for providing relief for debt and unemployment. -- Grant's officials deepened public resentment toward their party when they rejected pleas to increase the money supply and provide relief from debt and unemployment.

As of 1876, which state no longer had any U.S. military units remaining?

Mississippi -- Democratic "redeemers" took control of Mississippi by 1875.

In an 1865 published letter to his former master in Tennessee, Jourdon Anderson asked "if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane. . . . I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters." Judging by this statement, what was one of the most important benefits of black freedom after the Civil War?

Safety from a master's sexual violence -- Anderson's letter to his master derides the latter for his past violence and exploitation, and this particular passage points to the relief African Americans—women as well as their fathers and husbands—must have felt at being able to escape the violence and sexual assaults of their masters.

What does the map suggest about the nature of southern black institutions during Reconstruction?

They had to form beyond the borders of plantations. -- The central institutions of the black community—the church and the school—were built outside the boundaries of the Barrow Plantation.

Why were Supreme Court decisions of the 1870s and 1880s regarding the Civil War amendments and civil rights acts significant?

They restricted the impact of these amendments and rulings. -- Despite the loss of power to "Redeemers" in the southern states, Reconstruction could have had lasting impact if landmark constitutional amendments and federal laws remained in force. But in a series of rulings, the Supreme Court closed off this avenue for the pursuit of justice.

Which provision was part of the Wade-Davis Bill of July 1864, the first congressional plan for Reconstruction?

Those who had fought against the United States could not form new governments. -- The Wade-Davis Bill provided that new governments could only be formed by those who had never taken up arms against the North.

Which institutions were a central focus of African American culture in the Reconstruction South?

churches -- Independent churches quickly became central community institutions, as blacks across the South left white-dominated congregations, where they had sat in segregated balconies, and built churches of their own.