The Reconstruction Era

Thirteenth Amendment

A change to the Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolishing slavery in the United States

Fourteenth Amendment

A change to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States and guaranteeing all citizens equal protection of the law

Fifteenth Amendment

A change to the Constitution, ratified in 1870, declaring that states cannot deny anyone the right to vote because of race or color, or because the person was once a slave

Section 3 Check for Understanding: How were African American rights furthered during the presidency of Ulysses Grant?

African Americans were elected as delegates for Southern constitutional conventions. African Americans were elected to fill state offices in the South. All male citizens were guaranteed the right to vote.

Section 4 Check for understanging: How did Southerners attempt to resist Reconstruction efforts?

All of the above (Joined the Ku Klux Klan to inimidate African Americans into not voting, tried to convince African Americans to join the Democratic party, and passed legislature to prevent African Americans from running for office)

Freedmen's Bureau

An agency established by Congress at the end of the Civil War to help and protect newly freed black Americans

How did the 1876 election affect African Americans in the South?

Because the troops enforcing the Enforcement Acts were withdrawn, the South returned to "white man's rule" and they were in the same hands as the men who held them to slavery.

Complete the chart to show how new Southern state governments limited African Americans in the South.

Black Codes Enacted During Presidential Reconstruction Limit the rights of freedmen - former slaves received the rights to marry, to own property, to work for wages, and to sue in court, but they did not have other rights of citizenship Help planters find workers to replace the slaves - required freedmen to work, and those without jobs could be arrested and hired out to planters Keep freedmen at the bottom of the social order - Most codes called for the segregation of blacks and whites in public places

Section 2 Check for understanding: Drag each term to its correct definition.

Civil Rights Act of 1866: declared freedmen as full citizens with the same rights as whites Fourteenth Amendment: granted citizenship to all people born in the United States Military Reconstruction Act: divided the South into five sections, each with a commanding general Command of the Army Act: limited presidential power over the army Tenure of Office Act: prevented president from removing officials without Senate approval

Place an adjective on the line below to describe the relationship between Congress and President Johnson during presidential Reconstruction. In each oval, give an example of this relationship.

Congress and President Johnson had a/an (difficult) relationship. Congress approved the 14th Amendment and Johnson opposed it. Johnson wanted republican lawmakers thrown out of office. Congress passed the military reconstruction act over Johnson's veto

Complete the flowchart to show the development and effects of violence against African Americans in the South.

Democrats tried to win black voters away from the Republican Party --> Southern Democrats tried to use legal means to keep blacks from voting or taking office --> Whites formed secret societies to drive African Americans out of political life --> Congress passed three laws to combat violence against African Americans making it illegal to prevent another person from voting by bribery, force, or scare tactics --> Troops enforcing the Enforcement Acts were withdrawn and the South took a giant step back, returning to "white man's rule"

How did Southern Democrats reverse gains made during Reconstruction in each of these areas? (Education, voting rights, and segregation)

Education: Southern democrats cut spending on education, saying free school was unnecessary. Voting rights: Many Southern states passed laws requiring citizens who wanted to vote to pay a poll tax. The tax was set high enough that voting, like education, became a luxury that many black Southerners could not afford. Segregation: During Reconstruction, most Southern states had outlawed segregation in public places. When Democrats returned to power, they reversed these laws and drew a "color line" between blacks and whites in public life.

Write a one-sentence summary of each change during Southern Reconstruction.

Fifteenth Amendment: guaranteed every male citizen the right to vote, regardless of race New State Constitutions: guaranteed the right to vote to every adult male regardless of race, ended imprisonment for debt, and established the first public schools in the South New State Governments: Elections were then held to fill state offices and, to the dismay of Southern Democrats, a majority of those elected were Republicans, and about a fifth were African Americans. African Americans in Office: "The colored men who took their seats in both the Senate and House did not appear ignorant or helpless. They were as a rule studious, earnest, ambitious men, whose public conduct . . . would be honorable to any race."

Who was banned by Congress from voting?

Former confederates

Who established the Freedmen's Bureau, and what was its purpose? List three activities of the bureau that helped it carry out its purpose.

Freedmen's Bureau was established by congress to help now free blacks establish their lives. The bureau- -Provided food and medical care -helped freedmen arrange for wages and fair working conditions -distributed land

Who were the three groups of new voters in the South?

Freedmen, white southerners who had opposed the war and northerners who had moved south after the war

Section 5 Check for Understanding: Following the end of Reconstruction, how did civil rights for African Americans take a step backward?

Jim Crow Laws increased segregation in public places Poll taxes prevented many African Americans from voting Plessy vs. Ferguson supported the false logic of "Separate but equal" New expenses for attending school left many African American children without an education

Jim Crow laws

Laws enforcing segregation of blacks and whites in the South after the Civil War

Black codes

Laws passed in 1865 and 1866 in the former Confederate states to limit the rights and freedoms of African Americans

Write one sentence to describe the experience of African Americans in each region (North, South, West) at the end of the 1800s.

North: Competed for jobs with recent immigrants from Europe and faced racism, if not Southern-style segregation South: Worked hard in their families, churches, and communities to improve their lives and banded together to build schools and colleges for black children West: Found work as Cowboys and Indian-fighters or found new homes American Indian nations

Inferior

Of less importance, value, or quality

List two factors that pushed African Americans out of the South after Reconstruction and two factors that pulled them toward the North.

Push: risked being attacked by white mobs, and some were lynched, or murdered, often by hanging racism and poverty Pull: better opportunities more equal treatment

Section 1 Check for Understanding: Decide if each law is part of the Reconstruction plan or the black codes enacted in the South.

Reconstruction Plan: Cancelling war debts, Thirteenth Amendment (the abolition of slavery), electing new state governments in the South Black Code: Restricting voting rights of African Americans, requiring freedmen to have jobs, segregating public places

Section 6 Check for Understanding: What were some ways African Americans responded to segregation?

Some chose to migrate to Africa Some Africans Americans moved North for better opportunity and equal treatment Those who stayed in the South worked hard to build close-knit communities

What were President Johnson's two major aims for Reconstruction? Put a star next to the aim that was achieved by the Thirteenth Amendment.

Southern States had to create new governments loyal to the to the Union and that respected federal laws. *Slavery had to be abolished once and for all.*

Explain the Supreme Court's decision in the case Plessy vs. Ferguson and the consequences of that decision.

The majority of the Supreme Court justices found that segregation laws did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment as long as the facilities available to both races were roughly equal. After the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy, states passed additional Jim Crow laws. Blacks and whites attended separate schools, played in separate parks, and sat in separate sections in theaters. Despite the Court's decision that these separate facilities must be equal, those set aside for African Americans were almost always inferior to facilities labeled "whites only."

Reconstruction

The period of time after the Civil War in which Southern states were rebuilt and brought back into the Union

Civil rights

The rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all people as citizens, especially equal treatment under the law

How did the Radical Republicans' aim for Reconstruction differ from President Johnson's? What two new laws passed by Congress helped them achieve this aim?

They believed that the South would not be completely rebuilt until freedmen were granted the full rights of citizenship. The first extended the life of the Freedmen's Bureau. The second was the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which struck at the black codes by declaring freedmen to be full citizens with the same civil rights as whites.

Why did the House of Representatives impeach President Johnson? What was the outcome of the impeachment trial?

They brought charges against him. He fired the secretary of war. They spared him from office by one veto.

Why did many sharecroppers end up in poverty and debt?

They had to borrow money from planters to buy food, seeds, tools, and supplies they needed to survive until harvest time.

What important lesson did Republicans learn in the 1868 presidential election of Ulysses S. Grant?

They learned that for a political party to keep control of the White House, it needed African American votes.

What was the dispute in the presidential election of 1876? How was it resolved?

Tilden won a majority of popular votes and 184 electoral votes, just one short of the 185 needed for election. Hayes received 165 electoral votes and twenty electoral votes from four states were in dispute. The commission awarded all 20 to Hayes, giving him exactly the 185 electoral votes he needed to win. The Democrats threatened to block the commission's decision Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress agreed to a compromise. The Democrats accepted the electoral commission's decision, allowing Hayes to become president. In return, Hayes agreed to withdraw the remaining federal troops still occupying Southern states.