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What was the difference between a tenant farmer and a sharecropper?

A tenant farmer paid rent for the land they farmed. A sharecropper was a tenant farmer who did not pay their rent in cash but instead they paid a share of their crops.

Identify how African Americans helped govern the South during Reconstruction. How did African Americans participate in politics during Reconstruction?

African Americans helped govern the South during Reconstruction by becoming administrators and legislators and worked in all forms of government from mayor to police chief to school commissioner to the state legislator to Congress

Why did many Southerners hate other Southerners who supported Reconstruction, calling them scalawags?

Many Southerners hated other Southerners who supported Reconstruction because they wanted to change the government and give blacks more rights and the Southerners liked the government the way it was.

Was Grant a good president? Defend your answer with support.

No, he had little political experience and his belief that the president's role was to carry out laws and leave the development of policy to Congress left him weak and ineffective. His lack of experience helped divide the Republican Party and undermine public support for Reconstruction.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the south and go positions in the South's new state governments. They were called Carpetbaggers because they had suitcases made of carpet fabric and were viewed as intruders.

Redemptiom

Southern Democrats working to regain control of their state and local governments from Republicans. Southern terrorists groups intimidated African Americans and White Republican voters while some Democrats resorted to election fraud.

Why did many Southerners resent Northerners who came South to implement Reconstruction, calling them carpetbaggers?

Southerners resented Northerners who came to the South to implement reconstruction because they saw them as intruders seeking to exploit the south and called them carpetbaggers because some game with suitcases made of carpet fabric

Why was the Compromise of 1877 considered the end of Reconstruction?

The Compromise of 1877 was considered the end of Reconstruction because the Republicans agreed not to nominate Grant for a third term and to nominated Rutherford Hayes and Hayes wanted to end Radical Reconstruction.

How did the lives of African Americans change and not change in the South during Reconstruction.

The Fifthteenth Amendment allowed many freedmen to take part in governing the South. African Americans went from being enslaved laborers to legislators and administrators. Churches became the center of their communities and with the help of Northern charities they established schools for the South.

How did the federal government react to the Southern resistance groups that developed during Reconstruction?

The Ku Klux Klan's activities outraged President Ulysses S. Grant and congressional Republicans. Congress passed three Enforcement Acts to combat the acts of violence in the South. The first act made it a federal crime to interfere with a citizens right to vote, the second act put federal elections under the supervision of federal marshals and the third outlawed activities of the Klan.

How did the South's postwar economy force many African Americans into difficult circumstances?

The collapse of Reconstruction ended African Americans' hopes of being granted their own land in the South. Instead, many returned to plantations owned by whites, where they either worked for wages or became tenant farmers, paying rent for the land which they farmed.

Why was the life of a sharecropper difficult? How did crop liens trap sharecroppers?

The life of a sharecropper was difficult because they did not pay their rent in cash they paid a share of their crops often as much as one half to two thirds. Crop liens trapped sharecroppers because many sharecroppers needed more seed and supplies than their landlords could provide so the country sold them supplies on credit and to pay their debts merchants put liens on their crops which meant merchants could take their crops to pay their debts which led to sharecroppers into a financial condition called debt peonage. Debt peonage trapped sharecroppers on the land because they could not make enough money to pay off their debts and leave nor could they declare bankruptcy.

Describe the problems that led to the end of Reconstruction.

The rising power of the Democrats made enforcing REconstruction more difficult. Many Northerners were also becoming more concerned with their own economic problems than with conditions in the South.

Describe the job options for whites and blacks in the "New South" during Reconstruction.

The south remained larges agrarian and only a small percentage of the labor worked in manufacturing. African Americans became tenant farmers and sharecroppers.

Sharecropper

a farmer who works land for an owner who provides equipment and seed and receives a share of the crop

Tenant Farmer

a farmer who works land owned by another and pays rent in either cash or crops

Ku Klux Klan

a large terrorist group and secret society organized to terrorize African Americans and white supporters of Reconstruction started by former Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee. It grew rapidly throughout the South and it's goal was to drive out Northern reformers and politicians to keep African Americans from voting or exercising rights in any given way.

Crop lien

an obligation placed on a farmer to repay a debt with crops

sin tax

federal tax on alcohol and tobacco

Debt Peonage

he condition of sharecroppers who could not pay off their debts and therefore could not leave the property they worked

Graft

the acquisition of money in dishonest ways, as in bribing a politician

"Black Republicanism"

the government with predominantly carpetbaggers that southerners couldn't strike openly against African Americans

Scalawags

white southerners who worked with the Republicans and supported the reconstruction

What were the differences between carpetbaggers and scalawags?

Carpetbaggers were from the North and Scalawags were from the South.

What role did churches and schools play in the lives of African Americans during and after Reconstruction?

During reconstruction churches often became the center if African American communities and promoted social values and settled disputes and they housed schools. Once freed, African Americans immediately sought an education. In the first years of reconstruction, the Freedmen's Bureau, with the help of Northern charities, established schools for African Americans in the South. The comprehensive school system grew into a network of African American colleges and university.

How did political and economic issues during the Grant administration weaken Reconstruction?

Grants belief that the president's role was to carry out laws and leave the development of policy to Congress left him weak and ineffective which led to dividing the Republican Party and undermine public support for Reconstruction. Grant reinforced Reconstruction and expanded its economic programs by keeping tariffs high, tightening banking regulations and increased federal spending which was met by hostility from the Democrats.