explain the goals of reconstruction, what happened to the...

Explain the goals of Reconstruction, what happened to the freed

slaves and how did Reconstruction finally end?

Reconstruction (18GS-1877) - In the spring of 1865, the Civil War came to an end, leaving over 620,000

dead and a devastating path of destruction throughout the South. After the war the south had to be

reconstructed (rebuilt) and there were a number of areas that needed repair.

Documents

Document A- Strategic Planning

Document B- Interview with its Director

Document C- Sharecroppin

Document D- Southern Politics

Document E- Timeline of Violence

Document F- Freedom won and lost

Document G- Worse than Slavery

I When the Civil War ended, large areas of the United States, particularly in the South, lay

in ruin. The cost of reconstructing the nation was expected to be enormous. But how should the nation be rebuilt? What punishment if any, should be inflicted on the South and the Confederate leaders? What should be done for the newly-freed slaves?

Debate about these and other issues began long before the war's end. Before his assassination, Lincoln had supported aplan aimed at healing the bitterness between the North and South. He wanted to grant amnesty to any Confederate. who would swear loyalty to the national government. Many in Washington, however,disagreed and proposed their own plan. .

When Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, became president, he proposed a "middleof.,the-road" plan. Responding to members of Congress who called themselves "Radical Republicans," hisplan required Southerners to notonly declare loyalty to the Union bulalso to disavow their acts of secession, abolish slavery, and refuse to repay any war debts to banks, citizens,or others. Even so, the. Radicals were not satisfied, .. especia/!y when .it became clear that most Southerners were .insincere in their loyalty oaths and any statements ofreg ret they made.. . . . When the, .R~dical Congress ·passed its own. piansforReconstruction t tension between

Congress and Presigent Johnson increased. The situation worsened until 1868 when Congress impeached the president, though the Senate fell one vote short of convicting him..

In the end a Congressional plcinwasexecuted and the South was "reconstructed," but bitterness remained. While once again part· of the Union, the South· maintained its identity and ideas and effectively ignored many df the laws and requirements which had been imposed.

Given the information in the passage, write adefinition for "Reconstruction.1! _____

Based on the limited amount of information given in the passage, would you say that Reconstruction was a success orfajlure7 Explain your reasoning. ________

©InspirEd Educators, Inc. 9

--------------------..........---The Ten Percent Plan (1863)

While the war was still being fought, President Lincoln began planning for the eventual Reconstruction of the United States. In 1863 he announced an offer to pardon any Confederates in states already under Union control. According to his plan, all that was required was for the Confederates to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union. When ten percent of the state's citizens had done so, and when the state had abolished slavery, it would be welcomed back into the Union. By war's end Lincoln added the requirement that freed slaves should be given the right to vote.

The Wade-Davis Bill

Viewing Lincoln's plan as far too lenient, Republicans in Congress offered their own Reconstruction plan in 1864. The Wade-Davis Bill required southern states to disavow their acts of secession, refuse to repay any Confederate war debts, and, of course, to abolish slavery. It also required a majority (more than 50%) of citizens to take a loyalty oath before a state could rejoin the Union. Furthermore, it required Southerners to swear that they had never voluntarily supported the Confederacy.

Andrew Johnson's Plan

Johnson's 1865 Reconstruction plan was basically a compromise between those offered by Lincoln and by Congress. As Lincoln had, Johnson offered amnesty to Confederates who would swear loyalty to the Union. He also required the states to disavow their acts of secession, abolish slavery, and refuse payment of war debts as Congress had required.

In accordance with Johnson's plan, all of the southern states except Texas began the Reconstruction process. Though South Carolina refused to apologize for secession and Mississippi refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery, Johnson announced the success of his plan by the end of the year. As it turned out, many of those elected to office in the states were former Confederate leaders. Therefore, in an act of protest, Congress refused to seat the newly elected representatives from the southern states.

Radical Republican Reconstruction

By the fall of 1866 it was evident to many that the reconstructed South was neither sorry for its role in the war nor willing to make changes to give the freed slaves required rights of citizenship. Consequently, when elections were held in 1866, Radical Republican candidates who favored punishing the South won twothirds majorities in both houses of Congress. These large majorities insured that Congress could override all presidential vetoes, so Congress set about to redo Reconstruction.

The former Confederate states were divided into five military districts and put under martial law. States were then required to ratify the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizenship to freed slaves, adopt new state constitutions, and hold new elections in which Black citizens could vote. The states complied with the "letter of the law" but had not adhered to the "spirit" by the time Reconstruction ended.

'©InspirEd Educators, Inc. 10

DIRECTIONS: Considering what you have learned about Reconstruction and 215t century hindsight, record your group's comments for each question:

Summarize the challenges the United States faced in reconstructing the nation.

Summarize the concerns of Southerners about being reconstructed into the Union.

Which Reconstruction planes) or plan elements do you think would have had the greatest success? Why?

Which Reconstruction planes) or plan elements do you think would have met with the most opposition? Why?

Given your knowledge of race relations in the United States since the Civil War, what do you think SHOULD have been done to reconstruct the South into the Union?

~ ©InspirEd Educators, Inc. 11 o

Reprinted from Ins')irEd American Monthlv, 1875

In April our editor sat down with l.1ajor General Oliver Otis Howard to discuss the United States Bureau if Rifugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Though the "Freedmen's Bureau, " as it was commonly ca lled, only c1ficially existed for one year, it actually functioned from 1865 to 1872. InspirEd Am.-erican wanted to talk to 1'vIajor General Howard about the Bureau and its impact ten years after the war ended and theformer slaves werefreed.

Q - Major General, why do you think you were selected to head up the Freedmen's Bureau?

A - I had been in the army a long time and had fought in many of the battles in the Civil War. I think that since Congress created the Bureau with funding from the Department of War, it made sense that President Johnson would choose a military leader to head it.

Q - Could you tell me a little about the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau?

A - \-Vell, more than four million people had been enslaved. When they ,vere freed, most were helpless, homeless, and jobless. The government knew ahead of time that this ,vould be case and set up a commission in 1863 to decide how to cope with the problem.

The commission reported to Congress in March of '65 and recommended the formation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Congress created the Bureau officially for only a but it continued operating until 1872.

Q - What exactly was the mission of Freedmen's Bureau?

A - Basically to help the freedmen in any way they needed. It should be noted, though, that the intent was to help them get on their feet so they could take care of themselves.

Q - That still seems like a monumental task! vVhere did you start?

A vVe started with the basics: food, clothing, fuel, and shelter. Then we worked on tougher issues. In order to protect their rights and see that, when they did jobs, they were paid fairly, we set up temporary courts. We didn't have much money or manpower to keep that going, though, so we turned that task over to local courts and then just helped with lawyers and such.

Q - I understand it, the Bureau did not receive any money from government. How then did you pay for ANY of these services?

A - We ,vere funded somewhat by the Department of \-Var, but \ve also earned money from the lands we managed. After the war government confiscated lands from some wealthy Confederates. Our goal was to give each freed slave "forty acres and a mule," but that would take time. In the meantime we rented out the lands and used the money to fund our work

. ©InspirEd Educators, Inc.14

Q - But few freedmen, if any, ever received their land and mule, did they?

A - That's true. In the end only about 2,000 tracts of land in South Carolina and 1,500 in Georgia were given to freed slaves. Most of the lands were returned to their original owners after they were pardoned by President Johnson.

Q - That would mean that you also lost that source of money for your work. Ho\v did you keep the Bureau going without money?

A - Besides funding from the War Department, we also worked closely with other aid groups. For example, one of our main tasks was to help educate the freedmen who wanted and needed to learn to read and write. We set up schools and universities with a great deal of help from the American :rvfissionary Association.

Q - Why was education so important? :rv10st freedmen found work as field hands.

A - That's true, but they needed to be able to protect themselves from white landowners who could have them sign unfair contracts. It is also important to be able to read and write in order to make good voting decisions and as a group to work their way up in the world.

Q - O.K., so the Freedmen's Bureau helped educate the freed slaves, looked after their legal rights, and gave a few some land. What else did it do?

A - We helped them find jobs and negotiate fair labor contracts, \ve reunited family members who had been separated during slavery, and we provided health care. To that end we built a number of hospitals. And back to education, the Bureau did a great deal to find and train teachers.

Q - Based on all you're saying, it sounds like the freedmen should have been able to support themselves and move up in the world, butthat hasn't happened. What went wrong?

A - Many things went wrong; some within the Bureau but mostly the fault lies with the southern whites. Southerners were used to Negroes as slaves have deeply held feelings of racism. It seems impossible for them to see people they've always thought of as "property" as their equals. They have and are doing all they can to prevent that from being the case.

Q - vVhat went wrong \vithin the Bureau?

A - Corruption. Not all of our workers were as trustworthy as I \vould have hoped. Unfortunately some took advantage ofthe very people they were hired to serve.

Q - In the end, though, do you feel like the Freedmen's Bureau made a difference?

A - I like to think that we helped at least somewhat.

Q - Ifyou have nothing more to add, I'd like to thank you for speaking with me.

A - Thank you.


After the Civil War much was done that was good for the freedman (freed slaves) but bad things were

also done. Fill in the chart with things done "Right" and "Wrong." Be ready to explain your ideas.

RIGHT WRONG

After the Ci\il \Var plantation uwners had to find another labor force to replace the freed slaves in farming the land. Yet many of these. Southerners were broke, having lost their slaves, thebulk of their assets, as well as any money they spent to support the failed war effort.

Freed slaves, on the other hand, certainly did not want. ta be ordered around by their former masters. They believed their years of labor earned them the "forty acres and a mule" promised, though few actually received it.

Out of these difficulties a new system emerged to take the place of slavery. In order to keep former slaves working on their farms, planters developed tenant farming. Most tenant farmers were sharecroppers, though a smaller number were able to rent the land with cash. In either case life was hard.

In the sharecropping system, black farm hands or poor "vhites agreed to work the fields, and the ovvners provided the land along v,ith everything needed to farm it: mules, tools, and seeds. Then the sharecroppers and white owners were supposed to split whatever money was made from the harvest.

The problem with the system vvas that more often than not, the money tenant farmers earned from their crops was not enough to support their families through the year. To address this, planters gave their tenants credit at plantation stores set up near their land. It wasn't long before almost everything the tenants earned from their fields went to paying the owners back for all they had bought at the plantation store.

Based on passage information, write your own definitions for: tenant farming ~ _________________________

sharecropping ~ ____________~____________

Which definition BEST FITS the use of the word "assets" in the first paragraph? A. a useful or valuable quality B. an advantage or resource that is of benefit C. a valuable item that is mvned D. a spy in hislher own country, controlled by the enemy

What conclusion could be dravvn based on this passage? A. Most plantation owners grew wealthy from the system of tenant farming. B. Tenant farming and sharecropping created a cycle of poverty in the South. C. vVhite sharecroppers fared far better than black farmers in the system. D. Plantation stores solved most of the problems faced by tenant farmers.

Sharecroppers' lives would MOST LIKELY be described as A. faithless. C. reconstructed. B. prominent. D. impoverished.


D The 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave the vote to all male citizens

without "account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This amendment paved the way for African Americans to participate in the political process for the first time.

Yet African Americans did not only become voters; many were also elected to represent people at the local, state, and national level. During the years of Reconstruction, fourteen black representatives and two black senators served in the U.S. Congress, though none served as governor of a southern state. In fact it was only in the state of South Carolina that the number of black officeholders truly reflected the numbers of Black voters there.

Many African Americans elected to offices had been free before the Civil War. Most were educated, landowners, and some were church leaders. Black voters helped keep Repu blicans in control of the South by voting to support the "party of Lincoln." Many African American men ably served their country during Reconstruction. Pictured (at right) are Senator Hiram Revels, along with Representatives Benjamin Turner, Josiah Walls, Joseph Rainey, Robert Brown Elliot, Robert De Large, and Jefferson Long.

Although African Americans had enough power to elect some of their leaders, they did not hold a voting majority across the South. I n most states they needed white support. White RepUblicans, mainly farmers who had leaned toward the Union during the Civil War, were called "scalawags" by many in the South. These southern Republicans supported programs such as public education, road construction, and steps to rebuild the southern economy. White northerners who went South after the war for job opportunities or to serve in the army overseeing Reconstruction were also Republicans; they were called "carpetbaggersll by former Confederates.

According to the passage, most people elected to office in the South during Reconstruction were

A. Republicans. C. African-Americans. B. Northerners. D. Southern Democrats.

Based on the passage, it can be concluded that most former Confederates A. supported the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. B. voted for Republican candidates during Reconstruction. C. resented having black representatives in Congress. D, were friends with many carpetbaggers and scalawags.

Most Southerners viewed "scalawags" and "carpetbaggers" as A. honorable. B. supportive. C. despicable. D. educated.


1865 Lincoln assassinated; succeeded by Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat. 1866 Memphis Massacre; white civilians and police killed 46 African Americans,

burned ninety houses, nvelve schools, and four churches. New Orleans ,Massacre; police stormed a Republican meeting of blacks and whites, killing at least 40 and wounding more than 15O. Ku Klux Klan formed.

1867 1868 Opelousas .Massacre in Louisiana; 200-300 freedmen killed.

Black legislators expelled in six southern states. 1869 1870 1871 1875 Clinton, Mississippi l\lassacre; more than 20 freedmen killed. 1876 Race riots and terrorism directed at blacks in South Carolina; President

Rutherford B. Hayes sent in federal troops to restore order. 1877 Reconstruction ends; federal troops withdraw from the South and federal

efforts to protect African Americans end.

, Adapted from memorv.loc.gov/ammem/aapltimeline.html

Which of these titles would be MOST APPROPRIATE for the timeline? A. "Reconstruction" B. "Growing Racism" ,C. "African-Americans" ,D. "Deaths in the South"

Which pair ofevents does NOT illustrate a cause / effect relationship? A. Lincoln assassinated; succeeded by Andrew Johnson B. Police killed 46 African Americans; burned ninety houses C. Terrorism directed at South Carolina Blacks; troops sent in D. Reconstruction ends; federal troops withdraw from the South

What conclusion could be drawn based on information in the timeline? A. Andrew Johnson was the United States president from 1865 to 1877. B. The South was more violent in the 1870's and 1880's than the North. C. Murders ofAfrican Americans were an almost everyday occurrence. D. AfricanAmericans' lives did not improve after Reconstruction ended.

'Which event could have appeared on this timeline? A. Supreme Court ruling on Dred Scott case; Scott denied right to fIle suit. B. Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to' slaves in southern states. C. Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed voting rights for all American citizens. D. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox Court House.

28 ©InspirEd Educators, Inc.

"l\tly name is Jacob Ward, age 40 and a field hand. I lived in slavery here in Texas 'til 'bout two years ago when I was freed. It was glorious to know that no man owned me no md, but that joy didn't last. 'Bout as quick as we was given our rights, the state set about to take 'em away.

The whites started writing one law after the other called Black Codes to limit what we, and I mean black folks, could do and not do. I'll start by tellin' what we could do; then I'll tell ya'll how laws made sure we couldn't do most of that. Accordin' to the laws, we could make contracts and wills and lease property, and we supposedly had the right to safety and freedom. Course that wasn't true.

Other laws said we couldn't vote, hold any offices, serve on any juries, give sworn statements in courts oflaw, or marry anybody white. Then more laws said we couldn't ride on the same trains as whites or go to the same schoo:s or hospitals. It just seemed like them Black Codes kep' on comin.' One law said our schools couldn't get no money from the state, like white public schools do. Another said we was not eligible for public lands that was bein' passed out.

All that was bad, but the worst laws was about us workin'. Them whites needed workers on they farms and was determined to make us black folks do that work one way or another. Course if they could make us work for free like . . befo' when we was slaves, they saw that as all the better, so laws was made to help 'em out. One of these here laws is the apprentice law. It says young folk can be required to work either cause they Mama and Daddy say so or the courts do, which they do a bunch. \Vhite landowners get people to work for years just for giving them food, clothing, medicine, and such. Sounds like slavery to me!

Another one, the contract law, says everybody gotta have a contract to work anYl.vhere for md than a month. Course most contracts ain't fair, since the land owners can cut our pay for near 'bout anything: not doin' as we told when we told; wastin' time; takin' stuff they say don't belong to us; going places without permission; oh, just all kinds of stuff. Anyways, it all ain't fair but they's not a whole lot we can do, cause if we ain't happy we get to take our case to a local court and get listened to by a justice of the peace and two landowners. Yeah, like they gonna help us out! Oh, and then they's the vagrancy law and the convict law, both of which get free labor for the whites. Anybody doin' nothin' can be forced to do somethin' -like work the fields. Same for anybody arrested.

Lots of black folks was thinkin' that the Freedmen's Bureau would just come along and help us out of this mess, but that ain't happened. They busy. I hear tell that them Republicans in Washington is doin' somethin' bout it, though, tryin' to make up they own laws to get rid of the Black Codes. I hope they do!"


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'~:~i~:jlY' .. ~\~ The' KKK '","

«After the elections of'66 when the Radical Republicans took over Congress, it seemed as if things would improve for us and for a time they did. My name is Ida Coleman, vvidow of Guilford Coleman) who served as a state delegate in the Republican Party. It's been a year since his death, and I feel that people should know what happened to him and others here inAlabama.

vVhen the Radicals came to power in Washington, they immediately set about passing laws to end the Black Codes and other injustices in the South. They

'pushed through their own Reconstruction Plan and made the states ratify the 15th Amendment, giving free black men the vote. Our lives t.~en improved since we frnally had a say in our own destinies. It was wonderful but short-lived.

Obviously the whites here don't want blacks as their equals) and a number of the men have been taking measures to end our newly-found freedom. They have . oined together in a not -so-secret organization called the Ku Klux Klan. In fact

. group, which began in Tennessee, was started by a Confederate general! The rise of the Klan and other hate groups have certainly taken their toll in

freedom and lives. Nighttime raids on blacks and whites who sympathize us are intended to cause terror and do. People are attacked, beaten, and

,,' Their "targets" are random at ,times, black people at the wrong place in tiple,but they also target specific people for specific reasons. ,1'v1y husband was killed for being a black politician. I should point out,

that to look at him one would not necessarily have even known he was ',,~4.'''''~. Being a quarter Negro,however,exceeds the limit set by the old Black

. Under those laws anyone who was 1/8 black or more was restricted. ,In any event my husband was murdered shortly after he returned from the

oRepublican convention in Springfield, 1\1issouri. One of a number ofblack licans, he had a' bright future in the party. Then in August he was

by a band of Klansmen dressed in white sheets and hoods and was His bodywas found the next day in an old well, mangled.

'Like I said, he was one of many. Just in Greene County alone) the list is long. '~:"""~'''''''''''J'u.,-.l Boyd, a white Republican official was killed in the hallway of his

house in the county seat at Eutaw. Thomas Johnson, Levi Smiley, J ones, and Samuel Snoddy were all murdered by the Klan. Others have

tried on trumped-up charges and hanged. Toney Cliff, Barry Harris, Fredrick, William Hall, Essex Hendric, and too many more were

And then there's William Luke, a white Sunday school teacher. ucated, kind, and a Christian gentleman, he was killed for caring.

This violence must end!))

~JPSPIllEd Educators, Inc. 31

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./ ~. Jim Crow Laws

"I am Bishop H.l\1.. Turner of the African IY1ethodist Episcopal, or AME, Church. I feel that I must speak out about a terrible miscarriage of justice. In this United States, the so-called 'land of the free/ it is shameful that the Supreme Court of the nation should agree to strip colored people of the few rights we have thus far achieved.

Though progress toward equality of the races has been painfully slow since our people were freed from slavery, some small gains have been made. The 1870

Force Bill passed by Congress, giving the president the ability to send federal troops in to stop the activities of the Klan and other such groups in the South was a good first step. Then the Civil Rights Act of 1875 granted our people 'full and equal enjoyment of public facilities.'

Of course these laws have not ended the violence against our people, and many states have passed Jim Crow laws. Such laws require the segregation of schools, hospitals, and other facilities. Abuses continue, but to have them upheld by the highest court in the land in this year of 1883 is inexcusable!

Last week the Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The decision in a case about railroads and other public sites stated that the 14rll Amendment granting citizenship to all Americans did not mean that black people could go anywhere and do anything they pleased. It said that individuals and companies could still decide if and where they wanted Negroes.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has ruled against the black man. Other cases have already paved the way for this unfair decision. Ten years ago the court ruled that the 14th Amendment only prohibited state laws that discriminated against blacks as a class, meaning it did not apply to individuals deprived of their rights.

In 1876 the Court said that it was fair for convicts to have their fines paid by another whom the convict would have to repay with work. That same year it ruled in another case concerning a massacre of 180 black people in Louisiana. In that case the Court decided those dead people were not killed as a result of their race, and that there was no evidence that the massacre was a civil rights case!

I am not a lav'vyer and do not know the letter of the law, but I am a human being, a creature of God, and I know that I am no different in God's eyes from a white man. I know that I and aU men and women deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. I know that no man or state or nation should be able to deprive me of my God-given rights. Even the Declaration of Independence says ALL men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, that is not the case today."


mailto:l0jlm.@Jt~l

WorseThan Slavery by Thomas Nast, 1874 Cr

From www.csubak.edu{;"'gsantos/img0053.html

What is the main theme or issue addressed in the cartoon? ______

Look carefully at the cartoon's detalls. What do the various figures, symbols,labels, and exaggerations mean? _______________

What did Nast want his viewers to think? ____________


DBQ Essay Outline Guide

Title

Paragraph #1

Grabber: Sentence that is created to get the reader's attention.

Background: When and where did Reconstruction take place?

Stating the question: Restate the DBQ question in your own words.

Thesis: Identify the three major topics in the DBQ question.

Paragraph #2

Baby Thesis: What was the goal of Reconstruction?

Evidence: What documents support your argument? Give specific examples from the document

in your body paragraph.

Argument: !dentify the goals of Reconstruction and figure out if they were successful.

Paragraph #3

Baby Thesis: Explain what happened to freed slaves during and after Reconstruction.



Argument: What rights did freed slaves gain and then lose?

Paragraph #4

Baby Thesis: How did Reconstruction finally end?



Argument: !dentify the reasons why Reconstruction came to an end.

Paragraph #5

Conclusion: Restatement of the thesis

Insight: Why was Reconstruction viewed as a success and a failure? Why do many historians

blame Reconstruction for the rise of racial tensions? How did the Civil Rights movement of the

1960s fix the mistakes of Reconstruction?