...|Congressmen who favored vigorous Reconstruction measures held that| A)|although particular southerners had erred, the Union itself had endured through the Civil War.| B)|the Reconstruction process outlined in the Constitution should be closely followed.| C)|the president had sole responsibility for Reconstruction.| D)|the Confederate states, by seceding and making war against the United States, lost their status as states and should now be treated as conquered territories.| 2.|The First Reconstruction Act| A)|recognized the legitimacy of existing southern state governments.| B)|extended federal support for the education of freedmen in the South.| C)|guaranteed freedmen the right to vote.| D)|confiscated large southern plantations and divided them into smaller plots of land.| 3.|The black codes enacted in the South after the Civil War showed that southerners| A)|were willing to allow African Americans equality under law.| B)|sought to return African Americans to a position of servility.| C)|recognized the need for providing basic education for African Americans.| D)|would leave the destiny of African Americans up to African Americans themselves.| 4.|Andrew Johnson's initial plan for Reconstruction| A)|demonstrated an unforgiving hatred of all southerners.| B)|protected the political rights of freed slaves in the South.| C)|attempted, at least temporarily, to deny power to wealthy southern planters.| D)|failed to require the southern states to draft new constitutions...
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...After the American Civil War in 1865, the South and the country had to be rebuilt. Reconstruction is the period of time when the government helped rebuild the South after the American Civil War. However, Reconstruction was a complete failure because it lead to the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the South, and the Southern rural economy got worse. African American rights were suppressed and denied after Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan developed during Reconstruction; they murdered African Americans to prevent them from voting. After Reconstruction ended, the terrorist group assisted white Democrats in their rise to power by threatening African Americans so they would not vote. Also, African American rights were trampled and suppressed with poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause. Poll taxes forced a voter to pay a tax in order to vote while literacy...
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...1st, 2016 HIS-202 Trochim Reconstruction Reconstruction was a time era, 1863 to 1877, in American history where there was an attempt to resolve issues from the Civil War. It was a period of putting back the pieces. The Confederacy and slavery were demolished and the development of the Constitution strengthened the rights of citizens. The movement tackled the return of southern states that had estranged, the status of previous confederate leaders, and the Constitutional status of the African-Americans. Controversy on how to handle the situations and by the 1870s Reconstruction had been considered a failure for the lack of equally integrating the recently freed slaves into the legal, political, economic and social system. The Dunning School perceived Reconstruction as a failure for different reasons. They claimed Reconstruction took freedom and rights away from qualified Caucasians and gave it to unqualified African-Americans. Revisionism focused on economics, and ultimately downplayed political and constitutional issues. They claimed that the movement was an attempt by financiers, railroad builders, and industrialists to use the Republican Party to control the national government for their own selfish economic needs. There has been much debate as far as which interpretation is best. Dunning’s interpretation is best because although it views the failure of Reconstruction, it also draws attention to what Reconstruction achieved. Reconstruction allowed for former slaves to...
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...wake of the Civil War, Congress acceded to pressure to have the federal government intercede to secure African Americans' rights. What were some of the long-range effects of that government posture? The Union Victory in the Civil War in 1865 granted freedom to approximately 4 million slaves, however, the process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period 1865-1877 brought a lot of challenges. In 1865 and 1866 under the supervision of President Andrew Johnson, new Southern state legislatives passed the “black codes” to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. During the Radical Reconstruction in 1869, new enfranchised blacks had a voice in the government for the first time in American history, winning election southern state legislatives, including U.S. Congress. However, forces like Ku Klux Klan reversed changes brought by Radical Reconstruction in a violent reaction that restored white supremacy in the South. In 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction. According to him, the southern states had never given up their right to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting requirements. Under Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction, all lands that had been confiscated by Union Army would be reverted to their prewar owners. Due to Johnson’s leniency, many southern states in 1865 and 1866 successfully passed laws known as the “black codes,” which were designed to restrict...
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...The reconstruction period was a time when American waged a sustained debate over who was an American, what rights should all American s enjoy, and what rights would only some Americans possess. During this time many African Americans were released from slavery. They had to find a way to survive on their own. During the reconstruction period, America had to adjust back to the way of life before slavery and the Civil War. Throughout the article “Reconstructions and the Formerly Enslaved,” it discussed the dispute between the north and the south, the civil war, freeing of the slaves, citizenship, and economy in the south. While slave were trying to be freed, there was a huge dispute between the north and the south. White Americans in the north believed the slaves should be freed. They supported the idea of allowing the slave Americans to have a free and prosperous life. The white Americans in the south totally disagreed with the idea of freeing the slaves. Whites in the south did not agree because they would lose their biggest source of income and the productivity of their crops. They thought that it would hurt them economically because they would not have the free labor...
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...To what extent did Reconstruction (1865-77) result in progress for African Americans by 1917? Reconstruction did result in some progress for African Americans, particularly in the short term, following the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments resulting in immediate progress for African Americans, but over the period of Reconstruction and after the reintegration of southern states to the union the amount of progress reduced therefore in the long term there was very little change. Very little long term progress particularly in politics and social rights, yet some economic progress due to segregation-but this is less significant due to the negative results of segregation. Political rights were the area where there was the most regression of progress...
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...Devin Sheridan The South After The Civil War The Union victory in the civil war lead to economic decay, social disorder, and political turmoil. Reconstruction was the time period from 1865-1877 which sought to rebuild the south, and with reconstruction brought all new challenges. The unions total war tactics destroyed southern plantations, cities, and factories. Economically, the south post-civil war had a hard time importing and making money off of its main cash crop, cotton. Inflation was also an issue due to the decrease in worth of currency in the south. Socially, emancipated slave’s sought work and validation for the rights they deserved. Politically, the confederate government gave no power to the states and federal government, so it...
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...African Americans were slowing gaining rights in the south, much to the dismay of the southerns. During reconstruction, editorial cartoons were published and these cartoons were showing the political struggles in the south.(Doc 5) This document showed Grant’s policies towards the defeated south. President Grant strongly supported the reconstruction and he made strong efforts to defend the reconstruction. He was also the last reconstruction president. This political cartoon shows how African Americans were treated during this time, treated like horses who were still inferior to white people. Another example of political rights African Americans gained was the right to hold public office. In the 1870’s, the first African American in Congress...
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...The Reconstruction Era was from 1865 to 1877, following the Civil War. In this era, the United States experienced reconstruction to help restore its socioeconomic and physical environment from the aftermath of the war’s damage. Some goals included ensuring civil rights to free African Americans through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, reuniting the Southern States into the Union, and trying to restructure and build the ties between the state and federal governments. However, Reconstruction also led to the failure to protect African Americans through the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, and the economic success that was gained during Reconstruction was not evenly distributed and was unstable. Reconstruction became successful...
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...Reconstruction and Race Relations – Final Paper Reconstruction and Race Relations Paper William H. Orris Professor Ralph Millsap HIS105021VA016-1138-001: Contemporary U.S. History November 6, 2013, 2013 Reconstruction and Race Relations Abstract This paper explores race relations amongst the people after the Civil War and during the Reconstruction era of the nineteenth century. The Southern whites tried to maintain their status quo of supremacy. The following will describe techniques that the southern whites used in an effort to keep the south as it was in the antebellum. Laws were enacted to protect the civil rights of the freed people and those born in the United States. In some case these laws were stricken down by the Supreme Court. Laws were also created in the south to minimize the freedoms of the newly freed people. These laws were called “Black Codes” and “Jim Crow Laws.” In America’s south was the first domestic terrorist group the Ku Klux Klan which started as a social club in Tennessee. This paper will describe some of the issues that started in the nineteenth century and carry on today. In the south the wealthy and politically connected white people refused to let go of their way of life after the Civil War. The southerners did all they could to maintain a status quo. In their minds the war did not change anything. After the Civil War the white southern power structure used the following techniques to make the exercise...
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...After success in fighting for freedom the African Americans engaged in vigorous process of upgrading their living standards, reconnecting with their people and search for economic resources. The promise for reconstruction was facilitated by the government policies such as the Special Field Order number 15 a long side Port Royal experiment which helped African Americans acquire resources such as lands, (Holt, 1979). The program saw African Americans get access to basic needs such as education, food and healthcare. In addition, the government took a major role of establishing education and providing separate churches. However, the promise of reconstruction faced great hindrance from the radical republicans who were not happy for the advances of African American in the political field. This was mainly after the efforts of African Americans to use their numbers and unity to get hold of various offices in the government. The Radical Republicans were the Southern whites who were engaged in terrorism, murder and other violent acts in an attempt to prevent blacks from using their political rights. Jim Crow laws were laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern America. The laws developed gradually after Andrew Johnson became very reluctant in assisting the blacks in any way which gave chance to the Southern United States to develop a discriminatory legal system, (Cooper, 2009). The laws were formally enacted after the Reconstruction period where they continued to be enforced...
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...After the emancipation of slaves in 1862, the status of African-Americans in post civil war America up until the beginning of the twentieth century did not go through a great deal of change. Much legislation was passed to help blacks in this period. The Civil Rights act of 1875 prohibited segregation in public facilities and various government amendments gave African-Americans even more guaranteed rights. Even with this government the newly named “freedmen” were still discriminated against by most people and, ironically, they were soon to be restricted and segregated once again under government rulings in important court cases of the era. Reconstruction was intended to give African-Americans the chance for a new and better life. Many of them stayed with their old masters after being freed, while others left in search of opportunity through education as well as land ownership. However this was not exactly an easy task. There were many things standing in their way, primarily white supremacists and the laws and restrictions they placed upon African-Americans. Beginning with the 'black codes' established by President Johnson's reconstruction plan, blacks were required to have a curfew as well as carry identification. Labor contracts established under Johnson's Reconstruction even bound the 'freedmen' to their respective plantations. A few years later, another set of laws known as the “Jim Crow” laws directly undermined the status of blacks by placing unfair restrictions on everything...
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...merica's Post Civil War America’s Post Civil War Growing Pains HIS 105 – Contemporary U.S. History January 30, 2013 “America’s post civil war growing pains” In 1619, African-Americans were forced into slavery and roughly 244 years later, in 1863, as the nation approached its third year of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that all persons held as slaves were to be freed (U.S. National Archives & Record Administration, 2013). Despite the vague verbiage of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln, the proclamation was repressed in many ways and did not end slavery as implied, or intended (Freeman, J., 2011). In January of 1865, began the downfall of the Confederacy. In the U.S., post Civil War, Reconstruction began abolishing slavery (Freeman, J., 2011). The Union victory at War promised a new future for the South's 4,000,000 freed African-American men, women and children, who were once slaves (Freeman, J., 2011). After the Civil War ended in May 1865, freedom was to put forth new opportunities for the newly freed African-American slaves (Azpiroz, X., 2012). The year following the Civil War, congress passed the Civil Rights act of 1866 (Azpiroz, X., 2012). The civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every...
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...The Reconstruction Era commenced shortly after the Civil War, to stabilize the southern states. Lincoln took charge of this reconstruction, alongside Congress, by first establishing The Freedmen's Bureau, an agency whose goal was to help the newly “freed men” by providing education food, housing, and medical aid. However, Lincoln’s assassination followed soon after, destroying any hope for an orderly reconstruction. Andrew Johnson was sworn into office, who did not believe in racial equality and his interpolation of reconstruction was lenient toward the South, approving every Southern State (excluding Texas) creation of new governments. Some member of Congress- Radical Republicans- decided it was time for the government to intervene by giving...
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...Chapter 16, The Era of Reconstruction. Chapter 16 covers Reconstruction over Time, Views of Reconstruction, and The Significance of Reconstruction. Congressional Reconstruction responded by stipulating that former Confederate states had to ratify the Fourteenth (1868) and Fifteenth Amendments (1870) to the U.S. Constitution to protect the rights of African Americans. Congress also passed the Military Reconstruction Act, which used federal troops to enforce the voting and civil rights of African Americans. After the war, land ownership reverted to the old white elite, reducing newly freed blacks to sharecropping. White southern Republicans (scalawags) and northern carpetbaggers, worked to rebuild the southern economy. Many white Southerns, during...
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