A
(400) What were some of the failures of the Reconstruction Era? (Provide 3+ specific examples)
- terrorist violence by groups like the KKK, ex. "vigilantism—when unauthorized people take the law into their own hands" and "lynching—the act of executing people without legal authority"
- "poll taxes, a voting fee that many couldn’t afford"
- "segregation laws forced Black Americans to use separate and inferior public facilities, such as bathrooms, train cars, and motels"
- "vagrancy (homelessness) laws allowed the arrest of people who appeared
unemployed"
- "sharecropping ... involved Freed People leasing plots from landowners and paying rent by turning over a share, or portion, of their crops. But sharecroppers were at the
mercy of landowners. Owners could raise the rent, threaten eviction, or throw sharecroppers in jail for not fulfilling their work contracts. The system often left Black farmers trapped in a cycle of poverty."
- "Using the convict-leasing system, prisons rented Black inmates to businesses
for a fee that was cheaper than hiring workers. Inmates did hard labor and
their “pay” went to the state." ex. "coal mines and railroads"
(100-200) What protections did the 15th Amendment add to the Constitution?
voting rights regardless of race: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude"
**award 200 points for additional details about women's voting rights and the 19th amendment
(200) What do historians mean by the term "manifest destiny"?
"The idea held by many in power that America was meant to grow so democracy and freedom could spread."
Also: "Manifest means obvious. Destiny means a future that has already been determined by a divine source (God)."
Another definition: "The concept that the US was "destined" by God to expand into different territories and take over other communities."
(100-200) What protections did the 13th Amendment add to the Constitution?
Abolished slavery: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
**award additional points if the prison loophole is explained
(100-200) What are the roles of the three branches of government?
**award 200 points for a detailed answer with some of the parenthetic info
Legislative: makes the laws, (includes Congress, i.e., House of Representatives + Senate)
Executive: carries out the laws (includes the President, their Cabinet, federal agencies and departments)
Judicial: evaluates the laws (includes the Supreme Court and other courts and judges)
In theory, there are three branches so that they can check and balance each other!
(200) What was the Trail of Tears?
another term for American Indian Removal, or "the forced displacement of 60,000 peoples [Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw] ... from 1830 to 1850."
began with the Indian Removal Act of 1830
"forced to abandon homes, belongings, and ancestral grades" and to walk under military pressure to "newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River," now Oklahoma. Thousands died on the journey.
(100-200) What was "secession" and how did it start the Civil War?
**points depending on level detail
Slave states in the South decided they would be better off as a separate nation that allowed slavery, so they seceded from the U.S. Secession means separation or breaking away. But President Abraham Lincoln did not want the nation to be divided. War began between the southern states, which called themselves the Confederate States of America, and the northern states, which were still known as the United States of America. President Lincoln led the United States during the war.
(100-200) What are treaties, and what role did they play in the 1800s North America?
They are agreements between governments; the U.S. government made many treaties with indigenous nations; the U.S. often broke those treaties by taking land, rights, and sovereignty away from indigenous nations.
**additional points with supporting examples
(400) Describe and cite 2+ ways the U.S. government and white settlers justified expansion. (I did not write an answer, so your approximate citations are part of your response to win points.)
Note: Answer may include use of religious or other propaganda, speculation and land ownership, access to resources, U.S. Mexico-War, anti-indigenous ideas, etc. (I did not write an answer, so your approximate citations are part of your response to win points.)
(100-200) What was the Fugitive Slave Act?
a law that "penalized citizens for helping enslaved people who escaped slavery. It required citizens to cooperate with the process of returning enslaved people to their enslavers."
**award additional points with supporting examples and/or connections to English class texts.
(100): What does the term "federal" mean?
relating to the national government (ex. U.S. country, not state or city)
(200+) What two main protections did the 14th Amendment add to the Constitution? (for the extra 100 pts each, explain how specific Supreme Court cases clarified the protections of the amendment)
birthright citizenship and equal protection: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Cases include United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), Elk v. Wilkins (1884), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
(100) What does the "Reconstruction Era" refer to?
"(1865–1877), the period after the Civil War when the government was rebuilding the nation," including laws, policies, infrastructure, and other systems.
(400) Describe and cite 2+ ways in which indigenous peoples resisted removal. (I did not write an answer, so your approximate citations are part of your response to win points.)
Note: answer may include covert and/or overt examples of resistance by the Cherokee, Muskogee, and/or other peoples. (I did not write an answer, so your approximate citations are part of your response to win points.)
(300) Why did Congress make Missouri Compromise (1820) and the Compromise of 1850? What were the basic details of the compromises?
To maintain balance (voting power!) in the Senate between states that supported and opposed slavery.
1820: "Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, and a new state—Maine—would be created as a free state. To avoid future problems, they also mapped out which parts of the rest of America’s territory could become slave and free states."
1850: ""California would become a free state, but the new territories of Utah and New Mexico would decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. As part of the bargain, slave trading would become illegal in Washington, D.C., the nation’s largest slave market.""
(400) What were some of the successes of the Reconstruction Era? (Provide 3+ specific examples other than the Reconstruction Amendments)
- Black politicians and lawmakers: "estimated 2,000 Black Americans held public office at the local, state, and federal levels during Reconstruction"
- "Justice Department (1870) established the federal government’s legal team—lawyers who ensured that the Reconstruction Amendments and federal laws were followed. How? By pursuing, charging, and taking to court those who violated people’s civil rights."
- "The Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) was tasked with helping Freed People create independent lives. ... Freedmen’s Bureau chapters, placed throughout the South, distributed food and clothing, provided shelter and healthcare, and built public hospitals and schools. Bureau workers provided Freed People with legal assistance, negotiated labor contracts, and helped locate family members who had been sold to other plantations."
- non-governmental community organizations ex. Black churches, Black mutual aid societies, Black-owned banks and stores, Black colleges and universities, etc.