Reconstruction and Rights
This amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States.
What is the 13th Amendment?
The Freedmen's Bureau instructed freedpeople about their right to vote and told them they would be protected from violence when exercising that right.
What does this evidence suggest about the political situation during Reconstruction?
African Americans gained political rights, but threats and violence made exercising those rights dangerous.
These laws were created by Southern states shortly after the Civil War and restricted the freedom and rights of African Americans.
What are Black Codes?
This group of Republicans in Congress wanted stronger protections and political rights for formerly enslaved people and stricter requirements for the former Confederate states.
Who were the Radical Republicans?
What was one major long-term economic consequence of sharecropping?
Many African Americans became trapped in cycles of debt.
This amendment established citizenship for people born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteed equal protection of the laws.
What is the 14th Amendment?
A Freedmen's Bureau official wrote that a Black person who disagreed with an employer could be attacked by armed and disguised men.
What does this source suggest about freedom after slavery?
Legal freedom did not always provide protection from violence or control by white Southerners.
A student claims, "African Americans were completely free after the 13th Amendment." Give one piece of evidence that challenges this claim.
Black Codes, racial violence, sharecropping, or restrictions on political participation.
Congressional Reconstruction divided the South into five of these and placed the region under military oversight.
What are military districts?
What happened when federal troops were removed from the South after Reconstruction?
Southern states were able to institutionalize racial discrimination more extensively, including through Jim Crow laws.
This amendment prohibited the government from denying a citizen the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
What is the 15th Amendment?
A sharecropping contract requires a farmer to pay rent and repay debts for supplies. If he cannot pay, his property can be seized.
What conclusion is best supported by this evidence?
Sharecropping could trap farmers in debt and limit their economic independence.
Which provides stronger evidence that African Americans experienced limited economic freedom after slavery: the passage of the 13th Amendment or the sharecropping contract?
The sharecropping contract, because it provides direct evidence of how economic relationships could restrict freedom.
Why did Congress disagree with Andrew Johnson's approach to Reconstruction?
Congress believed Johnson's approach was too lenient toward the former Confederate states and did not adequately protect African Americans' rights.
The Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the idea of "separate but equal."
It allowed racial segregation and Jim Crow laws to continue.
A student argues: "The Reconstruction Amendments completely ended racial inequality in America." Which evidence from the period would be the strongest evidence against this claim?
The continued use of Black Codes, racial violence, and later Jim Crow laws.
A historian writes that many African Americans worked as sharecroppers because they lacked land and had few economic opportunities.
What historical development does this evidence help explain?
Why sharecropping became widespread in the post-Civil War South.
Construct a two-sided historical argument answering:
Were African Americans free during Reconstruction?
Give one piece of evidence supporting "yes" and one supporting "no."
Answers may include:
Yes: The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments expanded legal and political rights.
No: Black Codes, violence, and sharecropping restricted economic, political, and personal freedom
A historian claims that the Radical Republican plan was "radical" because it attempted to transform the political and social structure of the South.
Which evidence best supports this claim?
Military Reconstruction, African American male suffrage, and requiring Southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment.
The Compromise of 1877 is significant to Reconstruction because it resulted in what major change?
The removal of federal troops from the South.
A historian claims that Reconstruction expanded the federal government's responsibility for protecting individual rights. Which two pieces of evidence from the unit would best support this claim?
The 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and federal enforcement of Reconstruction laws/military Reconstruction.
You are given two sources:
What claim could a historian make using both sources?
Reconstruction expanded African Americans' legal and political rights, but violence and resistance limited their ability to exercise those rights.
A historian wants to argue that Reconstruction produced both significant progress and significant limitations for African Americans.
What evidence would make the strongest argument?
The constitutional amendments and increased Black political participation, combined with evidence of Black Codes, violence, sharecropping, and later Jim Crow.
Compare Lincoln's Reconstruction approach with the Radical Republican approach. What was the major difference in their goals for Reconstruction?
Lincoln emphasized a relatively quick reunification of the nation, while Radical Republicans wanted stronger political and social changes in the South and greater protections for African Americans.
A historian makes the following claim:
"Reconstruction expanded freedom and political rights for African Americans, but it failed to provide lasting protection against racial discrimination."
Identify THREE pieces of historical evidence that could be used to support this claim.
Strong answers could include: