Reconstruction 1

Question 1

Reconstruction

Answer 1

A program to repair the damage to the south and restore southern states to the Union from 1865 to 1877

Question 2

Southern damage

Answer 2

2/3 of shipping industry destroyed
9000 miles of railroad ruined as well as farms and machinery
Farm property value plunged by 70%
A generation of men lost, 1/3 of southern men killed or wounded

Question 3

Name the post war groups in south:

Answer 3

Black southerners
Plantation owners
Poor white southerners

Question 4

Black southerners post war

Answer 4

4 million freed now starting new loves

Many homeless, jobless and hungry

Question 5

Plantation owners post war

Answer 5

Lost slave labor worth $3 billion. Many couldn’t afford to hire workers so had to sell property to pay debts

Question 6

Poor white southerners post war

Answer 6

Hard to find work with new job competition. Many migrated to MS and TX

Question 7

Ten percent plan

Answer 7

Proposed by Lincoln
Tone of forgiveness
Did not readmit because secession was unconstitutional
1. Pardon those who take oath and accept 13th amendment
2. Denied pardons to Confed military, govt officials, southerners who killed African POWs
3. State conventions to create constitution when 10% of voters swore allegiance
4. Then state could hold elections and participate in Union. Did not require voting rights for Africans

Question 8

Radical Republicans

Answer 8

Reconstruction’s goal is total restructuring of society to guarantee black people true equality.
Thought Lincoln was too lenient

Question 9

Wade Davis Act

Answer 9

Congress’s first plan
Passed in 1864 but Lincoln let die in pocket veto
1. Ex Confeds required to take oath of past and future loyalty, swear they never willingly bore arms against US
2. Southern states must abolish slavery
3. >50% of citizens must take loyalty oath

Question 10

Pocket veto

Answer 10

Don’t sign in 10 days and Congress is not in secession

Question 11

What is a pardon?

Answer 11

Official forgiveness of crimes

Question 12

13th amendment

Answer 12

Ended slavery

Question 13

Lincoln’s successor

Answer 13

Andrew Johnson

TN slave owner, supported by poor white southerners, generous to south

Question 14

Presidential Reconstruction

Answer 14

1. Pardon South if swear allegiance
2. Hold state conventions
3. State required to void secession, abolish slavery, repudiate Confed debt
4. State elections, then join Union

Question 15

Johnson officially denied pardons but…

Answer 15

Personally pardoned 13,000 southerners

Question 16

40 acres and a mule

Answer 16

Free people felt entitled to land and wanted it for blacks economic independence.
1865: Sherman set up a land distribution experiment in SC that divided coastal lands into 40 acre lost to give to freedmen. Johnson returned most land to original owners, but small scale unofficial redistribution took place

Question 17

Charlotte Forten

Answer 17

1860: 90% of black adults were illiterate.
Forten was a wealthy black women from Philly who believed in educating freedmen.
1865-1870: black educators found 30 African American colleges

Question 18

Freedmen’s Bureau

Answer 18

First major federal relief agency created by Congress to help black southerners adjust to freedom. Gave out clothing, medical supplies, meals to the poor. More than 250,000 Africans received first formal education in bureau schools. Dismantled in 1869

Question 19

Black codes

Answer 19

White people still dominated south. Southern states formed laws that restricted Freedmen’s rights

1. Curfews: no gathering after sunset
2. Vagrancy laws: fined, whipped or sold for a year’s labor if unemployed
3. Labor contracts: signed agreements in Jan for a year’s work, lost wages if quit
4. Land restrictions: rent or own in rural areas only

Question 20

Civil Rights Act

Answer 20

Congress upset with black codes and felt that Johnson helped return S Dems to power.
1866 passed Civil Rights Act that outlawed black codes
Vetoed by Johnson by overrode.

Question 21

14th amendment

Answer 21

Passed after Civil Rights Act

Guaranteed Africans equal protection under the law

Question 22

Radical vs Moderate Republicans

Answer 22

Small but influential vs Support mainstream views.
Both drafters of 14th amendment.
Both hated Johnson’s plan, opposed black codes, wanted to expand Repub party in South.

Question 23

Violence against Africans

Answer 23

Riots in New Orleans and NY, many stabbed, shot, hanged.
Police joined stabbings, lootings, hangings.
STILL Johnson opposed equal rights for blacks

Question 24

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Answer 24

Radicals in Congress

1. Military Rule: 5 southern districts governed by N generals
2. State elections: create new constitutions
3. State laws: all qualified makes including blacks can vote
4. Banned Confed supporters from voting
5. Equal rights for all citizens
6. Ratification of 14th amendment

Question 25

Edwin Stanton

Answer 25

Lincoln appointee to Secretary of War.
In 1868, Johnson tried to fire him because he would preside over military rule. Challenged Tenure of Office Act of 1867, which placed limits on Pres power to hire and fire, needed SemTe approval.

Question 26

Impeachment

Answer 26

House found firing of Stanton unconstitutional.
Voted to impeach- charge with wrongdoing in office.
Senate fired him for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Needed 2/3 Senate vote to remove, escaped by one vote

Question 27

Election of 1868

Answer 27

Repub Ulysses S Grant vs Dem Horatio Seymour
Close race but Grant won
Now Congress and Pres are allies

Question 28

15th amendment

Answer 28

Freedmen demanded right to vote, hold office, serve on jury, testify.
Passed by Congress Feb 1869, ratified March 1870.
Stated that no citizen may be denied right to vote based on race, color, previous condition of servitude.

Question 29

As part of the Reconstructiom Act of 1867, military registered freedmen.

Answer 29

735,000 freedmen joined voting rolls. 80% of newly registered Africans voted. 1/4 of 1000 delegates to 10 state conventions were African.
LA and SC chose an African majority of delegates

Question 30

Texas vs White

Answer 30

Supreme Court ruled secession illegal in 1869

Upheld Congress’s right to restructure Southern governments and added new support for federal power over states rights

Question 31

Carpetbaggers

Answer 31

White northern Republican who moved South. Take advantage of rebuilding for money and new black vote for political power.

Question 32

Scalawags

Answer 32

White Southern Republicans, often poor
“Scrawny cattle”
Seen as traitors and profiteers