Reconstruction Era (1865 - 1877) Flashcards
List some positives of reconstruction
(Legislation and African Americans)
- The reconstruction amendments
- The rise of elected black officials
- The Freedmen’s Bureau
List some failures of reconstruction
(African Americans, white response, end of reconstruction)
- Problems of the Freedmen’s Bureau
- White violence
- Black codes
- The compromise of 1877
Name some key events from the presidency of Lincoln
- Readmission of the Southern States into the union
- The 13th Amendment
- The Freedmen’s Bureau
- Lincoln’s assassination
What was Lincoln’s attitude to reconstruction?
- Unclear
- Did not seem to want to punish the South
- Did seem to be moving towards more rights for African Americans
Name some key events from the presidency of Johnson
- Civil Rights Bill 1866
- The 14th Amendment
- Attempted impeachment in 1868
- Congress for Radical Reconstruction (Military Reconstruction Bill, Command of the Army Act, Tenure of Office Act)
What was Johnson’s attitude to reconstruction?
- Very opposed to radical reconstruction
- Lenient on the South
Name some key events from the presidency of Grant
- White terrorists
- Legal discrimination
- Final policies of reconstruction (15th Amendment, Ku klux klan laws, Civil Rights Act 1875)
- The failure of radical reconstruction
- Many scandals
What was Grant’s attitude to reconstruction?
Supported Reconstruction but not passionately enough
Explain how Reconstruction was not harsh on the South
Only 1 execution, no major confiscation of property
What was the overall economic effect of Reconstruction?
Positive effect on US economy overall
What were some proposed reasons for Westward expansion?
- No overriding motive
- Initial settlers were followed by immigrants
- Deliberate policies of the Federal government
- Manifest Destiny
What was Manifest Destiny?
- The belief that God had chosen the White Americans to populate the whole of America
- Incorporation into the US and indoctrination with Christian and Republican values would liberate other American territories
- Used to justify white colonial expropriation of Native American lands
What were federal territories?
- Land was divide into territories which were subject to US law
- Settlers were encouraged
- Once population of a territory reached 60,000 they could apply to become a state
Describe the Homestead Act
- 1862
- This released 160-acre plots of land, available to farmers for free as long as they promised to farm the land for at least 5 years
- By 1865, 20,000 homesteaders had arrived on the plains
Describe the Sand Creek Massacre
- 1864
- 700 poorly disciplined volunteer troops and cavalry attacked an undefended camp of the Cheyenne tribe
- Men, women and children killed
Describe the Great Sioux War
- 1876
- Discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota
- At first, gov tried to keep prospectors out but it proved impossible
- Next, gov offered Native Americans $6 million for the land
- NA refused so gov decided they were being unreasonable and demanded all NA return to their reservations by 31st January 1876
- Some never received the threat, some chose to ignore
- Gov decided to use the US Army to wipe out all NA from the Blackhills
Describe the Battle of Little Bighorn
- 25th June 1876
- George Custer and his men were sent to round up Sioux and Cheyenne tribes who had left the reservation and were refusing to return
- Without waiting for the rest of the force to arrive, Custer and his men attempted to encircle the camp
- His unit immediately came under attack and all 200 were killed
Describe Reservation Policy
- The policy of forcing Native Americans to live on government controlled reservations
- This would enable the government to ‘Americanise’ them through conversion to Christianity, a formal education system and training to become farmers
- Life on the reservations was harsh and reliance on the government was humiliating
Describe how the impact of the Civil war stimulated industrial growth in this period
- Demand for goods developed mass production and ditribution
- Set up financial infrastructure such as high tariffs, a capital-raising system, paper currency and more developed banking system
Describe how transport stimulated industrial growth in this period
- 1869, first transcontinental railroad to the far west
- Travel time NY to San Fran went from 6 months to 6 days
- Amount of railroad track x3, 1860-1880
- Employed thousands of workers
- Required roads, steel, coal and engine manufacturing
Describe how availability of land stimulated industrial growth in this period
- Increased westward expansion
- Railroad development
- Expansion of farming and increased mechanisation of agriculture
Describe how population growth stimulated industrial growth in this period
- Population rose from 31.5 million (1860) to 50 million (1880)
- Cheap labour and increased consumers
Describe how availability of capital stimulated industrial growth in this period
- Highly developed stock markets
- By 1865, annual stock market turnover was $6 billion
- Increase in investment and shares
- By 1880, 2nd largest money market in the world
Describe how the role of government stimulated industrial growth in this period
- Laissez-faire
- No taxes on profits
- No laws restricting working hours
- Protective tariffs
- Few/no trade unions
- During strike, employers recieved government support