Unit 1-1865-77

Question 1

How did AA gain legal civil rights between 1865-1870?

Answer 1

• through constitutional amendments and acts of congress

Question 2

why did states become dependant on slave labour?

Answer 2

• Because the cotton based economy of the southern states grew

Question 3

What is the background of the civil war?

Answer 3

• Feelings of abolitionist ( movement demanding abolishment of slavery ) continued to grow stronger in the north in mid 19th century
• However it would require constitutional change to destroy slavery and the president did not have enough power to do so alone
• due to the weakness of the federal governments the real power rested with the state governments
• Republican party in the north was in support of it however the Democrat party in the south was strongly against it

Question 4

What was the Emancipation Proclamation?

Answer 4

• Issued by Lincoln in 1862
• stated that black people could no longer be owned as property by others and were free to leave their masters
• in 1865 all slaves in the country were formally freed with the passing of the 13th Amendment to constitutional

Question 5

What could AA now do after the 13th Amendment ?

Answer 5

• Have their plantation marriages legalised
• Worship freely in their own churches
• Own Property
• Become educated

Question 6

What did the 14th Amendment do?

Answer 6

• Was confirmed in 1868
• Gave all freed blacks their US citizenship and equal protection under the law

Question 7

What did the 15th Amendment do ?

Answer 7

• in 1870
• forbade the denial of the vote to any man on the basis of colour or race

Question 8

What acts did congress pass?

Answer 8

• The civil rights act of 1866
• Which excluded NAs but asserted that all other races including AA were full citizens of the US
• The military reconstruction act which divided the south into military districts

Question 9

Who was responsible for the reconstruction policy ?

Answer 9

-President Johnson came up with the reconstruction policy which was a set of guidelines implemented to rebuild the community after significant disruption because he wanted to readmit the southern states to the union and return to pre war relations without the slavery

• Thaddeus Stevens recognised that blacks played a vital part in the US economy and that their role must now be accepted on equal terms with the full rights of citizenship, he also believed reconstruction should be controlled from the north because he feared the southerners would effectively control their own reconstruction

Question 10

What did radical republicans believe?

Answer 10

• That everyone had the right to have a chance to live the “American Dream”
• They believed this applied to former slaves and everyone should be given the right to vote, the right to own land and access to education

Question 11

What does Enfranchised mean?

Answer 11

• being given the right to vote

Question 12

Why did Johnson’s reconstruction policy fail?

Answer 12

• His vetoes( to use one’s position to reject a proposal that the majority support) were overridden by 2/3 of congress
• Congress were determined on impeachment of the President which is a trial of someone in authority for a serious offence and is normally a way of removing the president, this failed but it weakened Johnson politically and he saw the remaining of his president term quietly, meaning southern states could do what they wanted
• Johnson opposed granting African Americans full citizenship and voting rights, believing Reconstruction was solely about restoring the Union, not transforming Southern society.
  He allowed Southern states to pass “Black Codes”—laws that restricted the freedom of African Americans, forcing them into exploitative labor contracts and limiting their rights to own property or testify in court.

Question 13

How many black men were enrolled to vote?

Answer 13

over 700,000

Question 14

What were Scalawags and Carpetbaggers?

Answer 14

• Scalawags were white Southerners who supported the Republican Party and Reconstruction policies, including civil rights for freed African Americans, originally they were farmers who saw Reconstruction as an opportunity to modernize the South’s economy and society
• Carpetbaggers were Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction to participate in rebuilding efforts. And were accused of exploiting the South and imposing Northern values and control on Southern society.

Question 15

How was political power still limited?

Answer 15

• Blacks were not elected fairly

Question 16

How did AA take opportunities in gaining political rights?

Answer 16

• By moving to the south to pursue their careers
• in 1870s 22 blacks were elected to congress

Question 17

Who was Blanche K Bruce and Frederick Douglass?

Answer 17

• Bruce was the first black leader who had an important political career after the civil war and sat for a 6 year term
• Frederick Douglass was a leading black opponent of slavery after the civil war

Question 18

What was the Freedman’s Bureau?

Answer 18

• Organisation set up by the FG in March 1865 to support freed slaves this included finding homes and employment and providing food and education
• it provided long term security
• educated 250,000 AA
• it faced challenges such as being terrorised by KKK and it lacked sufficient resources
• was forced to close in 1872

Question 19

Why did AA lack land?

Answer 19

• Because the capital was in short supply and only white merchants and planters possessed the necessary outside links to obtain it

Question 20

What was sharecropping ?

Answer 20

• Was when landowners divided up their plantations into small tenancies of between 30 and 50 acres
• was the most common route for blacks in south because industrial development was slow compared to north

Question 21

Why was employing blacks discouraged?

Answer 21

• ## Because it would threaten white employment

Question 22

What was a consequence of the shutting down of Freedman’s Bureau ?

Answer 22

• The FG support for education came to and end

Question 23

What does de jure and de facto mean?

Answer 23

• de jure means by law and refers to something that has been legally established
• de facto means in practice and refers to something that exists but is not legally established

Question 24

What did Southern states do when reconstruction ended?

Answer 24

• regained political control over their territory
• and attempted to return to their old way of life and limit the rights of AA

Question 25

What was the slaughterhouse case and its impact?

Answer 25

• a group of supreme court decisions that impacted the 14th amendment
• as it reinforced the states power
• the supreme court decided that the rights of citizens should stay under the control of the state rather than federal control
• This weakened protections for African Americans and freedmen during Reconstruction, allowing state discrimination and Jim Crow laws to emerge

Question 26

What were black codes and some features of it?

Answer 26

• were laws passed by Southern states in the United States after the Civil War (1865–1866) during Reconstruction.
• were also an indication of white southern attitudes
• These laws were designed to restrict the freedom of African Americans, maintain white supremacy, and control the labor force of newly freed slaves
  -Features:
  1 Freedmen were barred from owning land in some areas, preventing them from gaining economic independence
  2 African Americans were often prohibited from owning firearms, limiting their ability to defend themselves.
  3 Segregation in schools and public transport
  4 use of term negro
  5 no interracial marriages

Question 27

What was the KKK and their aims?

Answer 27

• Ku Klux Klan was a terrorist organisation founded by Nathan Forrest and was mainly active in the south states and they advocated for white supremacy
• they used terror such as lynching to enforce separation of races and intimidation to suppress African Americans and prevent them from voting, owning property, or gaining political influence.
• ## formed in 1865

Question 28

What was the civil rights act 1875 and why was its impact limited?

Answer 28

• it made clear that equal rights applied to public areas such as places of entertainment and housing
• limited because supreme court declared it unconstitutional in 1883

Question 29

What was the compromise of 1877?

Answer 29

• an informal agreement between Republicans and Democrats that effectively ended Reconstruction in the United States. It resolved the disputed presidential election of 1876 and had long-lasting consequences for Southern politics and civil rights.
• The Democrats agreed to have Hayes as president and he promised to withdraw the remaining troops from the south