CHAPTER 22: THE ORDEAL OF RECONSTRUCTION

The Problems of Peace
Know: Reconstruction
1. "Dismal indeed was the picture presented by the war-wracked South when the rattle of musketry faded." Explain.
Not only had an age perished, but a civilization had collapsed, economically and socially. Cities were reduced to rubble, there was no economic life; banks and businesses collapsed. The transportation system had broken down completely. Agriculture was hopelessly crippled. The planter aristocrats were humbled. Southerners were resentful and in denial.

Freedmen Define Freedom
Know: Exodusters, American Methodist Episcopal Church, American Missionary Association
2. How did African-Americans respond to emancipation in the decade following the war?
Many southerners resisted this so they killed many slaves, etc. Some slaves were loyal to their master and resisted the liberating Union armies, other slaves' pent up bitterness burst forth violently on the day of liberation. Many newly emancipated slaves joined union troops in pillaging and some slaves got revenge. When the masters were forced to tell their slaves that they were free, some slaves were suspicious but later they celebrated. Emancipated slaves took on journeys to test their freedom, find lost family, look for jobs, etc.

The Freedmen's Bureau
Know: Freedmen's Bureau, General Oliver O. Howard
3. Assess the effectiveness of the Freedmen's Bureau.
It taught ~ 200,000 blacks how to read and many former slaves had a passion for learning. All generations wanted to learn. But it was less effective in other areas. The bureau was authorized to settle former slaves on 40 acre tracts but it was rare for blacks to actually get land. Labor contracts…

Johnson: The Tailor President
Know: Andrew Johnson
4. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of Andrew Johnson.
Strengths: A misfit. A southerner who didn't understand the north, a Tennessean who had earned the distrust of the south, a Democrat who had never been accepted by the Republicans, a president who wasn't elected, and he was an outcast in the white house. He was hotheaded, contentious, and stubborn and tactless.

Weaknesses: From impoverished family. Not a good drinker. Intelligent, able, forceful, and honest. Devoted to duty and to the people, a dogmatic champion of states rights and the constitution.

Presidential Reconstruction
Know: Lincoln's "10 percent plan," Wade-Davis Bill, Radical Republicans
5. How did the Presidents' plan for reconstruction differ from the plan of the Radical Republicans?
The republicans, unlike Lincoln and his 10% plan, believed the south did leave the Union and had forfeited all their rights and should be treated as conquered provinces. The radicals wanted the social structure uprooted and the planters punished and the blacks protected by the fed power.

The Baleful Black Codes
Know: Black Codes, Labor Contracts, Sharecropping, Debt Peonage
6. How were Black Codes used to keep the freedmen down?
Regulates black affairs. To ensure a stable and subservient labor force. Penalties were imposed on blacks who jumped their labor contracts, which committed them to work for the same employer for a year with horrible wages. "Negro-Catchers". Blacks couldn't serve on a jury, and some said blacks couldn't rent or lease lands. A black could be punished for idleness, and they couldn't vote. sharecropper farmers.

Congressional Reconstruction
7. Why did northern congressmen refuse to seat the southerners when they came to take their seats? (Hint: there are two reasons -- one moral and one practical)
A restored south would be stronger than ever in national politics, republicans feared they would be elbowed aside and have control. Also, while the south was gone, congress passed a bunch of legislation that benefited the north.

Johnson Clashes with Congress
Know: Civil Rights Bill, "Andy Veto," Fourteenth Amendment
8. How did Republicans use their dominance of Congress? What did President Johnson do in response?
The president tried to end the Freedmen Bureau. The Republicans passed the Civil Rights Bill which struck against the Black Codes. The republicans-14th amendment. Johnson advised the southern states to reject it, all but Tennessee did.

Swinging `Round the Circle with Johnson
9. How did Johnson's campaigning during the 1866 congressional elections backfire? Why did it backfire?
He used "swing 'round the circle", he delivered speeches that accused the radicals in Congress of having planned large-scale anitblack riots and murder in the south. Listeners insulted him and he retorted (badly). And he sank. Hit rock bottom.

Republican Principles and Programs
Know: Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Moderate Republicans
10. How did the views of Moderate Republicans about reconstruction differ from the views of Radical Republicans?
Radicals wanted to keep the southern states out as long as possible and to apply federal power to bring about a drastic social and economic transformation int he south. The moderates recalled from the full implications of the radical program, they preferred policies that restrained the states from abridging citizens' rights.

Reconstruction by the Sword
Know: Reconstruction Act, Fifteenth Amendment, Military Reconstruction, Redeemers, Home Rule
11. Describe military reconstruction.
Divided the south into 5 sections, each commanded by a Union general and placed by union soldiers. Congress laid down conditions for the readmission of seceded states: ratify the 14th amendment, guarantee their state constitutions contains full suffrage for their former adult male slaves. Military Reconstructions of the south usurped certain functions of the president as commander in chief and set up a martial regime of questionable legality.

No Women Voters
Know: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Woman's Loyal League, Fourteenth Amendment
12. Why did some women feel that they did not receive their due after the Civil War?
They said that women also played a big role in the prewar abolitionist movement and to many women, black suffrage and women's rights were the same. And some women put their cause on hold to wholeheartedly help the abolitionist movement…14th amendment had the word male.

The Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the South
Know: Union League, Suffrage, Hiram Revels, Blanche K. Bruce, Scalawags, Carpetbaggers
13. In what ways did African-Americans become politically involved in the years immediately following the Civil War? How did White southerners view their involvement?
They created the Union League, assisted by northern blacks, freedmen turned the league into a network of political clubs that educated members in their civic duties and campaigned for Republican candidates. Building black grievances, recruiting militias, etc. Black women attended parades and rallies and helped assemble meetings in churches. Some blacks became congressmen, senators, lieutenant governors and representatives, mayors, magistrates, sheriffs, and justices of peace.
The Ku Klux Klan
Know: Ku Klux Klan, Force Acts, Disfranchise
14. In what ways did Southern whites attempt to keep former slaves down?
Secret organizations like the invisible empire of the south or ku klux klan. They went to black homes and tried to frighten them, if that didn't work they used force (killing). Intimidation, fraud, and trickery. Literacy tests was also a method of keeping former slaves down.

Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank
Know: Radical Republicans, Ben Wade, Tenure of Office Act, Edwin Stanton
15. How did the Radical Republicans "manufacture" an impeachment of Andrew Johnson?
They falsely accused him of maintaining a harem of dissolute women and Johnson's firing of Stanton, the Sec of War.

A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson
Know: Benjamin F. Butler, Thaddeus Stevens
16. Why were the Radicals unsuccessful in removing Johnson from office?
Johnson's attorneys argued that he fired Stanton to put a test case before the supreme court. And seven independent minded Republican senators put country above party and voted not guilty. Fears of creating a destabilizing precedent, principled opposition to abusing the constitutional mechanism of checks and balances, political considerations, successor, and Johnson said he would stop obstructing republican policies in return to office.

The Purchase of Alaska
Know: William Seward, Russia
17. Explain why Alaska was called "Seward's Folly," but was purchased anyway.
Russia had been conspicuously friendly to the North in the civil war, Am didn't want to offend their friends. The territory was removed to be teeming with furs, fish, and gold.

The Heritage of Reconstruction
18. Assess the success of Republican reconstruction.
Reconstruction granted only fleeting benefits on blacks and extinguished the Republican party in the south for almost a century. Moderate Republicans never fully appreciated the extensive effort of making freed slaves citizens or the lengths the southern whites would go to preserve their system of racial dom.

Varying Viewpoints: How Radical Was Reconstruction?
19. Do you believe that the primary motive in Reconstruction was revenge or the desire to help African-Americans? Explain.