Reconstruction

1865-1877

What am I learning in this unit?

New York Framework Key Ideas:

8.1 RECONSTRUCTION: Regional tensions following the Civil War complicated efforts to heal the nation and to redefine the status of African Americans. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: MOV, SOC, CIV, ECO)

    • 8.1a Different approaches toward and policies for Reconstruction highlight the challenges faced in reunifying the nation.
      • Students will compare and contrast the differences between Reconstruction under Lincoln’s plan, Johnson’s plan, and congressional (Radical) Reconstruction.
    • 8.1b Freed African Americans created new lives for themselves in the absence of slavery. Constitutional amendments and federal legislation sought to expand the rights and protect the citizenship of African Americans.
      • Students will examine the Reconstruction amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) in terms of the rights and protections provided to African Americans.
      • Students will examine the Freedmen’s Bureau’s purpose, successes, and the extent of its success.
      • Students will examine the effects of the sharecropping system on African Americans.
      • Students will examine the reasons for the migration of African Americans to the North.
      • Students will examine the rise of African Americans in government.
    • 8.1c Federal initiatives begun during Reconstruction were challenged on many levels, leading to negative impacts on the lives of African Americans.
      • Students will explore methods used by Southern state governments to affect the lives of African Americans, including the passage of Black Codes, poll taxes, and Jim Crow laws.
      • Students will explore the responses of some Southerners to the increased rights of African Americans, noting the development of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and White Leagues.
      • Students will examine the ways in which the federal government failed to follow up on its promises to freed African Americans.
      • Students will examine the effects of the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling.

Essential Questions:

  • Did former slaves experience true freedom after the Civil War?
  • Was Reconstruction a success or failure?

5 Main Ideas of Reconstruction:

1) Reconstruction was a time of rebuilding and healing after the Civil War.

2) Some of the challenges the country faced after the Civil War was rebuilding a war torn south and figuring out what to do with all the former slaves.

3) Three new constitutional amendments allowed African Americans to experience a brief period of political activity.

4) Without slavery, white southerners used black codes, segregation laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence to keep African Americans at the bottom of society.

5) Reconstruction ended after 10 years. The country was ready to move on, but did the country really heal?

Vocabulary:

  • Reconstruction - The period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States
  • amnesty - an official pardon(forgiveness) for people who have been convicted of political offenses or crimes
  • freedmen - former slaves, now free after the passage of the 13th amendment
  • amendment - a change or addition to the Constitution
  • 13th amendment - ratified in 1865, abolishment or end of slavery in the U.S.
  • 14th amendment - ratified in 1868, all people born in the U.S. are American citizens and all citizens are guaranteed equal protection under the law
  • 15th amendment - ratified in 1870, all male citizens, regardless of race or class, have the right to vote
  • inferior - lower status or quality
  • segregation- to separate groups of people, in the U.S. segregation was by race
  • poll taxes - a tax that must be paid before voting; used to deny black men the right to vote
  • literacy tests - a test that must be passed before voting; used to deny black men the right to vote
  • sharecropper - a farmer that must rent land to farm from a landowner
  • carpetbagger - a person from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction
  • black codes - laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War; the purpose of these laws were to restrict the freedom of African Americans and force them into low paying employment
  • Jim Crow laws - laws passed by Southern state after Reconstruction; based off the ideas of black codes; enforced segregation in all aspects of life
  • Radical Republicans - žrepresentatives in Congress that wanted to punish the South and grant equal rights to former slaves

What materials and resources do I need for this unit?


Reconstruction Means Rebuilding Reading.pdf
Progress of Reconstruction.pdf
Setbacks of Reconstruction.pdf