Interactive Essential Text 5-1.3
5-1 What were the political, economic, geographic and social factors that
impacted the different populations of the United States during the
Reconstruction Era?
Essential Question: 5-1.3-What was the purpose and motivations of
subversive groups during Reconstruction?
Discriminatory Groups during Reconstruction
During the Reconstruction period several discriminatory groups developed
in order to intimidate the freedmen. The most infamous of these was the Ku
Klux Klan (KKK). Originally the KKK was a social organization of exConfederate soldiers, but it soon grew into a terrorist group. The goal of
the KKK was to use violence, intimidation, and voter fraud to keep African
Americans from exercising their rights under the thirteenth, fourteenth, and
fifteenth amendments so that whites
could regain control of state
governments. Public lynchings, or
hangings, became common methods
of intimidating, or threatening, African
Americans who did not ‘know their
place.’ Although the federal
government made some feeble, or
weak, attempts to control the KKK
and other groups who practiced racial
discrimination and intimidation, by
1876 these groups had achieved their purpose.
What color(s) did you code the paragraph above? Explain your thinking.
Interactive Essential Text 5-1.3
The Compromise of 1877
The election of 1876 was so riddled with fraud that the electoral votes in
three states were called into question. The election was decided by the
House of Representatives. Democrats agreed to support the election of the
Republican candidate in exchange for the removal of all federal troops from
the South. This Compromise of 1877 resulted in the end of Reconstruction
and African Americans were abandoned by the federal government.
Democrats won control of the southern state governments. The
constitutional rights gained by the “Civil War” amendments (13-15) were
regularly violated by terrorist groups like the KKK (Klan) which included
working class whites as well as businessmen, lawyers, judges, and politicians.
Although African Americans protested their rapidly deepening exclusion
from public life; violence,
intimidation, and lynchings by
terrorist groups effectively
silenced most protests.
Southern governments began
passing laws to limit the rights
of African Americans
guaranteed by the fifteenth
amendment.
Reflection: What goal did the discriminatory groups
hope to accomplish?