Reconstruction (Handout)
On a misty April evening in 1865, a jubilant
crowd packed the White House lawn to hear
President Abraham Lincoln’s first speech since the
end of the Civil War. They expected a stirring
celebration of the Union victory – but instead got
harsh reality. Even with the South defeated,
Lincoln warned, the future would be “fraught with
great difficulty.” He called the task ahead
Reconstruction.
Even as Lincoln spoke, opposing forces were
gathering. Some Americans saw Reconstruction as
a chance to build a new nation out of the ashes of
war and slaver. Others vowed to wage a new war
to protect their way of life, and a racial order they
believed ordained by God.
Three days after delivering his warning,
Lincoln was shot dead by John Wilkes Booth, a
Confederate sympathizer. Reconstruction would
have to go forward without him.
Watch the following DVD,
RECONSTRUCTION: THE SECOND CIVIL WAR, in class and complete the term list in
order to further your understanding of the tumultuous years from 1863-1877. The DVD
tracks the extraordinary stories of ordinary Americans – both Southern and Northern,
white and black – as they struggle to shape new lives for themselves in a world turned
upside down.
Term
Black Codes
Carpetbagger
Definition
1866 Civil Rights
Act
1875 Civil Rights
Act
Election of 1876
“Forty Acres and
a Mule”
Freedman’s
Bureau
Impeach
Ku Klux Klan
Presidential
Reconstruction
Radical
Reconstruction
Sharecropping
“solid South”
(Lynching)
14th and 15th
Amendments
Jim Crow Laws
Questions for Thought:
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What did the Freedmen’s Bureau do?
What was Lincoln’s 10-percent plan for Reconstruction?
What were Johnson’s conditions for readmitting states to the Union?
Why were Radical Republicans harsh toward former Confederate States?
What rights did the Black Codes extend to black Americans? What rights did they deny black
Americans?
What were the major provisions of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments?
Why did Congress try to impeach President Johnson?
What conditions contributed to a shortage of cash in the South?
What new groups entered southern politics after the War?
What improvements did southern state governments make during Radical Reconstruction?
List two problems that plagued Reconstruction governments in the South.
How did the death of Thaddeus Stevens and the defeat of Senator Benjamin Wade affect Radical
Reconstruction?
How did political corruption contribute to a declining interest in Reconstruction amongst
Northerners?
Why did northern business leaders seek an end to Reconstruction?
Did the tactics used in the South to discourage blacks from voting succeed? Explain.