Reconstruction and Post-Reconstruction Study Guide
Definition
Key Question: What is the definition of Reconstruction?
1. Rebuilding the South after the Civil War.
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/reconstruction.htm
Policies and Problems
Key Question: What were the Reconstruction policies and problems? They made
Southerners want to SCREAM!
1.
Southern states adopted Black Codes to limit the physical and economic
freedom of freedmen.
2.
Carpetbaggers from the North took advantage of the South during
Reconstruction. Southerners resented them.
3.
Rights for African Americans were gained as a result of the Civil Rights
Act of 1866. This law brought an end to Black Codes and authorized the
use of federal troops (from the North) for its enforcement.
4.
Established the Freedmen’s Bureau to aid former enslaved African
Americans and poor whites in the South.
5.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-reconstruction3.html
6.
African Americans could hold public office.
Military leaders from the South could not hold public office.
Provisions of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments
Key Question: What are the key Reconstruction amendments?
1. 13th Amendment: Bans slavery in the United States
2. 14th Amendment: Grants citizenship to all people born in the United States and guarantees them equal
protection under the law.
3. 15th Amendment: Ensures all citizens the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.
Key People
Key Question: What were the lasting impacts of the key people?
1. Abraham Lincoln: his plan called for reconciliation. He wanted to preserve the Union instead of punishing the
South.
2. Robert E. Lee: he urged Southerners to reconcile at the end of the war and reunite as Americans when some
wanted to continue fighting. He became president of Washington College, now known as Washington and Lee
University.
3. Frederick Douglass: he fought for the adoption of Constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights. He
was a powerful voice for human rights and civil liberties for all.
4. Booker T. Washington: believed equality could be achieved through vocation education. He accepted social
segregation. His views were popular among a large number of white leaders.
5. W.E.B. DuBois: he believed in full political, social, and civil rights for African Americans. His views were not
popular among a large number of white leaders.
Segregation
Key Question: How did segregation affect Americans?
1. Racial segregation is separation based on race.
2. American Indians became citizens in 1924.
3. The Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, made segregation legal. The case was heard in the 1890s but its
effects continued to be felt until the 1960s and beyond.
End of Reconstruction, 1877
Key Question: How did Reconstruction end?
1. Reconstruction ended in 1877 as a result of a compromise over the
outcome of the election of 1876. Violence against African Americans
in the South lowered voter turnout, and the outcome of the
presidential election was bitterly disputed. A majority of white
Southerners agreed to support the Northerner Rutherford B. Hayes if
he agreed to the Compromise of 1877. The compromised ended
Reconstruction and African Americans were abandoned when federal
troops were removed. Many people had grown tired of
Reconstruction and the focus of many leaders became national growth
and westward expansion.
2. Rights that African Americans had gained were lost through Jim Crow
Laws. There were unequal opportunities in education, housing, work,
and government.
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