Chapter 17 Reconstruction and the
New South
(1865-1896)
Section 3 The South During
Reconstruction
In your opinion, should President
Johnson have been removed from
office?
A. Yes
B. No
A. A
B. B
0%
B
A
0%
n
In what ways did government in the
Southern states change during
Reconstruction?
African Americans in Government
• African American voters
played an important role in
Reconstruct
• Contributing to Republican
victories in the South
• Some African Americans
were able to win seats as
elected officials
• In South Carolina, African
Americans held a majority
in the lower house of the
legislature
• In other states, African
Americans held important
positions, but never in
proportion to their numbers
At the National Level
• 16 African Americans served in
the House of Representatives
(1869-1880)
• 2 African Americans served in
the Senate (1869-1880)
• One was Hiram Revels- an
ordained minister
• Revels had recruited African
Americans for the Union army
• He also started a school for freed
African Americans in Missouri
• He also served as chaplain of an
African American regiment in
Mississippi
• Revels stayed in Mississippi and
was elected to the U.S. Senate
in 1870
Blanche K. Bruce
• The other African
American senator
• Also from Mississippi
• A former escaped
slave
• Taught in a school for
African Americans in
Missouri
• In 1869 he went to
Mississippi, entered
politics, and was
elected to the U.S.
Senate in 1874
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
• Some Southern whites
backed the Republicans
• Former Confederates called
them scalawags (scoundrel
or worthless rascal)
• Some Northern whites moved
to the South after the war and
supported the Republican
party
• Critics called these
Northerners carpetbaggers
• Some were dishonest, but
many were reformers who
wanted to help the South
• Many Southerners accused
the Reconstruction
governments of corruption
Southern whites who supported
Republicans were called
A. scalawags
B. sharecroppers
C. carpetbaggers
D. freedmen
0%
A
A.
B.
C.
0%
D.
B
A
B
C
0%
D
C
0%
D
Resistance to Reconstruction
• Most Southerners
opposed efforts to expand
African Americans’ rights
• Most white landowners
refused to rent land to
freed people
• Store owners refused
them credit and
employers would not hire
them
• Secret societies, such as
the Ku Klux Klan, used
fear and violence to deny
rights to freed men and
women
• The KKK wore white
sheets and hoods
The KKK
• Klan members killed 1000s of
African Americans and their
white friends
• Wounded many more
• Burned African American
homes, schools, and churches
• Many southerners, especially
planters and the Democrats,
back the KKK
• They saw violence as a
defense against Republican
rule
• 1870 and 1871- Laws were
passed to stop the violence of
the Klan
• But most Southerners refused
to testify against those who
attacked African Americans and
their white supporters
Education
• During Reconstruction, African
Americans created their own
schools
• The Freedmen’s Bureau also
helped spread education
• 1870s- Reconstruction
governments created public
schools for both races
• Within a few years about 50%
of white children and 40% of
African American children in the
South were enrolled
• Northern missionary societies
set up academies
• These academies grew into
African American colleges and
universities
• Fisk University in Tennessee
and Morehouse College in
Georgia
• Only a few states required that
schools be integrated, but the
laws were not enforced
Farming
• Some African Americans
purchased land with the help
of the Freedmen’s Bank
• Most were unable to get land
• The most common form of
farmwork for freed people was
sharecropping
• A landowner rented a plot of
land to a sharecropper
• An a crude shack, some
seeds, and tools (also maybe
a mule)
• In return, sharecroppers
shared a percentage of their
crops with the landowners
• After paying the landowner,
sharecroppers often had little
left to sell
• For many, sharecropping was
little better than slavery
What was the relationship between
sharecroppers and landowners?
A. Landowners owned
sharecroppers.
B. Landowners sold small
parcels of land to sharecroppers.
D.
0%
D
0%
C
0%
B
0%
A
C.
A. A
Sharecroppers rented a parcel
B. B
of land from a landowner.
C. C
Sharecroppers worked the landowner’s land for a
small annual salary.
D. D
n
In what ways did government in the Southern
states change during Reconstruction?
-Before the Civil War, only whites could vote or hold
office in the South
- During Reconstruction, African American men
gained these rights
-African American voters mostly supported
Republicans, helping Radical Republicans take
control of Southern state governments
-Several African Americans were elected to office
Chapter 17 Section 3 Quiz
African American voters were
supporters of the Republican Party.
ls
e
50%
Fa
50%
Tr
ue
A. True
B. False
Hiram Revels was a plantation
owner.
ls
e
50%
Fa
50%
Tr
ue
A. True
B. False
A carpetbagger was a poor person from the
South who tried to make money in the North.
ls
e
50%
Fa
50%
Tr
ue
A. True
B. False
Many Democrats supported the
actions of the Ku Klux Klan.
ls
e
50%
Fa
50%
Tr
ue
A. True
B. False
The Freedmen's Bank lent money
to help African Americans buy land.
ls
e
50%
Fa
50%
Tr
ue
A. True
B. False
R
ep
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.
.
Southern whites who supported Republican
policy throughout Reconstruction were
called
A. carpetbaggers.
25% 25% 25% 25%
B. Republican
hostages.
C. scalawags.
D. freedmen.
Northerners who moved to the South and
supported the Republicans were called
A. carpetbaggers.
B. Republican
hostages.
C. scalawags.
D. freedmen.
R
ep
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.
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One way some Southerners made life
difficult for freed African Americans was to
s.
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C.
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B.
keep them from holding
government positions.
keep them out of
schools.
refuse to give them
work.
supply them with
diseased food.
ke
A.
What did Southerners who had the most to gain
from the reestablishment of white supremacy see
as a defense against Republican rule?
voting rights
violence
cooperation
Democratic Party
rty
ra
tic
er
a
D
em
oc
op
co
Pa
tio
n
ce
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en
vi
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25% 25% 25% 25%
vo
A.
B.
C.
D.
What did African Americans find
to be little better than slavery?
A. integration
B. moving to the
North
C. sharecropping
D. land ownership
m
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p
ar
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sh
la
ov
i
ng
to
in
th
e
te
g
ra
tio
n
No
rth
25% 25% 25% 25%
Participant Scores
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