Chapter 17 Study Guide
APUSH
Overview
This chapter treats the Reconstruction Era as a conflict in three dimensions. The first
dimension involved who was to conduct it, the executive or the legislative branch. This led to
political battles between Johnson and the Radical Republicans. The second dimension was
between Radical Republicans and a South still dominated by a planter elite that refused to be
reconstructed. The third dimension of conflict was between black and white identified people of
all social backgrounds, with the whites trying to diminish any gains of the former slaves by
enacting Black Codes and condoning violence by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Eventually
Reconstruction would fail because the Radical Republicans lacked the political power and the
will to carry on the struggle, and because the Republican Party became closely identified with
northern business interests that cared little for the needs of African Americans, finding it
materially profitable to ally themselves with the old planter elite. A disputed election in 1877
ended in a convoluted political compromise that allowed Republican Rutherford Hayes to
become president by promising to withdraw federal troops from the South.
Learning Goals:
After reading this chapter you should be able to:
Describe the problems of community in Hale County, Alabama as typical of the struggle in the
South after the Civil War.
Compare the reconstruction plans of Lincoln and Johnson to the one put forward by the
Radical Republicans, and explain how the feuding led to the impeachment of President
Johnson. Discuss the issues of freedom for African Americans after the Civil War.
Summarize the problems in reconstructing the seceded states.
Trace the changes in the North and in the federal government that caused it to abandon
Reconstruction efforts, including the Compromise of 1876–77.
Discuss the problems of restructuring southern society after the Civil War and the ending of
slavery, in light of the historical development of the South up to that time. (Review Chapters
4, 11, and 15)
The Politics of Reconstruction
The end of the Civil War answered some questions about the nation’s future, but raised
serious issues about dealing with the South and the 4 million ex-slaves. Disagreement arose
between the plans of presidents Lincoln and Johnson versus those of Congress. The Radical
Republicans succeeded in implementing their program, including constitutional amendments to
guarantee the rights of African Americans.
Key Terms:
Special Field Order 15
Freedman’s Bureau
Black Codes
Civil Rights Act
Congressional Reconstruction
Reconstruction Act
Tenure of Office Act
Fifteenth Amendment
Sharecropping
Union League
Slaughterhouse Cases
Compromise of 1877(1876 Election)
People:
Radical Republicans
Ku Klux Klan
Carpetbaggers
Scalawags
Liberal Republicans
Short Answer Questions
You need to respond to the following questions in no less than two sentences.
What was Sherman’s Special Field Order #15?
How did Lincoln want to reconstruct the South?
How did Johnson work to reunify the country?
How had the South kept blacks in a condition similar to slavery after the Civil
War?
5. Why was Johnson impeached, and was it justified?
6. How did women react to African-American men getting the right to vote?
7. Why did so many African-Americans choose to stay near their former homes?
8. How did education improve for Af.-Americans in the South?
9. How was sharecropping not much better than slavery?
10. Why were carpetbaggers and scalawags despised throughout the South?
11. Why was the Ku Klux Klan formed, and how effective was it?
12. How did the Supreme Court interpret the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
during this time period?
13. How did the farming economy of the South suffer after the Civil War?
14. Why were Chinese some of the main workers on the railroads?
15. How corrupt was the railroad industry?
16. What did the Liberal Republicans believe in?
17. What was the Compromise of 1877, and what role did it play in ending
Reconstruction in the South?
1.
2.
3.
4.