Unit 2- Reading Guide 3
Vocab: Define each of the following terms
Reconstruction
Proclamation of Amnesty &
Reconstruction (10% Plan)
Thaddeus Stevens
Wade-Davis Bill
13th Amendment
Freedmen’s Bureau
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Black Codes
14th Amendment
Reconstruction Act of 1867
Tenure of Office Act
15th Amendment
Hiram Revels
Name_________________________
Sharecroppers
Scalawags
Carpetbaggers
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Enforcement Acts (1870-71)
Amnesty Act (1872)
Panic of 1873
White League
Election of 1876/Compromise of 1877
Jim Crow Laws
Poll Tax
Literacy Test
Grandfather Clause
Plessy v. Fergusson (1896)
Guided Reading Questions: Provide comprehensive answers, in complete
sentences, to each of the following questions.
1. It is said that Lincoln’s plan was the most lenient plan for Reconstruction.
Explain, using details from his plan, why this is the case.
2. You should remember what Lincoln’s main goal was throughout the Civil
War. How did the Radical Republican’s plan for Reconstruction differ from
Lincoln’s? Explain their goals and proposed bill(s) in your answer.
3. How did Republicans react to Lincoln’s veto of the Wade-Davis Bill?
4. What challenges faced freed slaves after the ratification of the 13th
Amendment? In what area did the Freedman’s Bureau have its greatest
success?
5. Following the assassination of Lincoln, President Johnson announced his own
plan for Reconstruction. How was it tougher than Lincoln’s? How did
Johnson’s plan show his Southern/racist roots?
6. Did Johnson have any better success than Lincoln in admitting exConfederate states to the Union? Explain.
7. How did Radical Republicans react to Johnson’s vetoes of their
Reconstruction legislation in 1866? What fear guided their passage of the
14th Amendment? Be sure to get ALL of the provisions of the 14th
Amendment in your vocab definition.
8. Which divisive Supreme Court ruling was the 14th Amendment intended to
reverse?
9. Be sure you know the provisions of the Reconstruction Act of 1867 (vocab).
What scheme do Radical Republicans put in place following Johnson’s
repeated vetoes of Reconstruction legislation? What was the goal of this
trap? Did it succeed?
10. War hero Ulysses S. Grant won the presidency in 1870. Whose votes were
crucial for this victory?
11. What was the motivation for the passage of the 15th Amendment? Spoiler
Alert!!! Were Republican concerns unfounded? (You’ll have to read about the
end of Reconstruction before you answer this)
12. Using specific people and statistics, prove that the 15th Amendment was
successful during the early years following its ratification.
13. Describe the economic reality of the South following the Civil War. What was
the end result for many African Americans because of the system of
sharecropping?
14. Who are the three groups of Republicans in the South during Reconstruction?
What are their motivations?
15. Provide evidence of social success for African Americans during
Reconstruction. What challenges did African Americans face from racist
whites in the South?
16. What happened to the support for Reconstruction as time went on? What
were the results of the Amnesty Act of 1872 and the Panic of 1873?
17. Politically, how successful was the White League in achieving its goals?
18. Be sure you understand the Election of 1876 and Compromise of 1877. What
did Southern Democrats demand in return for accepting Rutherford B. Hayes,
a Republican, as president? How did this compromise doom the promise of
Reconstruction?
19. Within 20 years of Reconstruction’s end, what was life like for African
Americans in the South, both socially and politically?
20. What 1896 court case helped entrench the social realities for African
Americans in the South?
21. What were the positive impacts of Reconstruction?