Reconstruction, 1865-1877
Answer questions, 8-10 sentences except last two 10-15 sentences.
1. How did U.S. presidents and Congress seek to reintegrate the Confederacy into the Union? What different approaches did they take, and what were the results?
2. Compare the goals of Radical Republicans, freedpeople, and ex-Confederates during Reconstruction. What conflicts ensued from their differing agendas?
3. Why did Reconstruction falter? To what extent was its failure the result of events in the South, the North, and Washington, D.C.?
4. Some of the language historians use to describe Reconstruction still reflects the point of view of ex-Confederates, who spoke of "Redemption." What other names might we use for that process? What difference (if any) would it make if scholars called it something else?
5. THEMATIC UNDERSTANDING Look again at the events listed under "Politics and Power" and "Identity" on the thematic timeline. Some historians have argued that, during this era, the United States moved, politically and socially, from being a loose union of states to being a more unified and inclusive nation. To what extent do you agree? Use the events of Reconstruction as evidence in making your case.
https://www.macmillanhighered.com/BrainHoney/Resource/6696/digital_first_content/trunk/test/henretta8e/asset/timeline/timeline105.html
6. ACROSS TIME AND PLACE Ex-Confederates were not the first Americans to engage in violent protest against what they saw as tyrannical government power. Imagine, for example, a conversation between a participant in Shays's Rebellion and a southern Democrat who participated in the overthrow of a Republican government in his state. How would each describe his grievances? Who would he name as enemies? Compare and contrast the tactics of these and other violent protests against government power in the United States. To what extent did these groups succeed?
7. VISUAL EVIDENCE Return to the image at the start of this chapter, which shows a celebration in Baltimore after ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Note the distinguished African American heroes depicted at the top and the three scenes at the bottom. In the complete version of this popular lithograph, additional images appear on the left and right: black Union soldiers in battle; an African American minister preaching at an independent black church; a teacher and her students in a freedpeople's school; an African American farmer in a wheat field; and a drawing of a proud black family on their farm with the caption "We till our own fields." If a freedperson and a former slave owner had seen this image in 1870, how might each have responded? Imagine that an African American family had placed the picture in their home in 1870. How might they have reflected differently, twenty years later, on its significance?
visual support
https://www.macmillanhighered.com/BrainHoney/Resource/6696/digital_first_content/trunk/test/henretta8e/asset/img_ch15/ch15_CO15_01.html
8. KEY TURNING POINTS: Identify two crucial turning points in the course of Reconstruction. What caused those shifts in direction, and what were the results?