Historical Context: - Honors U.S. History 18-19
US History Name:U8: Civil War and ReconstructionPeriod:DOCUMENT ANALYSIS PROJECTHistorical Context: After the Civil War the nation had about four million newly freed slaves. The victorious Union was faced with the extraordinary task of protecting the new freedmen's rights of citizenship. First, the former Confederacy was divided into five military districts. Then amendments were passed to protect freed people's natural rights. Southern states were not pleased, and made compromises in order to rid themselves of these "military dictatorships."By 1870, all of the former Confederate states had ratified these amendments and were readmitted into the Union. Reconstruction ended in 1877 with the removal of Union troops from Confederate territory. After Southern state governments were restored, the citizenship rights of the freedmen declined. Soon these former slaves were once again in servitude; this time through a system of state-enforced segregation and discrimination. GUIDING Question: To what extent was Reconstruction a failure in protecting the rights of newly freed slaves? Document A: The Thirteenth Amendment (Source: Constitution 1865)Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.What did the 13th amendment abolish?What does Congress have the right to do to enforce this amendment? What was the one “exception” to this amendment? Document B: Black Codes In the years following the Civil War - throughout the South -state, city, and town governments passed laws to restrict the rights of free African-American men and women. These laws were often called “Black Codes.” The example below of “Black Codes” comes from laws passed in Opelousas, Louisiana immediately after the Civil War. “No negro or freedman shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission from his employer. Whoever breaks this law will go to jail and work for two days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars.”“No negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep a house in town under any circumstances. No negro or freedman shall live within the town who does not work for some white person or former owner.”“No public meetings of negroes or freedman shall be allowed within the town.”“No freedman shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons. No freedman shall sell or exchange any article of merchandise within the limits of Opelousas without permission in writing from his employer.”“Every negro is to be in the service of (work for) some white person, or former owner.How did black codes restrict the freedom gained from the 13th Amendment? (Hint: Explain how these laws recreate black servitude).Document C: Sharecropper’s Cycle of Poverty133356032500After the Civil War slavery was replaced by a system called “sharecropping.” What was the real result of the sharecropping system?Document D: Sharecropping Maps "Sharecropping was very distinctive to the South after the Civil War until the 1940s. As late as 1936, about 60 percent of plantations were organized into sharecropper units." --Ingolf Vogeler The darker shaded region on the map shows the land owned by the master or pare 1860 and 1881, the former Master’s House was the _______________’s house in 1881. According to Doc D, what was the real result of the sharecropping system?Document E: The Fourteenth Amendment (Source: Constitution 1868)Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Who gained the full rights of a citizen because of the 14th amendment?According to the 14th amendment, what are some things that states aren’t allowed to do? Document F: The Military Districts of the SouthThe Radical Republican party passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867 to protect African American voters and ensure safe elections in 1868. This law created military districts in Southern States. Each district was to be headed by a military official or general who was empowered to use the military to preserve order and enforce Congressional laws.Why was the South placed under Military Rule during Reconstruction in 1867?Who was responsible for establishing/enforcing these 5 military districts?What positive and negative effects did the creation of these military districts have on Reconstruction in the South? Document G: The Fifteenth Amendment (Source: Constitution 1870)Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.Who gained the right to vote according to the 15th amendment? What quote makes this evident?Who did NOT gain the right to vote under this amendment? (Hint: They didn’t receive this right until the 19th amendment)Document H: W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America "But the decisive influence was the systematic and overwhelming economic pressure. Negroes who wanted work must not dabble in politics. Negroes who wanted to increase their income must not agitate the Negro problem. . . in order to earn a living; the American Negro was compelled to give up his political power." -- Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in AmericaAccording to DuBois, why did freedmen stop voting?Document I: Homesteads the need for land Source: The Freedmen of Edisto Island Petition to the Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau and to the President for the Opportunity to Obtain Their Own Land, Edisto Island, S.C. October 1865. General: We want Homesteads; we were promised Homesteads by the government. If it does not carry out the promises Its agents made to us,…we are left In a more unpleasant condition than out former. We are at the mercy of those who are combined to prevent us from getting land enough to lay our Fathers bones upon… To the President of these United States: Shall not we who Are freedman and have been always true to this Union have the same rights as are enjoyed by Others?... Are not our rights as a free people and good citizens of these United States to be considered before the rights of those who were found in rebellion against this good and just government (and now being conquered) come (as they Seem) with penitent hearts and beg forgiveness For past offenses and also ask if their [sic] lands Cannot be restored to them. Are these rebellious Spirits to be reinstated in their [sic] possessions And we who have been abused and oppressed For many long years not be allowed the Privilege of purchasing land But be subject To the will of these large Land owners? God forbid… Unless some provision is Made our future is sad to look upon…We therefore look to you In this trying hour as A true friend of the poor and Neglected race, for protection and Equal Rights, with the privilege of purchasing a Homestead- A Homestead right here in the heart of South Carolina. What are “homesteads”? Why do freedmen (ex-slaves) need homesteads?In the second paragraph, what does the author mean when he asks, “Are not our rights as a free people and good citizens of these United States to be considered before the rights of those who were found in rebellion against this good and just government”? Who is he talking about?Document J: Letter on KKK Activities Source: Albion Tourgee, Letter on Ku Klux Klan Activities. New York Tribune, May 1870. Note: Tourgee was a white, Northern soldier who settled in North Carolina after the War. He served as a judge during Reconstruction and wrote this letter to the North Carolina Republican Senator, Joseph Carter Abbott. It is my mournful duty to inform you that our friend John W. Stephens, State Senator from Caswell, is dead. He was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the Grand Jury room of the Court House on Saturday… He was stabbed five or six times, and then hanged on a hook in the Grand Jury room… Another brave, honest Republican citizen has met his fate at the hands of these fiends… I have very little doubt that I shall be one of the next victims. My steps have been dogged for months, and only a good opportunity has been wanting to secure to me the fate which Stephens has just met… I say to you plainly that any member of Congress who, especially if from the South, does not support, advocate, and urge immediate, active, and thorough measures to put an end to these outrages…is a coward, a traitor, or a fool. Who was Albion Tourgee? What is this document?John W. Stephens was a white Republican senator. What happened to him? Why do you think he was targeted?By the 1870’s, how effective were the military districts in maintaining peace? Use evidence from this passage to support your answer.Document K: Testimony on KKK Source: Abram Colby, testimony to a joint House and Senate Committee in 1872. Note: Colby was a former slave who was elected to the Georgia State legislature during Reconstruction. Colby: On the 29th of October 1869, [the Klansmen] broke my door open, took me out of bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead. They said to me, "Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket?" I said, "If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket." They set in and whipped me a thousand licks more, with sticks and straps that had buckles on the ends of them. Question: What is the character of those men who were engaged in whipping you? Colby: Some are first-class men in our town. One is a lawyer, one a doctor, and some are farmers… They said I had voted for Grant and had carried the Negroes against them. About two days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and said they would pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man go to the legislature in my place. I told them that I would not do it if they would give me all the county was worth… No man can make a free speech in my county. I do not believe it can be done anywhere in Georgia. Who was Abram Colby?What happened to him? Why do you think he was targeted?What were the Klansman trying to convince him to do? Why?Document L: Political Cartoon Source: Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1876. Caption: “Of Course he wants to vote the Democratic ticket.” Source: Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1876. Caption: “Of Course he wants to vote the Democratic ticket.” Describe what’s happening in this picture. What is this black man being forced to do?Document M: "Worse than Slavery" Based on the image above, what was the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan?How did the Ku Klux Klan help to undermine Congress's efforts to protect freed people's equal rights?Document N: Northern attitudesSource: Gerald Danzer et al., The Americans, McDougall Littell, 1998. ...in the 1870s, Northern voters grew indifferent to events in the South. Weary of the 'Negro Question' and 'sick of carpet-bag' government, many Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption in President Grant's administration....Although political violence continued in the South... the tide of public opinion in the North began to turn against Reconstruction policies. By the 1870’s how were northern attitudes about Reconstruction beginning to change?What were Northerners more concerned about in 1873?Why might increased anger about the corruption in government lead to less interest in government attempts to reconstruct the South? Document O: Southern attitudesSource: Kenneth Stampp, The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, Vintage, 1967. Meanwhile southern Democrats gained strength when Congress finally removed the political disabilities from most of the prewar leadership. In May 1872, because of pressure from the Liberal Republican, Congress passed a general amnesty act which restored the right of office holding [and voting] to the vast majority of those who had been disqualified…After the passage of this act only a few hundred ex-Confederates remained unpardoned. How did the restoration of voting rights to white Southerners undermine efforts to preserve and protect the voting rights of the freedmen?Document P: The Election of 1876 1876 Election results:Candidate (party)Popular vote(7 Nov 1876) Electoral vote(6 Dec 1876) Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)4,034,311185Samuel J. Tilden (Democratic)4,288,546184Peter Cooper (Greenback)75,9730Other14,2710*The election was so close that Hayes had to make a compromise with Southern electors in order to become president. President Hayes agrees to withdraw federal troops from the South, thus removing Northern protection of African American Civil Rights. How was it possible that Hayes won the election of 1876? How did this disputed election lead to the end of Reconstruction? Explain. ................
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