Reconstruction

In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln stated his belief that Reconstruction should proceed “with ​ (a)   toward none, with charity for all.” Unfortunately, he was ​ (b)   before he could lead the country through this change.

After Lincoln’s death, Andrew Johnson became president.  He wanted to get Reconstruction done quickly so he granted ​ (c)   to almost all former Confederates.  He required that states ratify the ​ (d)   to rejoin the Union, but did not have many other requirements.  As a result, states returned to the Union very quickly and were mostly run by the same men who had run the Confederacy. These leaders passed laws in their states known as ​ (e)   , that heavily restricted what Black people could do, with the goal of making sure that Black people stayed under the control of white people.

• malice
• assassinated
• pardons
• 13th amendment
• black codes

​ (a)   did not accept this form of Reconstruction and refused to admit the representatives from the former Confederate states. Leaders in Congress who believed that freedpeople should have equal rights as citizens were known as the ​ (b)   . They extended the life of the ​ (c)   and passed the ​ (d)   , which said that all people born or naturalized in the US are ​ (e)   ​ and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws. 

• Congress
• Radical Republicans
• Freedmen's Bureau
• 14th Amendment
• citizens

They also set up ​ (a)   districts in the South.  President Johnson ​ (b)   many of Congress's laws, but Congress ​ (c)   him.  Ultimately, the struggle between Congress and President Johnson led to him being ​ (d)   , but he escaped removal from office by one vote.

• military
• vetoed
• overrode
• impeached

Because former Confederates were now banned from voting, Southern elections resulted in both Black and white men representing Southern states at the state and federal levels.  This upset former Confederates.  They called the Southerners who voted for Republicans ​ (a)   , and the Northerners living in the South ​ (b)   . In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant was elected president.  He urged the passage of the ​ (c)   , which guaranteed every male citizen the right to vote regardless of race.  However, many Southerners were determined to regain the power they had once had.  To keep freedpeople in a system very similar to slavery, they developed the system of ​ (d)   . Under this system, freedpeople worked on the farms of wealthy landowners and paid rent with a portion of their crops.  This system was rigged so that Black farmers would never be able to pay back their debt. Another reason Black people were not able to be full citizens was the existence of terrorist secret societies, like the ​ (e)   , that used violence to drive Black Americans out of political and economic life.

• scalawags
• carpetbaggers
• 15th amendment
• sharecropping
• Ku Klux Klan

By 1872, many Northerners were tired of Reconstruction and felt that it was time to let the South alone.  Congress passed the ​ (a)   Act, which forgave most former Confederates and allowed them to vote again.  Southern states quickly reverted back to Democratic, anti-Black leadership.  In 1877, Democrats and Republicans struck a deal in Congress - Republican Rutherford B. Hayes would become president and he would withdraw remaining ​ (b)   still occupying Southern states.  White Southerners celebrated the end of Reconstruction, but freedpeople felt sad and scared. White Democrats in the South quickly worked to reverse the gains of Reconstruction.  They cut spending on ​ (c)   .  They also found ways to prevent Black men from voting, like the ​ (d)   and the literacy test. These didn’t violate the 15th amendment because they were not based on race; however, white people did not have to adhere to these rules because of the ​ (e)   . Therefore, these rules applied only to Black men.

 

• Amnesty
• federal troops
• education
• poll tax
• grandfather clause

Therefore, these rules applied only to Black men.

 

Southern governments also established segregation through ​ (a)   laws. The Supreme Court said that these laws were legal in the 1896 ​ (b)   decision, which established the idea of “separate but ​ (c)   .”  In reality, the facilities for ​ (d)   people and ​ (e)   people were never equal.  Many Black people responded to these injustices by leaving the South.  However, most remained in the South and worked hard to improve their lives.

• Jim Crow
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• equal
• Black
• white

Why do historians often refer to this period of time as "the failure of Reconstruction"? Why do they consider reconstruction as a failure?