Chapter 17: Reconstruction, 1863-1877
1. What were the competing political plans for reconstructing the defeated Confederacy?
Abraham Lincoln’s Plan: promoted a plan to bring states back into the Union as swiftly as possible protecting private property and opposing harsh punishment, “Freeman’s Bureau”
Andrew Johnson: Described southerners as “traitors”, granted amnesty to most Confederates, appointed provisional governors who organized new governments
Radical Republicans: Advocated land distribution to make former slaves independent landowners, “block codes”
2. How did African Americans negotiate the difficult transition from slavery to freedom?
Move about, many who left returned to seek work in their neighborhoods, enjoyed freedom of no longer having to show deference to whites, reunite with lost family members, males took on more authoritive roles in the family, women continued to work outside the home. Churches, Freedman’s Bureau schools, black colleges established, sharecropping
3. What were the most important political and social legacies of Reconstruction in the southern States?
End of slavery, Ku Klux Klan, Civil Rights act of 1876 outlawed racial discrimination in public places, grew more heavily dependent on cotton, Republicans lose power in the South, troops removed
4. How did economic and political transformation in the North reflect another side of Reconstruction?
Railroad strike in 1877, industrial boom that created monopolies, Depression of 1873, unemployment high, many people in debt, clashes between labor and capital