Reconstruction Lesson Plan
Overview:
Reconstruction was a time of great change in
American society. After the civil war, the nation was divided over how to treat the
south. Lincoln’s plan never materialized as he was
assassinated. The task of rebuilding the nation was passed on to his vice
president, Andrew Johnson. Johnson’s job would prove to be very difficult for
he faced stringent opposition from his own party. Most students might
think that Reconstruction focused only on the ex-slaves, however, party politics
and differing goals for the nation's future expressed by northerners complicated
this period of reform. Ultimately, however, the old
aristocratic society of the south would be restored.
As a result, newly freed slaves received but a small sense of freedom
before they were forced into a new form of economic slavery. Sharecropping and
the black codes ended the hope of black equality in this time of societal
change. To make the conditions of blacks worse, the era saw the rise of a
terrorist group known as the Ku Klux Kan. Within years, the old power structure
of the south was back in power and limited the amount of change that would occur
in the nation. Despite efforts of Radical Republicans and many moderates to
build an interracial democracy in the South, growing concerns with the impact of
industrialization--exacerbated by a servere depression--caused
the nation’s focus to be shifted and much of the momentum for change
ended.
The
period of Reconstruction was a significant transition period in American
history. The period witnessed the demise of slavery and much of old south
at the same time as the nation's economy rapidly transformed introducing new
products and new problems. Yet, the plight of African Americans continued
to deteriorate over the next century, marked by segregation, disfranchisement,
and poverty. It would take a Second Reconstruction in the 1950s and 60s to
finally achieve many of the goals of the First Reconstruction.
This
lesson plan partially fulfills the following CA History Standard:
1.1
Nation's efforts to realize the philosophy of gov't described in the
Constitution.
Issues
and Questions Regarding Reconstruction
•
Reconstruction issues
–
how was S. to brought back into union?
–
what kind of society would postwar S. be?
–
what was the status of freed people?
–
Sig: Students should understand that Reconstruction dealt with
several important questions.
Vision
of the former slaves
•
Freedom from white control
•
Reunited families
•
Education
•
Control over their labor
•
Sig: That slaves had their own definition of freedom and struggle to
achieve it
•
Primary Source: “The Late Convention of Colored Men”
–
Ex-slaves view of south and their desires
Vision
of Planters or Masters
•
Need ex-slaves to work on their land
•
Written contracts and Black Codes
–
Sig.: Indicates how planter were able to enforced these new
rules
•
Former slaves resisted by changing rules of work and political organizing
–
Sig.: Need to understand that planters while powerful did not
completely control freed people and that they fought back.
–
Shows how these laws operated to control freed people and
their labor
Republican
Party and Politics
•
Andrew Johnson’s Lenient plan
–
Sig.: Students should see that his plan permitted planters to
regain power and control in 1865
•
Unique
insight into how critics view AJ
•
Party Politics and Power
–
Sig:. Students will see that Reconstruction not simply about
the freed people
•
Radical Republicans
–
Sig.: This group understood that true change in the south
meant empowering freed people politically and economically
•
Congress and Civil Rights Act (1866)
–
expand rights to ex-slaves/ vetoed
–
Sig.: Effort of moderate Republicans to force Johnson’s hand
Congressional
Reconstruction
•
Reconstruction Act of 1867
–
New terms for re-admittance and empowered African Americans
–
Sig.: Effort of Republicans to forge a interracial democracy
in South
•
14th Amendment provides constitutional protection
–
defines citizenship; equal protection
–
Sig.: Permitted federal intervention in states to protect
freed people’s rights
•
Constitutional
effort by Repub. party to safeguard African-American rights
•
Black Politics
–
Sig.: Indicates efforts of freed people to participate in
politics and improve their lives
End
of Reconstruction
•
KKK
–
goal to reduce black pol. power by terror
–
Sig.: Effort of southern whites, especially planters to
reclaim power illegitimately
•
Industrialization and North
–
1870s labor/capital conflict
–
southern Repub pro-labor; northern Repub pro-business
•
Compromise of 1877
–
Sig.: Officially ended North’s efforts to reconstruct the
south and thus betrayed blacks
•
Primary Source: Principles of the KKK
–
Outlines ideas and attitudes of KKK and political nature of it