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Reconstruction Mini-Q North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction? Overview: The twelve years after the Civil War proved to be a difficult time for America. Called Reconstruction by historians, this era saw an increase of freedom for former slaves. However, there was also great resistance to change. In 1877 attempts to reconstruct the South officially ended, leaving white-only governments in power. This Mini-Q asks you to decide who. North or South, was most responsible for the end of Reconstruction. The Documents: Document A: Terrorizing "Carpetbaggers" and "Scalawags" Document B: Targeting African-American Voters and Government Officials Document C: Problems and Scandals in the North Document D: Popular Opinion and Racism in the North "is T/7/sA Republican Form of Government? Is This Protecting Life, Liberty, or Property?" Harper's Weekly, September?, 1876 A Mini Document Based Question (Mini-Q) 305 ©2009 The DBQ Pfolect This page may be reproduced for classroom use

North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction? · Document B: Targeting African ... North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction? ... agreement, now called The Compromise of 1877, …

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Reconstruction Mini-Q

North or South:Who Ki l led Reconst ruct ion?

Overview: The twelve years after the Civil War proved to be a difficult time for America. CalledReconstruction by historians, this era saw an increase of freedom for former slaves. However, therewas also great resistance to change. In 1877 attempts to reconstruct the South officially ended,leaving white-only governments in power. This Mini-Q asks you to decide who. North or South,was most responsible for the end of Reconstruction.

T h e D o c u m e n t s :

Document A: Terrorizing "Carpetbaggers" and "Scalawags"Document B: Targeting African-American Voters and Government OfficialsDocument C: Problems and Scandals in the North

Document D: Popular Opinion and Racism in the North

"is T/7/sA RepublicanF o r m o f G o v e r n m e n t ?

Is This Protecting Life,Liberty, or Property?"

Harper's Weekly,September?, 1876

A Mini Document Based Question (Mini-Q)3 0 5

©2009 The DBQ Pfolect This page may be reproduced for classroom use

Reconstruction Mini-Q

Hook Exe rc i se : Recons t ruc t i on

Directions: Below are several groups that played a key role in the Reconstruction period. With apartner, read the descriptions of each group, and then read the headlines at the bottom of the page.Under each headline, note how happy or sad each group would be about the news. Use a scale of1-10 with 1 being least happy and 10 being the happiest. Be prepared to defend your answers.

Freedmen (F):African-Americans who were freed from

slavery during and after the Civil War

Carpetbaggers (CB):Northerners who went south after the CivilWar to help Freedmen and Reconstruction

Scalawags (S):Southern whites who supportedCarpetbaggers and Freedmen

Radical Republicans (RR):Northern Republican Congressmen whosupported African-American citizenship andpunishment for former Confederates

K u K l u x K l a n C K K K ) :A white supremacist group that opposedReconstruction and rights for Freedmen

Headline A: "Congress Passes Enforcement Acts Headline C: "Financial Panic of 1873 to Cause— Troops Sent South to Put Down the KKK'F:C B :S :R R :K K K :

Severe Depression and Loss of 3 Million Jobs"F:0 8 :S:R R :K K K :

Headline B: "Hiram Revels Elected SenatorFrom Mississippi in 1870 — First Black Man toEnter Congress"F:C B :S :R R :K K K :

Headline D: "Rutherford B. Hayes ElectedPresident in 1876 — Agrees to Move FederalSoldiers out of Louisiana and South Carolina*

F : .

C B :S :RR:KKK:

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Background Essay Reconstnjct ion Mini-Q

Nor th or South : Who K i l led Reconst ruc t ion?

...the slave went free; stood a brief momentin the sun; then moved back again towards l a v e r y . W . E . B . D u b o i s

1876 was an exciting year for America. Itwas the 100th anniversary of The Declaration ofIndependence and America was on the move.Homesteaders and ranchers were filling up theland west of the Mississippi River. Railroadswere being built at an astounding rate. It seemedthe United States was creating enough opportunity that all Americans and millions of immigrants could pursue their hopes for happinessjust as Thomas Jefferson had envisioned 100years earlier.

So it is a great irony of history that theelection of 1876 officially crushed the Americandream for millions of black f"A m e r i c a n s . T h i s e l e c t i o n s a w D a t e o f d c f o t o f n d i c a i

R c c o i u t n i c t i o z i fl o v e m m e s t

Ruther ford B. Hayes, the _Republican candidate and □ confedentestateieventual winner, square offagainst Samuel J. Tilden, the newmemooDemocratic nominee. AlthoughTilden won the popular vote bya wide margin, election results Vin Florida, South Carolina, and XLouisiana were so close that a

winner could not be determined. \I f t hese t h ree s ta tes wen t f o r m e x i c o

Hayes, he would win theElectoral College vote and become President

Talk of a new Civil War was in the air as the

opponents in the disputed states submittedseparate sets of electoral ballots. An informalagreement, now called The Compromise of1877, avoided the crisis by granting Hayes thePresidency. In return, Hayes promised toremove the last Federal soldiers from the South,almost guaranteeing that all-white governmentswould rise to power. The dream ofReconstruction was officially dead.

For a while, however, it had seemed that thedream of Reconstruction might be realized. The13th Amendment ended slavery. The 14thAmendment gave black Americans citizenshipand civil rights. A Military Reconstruction Actwas passed to make sure African-Americans*new rights were protected. Black churches werefounded. Ihiblic schools were built for blackchildren, and universities like Howard, Fisk,Morehouse, and Hampton were founded forblack students seeking higher education. SixteenAfrican-Americans were elected to Congressand numerous others served at state and local

levels. Finally, the 15th Amendment wasratified making it illegal to deny someone theright to vote based on race. Indeed, real progresswas made.

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However, in the early 1870s, the tide shifted.Southem states began to elect govemmentsdedicated to whites-only rale. Between 1870and 1876 all but three Southern states turnedback Reconstruction efforts. When RutherfordB. Hayes agreed to remove federal soldiers, hewas simply putting an end to an already dyingeffort But dying or dead, what had gonewrong? Your job is to read the documents thatfollow and answer the question: North or South:Who k i l l ed Recons t ruc t i on !

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Reconstruction Minl-Q

Background Essay Questions

1. Why was 1876 an important year for America?

2. Who ran for President in 1876? What were their political parties?

3. An "irony" is something you don*t expect, something that doesn't seem to fit What was theirony of histoiy that occurred in 1876?

4. What was the Compromise of 1877? Who got what?

5. Describe each of the following Amendments to the Constitution.

a. 13th Amendment:

b . l 4 t h A m e n d m e n t :

c. 15th Amendment:

6. After reading the essay, reread WE.B. Dubois' quote at the top. Restate his famous summaiyof Reconstruction in your own words.

1865 - Civil War ends

1867 - South placed under military rule

1869 ~ First college football game between Princeton and Rutgers

1870 - Hiram Revels elected first black Senator

1877 - Last federal troops leave South

1877 - First Easter egg hunt on White House lawn

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Reconstruction Mini-Q

Understanding the Question and Pre-Bucketing

1. What is the analytical question asked by this Mini-Q?

2. What terms in the question need to be defined?

3. Rewrite the question in your own words.

Pre-BucketingDirectioiis: After reading the Background Essay and looking at the document titles on the coverpage, can you predict how you might organize a paper answering the above Mini-Q question? Inother words, what are the possible buckets?

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R e c o n s t r u c t i o n M i n i - Q

D o c u m e n t A

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 duringReconstnjction 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, StateSenator from Caswell, is dead. He was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the GrandJury room of the Court House on Saturday.... He was stabbed five or six times, and thenhanged on a hook in the Grand Jury room.... Another brave, honest Republican citizenhas 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 havebeen dogged for months, and only a good opportunity has been wanting to secure to methe fate which Stephens has just met.... I say to you plainly that any member of Congresswho, especially from the South, does not support, advocate, and urge immediate activeand thorough measures to put an end to these outrages ... is a coward, a traitor, or a fool.

Source: Independent Monitor,September 1, 1868. AlabamaDepartment of Archives andHistory, Montgomery, Alabama.

Document Analysis1. In the image above, what group or groups is the KKK threatening?

2. According to Tourgee, what types of people are being attacked by the KKK? Why would theKKK attack these people?

3. How does the way that John Stephens was killed support the idea the Ku Klux Klan was aterrorist organization?

4. How does this document help answer the DBQ question?

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R e c o n s t n j c t i o n M i n i - Q

D o c u m e n t B

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 ofbed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead. Theysaid to me, "Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket?" I said, "If dierewas an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket." They set in and whipped me athousand 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 arefarmers.... They said I had voted for Grant and had carried the Negroes against them. Abouttwo days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and said theywould pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man go to the legislature in my place. Itold them that I would not do it if they would give me all the county was worth.,.. No mancan make a free speech in my county. I do not believe it can be done anywhere in Georgia.

Document Analysis1. Why did the KKK attack Abram Colby?

2. According to Colby, what types of people make up the KKK?

3. What seems to be the ultimate goal of the KKK?

4. What is the main idea of the cartoon?

Caption: "Of Course he wants tov o t e t h e D e m o c r a t i c t i c k e t "

Source: Harper's Weekly,October 21 ,1876.

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Reconstruction Mlni-Q

D o c u m e n t C

Source: Gerald Danzer et a!., The Americans, McDougal Littell, 1998.

"...in the 1870s, Northern voters grew indifferent to events in the South. Weary ofthe *Negro Question' and 'sick of carpet-bag' government, many Northern voters shiftedtheir attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption in Grant'sadministration.... Although political violence continued in the South ... the tide ofpublic opinion in the North began to turn against Reconstruction policies."

Document Analysis1. Explain the phrases "weary of the 'Negro Question'" and "'sick of carpet-bag' government."

2. What is President Grant trying to find in the barrel?

3. If President Grant was busy with scandals, what is likely to happen to his focus on Reconstructionefforts in the South?

4. Why might increased anger about corruption in government lead to less interest in governmentattempts to reconstruct the South?

Source: Harpei^s Weekly, 1676

N o t e : U . S . a r e I n i t i a l s o fPresident Ulysses 8. Grant.

Caption: "U.S. 'In For It.' I hope Ishall get to the bottom soon."

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R e c o n s t r u c t i o n M i n i - Q

D o c u m e n t D

Source: Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor and Politics in the Post-CivilWar North, 1865-1901. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001.

In the fall of 1873, even the staunchly (firmly) pro-Grant and pro-freedman BostonEvening Transcript ran a letter ... arguing that "the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for theproper exercise of political duties.... The rising generation of ... blacks needed a period ofprobation and instruction; a period ... long enough for the black to have forgotten something of his condition as a slave and learned much of the true method of gaining honorablesubsistence and of performing the duties of any position to which he might aspire."

N o r t h e r n a r t i s t ' s

portrayal of the SouthC a r o l i n a S t a t e

Legislature duringR e c o n s t r u c t i o n .

S o u r c e : T h e c o v e rof Harper's Weekly,March 14, 1874

Document Analysis1. According to the letter from the Boston Evening Transcript, why did some people believe blacks

were unfit to be government officials?

2. How does the letter from the Boston Evening Transcript show that racism existed in the North?

3. How do this cartoon and letter help explain why Northerners lost interest in Reconstruction?

4. How does the image above depict black politicians in the South?

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Reconstruction Mini-Q

Bucketing - Getting Ready to Write

Bucketing

Look over all the documents and organize them into your final buckets. Write final bucketlabels under each bucket and place the letters of the documents in the buckets where theybelong. It is okay to put a document in more than one bucket. Remember, your buckets aregoing to become your body paragraphs.

A

Thesis Development and RoadmapOn the chickenfoot below, write your thesis and your roadmap. Your thesis is always an opinionand answers the Mini-Q question. The roadmap is created from your bucket labels and lists thetopic areas you will examine in order to prove your thesis.

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Reconstruction Mini-Q

D o c u m e n t B

Source: Abram Colby, testimony to a joint House and Senate Committee In 1872.

Note: Colby was a former slave wfio 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 ofbed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead. Theysaid to me, "Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket?" I said, "If therewas an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket." They set in and whipped me athousand 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 arefarmers.... They said I had voted for Grant and had carried the Negroes against them. Abouttwo days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and said theywould pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man go to the legislature in my place. Itold them that I would not do it if they would give me all the county was worth.... No mancan make a free speech in my county. I do not believe it can be done anywhere in Georgia.

Document Analysis1. Why did the KKK attack Abram Colby?

2. According to Colby, what types of people make up the KKK?

3. What seems to be the ultimate goal of the KKK?

4. What is the main idea of the cartoon?

9 2003 The DBQ Ptojecl This page may be reproduced tor classroom use3 1 7

R e c o n s t r u c t i o n M i n i - Q

D o c u m e n t C

Source: Gerald Danzeretal., The Americans, McDougal Littell, 1998.

"...in the 1870s, Northern voters grew indifferent to events in the South. Weary ofthe *Negro Question' and 'sick of carpet-bag' government, many Northern voters shiftedtheir attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption in Grant'sadministration.... Although political violence continued in the South ... the tide ofpublic opinion in the North began to turn against Reconstruction policies."

Document Analysis1. Explain the phrases "weary of the 'Negro Question'" and "'sick of carpet-bag' government."

2. What is President Grant trying to find in the barrel?

3. If President Grant was busy with scandals, what is likely to happen to his focus on Reconstructionefforts in the South?

4. Why might increased anger about corruption in government lead to less interest in governmentattempts to reconstruct the South?

N o t e : U . S . a r e i n i t i a l s o fPresident Ulysses S. Grant.

Source: Harper's Weekly, 1876

Caption: "U.S. 'In For It.' I hopeshall get to the bottom soon."

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R e c o n s t r u c t i o n M i n i - Q

D o c u m e n t D

Source: Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor and Politics in the Post-CivilWar North, 1865-1901. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001.

In the fall of 1873, even the staunchly (firmly) pro-Grant and pro-freedman BostonEvening Transcript ran a letter ... arguing that "the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for theproper exercise of political duties.... The rising generation of ... blacks needed a period ofprobation and instruction; a period ... long enough for the black to have forgotten something of his condition as a slave and learned much of the true method of gaining honorablesubsistence and of performing the duties of any position to which he might aspire."

N o r t h e r n a r t i s t ' s

portrayal of the SouthC a r o l i n a S t a t e

Legislature duringR e c o n s t r u c t i o n .

Source: The coverof Harper's Weekly,March 14, 1874

Document Analysis1. According to the letter from the Boston Evening Transcript, why did some people believe blacks

were unfit to be government officials?

2. How does the letter from the Boston Evening Transcript show that racism existed in the North?

3. How do this cartoon and letter help explain why Northerners lost interest in Reconstruction?

4. How does the image above depict black politicians in the South?

9 2009 The DBQ Project This page may be reproduced for classroom use3 2 1

Reconstruction Mini-Q

Bucketing - Getting Ready to Write

Bucketing

Look over all the documents and organize them into your final buckets. Write final bucketlabels under each bucket and place the letters of the documents in the buckets where theybelong. It is okay to put a document in more than one bucket Remember, your buckets aregoing to become your body paragraphs.

Thesis Development and RoadmapOn the chickenfoot below, write your thesis and your roadmap. Your thesis is always an opinionand answers the Mini-Q question. The roadmap is created from your bucket labels and lists thetopic areas you will examine in order to prove your thesis.

« 2009 ThaOBQ Project This page may be reproduced for classroom use3 2 3

Reconstruction Minl-Q

From Thesis to Essay Writing

Mini-Q Essay Outline Guide

Working Tide

Paragraph #1G r a b b e r

Background

Stating the question with key terms defined

Thesis and roadmap

Paragraph #2Baby Thesis for bucket one

Evidence: supporting detail from documents with document citation

Argument connecting evidence to the thesis

Paragraph #3Baby Thesis for bucket two

E v i d e n c e

Argument

Paragraph #4 (If necessary)Baby Thesis for bucket three

E v i d e n c e

Argument

Paragraph #5Conclusion/Decision: Argument why the North or South was primarily responsible.

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Reconstruction MIni-Q

Student Mini-Q Lined Paper

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Reconstnjction Mini-Q

Student Mini-Q Lined Paper

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