5th Grade

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Fifteenth Amendment

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Essential Questions

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What significant events preceded Reconstruction?

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Emancipation Proclamation• Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…

• Slaves in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were not declared free because these states had not chosen to secede from the United States.

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Civil War• Nearly 200,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for the

Union at some point during the Civil War.

• Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865.

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Lincoln• Lincoln developed a plan for rebuilding the South for when

the Civil War ended.

• However, before Lincoln could put his plan into action, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865. He died the next morning.

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John Wilkes Booth• On April 15, Booth was treated by Dr. Samuel Mudd for a

leg injury. Many believe that Booth broke his leg when he jumped from the President’s box at Ford’s Theater after shooting Lincoln.

• On April 26, John Wilkes Booth is discovered hiding in a barn in Virginia. He remains in the barn even though Union soldiers threaten to burn it down. Eventually someone starts a fire. As the barn is burning, a sergeant Boston Corbett fires a gun at Booth. He is paralyzed by the shot. Booth died three hours later at the age of 26.

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John Wilkes Booth

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Essential Questions

What were some significant events of Reconstruction?

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Andrew Johnson• Vice President Andrew Johnson became the 17th President

of the United States. Johnson was a former senator from Tennessee who had been a Democrat before becoming Lincoln’s Vice President.

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Reconstruction• The South was in ruins. A plan was needed to rebuild it.

• Reconstruction was the period following the Civil War in which Congress passed laws designed to rebuild the country and bring the Southern states back into the Union.

• Many in Congress were not pleased with President Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction plan, so they passed laws to change how reconstruction would be carried out.

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Readmittance into the Union• In order for a state to be readmitted into the union, it had to

comply with three demands:

10% of a state’s voters had to swear loyalty to the Union.

The state had to form a new government.

The state had to approve the 13th Amendment.

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Amendments to the Constitution• The Thirteenth Amendment stated that “Neither slavery nor

involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States…” It was ratified in 1865. This amendment abolished slavery.

• The Fourteenth Amendment made blacks citizens of the United States and guaranteed them the same legal rights as whites. President Johnson attempted to block this amendment, but failed. It was ratified in 1868.

• The Fifteenth Amendment said that states could not deny people the right to vote because of race or color. It was ratified in 1870. Note: This amendment did not give women the right to vote.

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Essential Questions

What groups and individuals played important roles in Reconstruction?

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Federal Troops• Twenty thousand federal soldiers were sent to the South to

help keep order and to ensure fair elections.

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The Freedmen’s Bureau• After living in slavery for so long, blacks had to learn to do

many of the things that had always been done for them.

• For many of these “freedmen,” emancipation (or freedom) meant hunger and homelessness. To help newly freed slaves, Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau.

• The Freedmen’s Bureau was a government agency created in 1865 that provided food, medical care, and schools for freed slaves and others in the South. It also helped with shelter, jobs, and legal help for both blacks and whites. Over 4,000 schools were built by the Freedmen’s Bureau.

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Scalawags• Many in the South disagreed with what was happening.

Some, however, sided with the Union. These people were called scalawags. These white Southerners supported the federal government during Reconstruction.

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Sharecroppers• Sharecropping was a system of farming in which farmers

were allowed to rent land and pay the landowner with a share of the crops they raise.

• The sharecropper would supply the labor, which would generally consist of the farmer and his family.

• In addition to the land, the landowner would often supply the necessary equipment, animals, and seed.

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Sharecroppers• The landowner would often also provide the farmer with

credit to meet the living expenses of his family.

• The farmer would earn a share (usually half) of the profit made on the crop when it was sold.

• However, repayment of the money the sharecropper borrowed, and dishonest accounting practices and high interest rates charged by some landowners often significantly decreased the amount of money sharecroppers received.

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Sharecroppers• Improvements in farm technology and a decrease in the

amount of land farmed for cotton virtually brought an end to the sharecropping system.

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Carpetbaggers• Carpetbaggers were Northerners who planned to start

businesses in the South. These individuals were called carpetbaggers because they often carried their belongings in suitcases made of carpet.

• Many Southerners believed the carpetbaggers were merely looking to profit from the South’s misfortune.

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Carpetbaggers

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African Americans in Government• In 1870 the first African American was elected to Congress.

Hiram R. Revels, a Mississippi minister and teacher, was elected to the Senate. He held the same seat Jefferson Davis had held before the Civil War.

• In 1874 Blanche K. Bruce, a former slave, was elected to the Senate.

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Essential Questions

How were black people especially affected during Reconstruction?

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Black Codes• Black codes were laws passed by the Southern states after

the Civil War that severely limited the rights of the newly freed African Americans.

• Black codes differed from community to community.

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Black Codes• Some examples of black codes include the following:

Prohibited from owning property

Prohibited from owning guns

Prohibited from taking certain jobs

Prohibited from voting

Black people could be arrested if they did not have jobs.

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Jim Crow laws• Segregation was the separation of different people of

different races.

• Jim Crow laws were laws passed by Southern states after Reconstruction that established segregation, or separation of the races.

• Jim Crow laws prohibited blacks from sitting with whites on trains, attending certain schools, eating at certain restaurants, staying in certain hotels, or going to certain parks or theaters.

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Ku Klux Klan• The Ku Klux Klan was formed after new state governments

had been forced to repeal the black codes.

• The Ku Klux Klan was a secret society formed by white Southerners to terrorize blacks following the Civil War.

• Klansmen burned the homes and schools of African American in an effort to regain control over them.

• They would also attack African Americans who attempted to exercise their right to vote.

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Essential Questions

What brought an end to Reconstruction?

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Impeachment• After all of the southern states except for one had been

admitted back into the Union, Johnson declared that Reconstruction was complete.

• Many Republican congressmen were angry that Johnson had opposed the Fourteenth Amendment and had tried to block the passage of several laws that would have given African Americans more rights.

• Because of Johnson’s efforts, these congressmen attempted to remove Johnson from office by impeachment.

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Impeachment• Impeachment is when charges of wrongdoing are brought by

the House of Representatives against an elected official.• Beginning on March 23, 1868, a trial was held in the U.S.

Senate. • Johnson ultimately avoided being removed from office by

one vote and was able to finish his term as President.

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The End of Reconstruction• By 1870 all of the former Confederate states had fulfilled the

requirements necessary for rejoining the United States.• Many Northerners did not want to continue paying the taxes

necessary for financing the rebuilding the South.• In 1877 all remaining federal troops were withdrawn from the

South.

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Elections• Following Reconstruction, white Southerners began to take

back the power they had once had in state governments.• In order to win more elections, they attempted to limit the

number of African Americans who voted.

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Elections• At times, voting booths were placed far from where many

black people lived or the location of polling places was changed without notifying blacks where they could go to vote.

• In some places a fee called a poll tax was charged to vote that many black people could not afford.

• In some communities blacks were forced to pass a test showing that they could read before they were allowed to vote.

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