American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 15: RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NEW SOUTH

Study Questions

1
What effects did the Civil War have on the economy and social system of the South?
2
What special problems did the freedmen face immediately after the war? What efforts were made to help them?
3
What political implications did the readmission of the Southern states pose for the political parties, especially the Republicans?
4
What were the differences among the conservative, radical, and moderate factions of the Republican Party during Reconstruction?
5
What were the objectives and provisions of Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction? How did the Radical Republicans respond to it?
6
Describe Andrew Johnson's approach to Reconstruction. How did his political background and his personality shape it?
7
Describe the Black Codes and the congressional reaction to them. How did President Johnson respond to Congress?
8
What were the key provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment? What happened to it in 1866?
9
Explain the basic provisions of the congressional plan of Reconstruction of 1867 and tell how it was implemented. What were the implications of waiting so long after the war to get a comprehensive plan in place?
10
What measures did the Radical Republicans take to keep President Johnson and the Supreme Court from interfering with their plans? What ultimately happened to Johnson's influence?
11
What three groups constituted the Republican Party in the South during Reconstruction?
12
How do the facts of political life in the Reconstruction states compare to the oft-stated white charges of corruption, black domination, and misrule?
13
What changes in Southern education began to emerge during Reconstruction? Who pushed for these changes?
14
What changes in land ownership occurred in the South after the Civil War? What pattern of land occupancy characterized most blacks in the postwar South?
15
How did the typical agricultural credit systems in the postwar South affect farmers—especially poor ones?
16
What economic advances did the freedmen make? How did the economic status of blacks compare with that of the average white Southerner?
17
How did freedom affect black family life?
18
How did Ulysses S. Grant's political accomplishments compare with his military ability?
19
What episodes led to the Liberal Republican break over "Grantism" and later to the second-term scandals?
20
People in what financial condition were most likely to favor expansion of the currency supply with greenbacks? What sparked interest in greenbacks?
21
What tactics did white Southern Democrats use to restrict or control black suffrage?
22
Why did Northern Republicans begin to take less interest in Reconstruction and the cause of the freedmen after about 1870?
23
Why was the presidential election of 1876 disputed? How was the controversy resolved by the "Compromise of 1877"?
24
What was President Rutherford B. Hayes's objective in the South? Did he succeed?
25
Compare white and black expectations for Reconstruction with the actual results. Why were most black hopes dashed? What black gains were actually made?
26
What were the typical socioeconomic and political characteristics of the "Redeemers" (Bourbons)?
27
How did the policies of the "Redeemer" governments compare with those of the Reconstruction-era administrations?
28
In what particular products was industrialization in the South most advanced? What factors attracted industrial capital to the region after the war?
29
Describe the composition of the industrial work force in the South. What was life in a mill town like?
30
Describe the typical pattern of Southern agriculture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What problems confronted most farmers? What groups were most notably affected?
31
Describe the rise of the black middle-class.
32
What was Booker T. Washington's prescription for black advancement as expressed in the "Atlanta Compromise" and elsewhere?
33
How did the civil right cases of 1883 and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) substantially negate the effect of the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
34
What strategies and legal devices did the Southern states use to evade the spirit of the Fifteenth Amendment? What motivated the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century crackdown on black voting?
35
Describe the pervasive nature of "Jim Crow" laws. How was the system enforced, formally and informally?
36
Explain the historic debate over Reconstruction and show how the various interpretations were reflections of the time in which they were written.
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