CWR - Document Analysis - Reconstruction Lesson

Document Analysis - Reconstruction

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The period following the Civil War, known as Reconstruction, was a difficult process. Much of the South lay in ruin. The economy was in shambles. Society was undergoing a radical transformation, as millions of former slaves were now free. Some felt that the Union should be re-united quickly without placing too many demands on the former Confederate states. Others felt that there must be some punishment for the war and that the only way to see real change was to ensure it by the force of law and military might. Leading the charge for this view were the Radical Republicans who eventually would gain control of the Reconstruction process and place the South under military rule.

Examine these 5 documents and answer the questions that follow. You can also download a pdf copy of the documents here. Links to an external site.

 

Document 1: Representative Thaddeus Stevens (R--Pennsylvania) a leader of the Radical Republicans We hold it to be the duty of the government to inflict condign punishment on the rebel belligerents, and so weaken their hands that they can never again endanger the Union; and so reform their municipal institutions as to make them republican in spirit as well as in name.... We propose to con3iscate all the estate of every rebel belligerent whose estate was worth $l0,000 or whose land exceeded two hundred acres in quantity....By thus forfeiting the estates of the leading rebels, the Government would have 394,000,000 of acres....Give if you please forty acres to each adult male freedman. Suppose there are one million of them. That would require 40,000,000 of acres.... The whole fabric of southern society must be changed....How can republican institutions, free schools, free churches, free social intercourse exist in a mingled community of nabobs and serfs; of the owners of twenty thousand acre manors with lordly palaces, and the occupants of narrow huts inhabited by "low white trash?".... The property of the rebels shall pay our national debt, and indemnify freedmen and loyal sufferers.

Document 2: from the Reconstruction Act of 1867 that established Military (Radical) Reconstruction Be it enacted, That said rebel States shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States...That it shall be the duty of each officer...to protect all persons in their rights of persons and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals....

Document 3: President Andrew Johnson, opposing Radical Reconstruction The power...given to the commanding officer over all the people of each district is that of an absolute monarch. His mere will is to take the place of all law....It reduces the whole population of the ten states----all persons, of every color, sex, and condition, and every stranger within their limits----to the most abject and degrading slavery.

Document 4: The carpetbagger, Harper's Weekly (1872)

Document 5: Office of the Freedmen’s Bureau-Memphis, TN, Harper’s Weekly (1866)

Questions

  1. What does Representative Stevens propose to change the fabric of southern society?
  2. What was the mission of the troops sent to the former Confederate states during Radical Reconstruction? Why would this be necessary?
  3. What does President Johnson compare Radical (Military) Reconstruction to?
  4. "Carpetbaggers" refers to northerners who moved south after the Civil War. Why were they viewed negatively by many white southerners?
  5. What was the Freedmen's Bureau and what did it do?

Answer the questions on your own paper or word processing document.

 

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