US History: Colonial Era to the Present · Module 8 of 15
Reconstruction
Rebuilding the Union and the fight over what freedom would actually mean for formerly enslaved people.
Presidential vs. Radical Reconstruction
- Presidential Reconstruction (under Lincoln, then Andrew Johnson) favored a lenient, quick reunification of the Union with the South.
- Radical Reconstruction — led by Republicans in Congress after 1866 — took a harsher approach, placing the South under military districts and requiring stronger protections for freedpeople before readmission.
How did Radical Reconstruction differ from Presidential Reconstruction's approach to the South?
Solution. Radical Reconstruction was much harsher and more thorough, placing former Confederate states under military rule and requiring them to guarantee civil rights for freedpeople — including ratifying the 14th Amendment — before being readmitted to the Union.
Constitutional Amendments
- The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment (1868) granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all people born in the US; the 15th Amendment (1870) prohibited denying the right to vote based on race.
What did the 14th Amendment guarantee?
Solution. Citizenship and equal protection under the law for all people born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people.
Successes & Failures for Freedpeople
- The Freedmen's Bureau helped formerly enslaved people with education, employment, and legal assistance during Reconstruction.
- Southern states passed Black Codes — laws that restricted freedpeople's rights and reimposed many conditions similar to slavery, undermining Reconstruction's goals.
What were Black Codes, and what was their purpose?
Solution. Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War that restricted the rights and freedoms of Black Americans, aiming to control their labor and limit the practical impact of emancipation.
The End of Reconstruction & Its Legacy
- The Compromise of 1877 resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election by giving Republicans the presidency in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction.
- Without federal enforcement, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation and disenfranchisement that lasted into the mid-20th century.
What was the significance of the Compromise of 1877?
Solution. It ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the South, removing the main enforcement mechanism protecting freedpeople's rights, which allowed Southern states to enact Jim Crow laws largely unchecked.
Check yourself
2 of this module's 5 quiz questions. Pick your answers, then check them in the app, with an explanation for every question.
1. What did the 13th Amendment do?
2. What did the 14th Amendment guarantee?