(CDD 1-1) Andrew Johnson s reconstruction and How it Works

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1 (CDD 1-1) Andrew Johnson s reconstruction and How it Works This cartoon by Thomas Nast appeared in Harper's Weekly on September 1, NOTE: If you do not know who the figures or symbols are (Othello, Iago, Edward Stanton, Copperheads, etc.), then look them up in the text or do a Google search to help you with the analysis! Intellectual laziness will NOT be tolerated! Top Center: Southern Rights/ What They Were Top Left: Memphis riots of May 1-3, 1866 Top Right: New Orleans riots of July 30, 1866 Center Othello (African American Veteran): "Dost thou mock me!" [holds an Honorable Discharge signed by Grant] Iago (Johnson): "I mock you no, by Heaven: Would you bear your fortunes like a man." The posters behind them: Johnson's promises to the freedmen and Republicans Behind the figures: New Orleans riot Bottom Center Figures (L-R): William Seward, a freedman, Gideon Welles, Edward Stanton, Andrew Johnson Flute: Constitution Snake: Copperheads Sign on door: Vetoes and Pardons to be had here Bottom Left: 1862 Surrender of New Orleans by Confederates to Union General Benjamin Butler Bottom Right: 1866, Union General Philip Sheridan is forced to follow the orders of the former Confederate leaders 1

2 Document questions: Answer the following questions for discussion in class on the day specified by the syllabus. Be sure to note where the information to answer the question is located in the document (i.e., Highlighting or notes in the margin) Answer the questions in your own words. You may hand write or word process your answers. NOTE: If you do not know who the figures or symbols are (Othello, Iago, Edward Stanton, Copperheads, etc.), then look them up in the text or do a Google search to help you with the analysis! Intellectual laziness will NOT be tolerated! 1. What type of document is this? (Primary/Secondary and what IS it? 2. What is the bias of this Author, as it relates to this topic? What might account for this bias? 3. What is the message and symbolist in the top center panel? Give specific examples. 4. What is the message and symbolism in the top left and right panels? Give specific examples. 5. What is the message and symbolism in the center panel (the circle)? Give specific examples. 6. What is the message and symbolism in the bottom center panel (the circle)? Give specific examples. 7. What is the message and symbolism in the bottom left and right panels? Give specific examples. 2

3 (CDD 1-2) Andrew Johnson, Plan for Reconstruction, 1865 As the Civil War came to an end, Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, moved quickly to implement his plan for Reconstruction, which differed little from Lincoln's plan (see text pp ). Johnson acted largely on his own, without much consultation with Congress. In particular, he ignored Congress's demand for a harsher policy toward the former Confederate states. On May 29, 1865, President Johnson set forth his plan in two presidential proclamations. In the first he promised amnesty to all rebels who would swear an oath of future loyalty, except for certain high-ranking officials and officers of the Confederacy, who had to petition for a presidential pardon. In the second proclamation, which appears below, Johnson announced the creation of a provisional government for North Carolina. After appointing William W. Holden, a North Carolina Unionist who had opposed secession, as the provisional governor, Johnson described the means by which that state could be restored to the Union. Johnson intended this plan to serve as a model for the other seceded states, hoping that all could be restored before Congress reconvened in December. Johnson's approach to Reconstruction was very different from that proposed by the Wade-Davis Bill (see text p. 458), which stipulated that more than 50 percent of the voters who were qualified in 1860 in each southern state had to be able to prove their past loyalty and swear future loyalty to the Union. Johnson and Congress also differed about allowing former Confederate leaders to participate in Reconstruction and in government. Presidents Lincoln and Johnson envisioned temporary disqualification; Congress favored permanent exclusion. Whereas the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States declares that the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion and domestic violence; and Whereas the President of the United States is by the Constitution made Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, as well as chief civil executive officer of the United States, and is bound by solemn oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and Whereas the rebellion which has been waged by a portion of the people of the United States against the properly constituted authorities of the Government... and Whereas it becomes necessary and proper to carry out and enforce the obligations of the United States to the people of North Carolina in securing them in the enjoyment of a republican form of government: Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon me by the Constitution of the United States and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people of said State to organize a State government whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquility insured, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do hereby appoint William W. Holden provisional governor of the State of North Carolina, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of said State who are loyal to the United States, and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending the constitution thereof, and with authority to exercise within the limits of said State all the powers necessary and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of North Carolina to restore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federal Government and to present such a republican form of State government as will entitle the State to the guaranty of the United States therefore and its people to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence: 3

4 Provided, That in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing delegates to any State convention as aforesaid no person shall be qualified as an elector or shall be eligible as a member of such convention unless he shall have previously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty as set forth in the President's proclamation of May 29, a.d. 1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of North Carolina in force immediately before the 20th day of May, A.D. 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance of secession; and the said convention, when convened, or the legislature that may be thereafter assembled, will prescribe the qualification of electors and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the constitution and laws of the State a power the people of the several States composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Government to the present time. And I do hereby direct... That the military commander of the department and all officers and persons in the military and naval service aid and assist the said provisional governor in carrying into effect this proclamation; and they are enjoined to abstain from in any way hindering, impeding, or discouraging the loyal people from the organization of a State government as herein authorized. Document questions: Answer the following questions for discussion in class on the day specified by the syllabus. Be sure to note where the information to answer the question is located in the document (i.e., Highlighting or notes in the margin) 1. What type of document is this? (Primary/Secondary and what IS it? 2. What is the bias of this Author, as it relates to this topic? What might account for this bias? 3. According to President Johnson, what was his authority for this proclamation? Who was to be in charge of the process? 4. What steps did Johnson prescribe for restoring civil government in North Carolina? 5. Johnson's plan, would freedmen be able to vote? (Hint: See the section starting Provided. ) 4

5 (CDD 1-3) Thaddeus Stevens, Black Suffrage and Land Redistribution (1867) The Radical Republicans, including Congressman Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, believed that besides the vote, freedmen would need an economic basis for controlling their lives (see text p. 466). Below are excerpts from the remarks of Thaddeus Stevens and from a bill in which he proposed to alter the South drastically. Source: Congressional Globe, 3 January 1867, 252; 19 March 1867, 203. On black suffrage Unless the rebel States, before admission, should be made republican in spirit, and placed under the guardianship of loyal men, all our blood and treasure will have been spent in vain. I waive now the question of punishment which, if we are wise, will still be inflicted by moderate confiscations.... Impartial suffrage, both in electing the delegates and ratifying their proceedings, is now the fixed rule. There is more reason why colored voters should be admitted in the rebel States than in the Territories. In the States they form the great mass of the loyal men. Possibly with their aid loyal governments may be established in most of those States. Without it all are sure to be ruled by traitors; and loyal men, black and white, will be oppressed, exiled, or murdered. There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In the first place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to negro suffrage in the rebel States. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? In the second place, it is a necessity in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. The white Union men are in a great minority in each of those States. With them the blacks would act in a body; and it is believed that in each of said States, except one, the two united would form a majority, control the States, and protect themselves. Now they are the victims of daily murder.... Another good reason is, it would insure the ascendancy of the Union party.... I believe... that on the continued ascendancy of that party depends the safety of this great nation. If impartial suffrage is excluded in the rebel States, then every one of them is sure to send a solid rebel representative delegation to Congress, and cast a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their kindred Copperheads of the North, would always elect the President and control Congress. While slavery sat upon her defiant throne, and insulted and intimidated the trembling North, the South frequently divided on questions of policy between Whigs and Democrats, and gave victory alternately to the sections. Now, you must divide them between loyalists, without regard to color, and disloyalists, or you will be the perpetual vassals of the free-trade, irritated, revengeful South.... I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. If it be just, it should not be denied; if it be necessary, it should be adopted; if it be a punishment to traitors, they deserve it. Bill on land redistribution Whereas it is due to justice, as an example to future times, that some proper punishment should be inflicted on the people who constituted the confederate States of America, both because they, declaring an unjust war against the United States for the purpose of destroying republican liberty and permanently establishing slavery, as well as for the cruel and barbarous manner in which they conducted said war, in violation of all the laws of civilized warfare, and also to compel them to make some compensation for the damages and expenditures caused by said war: Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the public lands belonging to the ten States that formed the government of the so-called confederate States of America shall be forfeited by said States and become forthwith vested in the United States.... That out of the lands thus seized and confiscated the slaves who have been liberated by the operations of the war and the amendment to the Constitution or otherwise, who resided in said confederate States on the 4th day of March, a.d. 1861, or since, shall have distributed to them as follows, namely: to each male person who is 5

6 the head of a family, forty acres; to each adult male, whether the head of a family or not, forty acres; to each widow who is the head of a family, forty acres to be held by them in fee-simple, but to be inalienable for the next ten years after they become seized thereof.... That out of the balance of the property thus seized and confiscated there shall be raised, in the manner hereinafter provided, a sum equal to fifty dollars, for each homestead, to be applied by the trustees hereinafter mentioned toward the erection of buildings on the said homesteads for the use of said slaves; and the further sum of $500,000,000, which shall be appropriated as follows, to wit: $200,000,000 shall be invested in United States six per cent securities; and the interest thereof shall be semi-annually added to the pensions allowed by law to pensioners who have become so by reason of the late war; $300,000,000, or so much thereof as may be needed, shall be appropriated to pay damages done to loyal citizens by the civil or military operations of the government lately called the confederate States of America.... That in order that just discrimination may be made, the property of no one shall be seized whose whole estate on the 4th day of March, a.d. 1865, was not worth more than $5,000, to be valued by the said commission, unless he shall have voluntarily become an officer or employee in the military or civil service of the confederate States of America, or in the civil or military service of some one of said States. Document questions: Answer the following questions for discussion in class on the day specified by the syllabus. Be sure to note where the information to answer the question is located in the document (i.e., Highlighting or notes in the margin) Answer the questions in your own words. 1. What type of document is this? (Primary/Secondary and what IS it? 2. What is the bias of this Author, as it relates to this topic? What might account for this bias? 3. On what grounds did Stevens justify granting African American men the vote? 4. What did Stevens want to do with land confiscated in the South? 5. Why do you think Congress rejected Stevens's land confiscation and redistribution proposal? 6. Do you think that if Congress had adopted the proposal, it would have made a difference in the history of the South or the United States? Why or why not? 6

7 (CDD 1-4) Thomas Nast, The Rise and Fall of Northern Support for Reconstruction (1868, 1874) Evidence of broad northern support for the Republican program could be found in many places other than the ballot box. Illustrations from Harper's Weekly, such as the one in the text (p. 477) and the one here from 1868 titled This Is a White Man's Government, reflected popular attitudes in the North in the 1860s. However, northern support for Reconstruction began to erode as early as 1868 and was exhausted by 1874 (see text pp ), the year the Harper's Weekly illustration presented here appeared. Both cartoons are by Thomas Nast. The first cartoon satirizes the Democratic Party in 1868, with its platform rejecting the Congressional Reconstruction Acts as unconstitutional, null, and void. Nathan Bedford Forrest the Confederate general who became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is represented in the center, while to his right stands an Irish immigrant, depicted (as was common in Nast cartoons) as a barbaric hoodlum. The third figure (to Forrest's left) is the Democratic candidate for president in 1868, Governor Horatio Seymour depicted here as the prosperous associate of New York financiers. This unholy alliance unites in what to Nast were the characteristic Democratic Party activities of racial oppression and treason, illustrated by scenes from the New York draft riots and the postwar South, and by their trampling on the prostrate form of a black Union soldier. The second cartoon shows a sharp shift in opinion on the part of both Nast and his audience. The cartoon illustrates a derisive news account of the black-majority South Carolina House of Representatives, reprinted from the white conservative Charleston News. In 1868 the views of the News would have been dismissed as disloyal by Nast's employer, Harper's Weekly; by 1874 the magazine was allowing those views a respectful hearing, and its famous cartoonist was giving them his stamp of approval. Why? Sources: Thomas Nast, This Is a White Man's Government, Harper's Weekly, 5 September 1868; Thomas Nast, Colored Rule in a Reconstructed State, Harper's Weekly, 14 March Thomas Nast, This Is a White Man's Government, Harper's Weekly, 5 September 1868 The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals and cowards Columbia (the symbol of America until Uncle Sam): You are aping the lowest whites. If you disgrace your race this way, you had better take Back Seat. 7

8 Document questions: Answer the following questions for discussion in class on the day specified by the syllabus. Be sure to note where the information to answer the question is located in the document (i.e., Highlighting or notes in the margin) Answer the questions in your own words. 1. What type of document is this? (Primary/Secondary and what IS it?) 2. What is the bias of this Author, as it relates to this topic? What might account for this bias? 3. What is the overall message of the first cartoon and what imagery is used to make its point? 4. What is the overall message of the second cartoon and what imagery is used to make its point? 8

9 History 102 DBQ #1: Reconstruction s Failure Historical Context: The Civil War may have settled some significant national problems, but it created many more. Yes, slavery was abolished, secession had been refuted, and the supremacy of the national government confirmed. But the cost of Union victory in lost lives, destroyed property and sectional bitterness was staggering, and created huge new problems and tasks. Perhaps the most challenging task facing our exhausted nation was the future status of the four million newly freed slaves. After the death of President Lincoln and the failure of President Johnson, Congress, in 1867, took charge of the effort to reconstruct our divided nation. A large part of Congressional Reconstruction was an effort to establish and protect the citizenship rights of the freedmen. The former Confederacy was divided into five military districts, each governed by a Union general. The Southern states, in order to rid themselves of these military dictatorships, were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing equal rights for all citizens including former slaves. At the same time, large numbers of former Confederate soldiers and supporters were disfranchised denied the right to vote. By 1870 all of the former Confederate states had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and were readmitted to the union. In each state, the voting rights of freedmen were protected while voting was denied to many white Southerners. And so, with many whites not voting, and union troops remaining in the South to protect them, freedmen seemed to be enjoying some level of equal rights and full citizenship. But this did not last long; by 1877 Reconstruction had ended. All Southern state governments were restored, and the citizenship rights of the freedmen rapidly eroded. African-American voting rates plummeted. Soon these former slaves fell into a second class citizenship characterized by a system of state-enforced segregation and discrimination. Directions: The following essay question is based on the accompanying documents in Part A. As you analyze the documents, take into account both the source of the document and the author s point of view. Be sure to: Carefully read the document based question. o Consider what you already know about the topic o How would you answer the question if you had no documents to examine? Now, read each document carefully, underlining key phrases and words that address the document based question. o You may also wish to use the margin of your paper for notes o Answer the questions that follow each document Based on your knowledge of the topic and on the information found in the documents, formulate a thesis that directly answers the question. Organize supportive and relevant information using the attached 5 paragraph outline worksheet. o Completely write out your thesis statement in the appropriate place o Completely write out each paragraph topic sentence o The outline should be able to prove your thesis o The information in the outline should be logically presented o The outline should include both information from the documents and from your outside knowledge of the subject Question: Why did Congress Reconstruction efforts to ensure equal rights to the freedmen fail? Terms and concepts that do not appear in the documents but could be used in the final essay: Dred Scott decision Wade-Davis Bill Impeachment Thaddeus Stevens Liberal Republicans Radical Republicans Carpetbaggers Radical Reconstruction Freedman s Bureau Amendments 13, 14, 15 Sharecroppers Radical Reconstruction state Tilden-Hayes election Scalawags Johnson s Plan Black codes Civil Rights Act Grant scandals Compromise of 1877 Force Acts 9

10 DBQ #1: Reconstruction s Failure - Documents and Main Points Essay Question: Why did Congress Reconstruction efforts to ensure equal rights to the freedmen fail? Organize your evidence: Which documents have the evidence? Document Numbers Reason for Reconstruction s failure to ensure equal rights for the freedmen Develop your Main Points: Group your reasons for the failure of Reconstruction. Use this to develop the three main points of your essay Reason for Failure Unifying Main Point for the Essay 10

11 Document 1 In January 1866, soon after the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery, radical Republicans in Congress began arguing that freedmen should be allowed to vote on equal terms with whites. A bill was introduced to give the vote to the freedmen of the District of Columbia. Most Democrats and many moderate Republicans opposed this bill, though most radical Republicans supported it (even though only five Northern states allowed African- American men to vote at this time). The following excerpts come from the speech of Pennsylvania Congressman Benjamin Boyer, a Democrat who opposed the bill to enfranchise the African Americans of District of Columbia. It is common for the advocates of negro suffrage to assume that the color of the negro is the main obstacle to admission to political equality But it is not the complexion of the negro that degrades him.(the Negro is) a race by nature inferior in mental caliber the negroes are not the equals of white Americans, and are not entitled.to participate in the Government of this country.. What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? Why, according to Congressman Boyer, should African Americans be denied the right to vote? Do you believe that this racial viewpoint was widely held at this time? Explain. Document 2 This information comes from the records of the Freedman s Bureau for the Federal District that included Alabama for the year Jan. 4 - Bob Foreman cut at Union Springs. Jan. 2 - Alfred killed in Sumter County. February 14 - Richard killed in Russell County near Columbus, Ga. March - Freedman killed near West Point. March - Bradley killed freedwoman with an axe. Montgomery March - Guard fired on & driven off when attempting to arrest the murderer, Butler Co. April 3 - Woman taken by three men out of her house in middle of night to swamp & badly whipped - beaten on head with pistol April - Freedman killed near Saw Mill near Montgomery. April 27 - Freedman shot by Confed. Soldier wantonly near Livingston, Sumter Co. May 7 - Moore taken to woods & hung till nearly dead to make him tell who robbed a store, at Tuscaloosa. May 29 - Colored man killed by Lucian Jones for refusing to sign contract, in upper part of Sumter Co. May 30 - Mulatto hung by grapevine near roadside between Tuscaloosa & Greensboro. 11

12 May 29 - Richard Dick's wife beaten with club by her employer. Richard remonstrated - in the night was taken from his house and whipped nearly to death with a buggy trace by son of the employer & two others. June 16 - Mr. Alexander, colored preacher, brutally beaten & forced to leave his house at Auburn, Ala. July - Band armed men came to house of Eliz. Adams, threatened to kill her & her sister if they did not leave the county, abused & beat them. (illegible) Franklin & (illegible) started to report outrage, not heard from afterward. July 16 - Black girl beaten to death by Washington and Greene McKinney, 18 miles west of Tuscaloosa. July 23 - White man named Cook murdered a Negro between Danville & Somerville. Sept Black man picking fodder in a field shot dead -- & another who had difficulty with a white man abducted & supposed to have been murdered near Tuscaloosa. Sept. 3 - Murderous assault upon returned black Union soldier in Blount Co. Sept Assault & firing upon a freedman in Greenville. Dec R. S. Lee of Butler Co. brutally assaulted a freedwoman of Sumner. Dec Same man assaulted with intent to kill Peter Golston, freedman. Dec Wm. Lee, son of above shot Morris Golston on 10th December. Dec Enoch Hicks & party burned school house in Greenville in Sumner - assaulted Union soldier &c. Judge Bragg & son mercilessly beat wife & daughter of James, freedman & drew pistol on James. Kell Forrest beat wife of colored man George. [There are fourteen additional entries scattered throughout this year] What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? What patterns or trends can be seen in this report? How does this information help explain the failure of Reconstruction? Document 3 This excerpt from the report of General George Thomas about activity in Tennessee, was published in the New York Times on November 23, With the close of the last, and the beginning of the new year the State of Tennessee was disturbed by the strange operations of a mysterious organization known as the Ku Klux Klan.its grand purpose being to establish a nucleus around which the adherents of the late rebellion might safely rally. 12

13 What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? What, according the General Thomas, was the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan? How did the Ku Klux Klan help to undermine Congress efforts to ensure equal rights to freedmen? Document 4 This excerpt is from The Era of Reconstruction, , by Kenneth M. Stampp (Vintage Books, 1967, p. 193). Stampp was a professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley. Meanwhile southern Democrats gained strength when Congress finally removed the political disabilities form most of the prewar leadership. In May 1872, because of pressure form the Liberal Republican, Congress passed a general amnesty act which restored the right of office holding (and voting) to the vast majority of those who had been disqualified..after the passage of this act only a few hundred ex-confederates remained unpardoned. What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? How did the restoration of voting rights to white Southerners undermine efforts to preserve and protect the voting rights of the freedmen? 13

14 Document 5 Photograph of a Freedman s Bureau School in Petersburg, Virginia, 1870s. What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? Describe the imagery of this source. What elements can help explain the failure of Reconstruction to aid the Freedmen? 14

15 Document 6 These excerpts are from an editorial in the Atlanta News, dated September 10, Let there be White Leagues formed in every town, village, and hamlet of the South, and let us organize for the great struggle which seems inevitable. If the October elections which are to be held at the North are favorable to radicals, the time will have arrived for us to prepare for the very worst. The radicalism of the Republican Party must be met by the radicalism of white men. We have no war to make against the United States Government, but against the Republican Party our hate must be unquenchable, our war interminable [endless] and merciless. By brute force they are endeavoring to force us into acquiescence [agreement] to their hideous programme. We have submitted long enough, and it is time to meet brute-force with brute-force. Every Southern State should swarm with White Leagues, and we should stand ready to act the moment Grant signs the civil-rights bill. It will not do to wait till radicalism has fettered us to the car of social equality before we make an effort to resist it. The signing of the bill will be a declaration of war against the southern whites. It is our duty to ourselves, it is our duty to our children, it is our duty to the white race to take the gage of battle the moment it is thrown down. It is time for use to organize. We have been temporizing [waiting to act] long enough. Let northern radicals understand that military supervision of southern elections and the civil-rights bill mean war; that war means bloodshed. If the white Democrats of the North are men, they will not stand idly by while we are bourn down by northern radicals and half-barbarous negroes But regardless, WE MUST ACT! What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? What is this editorial advocating? Document 7 Following are headlines and excerpts from front-page news stories in November Headline text from the New York Times, November 4, 1874 DEMOCRATIC VICTORY! Congress to be democratic Headline and story text from the New York Times, November 5, 1874 THE REPUBLICAN DEFEAT! Our later telegrams only add to the magnitude of the defeat experienced on Tuesday In the House (of Representatives) the Democrats gains continue to increase in numbers. 15

16 What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? How did this Democratic victory help to undermine Congress efforts to help the freedmen? What factors discredited the Republican Party during the early 1870 s? Explain. Document 8 In 1935, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, a prominent African-American historian, published a major history of Reconstruction. Here is a brief excerpt from that book. (From Black Reconstruction in America, New York: Atheneum, reprinted in 1970, p. 693.) But the decisive influence was the systematic and overwhelming economic pressure. Negroes who wanted work must not dabble in politics. Negroes who wanted to increase their income must not agitate the Negro problem.in order to earn a living, the American Negro was compelled to give up his political power. What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? According to DuBois, how were freedmen convinced to stop voting or taking part in political events? Document 9 During the 1930 s, a major effort was made to interview elderly African Americans who could share recollections of their youth in slavery. The following document is an excerpt from an interview with a man named John McCoy. McCoy was born in 1838 and had lived 27 years as a slave in Texas. (Benjamin Botking, ed., Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery, University of Chicago Press, 1945, p. 238.) Freedom wasn t no different I knows of. I works for Marse John just the same for a long time. He say one morning, John, you can go out in the field iffenyou wants to or you can get out iffen you wants to, cause 16

17 the government say you is free. If you wants to work I ll feed you and give you clothes but can t pay you no money. I ain t got none. Humph, I didn t know nothing what money was, nohow, but I knows I ll git plenty victuals to eat, so I stays.. What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? What does this recollection by John McCoy suggest as a reason for the failure of efforts to guarantee freedmen full citizenship rights? Document 10 The disputed presidential election of 1876 set the stage for the final stage of Reconstruction the removal of all federal troops from the last three unreconstructed Southern states: Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. Candidate Uncontested Electoral Vote Electoral Total Popular Vote Rutherford B. Hayes (R) ,034,311 Samuel J. Tilden (D) ,288,546 What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? 1876? Hint: You MUST find this in Chapter 15 in the textbook. How was it possible that Hayes won the election of 17

18 How did this disputed election lead to the end of Reconstruction? Explain. Document 11 Woodcut or engraving that appeared in a southern newspaper: The plantation police, or Home Guard, examine Negro passes on the levee road in the South. (1879) What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) What is the bias of the author, as it relates to the essay question? What might account for this bias? What was the purpose of this picture? What symbolism is present? 18

19 Five Paragraph Outline Worksheet Introduction Paragraph: Background- No more than two sentences. (What was going on at the time and the historical significance of the period-as it relates to the question) Main point #1- No more than one sentence. Main point #2- No more than one sentence. Main point #3- No more than one sentence. Thesis (must directly answer the question and tie the main points together) Body Paragraph #1 Topic sentence (Same as main point #1, limits paragraph to ONE idea and must directly support the thesis) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Transition (Connects to the next paragraph in a complex manner using a connecting sentence) Body Paragraph #2 Topic sentence (Same as main point #2, limits paragraph to ONE idea and must directly support the thesis) 19

20 Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Transition (Connects to the next paragraph in a complex manner using a connecting sentence) Body Paragraph #3 Topic sentence (Same as main point #3, limits paragraph to ONE idea and must directly support the thesis) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Evidence (specific person, law, treaty, development ) Transition (Connects to the next paragraph in a complex manner using a connecting sentence) Conclusion paragraph Very brief review of the essay. Sum it up in no more than two sentences. Importance of the topic during its time Long term historical importance of the topic 20

21 Sample Five Paragraph Essay Activity Based on DBQ #1: Reconstruction s Failure Question: Why did Congress Reconstruction efforts to ensure equal rights to the freedmen fail? 1. Notice that this essay uses material from the Class Discussion Documents on Reconstructions as well as DOCUMENTS from the text book and Launch Pad web site in addition to material found in the DBQ. 2. Concentrate on the format of the essay and its use of primary source evidence! 3. Read this sample essay and answer the questions at the end. (NOTE: You are highly encouraged to highlight the relevant portions and make notes in the margins to help answer the questions.) After the Union victory in Civil War in 1865, the American government was faced with the issue of rebuilding the country and winning the peace. One of the key elements of this Reconstruction was the attempt by radical Republicans in Congress to guarantee equal rights to the newly freed slaves. Unfortunately, by 1877 this effort had failed. One reason for this failure was the nation-wide ethnic and racial animosity faced by the newly freed slaves. A second obstacle faced by the freedmen was organized southern resistance to any Reconstruction policies. Finally, the freedmen were denied any real economic opportunity or assistance which would allow them to improve their conditions. All three of these reasons may be tied to one specific aspect of Reconstruction s failure: The lack of political will by the Union to make a long-term commitment to the establishment of equal rights for the Freedmen and their descendants. One of the earliest problems faced by the Freedmen was the negative racial attitudes that were held by Americans in all parts of the country. In 1866, the Radical Republicans attempted to pass a law granting the Freedmen the right to vote. During the debate in Congress, Democrat Benjamin Boyer of Pennsylvania stated the Freedmen were not the intellectual equals of whites and therefore should not be trusted with the responsibility of voting (DBQ #1, Doc #1). This racial attitude is generally associated with the south, but Boyer represented a northern state showing that the problem of racism was not limited to a single portion of the country. Also in 1866, racial riots broke out in the city of Memphis, Tennessee. A colored illustration of that event appeared in the magazine Harper s Weekly shows African Americans fleeing their burning homes while a white mob rampages through their community (Text p. 480). Later, in 1874, the Atlanta News published and editorial protesting President Grant s signing of the Civil Rights Act. One of the great fears expressed by this editorial was the havoc that would be caused by half-barbarous negroes who would be emboldened by their new rights (DBQ #1, Doc #5). As southern alarm over the rights of freedmen grew, southerners of all backgrounds decided to take action. The Radical Republican effort to grant full civil and political rights to the freedmen was stymied by determined and organized southern resistance to any Reconstruction program. Records from the Freedman s Bureau detail a frightening account of violence committed against African Americans. An 1866 report from the Bureau district in Alabama shows a systematic pattern of violence perpetrated against the freedmen, including beatings, shootings and lynching. The most violent attacks seem to take place after a Freeperson made an attempt to assert their newly won rights (DBQ #1, Doc #2). Two years later in 1868, Union General George Thomas reported the formation of an insurgent group known as the Ku Klux Klan. Thomas, the Union military governor overseeing Reconstruction in Tennessee, feared that the Klan was an attempt to organize a guerilla war against any attempt by the government to assist the Freedmen (DBQ #1, Doc #3). Thomas fears seemed to be realized when in 1874 a brazen editorial in the Atlanta News called for the creation of White Leagues to actively and violently resist any Reconstruction policy that would aid the freedmen. It is possible that the strident tone of this editorial was a result of Atlanta being burned by the Union during the Civil War (DBQ #1, Doc 21

22 Activity Questions: #5). As organized resistance to Reconstruction grew, the freedmen were further marginalized by a lack of economic opportunity. The former slaves were forced to begin their lives of freedom at the bottom of the economic heap, with little in the way of government support. An undated black-and-white photograph of an African American sharecropping family seems to bear this out. Probably taken in the 1870s, their house and cloths look ragged and cotton grows all the way up to the home leaving no room for a vegetable garden to supplement their diet. To add insult to injury, their white landlord photo-bombs the picture by calmly driving his buggy through the background of the photograph (Text p. 487). Sixty years after the Civil War the African American historian WEB du Boise pointed to the lack of economic opportunity faced by the freedmen. In his 1935 book, From Black Reconstruction, the Harvard educated du Boise pointed out that the freedmen were faced with the choice of either feeding their families or agitating for equal rights (DBQ #1, Doc #7). This lack of economic opportunity is also seen in a personal interview with John McCoy, a man who was a slave in Texas and emancipated after the Civil War. He describes how his lack of knowledge about life beyond the plantation forced him to remain as an employee of his former owner. Even though the interview took place in the 1930s, McCoy s vocabulary and use of language indicates that he did not receive any formal education after he was freed in 1865 (DBQ #1, Doc #8). Given these circumstances, it is easy to see how Congressional Reconstruction failed the freedmen and their descendants. In the end, Congressional failed to gain economic, social or political equality for the freedmen. The American people lacked the political will to make the long-term commitment that such an effort would require. A modern thematic map of the contested election of 1876 shows how divided the country was and how Republicans had lost support in the north. In the end, the Republicans made a Devil s Bargain; they would end Reconstruction in order to hang on to the presidency (DBQ #1, Doc #9). By 1879, woodcuts glamourizing institutions such as the Plantation Police were in circulation to help keep the freedmen in their place (DBQ #1, Doc #10). As the decades passed, the defeated former Confederacy took on a legendary quality in the minds of southerners and the myth of the noble Lost Cause was born. A tinted photograph taken of the 1907 commemoration of a monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee shows the reverence southerners had for the Confederacy. A few years before the photo was taken over a hundred and fifty thousand people took part in the monument s dedication (Text p. 520). It would not be until the modern Civil Rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s, led by people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X that America s Second Reconstruction could begin to make true progress for the descendants of the freedmen. Background: Identify the time frame, place and historical importance of this topic. State Main Point #1. Where is this idea restated in the body of the essay? State Main Point #2. Where is this idea restated in the body of the essay? 22

23 State Main Point #3. Where is this idea restated in the body of the essay? What is the main idea of the Thesis statement that ties the 3 main points together? Identify a primary written source in the first body paragraph. State the following for this source: What is the source and what indicates to the reader that it is primary? What in the essay indicates the bias of the author of this source? Describe how the source is used to prove the Main Point/Topic sentence: What is the source (citation) for this document? Identify a primary visual source in the first body paragraph. State the following for this source: What is the source and what indicates to the reader that it is primary? What in the essay indicates the bias of the author of this source? Describe how the source is used to prove the Main Point/Topic sentence: What is the source (citation) for this document? What is the transition between the first and second body paragraphs? Identify a primary written source in the second body paragraph. State the following for this source: What is the source and what indicates to the reader that it is primary? What in the essay indicates the bias of the author of this source? Describe how the source is used to prove the Main Point/Topic sentence: What is the source (citation) for this document? What is the transition between the second and third body paragraphs? Identify a secondary written source in the third body paragraph. State the following for this source: What is the source and what indicates to the reader that it is primary? What in the essay indicates the bias of the author of this source? 23

24 Describe how the source is used to prove the Main Point/Topic sentence: What is the source (citation) for this document? Identify a primary visual source in the third body paragraph. State the following for this source: What is the source and what indicates to the reader that it is primary? What in the essay indicates the bias of the author of this source? Describe how the source is used to prove the Main Point/Topic sentence: What is the source (citation) for this document? What is the transition between the third body paragraph and conclusion? Identify the short-term importance of Reconstruction s failure: Describe the document(s) used to prove this importance: What is the long-term importance of Reconstruction s failure? What specific examples are provided? 24