Reconstruction Essay: Document-Based Question Historic Background: The period following the Civil War, from 1865 until 1877, was known as Reconstruction. It was a time when the South, physically devastated by war, had to be re-built. It was a time when the country, torn apart by secession and war, had to be put back together politically. And it was a time when four million newly freed slaves, had to re-build their lives in a supposedly free society. Unfortunately, Southern whites, resentful of the freedmen, resorted to violence, intimidation, and unfair dealing to try to reduce them to conditions similar to slavery. Task: Was Reconstruction a failure for former slaves? Defend your response with three reasons. 1
Document 1 Amendment 13 (Ratified December 6, 1865) 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Amendment 14 (Ratified July 9, 1868) Section 1 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Amendment 15 (Ratified February 3, 1870) Section 1 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 1) What did the 13 th amendment provide for? 2) a) Who does the 14 th amendment say are considered U.S. citizens? b) What rights does it guarantee to citizens? 3) What conditions does the 15 th amendment say cannot disqualify citizens from voting? 2
Document 2 1) What are your observations of this photograph? (Write three.) 2) Why were these public killings common during this time? 3
Document 3 Excerpts from the Louisiana Black Codes Sec. 3.... No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the said parish.* Sec. 5.... No public meetings of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place.... Sec. 7.... No negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, Sec. 9.... Any negro found drunk, within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sec. 11.... It shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol.... Sec. 12 No negro shall be permitted to vote unless having passed a literacy test or having paid three hundred dollars (*Parish is another word for community or district.) 1) List five of the restrictions placed on black citizens in this Louisiana parish. 2) Why were these black codes so controlling? 3) Look at Sec. 12- What do blacks have to do in order to vote? Why is this going to be hard for a recently freed slave? How does this code deny blacks their rights granted in the 15 th Amendment? 4
Document 4 Plessy v. Ferguson On June 7, 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy could easily pass for white but under Louisiana law, he was considered black despite his light complexion and therefore required to sit in the "Colored" car. When Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, legally segregating common carriers in 1892, a black civil rights organization decided to challenge the law in the courts. Plessy purposely sat in the white section and identified himself as black. He was arrested and the case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy's lawyer argued that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. The object of the Fourteenth Amendment was to enforce the absolute equality of the two races. In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case and agreed with the Louisiana law. The object of the amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but, in the nature of things, it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either. Laws permitting, and even requiring, their separation in places where they are liable to be brought into contact do not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other. Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane. The Plessy vs. Ferguson court case established a law called separate, but equal. The Plessy decision set the example that separate facilities for blacks and whites were allowed in the country as long as they were "equal." 1) Why, according to the Supreme Court, didn t the Separate Car Act violate Homer Plessy s rights? 2) What, according to the Court, is the difference between political and social equality? 5
Document 5 1) Why are there two different water fountains in this picture? 2) Do these fountains fulfill the separate, but equal requirement established in Plessy v. Ferguson? Why or why not? 6
Document 6 1876 Presidential Election Results The Compromise of 1877 The Compromise Immediately following the election, the results were in doubt. Neither candidate had won a majority of electoral votes (185 were needed) because 20 votes were disputed. In exchange for support from Southern Democrats, Hayes agreed to withdraw the U.S. military troops who were ruling the South and was thus elected President. Question 1) Who, according to the map, won the popular vote in 1876? 2) Why didn t this person become President? 3) How did the Compromise of 1877 end Reconstruction? 7