Chapter 22 questions
These are due — complete– Monday, November 29.
1. Why did some freedmen find themselves re-enslaved? (Just for fun: how do the last four words on page 479 constitute a pun?) In what ways did former slaves repudiate their slave life?
2. How did “emancipation… strengthen the black family?”
3. What were exodusters, and why did they go to Kansas? (Think: What does the name signify?)
4. What evidence shows that the freedman who wrote the letter to his former master will not consider returning to his former master? What did freedom literally mean for former slaves as hinted at in this letter?
5. What did the American Missionary Association do? Why was this task so significant?
6. What was the goal of the Freedmen’s Bureau (research what the full title of this organization actually was)? Explain whether it was effective or not, and whether white Southerners were right to resent it? Think: how does this agency establish an important precedent in terms of the growth of the federal government? Why did Johnson veto renewal of this agency in 1866?
7. What factors worked against Johnson’s success as president? Include his attitudes in your answer. How had he become an acceptable running mate for Lincoln?
8. How had Reconstruction actually begun before the war was over? What was Lincoln’s plan like, and why was it criticized? How did congressional leaders counter this plan?
9. Contrast Lincoln’s legal argument regarding secession with that of the Radical Republicans. Make sure you use specific terms.
10. How did Johnson’s ascendance to the presidency throw Reconstruction plans into further turmoil? Did Johnson’s version of Reconstruction demand real change from the South? Justify your answer.
11. How did the Black Codes work? How did sharecropping help the South “solve” its labor problem?
12. What were “whitewashed rebels?” (You may need to research what “whitewashing” means.) How did emancipation threaten to INCREASE the political power of the South in the House of Representatives? What specific programs were threatened if Democrats regained political power by reuniting?
13. What was the Civil Rights Bill passed, and what did it eventually become? Think constitutionally: Why was this change in status important?
14. What was ultimately the importance of the 14th Amendment, then and now? What are its two most important phrases today?
15. Examine the quotes of Southerners scattered throughout the chapter. What emotional response did they refuse to give in the wake of their military defeat? How did their “10 percent” governments reinforce this impression?
16. What did Johnson hope to accomplish with his “Swing ‘Round the Circle?” How did that turn out?
17. What political realities seemed to ensure that the Republicans would vanquish “Old Andy?” How was the Republican party divided? Who were the radicals’ leaders? How did the radicals’ plans clash with those of the moderate Republicans?
18. How did the Reconstruction Amendments disappoint those who supported women’s rights, and how did they respond?
19. How was the 15th Amendment more radical than the 14th?
20 How did African Americans flex their political muscle during the Reconstruction era? Why were these called “radical regimes?”
21. What’s the difference between scalawags and carpetbaggers? What offense were they accused of by Southerners?
22. Describe the creation of the Klan. What was their agenda?
23. What methods were used to disenfranchise blacks after the Civil War? (And how did they get away with it?
24. What trap did the radical Republicans lay to try to get rid of Johnson as president? What role did Edwin Stanton play in this trap?
25. How close did Johnson come to being removed from office? Why would the president of the Senate have been next in line to become president if Johnson had been removed?
26. What was “Seward’s Folly?” Did it pay off?
27. Some historians have called the Civil Rights era a “Second Reconstruction?” Why was this second reconstruction necessary?
28. What are Eric Foner’s views of Reconstruction?
The Scoop on History-APUSH and more 