Rebuilding+a+Nation

=Unit 2: Rebuilding a Nation= When the Civil War ended in 1865, slavery was over and the strife-torn country was united under federal control. President Lincoln, who hoped to mend the nation's wounds gently, was assassinated. Reconstruction efforts encountered huge obstacles, including a conflict between the executive and legislative branches of the government and strong resistance in the South.
 * Briefly summarize the causes and results of the Civil War
 * Describe social, political, economic, and constitutional issues facing the nation at the end of the Civil War
 * Explain that approaches to Reconstruction ranged from Lincoln's generosity to the harsh terms of the Radical Republicans
 * Identify government attempts to solve Reconstruction problems
 * Explain the difficulty in achieving positive outcomes for Reconstruction in the face of black codes, hate groups, lynchings, and white resentment of Reconstruction
 * Identify key individuals of the Reconstruction era and their roles
 * Identify the major provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and their impact on the expansion of democracy
 * Explain the impeachment process under the U.S. Constitution and the factors that led to Andrew Johnson's impeachment
 * Describe the sharecropping arrangement and the reasons it failed to provide economic stability for former slave

Links
Reconstruction [|Reconstruction: The Second Civil War] [|Civil War Reconstruction]

Key Words

 * Reconstruction**: the time period after the Civil War (1865 to 1877) in which the nation tried to reorganize and remake the South without slavery
 * black codes**: laws passed by Southern states that discriminated against African Americans and created conditions similar to slavery
 * Ku Klux Klan**: an organization formed in the South in 1866 that used lynching and violence to intimidate and control blacks and others
 * impeach**: to charge a public official with crimes or misconduct
 * radical**: someone who promotes extreme or revolutionary changes in existing laws, practices, or conditions
 * Jim Crow**: a common name for segregation laws, some of which forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep black and white patrons separated
 * segregation**: the practice of separating racial, ethnic, or religious groups from one another, especially in public places
 * sharecropper**: a person who lives and raises crops on land that belongs to someone else in exchange for a share of the crop or its profits
 * Civics**: the study of the relationship among government, society, and its citizens.

Lesson 1: New Era, New President
Andrew Johnson Aftermath and Reconstruction
 * 1) Read Chapter 3 in //A History of US: Reconstructing America//
 * 2) Reconstruction: For or Against Worksheet - Begin to compile list of actions that promoted (For) or obstructed (Against) the goals of Reconstruction.
 * 3) Add to this list with each lesson.
 * 4) Read Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder over the next few days. Be prepared to discuss.

Lesson 2: Executive Efforts


[|Freedmen's Bureau] Black Codes Planet Tolerance Carpetbaggers and Scalawags
 * 1) Define the following terms in your history notebook: carpetbagger, scalawag
 * 2) Read Chapter 4 & Chapter 5 in //A History of US: Reconstructing America//

Lesson 3: Legislative Labors
14th Amendment
 * 1) Who was the first Black American to serve in the United States Senate?
 * 2) Begin a new section in history folder entitled Profiles in American History. You will begin to gather information about notable Americans
 * 3) Research Blanche K. Bruce or Hiram R. Revels and write a one-page biography to add to your new section

Lesson 4: Single-Minded Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens Short biography Video about Thaddeus Stevens Biography of Thaddeus Stevens
 * 1) Read Chapter 6 in //A History of US: Reconstructing America//
 * 2) Read "How Does Impeachment Work" & complete questions.

Lesson 5: A President on Trial
Vote to Impeach Andrew Johnson The Trial of Andrew Johnson
 * 1) Read Chapter 7 in //A History of US: Reconstructing America//
 * 2) Read "Profile of Courage - Edmund G. Ross"

Lesson 6: Turning Back
Sharecropping in Mississippi Sharecropping Video [|Tricks of Sharecropping]
 * 1) Read Chapter 10 in //A History of US: Reconstructing America//
 * 2) Complete "Sharecropping: A Cycle of Debt" Worksheet