Reconstruction: new amendments, new rights and why they were taken away

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Gains and losses, 1870 to 1877 and after (cards A to F). Card A, a summary in our words from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History: at least 226 Black Mississippians held public office during Reconstruction, compared with 46 in Arkansas and 20 in Tennessee. Mississippi sent the first two Black senators of the period to Congress: Hiram R. Revels in 1870 and Blanche K. Bruce in 1875. Mississippi's population was 55 percent Black. In the 1875 elections, after white supremacist groups used intimidation to keep Black voters away from the polls, Democratic candidates replaced every Republican incumbent, the page says. Card B, from the U.S. Senate: Revels, born in North Carolina in 1827, raised two Black regiments in the Civil War, and the Mississippi legislature sent him to fill a Senate vacancy in 1870. "Although Revels's term in the Senate lasted just a year, he broke new ground for African Americans in Congress." Card C, a summary in our words from the National Park Service, Vicksburg site: in 1875 white conservatives used the "Mississippi Plan," intimidation of Black voters and outright fraud, and Democrats took the state legislature. In 1876 the Republican governor and lieutenant governor were impeached. The page says the next year brought the official end of Reconstruction, with the Compromise of 1877, which made Hayes president and removed military forces from the former Confederacy; in the years that followed, the page says, the gains of African Americans in Mississippi were systematically erased. It adds that white conservatives promoted myths that Black politicians were incompetent and corrupt, and says: "History has proved these myths false." Card D, from the National Park Service page on President Rutherford B. Hayes: in January 1877 an informal political deal gave Hayes and the Republican Party the presidency in exchange for a promise to remove U.S. troops from occupied districts in the South, and "This effectively ended Reconstruction." "Without military enforcement, Democratic state governments immediately passed legislation that disenfranchised African Americans." "Hayes was determined to protect black suffrage, but his attempts were ineffective and often defeated by Congress." Card E, a summary in our words from the National Park Service page on the Reconstruction Era: it dates the era from 1861 to 1900 and says it ended in 1900. The Lodge Bill of 1890, an attempt by Congress to protect Black voters, failed to pass in the Senate. Card F, a summary in our words from the National Archives: the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870. African Americans voted and held office in many Southern states through the 1880s, but in the early 1890s steps were taken to ensure "white supremacy," such as literacy tests and "grandfather clauses." The Voting Rights Act of 1965 abolished the remaining deterrents to voting.

2. 1.

   Card C says of claims about Black politicians: "History has proved these myths false." What would a careful reader want next, Ari asks?

   • Nothing more, because a page from a government agency settles the question for readers
   • Nothing more, because a park website cannot be trusted on this subject of history
   • The price of a ticket to the park, to see whether the site is reliable
   • The records and studies behind the conclusion, since the card gives no evidence
3. 2.

   Card A counts 226 Black officeholders in Mississippi and 46 in Arkansas. About how many times larger is Mississippi's count, and what is the limit, Bo asks?

   • About 11 times larger, with Tennessee's count of 20 as the comparison
   • About 5 times; raw counts ignore each state's Black population and its offices
   • About 5 times, which is enough to conclude that Mississippi was the more democratic state
   • About 180 times larger, found by subtracting 46 from 226 in the card
4. 3.

   Card D says Democratic governments "immediately" passed laws after 1877. Card F says voting continued in many Southern states through the 1880s. What would best settle it, Esme asks?

   • Hayes's own account of his efforts to protect Black voters in the South
   • A state's own voter registration and election counts for each year, 1877 to 1893
   • The text of the 15th Amendment, which already states the rule for voting across the whole country
   • A newer article that retells both cards and sums up what they say
5. 4.

   A student says: "Reconstruction ended in 1877 and nothing about it changed after." How strong is that claim, given cards D and E, Jun asks?

   • Strong: card D says the deal effectively ended Reconstruction in 1877
   • Overstated: card D says 1877 ended it, but card E dates its end to 1900
   • Weak: card E says that Reconstruction ended before 1877 had begun
   • Weak: card E is invalid, because its date differs from the date in card D
6. 5.

   Using cards A, C and D, which chain best explains how Mississippi's Republican government fell, Kira asks?

   • Troops left in 1877, which then led to the Democratic takeover of 1875 and the end of Reconstruction in the South
   • Intimidation and fraud in 1875, Democrats took the legislature, 1876 impeachments, troops left in 1877
   • The Lodge Bill of 1890 caused the Democratic victories in the 1875 elections
   • Voters turned against Republicans because Black politicians were corrupt
7. 6.

   Card F gives 1870 for the 15th Amendment and 1965 for the Voting Rights Act. How many years apart are they, and what does the gap suggest, Luz asks?

   • 95 years; the amendment's promise needed later laws to be carried out
   • 95 years; the 1965 law repealed the 15th Amendment altogether
   • 95 years; the 15th Amendment had no effect on voting whatever
   • 85 years; the promise of the amendment was met quickly after 1870 by Congress
8. 7.

   Card D says Hayes was "determined to protect black suffrage" and that his deal "effectively ended Reconstruction." How should a reader treat this, Milo asks?

   • As proof that Hayes planned the end of Reconstruction from the very start of his term
   • As proof that Hayes alone caused the end of Reconstruction in the South
   • As two different questions: his intention, and the effect of the deal he accepted
   • As a contradiction that makes the whole of card D unusable as evidence
9. 8.

   Cards A and B name Revels (1870) and Bruce (1875). What does the pair show, and what does it not show, Pia asks?

   • Black Mississippians reached the Senate in 1870 and 1875, but two people do not show the wider picture
   • The pair shows nothing about the period, because two people are too few to matter
   • Bruce held his Senate office before Revels did, so Bruce came first
   • Black Mississippians held most of the Senate seats from 1870 to 1875 in Mississippi
10. 9.

    The Vicksburg page (card C) ends Reconstruction in 1877; the Reconstruction Era page (card E) in 1900. Why might they differ, Ren asks?

    • The 1900 date comes from events that happened before the year 1877 and the Compromise
    • One must be wrong, so both of the pages should be thrown out as evidence
    • Each may frame the period differently: a local story, and a long fight over rights
    • Both pages are copies of the same text, so they should give the same dates
11. 10.

    A student asks which cause of Reconstruction's end mattered most. What new evidence would help most, Zee asks?

    • Dated records for several states showing when each lost control and when troops left
    • One more statement from a historian that the deal alone ended Reconstruction
    • A speech by a Southern leader who opposed Reconstruction and its laws in this period
    • A longer textbook summary that retells the same six cards in more words than before