Reconstruction Policies and Problems

SOL USII.3bLisa Pennington

Social Studies Instructional Specialist

Portsmouth Public Schools

Vocabulary

• Black Codes: any code of law that limited the rights of former slaves after the Civil War.

• Freedman's Bureau: a government agency set up during Reconstruction to assist freed slaves in obtaining relief, jobs, fair treatment, and education.

Vocabulary• Civil Rights Act of 1866: the most important

action by Congress towards protecting the rights of Freedmen during Reconstruction.

• Carpetbagger: a Northerner who came to the South during the Reconstruction period carrying only one “carpetbag” (suitcase) symbolizing a lack of permanent interest I improving the South.

• Scalawag: a white Southerner who helped the North rebuild the South during Reconstruction.

Essential Understandings

• The Reconstruction policies were harsh and created problems in the South.

• Reconstruction attempted to give meaning to the freedom that the former slaves had achieved.

Reconstruction Policies and Problems

• Southern military leaders could not hold office.

• Southerners resented northern “carpetbaggers” who took advantage of the South during Reconstruction.

http://www.nevadaobserver.com/NC%20Wyeth%20The%20Carpetbaggers%20(1912).jpg

Reconstruction Policies and Problems

• African Americans held public office.

• African Americans gained equal rights as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which authorized the use of federal troops for its enforcement.

http://www.cerritos.edu/soliver/Student%20Activites/StAct_Reconstruction_files/image002.jpg

Reconstruction Policies and Problems

• Northern soldiers supervised the South.

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Reconstruction Policies and Problems

• The Freedman’s Bureau was established to aid former enslaved African Americans in the South.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/freedmens-bureau-1.jpg

The End of Reconstruction

• Reconstruction ended with the election of 1876.

• Federal troops were removed.

• The rights that African Americans had gained were lost through the Black Codes.