Apush Chapter 21

Question 1

How did the South react to the end of the war?

Answer 1

Their economy (cotton), transportation, and social systems collapsed, all while they resisted reform
-Aristocrats got land taken from them, while many lived in poverty

They resented the North and Union

African Americans gained rights, though many Southerners resisted it, and traveled to areas that treated them better. They established schools and churches, where the built their culture and further enforced their new rights
-The Freedmen’s Bureau was established in order to provide medical assistance, land, and schooling to African Americans; However, the bureau fell short of of many demands including land (leading to sharecropping) and mostly succeeded in education

Question 2

What was presidential reconstruction? How was it opposed and what were its’ consequences?

Answer 2

-Reconstruction controlled by the executive branch, which was a lot more leniant to the South because they believed that they had never truly left the union
->They used the 10% plan, created before the end of the war to hoefully stop Southern attack, to readmit states; this was challenged by the vetoed Wade Davis Bill, requriing 50% of voters to pledge their allegiance

->The vetoe of the Bill represented the divisions in congress between the Republicans

Andrew Johnson, resenting aristocrats, disenfranchised them; however, he pardoned a lot of them, giving them back their land and power in congress to preserve the Union over maintain equal balance of moral power; Republicans were furious at the change in political systems, and even refused to seat many people

In response to this leniency, the South worked hard to resist this change with Black Codes and alterations to their state constitutions; Poorer African Americans in the South, unable to travel, fell onto sharecropping , and the Southern Aristocrats ruled again.

Question 3

How did Congress react to this kind of reconstruction?

Answer 3

They grew furious over the political power that the South had with their population and with their immoral black codes

-Congress attempted to pass the renewal of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Bill; it was vetoed by Johnson, but already having the 2/3s majority, Congress passed it anyway and took over reconstruction

They passed the Fourteenth Amendment:This has required ratification, as rejecting it would mean civil rights were being ignored and the South would lose a lot of proportional majority through representatives

However, Congress was divided in Moderate and Radical republicans, moderate republicans promoting States’ Rights

Question 4

How did federal power grow during reconstruction? How did it shrink and eventually end?

Answer 4

Primarily with the Reconstruction Acts, which ensured that the South was enforcing the new amendments and not reversing them in their state constitutions

The Fifteenth amendment, giving African American males suffrage, was an example of the reconstruction amendments they were monitered on

in the case of Ex Parte Milligan, the SCOTUS limited the power of these federal troops, as it seemed to go against the Constitution’s desires

By 1877, The troops left, and Southern redeemers came back into power, working hard to try to reverse the South to its’ pre-Civil War status

Question 5

What did Reconstruction do the the Women’s Rights movement?

Answer 5

It divided it over supporters and opposers

Women played a large role in helping gain emancipation, forming leagues like the Womens Loyal League to help secure rights for African Americans

However, the 14th amendment was the first time in the Constitution that the word “male” was used, referring to those who count for congressional votes by representatives

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, and Fredrick Douglas opposed this and fought in the American Equal Rights Association for equal voting rights

The 15th amendment included nondiscriminatory voting, but left out gender

Some women (Stanton and Anthony) opposed this, and wanted to change the law

Others believed that the law was a crucial step in both securing equal rights for race, and eventually, by waiting and getting rid of the race debate, the gender debate would be solved and made significant

Question 6

How did the political presence of African Americans change?

Further, why was it “Hypocritical”

Answer 6

-Many were now able to vote (Though Southern poles city-wise tried to make it harder for African Americans to vote, requiring rules like literacy tests, etc.)

-Many were in the legislature, and formed the Union League to excercise and educate people on which ways to excercise this power

-Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, along with many other African American congressmen, were crucial in supporting and expanding rights for races

-Southerners opposed this and viewed supporters as “scalawags” and “carpetbaggers”

However, not only was this used against many legislatures to take money and manipulate people, but the 15th amendment (right to vote) was previously restricted in the North, so the Southerners cried that it was hypocritical

Question 7

How was the “New South” resisted? How did the Supreme Court effectively end reconstruction?

how was this solved

Answer 7

Through the formation of organizations like the KKK, Redeemers, and other people who saught to restore a White Supremacist South and force African Americans to give up their land, rights, and freedoms

To prevent this from getting worse, Congress enacted the Force Acts in cases like the Colfax Massacre

However, in the case of Cruikshank v. United States, SCOTUS ruled that the 14th amendment only protected African Americans against state actions, not private or personal actions, which decreased federal power in matters like the massacre and the rights of African Americans, while the south continued to fraud AA’s out of their rights in poles and other regions

Question 8

Why was Johnson impeached? Why was his ‘Not Guilty’ verdict achieved and what did it prevent?

Answer 8

-To prevent the now lame-duck Johnson ffrom making any damaging acts, Congress enacted the Tenure of Office Act
->Johnson ignored this when he impeached the beloved Edwin Stanton, and radicals called for impeachment

His impeachment was avoided as his successor, Wade, was distrusted because of his radical republican views; further, people feared an inbalance in checks and balances

This avoided the precedent of biased impeachment or overuse of the tool

Question 9

Why was Alaska purchased?

Answer 9

-Seward bought the furred out Alaska from Russia because
1)Russia was going to lose the land if another war/conflict with sea-ruling Britain arose, and the US believed it owed Russia for its’ Union support

2)The area seemed to be profittable

This was called Seward’s Folly as many thought the region to be useless, but it ended up being large source of gas and oil

Question 10

Why ended Reconstruction and why did it fail?

Answer 10

1) Debate in Congress; the Radical Republicans wanted martial law, but the moderates thought they should be more supportive of states rights and eventually removed the troops, allowing redeemers to enter and reverse the changes

2) Southern resistance; KKK, White supremacy, Colfax massacre, rigging poles and voting qualifications, sharecropping (coming from aristocrats overpowering the poor, uneducated, and unskilled with labor/wage based work controlling their lives)

3) SCOTUS; Ex Parte Milliagn, Cruikshank v. United States,