The Collapse of Reconstruction PDF

p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 393 Page 1 of 9 The Collapse of...

p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 393 Page 1 of 9 The Collapse of Reconstruction MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names Southern opposition to Rad- The failure of Congress and the Ku Klux Klan Samuel J. Tilden ical Reconstruction, along Supreme Court to protect the (KKK) Compromise of with economic problems rights of African Americans during panic of 1873 1877 in the North, ended Recon- Reconstruction delayed blacks’ redemption home rule struction. achievement of full civil rights by Rutherford B. over a century. Hayes One American's Story In 1868, white Georgia legislators, who were in the majority in both houses, expelled 27 black members of the state senate and House of Representatives. The new state constitution gave African Americans the right to vote, they argued, but not to hold office. Outraged by this expulsion, Henry M. Turner, an African-American legislator, addressed the Georgia House of Representatives. A PERSONAL VOICE HENRY M. TURNER “ Whose Legislature is this? Is it a white man’s Legislature or is it a black man’s... ?... It is said that Congress never gave us the right to hold office. I want to know... if the Reconstruction measures did not base their action on the ground that no distinction should be made on account of race, color or previous condition!... We have built up your country. We have ▼ worked in your fields, and garnered your harvests, for two hundred and fifty years! Do we ask you for compensation?... We are willing to let the dead past bury its Henry M. Turner dead; but we ask you, now, for our RIGHTS.” became a leading — quoted in The Trouble They Seen: Black People Tell the Story of Reconstruction proponent of African-American The expelled legislators petitioned the U.S. Congress and were eventually emigration to Africa. reinstated in office. But by the time Congress acted, more than a year later, the terms of Turner and his colleagues were almost at an end. Opposition to Reconstruction White Southerners who took direct action against African-American participation in government were in the minority. Most white Southerners swallowed whatever resentment they felt over African Americans’ change in status. However, some bitter Southern whites relied on violence to keep African Americans from participating in politics. Reconstruction and Its Effects 393 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 394 Page 2 of 9 KU KLUX KLAN Founded as a social club for Confederate veterans, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) started in Tennessee in 1866. As membership in the group spread rapidly through the South, many of the new chapters turned into violent terrorist organizations. By 1868, the Klan existed in nearly every Southern state. Its overarching goal was to restore white supremacy. Its method was to prevent African Americans from exercising their political rights. ANTI-BLACK VIOLENCE Abram Colby, who organized a branch of Georgia’s Equal Rights Association and later served as a Republican member of the Georgia legislature, testified before Congress about Klan atrocities. A PERSONAL VOICE ABRAM COLBY “ [The Klan] broke my door open, took me out of bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead. They said to me, ‘Do you think you will ever vote another damned radical ticket?’... I supposed they would kill me anyhow. I said, ‘If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote the radical ticket.’ They set in and whipped me a thousand licks more, with sticks and straps that had buckles on the ends of them.” — quoted in Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States Between 1868 and 1871, the Klan and other secret groups killed thousands of men, women, and children, and burned schools, churches, and property. While the vast majority of victims were African-American, whites who tried to help African Americans—whether by educating A. Answer them, renting land to them, or buying their crops—were To destroy the ▼ also in danger. Republican party, oust the Klan members— Another Klan objective was to turn the Republicans, who had established the Reconstruction like this Reconstruction governments, out of power. The North Carolina state senator governments, Mississippian John Stephens, a white Republican, answered warnings that his life was in danger help planters photographed in by saying that some 3,000 African-American voters had supported him “at the control African- 1871—wore American labor- risk of persecution and starvation” and that he would not abandon them. ers, and prevent costumes to Stephens was assassinated in 1870. African conceal their While Klan members tried to conceal their identities when they struck, Americans from identities and to exercising their appear more Southern Democrats openly used violence to intimidate Republicans before the political rights. menacing. 1875 state election in Mississippi. Democrats rioted and attacked Republican lead- ers and prominent African Americans. Their terrorist campaign frightened the MAIN IDEA African-American majority away from the polls, and white Democratic candidates Analyzing swept the election. The Democrats used similar tactics to win the 1876 elections Motives in Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana. A A What were the goals of the KKK? ECONOMIC PRESSURE The Klan and other secret groups tried to prevent African Americans from making economic, as well as political, progress. African Americans who owned their own land or who worked in occupations other than agriculture were subject to attacks and destruction of property. In fact, economic necessity forced most former slaves—who had little money or training in other occupations—to work for whites as wage laborers or share- croppers. Some white Southerners refused to hire or do business with African Americans who were revealed by election officials to have voted Republican. The fear of economic reprisals kept many former slaves from voting at all. 394 CHAPTER 12 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 395 Page 3 of 9 B. Answer LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE To curtail Klan violence and Democratic intimi- Grant chose not dation, Congress passed a series of Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871. One act to exercise the provided for the federal supervision of elections in Southern states. Another act power given to gave the president the power to use federal troops in areas where the Klan was him by the Enforcement active. However, President Grant was not aggressive in his use of the power given Acts, and the to him by the Enforcement Acts, and in 1882, the Supreme Court ruled that the Supreme Court 1871 Enforcement Act was unconstitutional. later struck down Although federal enforcement of anti-Klan legislation was limited, it did con- one of the acts. tribute to a decrease in the Klan’s activities in the late 1870s. However, the reason MAIN IDEA for the reduction in Klan violence was the Klan’s own success—by 1880, terrorist Identifying groups had managed to restore white supremacy throughout the South. The Klan Problems no longer needed such organized activity to limit the political and civil rights of B Why was the most African Americans. B government weak in its ability to SHIFTS IN POLITICAL POWER By passing the Enforcement Acts, Congress confront the Klan? seemed to shore up Republican power. But shortly after these acts went into effect, Vocabulary Congress passed legislation that severely weakened the Republican Party in the South. amnesty: a pardon With the Amnesty Act, passed in May 1872, Congress returned the right to granted by a vote and the right to hold federal and state offices—revoked by the Fourteenth government, Amendment—to about 150,000 former Confederates, who would almost certain- especially for political offenses ly vote Democratic. In the same year Congress allowed the Freedmen’s Bureau to expire, believing that it had fulfilled its purpose. As a result of these actions, Southern Democrats had an opportunity LD STAGE W OR to shift the balance of political power in their favor. Scandals and Money Crises Hurt Republicans As Southern Republicans struggled to maintain their hold on Reconstruction governments, widespread political cor- DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ruption in the federal government weakened their party. During the early 1870s, scandals plagued the Grant admin- HAITI istration. These scandals diverted public attention away from conditions in the South. THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FRAUD AND BRIBERY President Grant was considered Although the United States an honest man. However, he had had no political experi- focused largely on domestic prob- ence before becoming president and found it difficult to lems during Reconstruction, the believe that others might use him for their own political nation did have one significant advantage. When making political appointments, he often dealing with a foreign power. In selected friends and acquaintances rather than people of 1870, President Grant attempted to annex the Dominican Republic, proven ability. Too frequently, Grant’s appointees turned one of two nations sharing the out to be dishonest. Caribbean island of Hispaniola Beginning in 1872, a series of long-simmering scandals (the other being Haiti). associated with Grant’s administration boiled over. First, This action aroused a storm of the New York Sun exposed the Crédit Mobilier affair, in controversy. The plan’s support- which a construction company had skimmed off large ers believed that annexation would increase Caribbean trade profits from a government railroad contract. This scandal and spread “the blessings of our involved several leading Republicans, including Grant’s free institutions.” Opponents first vice-president, Schuyler Colfax. pointed out that the Dominican Republic was caught up in a civil REPUBLICAN UNITY SHATTERED A group of Repub- war and felt that the United licans, angered by the corruption, called for honest, effi- States should avoid involvement cient government. They formed the Liberal Republican in the conflict. The Senate reject- Party in 1872, hoping to oust Grant in that year’s presi- ed the annexation treaty. dential election. Reconstruction and Its Effects 395 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 396 Page 4 of 9 Analyzing SCANDAL IN THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION Political cartoonists had a field day with Grant’s troubles and often criticized the president’s refusal to believe that his associates were dishonest. In this cartoon, President Grant pulls packets labeled with the names of various scandals out of a barrel. The caption—“I hope I get to the bottom soon”— suggests that the corruption in Grant’s administration runs deep and that there may be more scandals to come. SKILLBUILDER Analyzing Political Cartoons 1. What political scandals can you identify from the packets lying outside the barrel? 2. Why do you think the cartoonist portrayed Grant as having his head stuck in a barrel? SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24. U. S. Grant: “ I hope I get to the bottom soon.” As the 1872 presidential election approached, the Liberal Republicans held a separate convention. They chose Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune and a vocal pre-Civil War abolitionist, as their candidate. He had sup- ported some Radical Republican causes—abolition and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. However, he had broken with Radicals by calling for uni- versal amnesty for Confederates and for an end to military rule in the South. Claiming that Reconstruction governments had achieved their purpose, he want- ed former slaves to fend for themselves. Believing that it would take a united effort to oust Grant, the Democrats also nominated Greeley. Nevertheless, Greeley lost the 1872 presidential election to Grant by a wide margin. “I was the worst beaten man that ever ran for that high office,” Greeley said, “and I have been assailed so bitterly that I hardly know whether I was running for President or the penitentiary.” Physically exhausted by his rigorous campaign, Greeley died a few weeks after the election—before the electoral college made his defeat official. Although the Liberal Republicans did not win the White House, they did weaken the Radicals’ hold over the Republican Party. The breakdown of Republican unity made it even harder for the Radicals to continue to impose their Reconstruction plan on the South. CONTINUED SCANDAL Despite the rift in the Republican party that resulted C. Answer Crédit from the scandals, corruption in Grant’s administration continued. In 1875, the Mobilier, the so-called Whiskey Ring was exposed. Internal-revenue collectors and other offi- Whiskey Ring, cials accepted bribes from whiskey distillers who wanted to avoid paying taxes on acceptance of bribes by their product—a conspiracy that defrauded the federal government of millions of Secretary of War dollars. One of the 238 persons indicted in this scandal was Grant’s private secre- Belknap and the tary, General Orville E. Babcock. Grant refused to believe that such a close associ- secretary of the ate was guilty and helped him escape conviction. navy, dishonest dealings by the Finally, in 1876, an investigation revealed that Secretary of War William W. secretary of the Belknap had accepted bribes from merchants who wanted to keep their profitable interior. trading concessions in Indian territory. The House of Representatives impeached MAIN IDEA Belknap, who promptly resigned. The public also learned that the secretary of the navy had taken bribes from shipbuilders and the secretary of the interior had had Summarizing C Give examples shady dealings with land speculators. As the evidence mounted, there was of corruption in increasing disgust with the blatant corruption in the Grant administration, and the Grant Grant did not seek reelection in 1876. C administration. 396 CHAPTER 12 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 397 Page 5 of 9 Economic Turmoil As if political scandals were not enough for the country to deal with, a wave of economic troubles hit the nation in 1873. This 1873 THE PANIC OF 1873 The economy had been expanding since the end of the cartoon portrays Civil War, and investors became convinced that business profits would continue the panic as a to increase indefinitely. Eager to take advantage of new business opportunities in health officer, sweeping garbage the South, Northern and Southern investors borrowed increasing amounts of out of Wall Street. money and built new facilities as quickly as possible. The trash is Unfortunately, many of those who invested in these new businesses took on labeled “rotten more debt than they could afford. A Philadelphia banker named Jay Cooke invest- railways,” and ed heavily in railroads. Not enough investors bought shares in Cooke’s railroad “shaky banks,” lines to cover his ballooning construction costs, and he could not pay his debts. among other In September 1873, Cooke’s banking firm, the nation’s largest dealer in govern- things. ment securities, went bankrupt, setting off a ▼ series of financial failures known as the panic of 1873. Smaller banks closed, and the stock market temporarily collapsed. Within a year, 89 railroads went broke. By 1875, more than 18,000 companies had fold- MAIN IDEA ed. The panic triggered a five-year economic Predicting depression—a period of reduced business Effects activity and high unemployment—in which D What effect 3 million workers lost their jobs. D do you think the panic of 1873 CURRENCY DISPUTE The economic might have had on depression following the panic of 1873 also the Republican fueled a dispute over currency. This dispute Party? had its roots in the Civil War. During the D. Answer war, the federal government had begun to People may have blamed the issue greenbacks, paper money that was not Republicans for backed by equal value in gold. When the war the panic and ended, many financial experts advocated lost faith in their withdrawing the greenbacks and returning ability to govern. the nation completely to a currency backed by gold. This action would have reduced the number of dollars in circulation. In contrast, Southern and Western farmers and manufacturers wanted the government to issue even more greenbacks. They believed that “easy money”—a large money supply—would help them pay off their debts. Background In 1875, Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act, which promised to put See gold standard the country back on the gold standard. This act sparked further debate over mon- on page R41 in etary policies. As the economy improved, beginning in 1878, the controversy the Economics died down. However, the passionate debate over the money question in the 1870s Handbook. was one of many factors that drew the attention of voters and politicians away from Reconstruction. Judicial and Popular Support Fades In 1874, a Southern Democratic senator wrote, “Radicalism is dissolving—going to pieces.” Indeed, political scandals, economic problems, and the restoration of political rights to former Confederate Democrats seriously weakened the Radical Republicans. In addition, the Supreme Court began to undo some of the social and political changes that the Radicals had made. Reconstruction and Its Effects 397 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 398 Page 6 of 9 SUPREME COURT DECISIONS Although Congress had passed important laws to protect the political and civil rights of African Americans, the Supreme Court began to take away those same protections. During the 1870s, the Court issued a series of decisions that undermined both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. In the Slaughterhouse cases of 1873, for example, the Court decided that the Fourteenth Amendment protected only the rights people had by virtue of their citizenship in the United States, such as the right of interstate travel and the right to federal protection when traveling on the high seas and abroad. The Court con- tended that most of Americans’ basic civil rights were obtained through their citizenship in a state and that the amendment did not protect those rights. Another setback for Reconstruction was U.S. v. Cruikshank in 1876, in which the Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give the federal govern- ment the right to punish individual whites who oppressed blacks. The same year, in U.S. v. Reese, the Court ruled in favor of officials who had barred African Americans from voting, stating that the Fifteenth Amendment did not “confer the right of suffrage on anyone” but merely listed grounds on which states could not deny suffrage. By the late 1870s, the Supreme Court’s restrictive rulings had narrowed the scope of these amendments so much that the federal government MAIN IDEA no longer had much power to protect the rights of African Americans. Although Analyzing the Supreme Court would later overturn them, these decisions impeded African Effects Americans’ efforts to gain equality for years to come. E E How did the Slaughterhouse NORTHERN SUPPORT FADES As the Supreme Court rejected Reconstruction and Reese policies in the 1870s, Northern voters grew indifferent to events in the South. decisions affect Weary of the “Negro question” and sick of “carpetbag government,” many African Americans’ pursuit of civil Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the panic of rights? 1873 and the corruption in Grant’s administration. In addition, a desire for E. Answer reconciliation between the regions spread through the North. Although political The decisions violence continued in the South and African Americans were denied civil and hurt African political rights, the tide of public opinion in the North began to turn against Americans’ pursuit of civil Reconstruction policies. rights by limiting As both judicial and public support decreased, Republicans began to back the federal gov- away from their commitment to Reconstruction. The impassioned Radicals who ernment’s ability had led the fight for congressional Reconstruction, Charles Sumner and Thaddeus to protect those rights. Stevens, were dead. Business interests diverted the attention of both moderates and Radicals, and scalawags and carpetbaggers deserted the Republican Party. Moreover, Republicans gradually came to believe that government could not MAIN IDEA impose the moral and social changes needed for former slaves to make progress Analyzing in the South. As a result, Republicans slowly retreated from the policies of Issues Reconstruction. F F Why did Northern attitudes toward Reconstruction change? Civil Rights Setbacks in the Supreme Court F. Answer Date Decision(s) Ruling Political scandal, 1873 Slaughterhouse cases Most civil rights were ruled to be state, rather than the panic of 1873, federal, rights and therefore unprotected by the a desire for Fourteenth Amendment. reconciliation, and Republicans’ 1876 U.S. v. Cruikshank The Fourteenth Amendment was ruled not to grant faltering commit- the federal government power to punish whites who ment to Recon- oppressed blacks. struction drew 1876 U.S. v. Reese The Fifteenth Amendment was determined not to the North’s atten- grant voting rights to anyone, but rather to restrict tion away from types of voter discrimination. the problems of Reconstruction. 398 CHAPTER 12 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 399 Page 7 of 9 Democrats “Redeem” the South Between 1869 and 1875, Democrats recaptured the state governments of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. As a result of redemption—as the Democrats called their return to power in the South—and the national election of 1876, congressional Reconstruction came to an end. ELECTION OF 1876 In 1876, the Republicans decided not to run the scandal-plagued Grant for a third term. Instead, they chose the stodgy governor of Ohio, HISTORICAL Rutherford B. Hayes. Smelling victory, the Democrats put up one of their ablest leaders, Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Tilden had helped clean up the graft S P O TLIG H T that had flourished in New York City under the corrupt THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE Tweed Ring. AND THE 1876 ELECTION As most people had expected, Tilden won the popular The nation was in such turmoil vote. However, he fell one short of the number of electoral over the disputed 1876 election votes needed to win, and 20 electoral votes were disputed. that people talked of another civil Congress appointed a commission to deal with the prob- war. Of the 20 contested electoral votes, 19 came from Florida, lem. The commission, which had a Republican majority, South Carolina, and Louisiana. gave the election to the Republican, Hayes, even though he Republican officials in those had received a minority of the popular vote. states threw out election returns For the first time in U.S. history, a candidate who had from counties where violence kept lost the popular election became president. How did it hap- Republican voters from the polls. The Democrats refused to accept pen? In the oldest tradition of politics, party leaders made a the altered returns, and each deal. Although Republicans controlled the electoral com- party sent its own set of results mission, Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, to Washington, D.C. which had to approve the election results. Southern Fortunately for the country, the Democrats were willing to accept Hayes if they could get warlike slogans proved to be just political rhetoric. After a joint ses- something in return. sion of Congress met to witness The price they demanded was, first of all, the with- the counting of electoral votes, drawal of federal troops from Louisiana and South which did not settle the dispute, Carolina—two of the three Southern states that the parties struck a deal—the Republicans still governed. Second, the Democrats wanted Compromise of 1877. federal money to build a railroad from Texas to the West G. Answer The Coast and to improve Southern rivers, harbors, and bridges. compromise Third, they wanted Hayes to appoint a conservative Southerner included the to the cabinet. In the Compromise of 1877, Republican lead- withdrawal of federal troops ers agreed to these demands, and Hayes was peacefully inaugu- from the South. rated. The acceptance of this compromise meant the end of Without enforce- Reconstruction in the South. ment, Recon- struction mea- HOME RULE IN THE SOUTH After the 1876 election, sures eroded, Republicans and Democrats disputed the results in Louisiana’s and ▼ and Democrats South Carolina’s elections, and both states ended up with two rival state govern- took over in An advertisement Southern ments! When Hayes later removed the federal troops in those states, the expresses governments. Democrats took over. Florida also had questionable election returns, but the state ambivalence supreme court ruled in favor of the Democrats. As a result, Republicans no longer about the two MAIN IDEA controlled the government of any Southern state. candidates in the The Democrats had achieved their long-desired goal of home rule—the 1876 election. Analyzing Causes ability to run state governments without federal intervention. These so-called G How did the Redeemers set out to rescue the South from what they viewed as a decade of mis- Compromise of management by Northerners, Republicans, and African Americans. They passed 1877 bring about the end of laws that restricted the rights of African Americans, wiped out social programs, Reconstruction? slashed taxes, and dismantled public schools. G Reconstruction and Its Effects 399 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 400 Page 8 of 9 LEGACY OF RECONSTRUCTION Despite the efforts of African Americans and many Radical Republicans, Reconstruction ended without much real progress in the battle against discrimination. Charles Harris, an African-American Union Army veteran and former Alabama legislator, expressed his frustration in an 1877 letter. A PERSONAL VOICE CHARLES HARRIS “ We obey laws; others make them. We support state educational institutions, whose doors are virtually closed against us. We support asylums and hospitals, and our sick, deaf, dumb, or blind are met at the doors by... unjust discriminations.... From these and many other oppressions... our people long to be free.” — quoted in American Colonization Society Papers in the Congressional Record Although Radical Republicans wanted to help the former slaves, they made several serious mistakes. First, they assumed that extending certain civil rights to freed persons would enable them to protect themselves through participation in government, especially in lawmaking. However, Congress did not adequately pro- tect those rights, and the Supreme Court undermined them. Second, the Radicals balked at distributing land to former slaves, which prevented them from becoming P O I N T COUNTERPOINT “Reconstruction was a failure.” “Reconstruction was a success.” Federal and state governments failed to secure the Reconstruction was an attempt to create a social and rights guaranteed to former slaves by constitutional political revolution despite economic collapse and the amendments. opposition of much of the white South. Under these State Republican parties could not preserve conditions its accomplishments were extraordinary. black-white voter coalitions that would have African Americans only a few years removed from enabled them to stay in power and continue slavery participated at all levels of government. political reform. State governments had some success in solving Radical Republican governments were unable or social problems; for example, they funded public unwilling to enact land reform or to provide for- school systems open to all citizens. mer slaves with the economic resources needed African Americans established institutions that to break the cycle of poverty. had been denied them during slavery: schools, Racial bias was a national, not a regional, prob- churches, and families. lem. After the Panic of 1873, Northerners were The breakup of the plantation system led to more concerned with economic problems than some redistribution of land. with the problems of former slaves. Congress passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth The Supreme Court undermined the power of the Amendments, which helped African Americans to Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. attain full civil rights in the 20th century. At the end of Recon- W. E. B. Du Bois summa- struction, former slaves THINKING CRITICALLY rized the achievements of found themselves once the period this way: “[I]t was again in a subordinate 1. CONNECT TO HISTORY Evaluating What are the two major arguments each side makes as to whether Negro loyalty and the Negro position in society. The vote alone that restored the Reconstruction was a success or failure? Which per- historian Eric Foner con- South to the Union; estab- spective do you agree with, and why? cludes, “Whether mea- lished the new democracy, sured by the dreams SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R16. both for white and black.” inspired by emancipation Despite the loss of 2. CONNECT TO TODAY Analyzing Issues One historian or the more limited goals has referred to Reconstruction as “America’s Unfinished ground that followed Recon- of securing blacks’ rights Revolution.” Is the U.S. still dealing with issues left over struction, African Americans as citizens.... Recon- from that period? Research Reconstruction’s legacy succeeded in carving out a struction can only be using newspapers, magazines, or other sources. Make a measure of independence judged a failure.” short persuasive presentation in class. within Southern society. 400 CHAPTER 12 p0393-401aspe-0312s3 10/16/02 4:10 PM Page 401 Page 9 of 9 economically independent of the landowning planter class. Finally, the Radicals did not fully realize the extent to which deep-seated racism in society would weaken the changes that Congress had tried to make. But congressional Reconstruction was not a complete failure. The Thirteenth Amendment permanently abolished slavery in all of the states. Furthermore, Radical Republicans did succeed in passing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and although the Supreme Court narrowed the interpretation of the amendments during the 1870s, they remained part of the Constitution. In the 20th century, the amendments provided the necessary constitutional foundation for important civil rights legislation. During Reconstruction, African Americans had founded many black colleges and volunteer organizations, and the percentage of literate African Americans had gradually increased. The memory of this time of expanding opportunities lived on in the African-American community and inspired the fight to regain civil rights. ▼ Medical students at Howard University, an African-American institution founded in 1867 1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. Ku Klux Klan (KKK) redemption Samuel J. Tilden home rule panic of 1873 Rutherford B. Hayes Compromise of 1877 MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING 2. TAKING NOTES 3. ANALYZING EFFECTS 5. EVALUATING DECISIONS Re-create the time line below. Fill in What were the positive and negative Do you think the political deal to the major events that ended effects of Reconstruction? settle the election of 1876 was an Reconstruction. appropriate solution? Explain why or 4. EVALUATING LEADERSHIP why not. Think About: event two event four During Reconstruction, was the presidency weak or strong? the causes of the conflict over Support your answer with details the election from the text. other possible solutions to the event one event three controversy the impact of the settlement Which event do you think was most significant and why? Reconstruction and Its Effects 401