Course Content
Lesson Plans
Out of Many: A History of the American People ©2000
by Faragher, Buhle, Czitrom, and Armitage
Focus Lesson 14
Chapter 17: "Reconstruction, 1863–1877"
AP* Course Description
- Reconstruction to 1877
- Presidential plans: Lincoln and Johnson
- Radical (congressional) plans
- Civil rights and the Fourteenth Amendment
- Military reconstruction
- Impeachment of Johnson
- African American suffrage: the Fifteenth Amendment
- Southern state governments: problems, achievements, weaknesses
- Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction
- New South and the Last West
- Politics of the New South
- The Redeemers
- Whites and African Americans in the New South
- Jim Crow
- Southern economy; colonial status of the South
- Sharecropping
- Industrial stirrings
- Politics of the New South
Key Components
- Instructor's Manual: pp. 88–93
- Study Guide, Vol. I to 1877: pp. 145–152
- Documents Set, Vol. I to 1877: pp. 219–233
- Test Item File: pp. 153–160
Key Web Sites
Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check PHSchool.com for updated links to U.S. history sites.
Key Words and Terms
- Radical Republicans
- Woman Suffrage Association
- Carpetbaggers
- segregation
- Ku Klux Klan
- United States v Cruikshank
- depression of 1873
- election of 1876
Suggested Pacing
Allow four class periods on a traditional bell schedule of 45-minute periods or two classes on a block schedule of 90-minute periods.
Test Strategy
Chapter 17 lays the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1960s. You will need to make the connections for students now and then review Chapter 17 when teaching Chapter 28.
Key Concepts
- Relate problems of rebuilding and restructuring Southern society
Use the maps "Reconstruction of the South," p. 489, "The Barrow Plantation," p. 496, and "Southern Sharecropping and the Cotton Belt," p. 503, to help students see the location of Reconstruction in relation to the spread of sharecropping throughout the South. Aid students in understanding how the breakup of the plantation system contributed to the sharecropping system. In discussing the concepts, have students compare the differences and similarities of the two systems, concentrating especially on who benefited in each case. The long-term result was the increasing dependence of the South on cotton. - Election of 1876
A financial panic set off the longest depression in U.S. history. Prices fell, unemployment rose, businesses closed, and people sank under the weight of their debt. The federal government did not provide relief. Clashes between workers and capitalists led many Americans to question whether the "harmony of interests" that Lincoln and earlier Republicans had believed united the country was indeed intact. When Republicans continued to champion property rights, they became vulnerable at the polls. However, the deal to end Reconstruction put the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in the presidency.
Summing Up Student Understanding
To compare the Presidential Reconstruction plans to the Radical Republican plan, have students prepare a chart giving the main points of each plan. After they have completed the chart, ask students to explain how Johnson's view of the President's role in Reconstruction conflicted with Congress's view and how this led to Johnson's impeachment.
| RECONSTRUCTION PLANS | ||
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| Lincoln's Plan | Johnson's Plan | Radical Plan |
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities:
- American Issues: Vol. I to 1877, edited by Unger and Tomes—Chapter 17
- The Power of Words: Vol. I to 1877, edited by Breen—Chapter 15
- Constructing the American Past, Vol. I, edited by Gorn, Roberts, and Bilhartz—Chapter 13
- American Experiences: Volume I to 1877, edited by Roberts and Olson (secondary source readings)—Part Seven