Civil+War+Consequences+II

1. How were carpetbaggers and scalawags different? Carpetbaggers were northern-born Republicans that moved south after the war. Scalawags were southerners considered traitors because they voted for the Republican Party. Both were extremely unpopular in the South during Reconstruction.

2. How did African Americans participate in government during Reconstruction? Over 600 African Americans, both former slave and free blacks, were elected to political office ranging from state legislatures to U.S. Representatives all the way to U.S. Senators.

3. Why did southern Reconstruction governments focus on building railroads and bridges? To help the southern economy recover from the war.

4. Why did resistance to Reconstruction increase? Southerners were unhappy with African Americans being elected to political offices. They also felt Reconstruction governments were corrupt, illegal, and unjust in addition to disliking having federal troops stationed there.

How did the federal government address the activities of the Ku Klux Klan? To address the violence and threats of the KKK, Congress passed laws that made it a federal crime to interfere with elections or to deny citizens equal protection under the law.

5. How was the United States affected by Panic of 1873? Because of thousands of companies going out of business, the unemployment rate rose dramatically which led to Democrats regaining control of Congress after the midterm election of 1874. This was a clear sign Northerners were becoming less concerned about southern racism and more concerned about their financial well-being.

6. What issues caused the Republican Party to abandon Reconstruction? (Compromise of 1877) As Americans became increasingly worried about economic problems and government corruption, the Republican Party began to abandon Reconstruction.

7. In what ways were African American men restricted from voting? They had to pay a poll tax and pass a literacy test. How did segregation become the key issue in the Plessy v. Ferguson case? An African American man was arrested, tried, and convicted of violating Louisiana's segregation law. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation laws, such as separate seating on public transportation, were constitutional.

8. Why did many African Americans stay on plantations? Why would the cycle of debt continue for sharecroppers? Few African Americans in the South could afford to buy or even rent farms. Moving West also was costly. Many African Americans therefore remained on plantations. Sharecroppers lived in a cycle of debt because when they needed food, clothing, or supplies, most families had to buy goods on credit because they had little cash. The land owner was the one who made the majority of the profit from the harvest, while the African American's labor yielded little profit.

carpetbaggers scalawags Hiram Revels Ku Klux Klan Panic of 1873 Election of 1876 Compromise of 1877 poll tax segregation Jim Crow laws Plessy v. Ferguson sharecropping