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Teacher's Guide for FOOTSTEPS Civil War Reconstruction

September 2004

Teacher Guide prepared by: Leslie Anderson Morales.

Abraham Lincoln viewed the Confederacy as a rebellion within the Union not as an independent nation. He was convinced that it was up to him - and not Congress - to determine the terms of reconstruction. His program to rebuild the nation became known as the "10 Percent Plan."
Imagine that you are one of Lincoln's supporters. How would you present his plan to your constituents?
- OR -
Imagine that you are opposed to Lincoln's plan. How would you explain your opposition?
Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote "education and slavery were incompatible with each other." Douglass had overheard his former owner say that "learning would spoil" the best slave in the world.
Explain what each man meant.
Newly-emancipated slaves took responsibility for organizing, building, and attending schools. It was not uncommon for children to teach older relatives to read and write. Teachers taught during the day and at night. Many people studied whenever they were not at work.
  • Why was education the basis for tremendous social change?
  • What are Americans who read and write able to do that illiterate people cannot do?
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (popularly known as the Freedmen's Bureau) was the federal government's first experiment in social welfare.
  • List the services that the Bureau offered to ex-slaves and destitute whites.
  • Imagine that you are in line at the local Freedmen's Bureau office. Describe who you are, what you see, and what has brought you there.
Critics of the Freedmen's Bureau argue that corruption in the agency crippled the efforts of former slaves to become economically independent. They point out that food rations and clothing did not always make their way to their intended destinations. They say that unfair labor contracts were a different form of slavery.
Do you agree or disagree that the Bureau hampered economic independence? Explain your position.
Reconstruction was an exercise in writing the rules of freedom.
  • What did the 13th and 14th Amendments accomplish?
  • What are the similarities and differences between Black Codes and Jim Crow laws?
  • Why were the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 necessary?
Genuine equality "required political rights and political power."
  1. In what ways did newly-enfranchised African-Americans exercise their political rights and political power?
  2. Select one event as an example.
  3. Write 5-6 paragraphs from the point of view of an eyewitness to this event.
Political cartoons and campaign songs communicate powerful emotional messages.
Create an editorial cartoon that addresses an opinion on an issue related to Reconstruction.
- OR -
Write a campaign song to rally supporters to your cause.
In 1935, African American scholar and activist W.E. B. DuBois published Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880. This pathbreaking work pictured Reconstruction as a "noble experiment in democracy." White historians had justified Jim Crow laws and racial oppression. It took decades for DuBois' insights and arguments to be accepted.
How and why do you think DuBois perservered?
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