1. Describe the political,
social, and economic conditions of the South following the Civil War. Describe
the political, social, and economic issues facing northern Republicans as they
went about devising plans for Reconstruction.
2. What were the Black Codes?
Discuss the controversy surrounding them. Were they a necessary and realistic
response to the situation or a thinly disguised attempt to restore a version of
slavery to the South?
3. Compare and contrast
4. What was the crop-lien
system and why was it put in place? What were its consequences? Why might this
system be described as a “vicious circle”?
5. Explain the process of
impeaching a president. On what grounds was Andrew Johnson impeached? Were
these charges the real reason he was impeached? Should he have been convicted?
6. How did those groups who
lived through Reconstruction view their experiences? How would
those views be reflected in subsequent historical debates
7. Discuss the diplomatic
triumphs of the Johnson and Grant administrations.
8. Why was the Grant
administration so riddled with corruption? Why was corruption so likely to
flourish at this time?
9. Why did the North abandon
Reconstruction so rapidly? Why was the South “redeemed” so rapidly by white
political leaders?
10. What was done to protect the
freedmen? What more could have been done? Why was more not done?
11. Evaluate the successes and
failures of Reconstruction. What were the successes? How might the failures
have been avoided? What groundwork had been laid for the future?
12. What was the “greenback”
question? What does the debate over this question reveal about the financial
issues and problems of the 1870s?
13. Despite the efforts of New
South advocates, why did the South remain a largely impoverished agricultural
region of the country as of 1900? What did New South advocates hope to achieve?
What changes did occur? Why were those changes not sufficient to bring the old
Confederacy into the national mainstream?
14. How was the southern white
political establishment able to evade the spirit of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution? What alternative paths of resistance
and accommodation did black leaders devise?
15. What positions did Booker T.
Washington take on the status of African Americans? Were his positions
reasonable? Should he have adopted different ones? Why or why not?
16. Explain the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. What was its
significance? How was it received by whites and blacks in the South? Where did
it fit into the Jim Crow system?