Mini Exam 1 Flashcards
(16 cards)
What are some important ideas to remember about Reconstruction?
- The war brought a lot of destruction to the South.
- The South did not trust the North.
- The freed slaves had to become a part of the economic, political, and social structure of the South.
- There was a lot of violence against the freed slaves. by white groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
- Other groups, such as the Knights of the White Camellia, intimidated voters to choose Democratic candidates so the southerners who backed the old ways of life would win elections.
- It was difficult or impossible for law enforcement, especially those backed by the federal government, to stop the violence in the South.
How did the federal government treat the South during Reconstruction?
- They treated the South like conquered territory and left the army there.
- The US govt. created the Freedmen’s Bureau to provide aid for ex-slaves.
- The federal government oversaw southern state governments
- The US govt. excluded many ex-confederates from voting and other political activity.
- The US government made it hard for states to rejoin the union.
Was the federal government successful in the way it treated the south after the Civil War? Do you think if Lincoln had lived things would have gone better?
The federal government was not successful in ending the violence in the South or making sure freedmen got all their rights. They did not have enough people there to enforce all the rules or prosecute people for crimes. The South was angry about the way they were treated. and did their best to go back to the lifestyle they had before the Civil War.
Lincoln did not want to punish the southern states and he might have kept harsher rules from passing in congress. President Johnson was not able to control more radical Republicans.
What was the 10% Plan?
It was part of Lincoln’s plan to bring Southern states more quickly back into the Union once the Civil War was over.
He introduced the plan in 1863.
The plan said that when one tenth of the number of voters who had participated in the 1860 election had taken an oath pledging loyalty to the union within a particular state, then that state could start a new government and elect representatives to Congress.
Who did not accept the 10% Plan?
Radical Republicans in Congress.
They were a group in Congress–many from New England.
They believed strongly in emancipation and saw the Civil war as a crusade to free the slaves.
After the war, they took a hard line when dealing with the south and wanted to punish the states who had left the union.
They did not like Lincoln’s 10% plan because they though it would make it too easy for states to come back into the Union.
What was the Wade-Davis Bill?
The Radical Republicans proposed a harder way for Southern states to come back into the Union:
- A state must have a majority within its borders take the oath of loyalty
- A state must formally abolish slavery
- No Confederate officials could participate in the new government
President Lincoln would not approve this bill at first. Republicans protested against him.
What were the Black Codes?
Black codes were laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans.
Southerners wanted to make sure they still had a cheap labor force after the Civil War.
They forced freed slaves to sign labor contracts, forcing them to work for low wages.
Blacks could be put in prison if they broke their contracts.
What was the difference between the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia?
The KKK used violence to intimidate Southern blacks. Their members wore masks to hide their identities and they were usually men who were less powerful or had less money.
The Knights of the White Camellia used political tactics to gain what they wanted. They would force black voters to vote for Democrats. They also pressured southern whites to vote for the right candidates. Their members were usually more powerful people in society so they could threaten business owners with losing their business if they didn’t vote the right way. They were not anonymous.
Both groups wanted similar things–to return the power structure in the South back to the white elites like it was before the War.
What did Social Fabric Ch. 3 tell you about the experience of Farmers during the western expansion?
Farmers were often very isolated when they settled the frontier.
They had to adapt to a harsh environment.
They had to find ways to get to help each other and get to know other farmers even if they were far away.
They found ways to join up with neighbors.
Some examples were:
neighbors helping to build houses or barns
neighbors sharing equipment needed to harvest and then helping each other with their crops
using holidays as occasions to socialize–esp. July 4th and Memorial Day
providing hospitality to travelers who used the back roads.
Worship services
What did Ch. 2 of the Social Fabric tell you about the effects of western expansion on the Native Americans?
They were confined to reservations.
They were not allowed to hunt the bison, which had provided them with food, clothing, and shelter. The hunt of the bison was also important to their culture. For example, leaders proved themselves during the hunts.
Government agents tried to make the Native Americans farm and they also tried to take away leadership from the chiefs.
Agents banned certain ceremonies like the Sun Dance which was an important ritual.
When Indians tried to form a new religion, the agents banned the Ghost Dance.
Agents tried to make the children go to white schools to learn about white culture. This led to confusion about which culture they should be loyal to.
The Indians finally had to realize they could not escape the reservations–this was another sign that the frontier was gone.
What did chapter 4 of the Social Fabric tell you about labor and industrialization?
Eventually, industrialization led to a higher standard of living. But in the short run, it meant people had to leave their homes in rural areas and live in miserable conditions.
At first there were no unions so workers were not protected from unsafe working conditions and low wages.
There was no health care so if they were sick or got hurt, they just couldn’t work or get paid. Sometimes they would get hurt on machinery or get sick from cotton dust.
Ch. 4 talks a lot about the textile factories in the South. People who couldn’t work on farms anymore would go to work in the factories. They were used to controlling their own work hours or working with the seasons but now they had to work when the owners wanted them to.
Whole families would work there, including small children.
Eventually labor laws set age limits but they weren’t always enforced.
What did some of the readings tell you about the experience of immigrants in the US?
American Yawp Ch. 18 talked about immigration:
Millions of immigrants came to the US in the last part of the 19th century.
Immigrants often lived in cities and worked in factories.
They often formed their own neighborhoods with their own clubs, newspapers, etc.
Many found themselves trapped in urban slums.
The reading by Jacob Riis talked about the unhealthy crowded conditions of the tenements (apartment buildings). In “How the Other Half Lives” he wrote about the greed that kept living conditions so bad: workers not paid enough to afford good housing and greedy landlords who just collected rent without fixing up the apartments.
The Social Fabric ch. 6 talked about discrimination Chinese immigrants faced and how they tried to keep old traditions alive while adapting to a new culture.
What was important about the Second Industrial Revolution?
The 2nd Industrial Revolution took place in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
During that time, cities grew, more factories sprung up, and more people worked in industry than ever before.
Improvements in the way steel and chemicals were produced, and more use of electricity increased industrial production.
Factories mass-produced consumer goods and weapons.
There were also advances in transportation and communication including trains, automobiles and bicycles, more newspapers, the radio and the telegraph.
What is important to remember about the American Bison?
The bison was important to the Native Americans. They used the bison for many things–food , clothing, etc.
Hunting the bison was important to their culture.
When the white men moved onto the frontier, they nearly wiped out the bison, using their rapid firing rifles.
The Native Americans could no longer hunt the bison because they had been moved to reservations.
The near extinction of the bison was part of the end of the frontier.
The piece in American Yawp talked about how the US had to start to protect the bison. It’s an example of how we realized we no longer had unlimited resources.
In The Social Fabric ch. 5, it talked about New York City dance halls. What did this tell you about the way industrialization affected culture?
The dance halls became a place where workers could socialize with others outside their families and eventually outside their neighborhoods.
This especially showed how women’s lives changed.
First of all, women were working more outside their homes.
They gradually were able to go out, apart from their families, and meet people on their own.
They had more freedom to decide on what kind of relationships they wanted to have with men and what their morality would be.
Despite this freedom, women still had to please men and depend on them to pay most of their way.
The dance halls were an example of “mass culture”–amusements that were marketed to everyone where people interacted with each other in new ways and they all shared similar experiences regardless of their backgrounds.
In the Social Fabric, what did Ch. 6 tell us about the way immigrant women had to cope with a new way of life?
The chapter focused on Chinese women who had to cope with a new way of life in the US.
They had to work both at home and outside of their homes to help their families make it since their fathers couldn’t always earn enough to support the family (or they had a family business to run).
They faced racial discrimination outside of their neighborhoods, making it harder for them to get good jobs.
They faced sexism in their own community because men were valued more than women. Chinese women were not supposed to have a public life outside the home.
Some of them rejected their Chinese values altogether while others tried to make a compromise–valuing their heritage but trying to make it in the US culture.
Even those who got an education struggled to get good positions and were often underemployed.
