Posted: May 13th, 2021

U.S. History Since 1865

Comprehensive Exam 2

U.S. History Since 1865.

 The comprehensive exam question and guidelines for U.S. History since 1865 are located under Week 12 Lessons. The Drop Box to submit your exam is also located under Week 12 Lessons. Late exams will not be accepted.  The exam information is also posted below for your convenience.

Historian Eric Foner has called the Reconstruction period America’s “unfinished revolution.” Assess the validity of this statement through an examination of the historiographical literature. (See Chapter 5 of Special Topics; Study Guide on Reconstruction, readings located under Week 6, recorded lectures. I am a historian and the readings by me can be used and cited). According to historian Eric Foner, the Reconstruction period was America’s “unfinished revolution.” Examine the historiographical literature to determine the validity of this statement. (See Chapter 5 of Special Topics; Reconstruction Study Guide, readings located under Week 6, recorded lectures.) Because I am a historian, my readings can be used and cited).

Make sure your essay adheres to the writing guidelines for the Comprhensive Exam located under Week 1 Lessons.

Essay Guidelines

1. Exam must be 8-10 pages, double-spaced and include a cover page.

2. Exam must have a thesis statement in the introductory paragraph

3. Exam must have endnotes or footnotes using the Chicago Manual of Style.

4. Exam must be free of grammatical errors. Spell-check your work.

5. Exam must cite three historians discussed in the readings, study guides, power points, recorded lectures, or outside readings.

6. Wikipedia and online encyclopedias should never be used.  

Here are some resources used to help. 

– Before Obama Chapter (teacher says should be used) 

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjetWrsQb-E

HIST 497 Senior Seminar “Revolutions in History”

Revolutions create change, challenge authority, and embolden marginal groups to apply revolutionary ideals to their own situation.

Reconstruction (1863-1877)
 The term Reconstruction refers to the process by which the former Confederate states would be re-admitted to the Union. The term also implies a reconstruction of Southern society to include African Americans equally.
 Politically, Reconstruction began when President Lincoln issued his General Proclamation for Amnesty and Reconstruction in December 1863.
 The Reconstruction period can be divided into three phases:
 Presidential Reconstruction 1863-1867
 Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction 1867-1870
 Southern Redemption (1870-77)
Presidential Reconstruction
 President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
 10 percent of the 1860 voters had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union (United States) for the state to be readmitted.
 Former Confederate states had to ratify the 13the Amendment abolishing slavery (Ratified in Dec. 1865).

 President Andrew Johnson (Union Democrat, 1865-1868)
 The assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April 1865 changed the course of Presidential Reconstruction. Andrew Johnson Lincoln’s Vice-President, became President.
 Johnson pursued a conciliatory policy toward the former Confederate States; reversed Sherman’s (40 acre and a mule) land policy, liberally granted pardons to former Confederates, and restored plantation lands to their original owners in May 1865.
Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction (1868-1870) Johnson pursued a conciliatory policy toward the former Confederate States, reversing Sherman’s land policy (40 acres and a mule), liberally granting pardons to former Confederates, and returning plantation lands to their original owners in May 1865.
Reconstruction in Congress (Radical) (1868-1870)
 Southern states forced to ratify the 14th and 15th Amendments in 1868 and 1870, respectively.
 Treated as though the states had completed “state suicide” by leaving the Union. Established five military districts throughout the South.
 Led to the establishment of the Republican Party in the South with African American men providing the political base for the Republican Party.

 New National Officials
 Fifteenth Amendment extended suffrage to black men creating a black electorate in the former Confederacy
 Two African Americans sent to the U.S. Senate
Hiram Revels
Blanche K. Bruce
 Twenty African Americans served in the U.S. House between 1867 and 1901
 African Americans served s as State Legislators with varying success.
 Wielded greatest influence in South Carolina.
 The Union League became spearhead for Southern Republicanism during Reconstruction and depended on black men for bulk of Republican strength.
 African American women active in “getting out the vote” and vocal in political discussion.
 Civil Rights Act of 1875 clarified rights of African Americans to freely use public accommodations. Declared unconstitutional in 1883.
Southern Redemption (1870-76)
 Southern Redemption refers to the process of replacing Republican state governments in the South with Democratic state governments. Vigilante organizations such as the Knights of the White Camelia, the Jay Hawks, Regulators, and Ku Klux Klan instituted a reign of terror.
 Southern Democrats were proslavery, prostates rights, and worked to disenfranchise African American men.
End of Reconstruction
• Republican Rutherford B. Hayes received majority of popular vote for President; Electoral College tied between Hayes and his Democratic opponent Samuel J. Tilden. Congressional Democrats agreed to certify Hayes as President ; In exchange, Hayes agreed to remove federal troops from the South thus ending federal protection for former slaves.

Reconstruction Civil Rights Cases
Slaughterhouse Cases, 1873: Established the concept of “dual citizenship” and permitted states to control the civil rights of its citizens.
U.S. v. Reese, 1876; U.S. v. Cruikshank, 1876: declared the Enforcement Acts (passed to protect the voting rights of African American men) unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled that the Fifteenth Amendment did not confer suffrage, it merely prohibited the hindrance of voting. [As stated in the Fifteenth Amendment: “the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”].
Civil Rights Cases 1883: Invalidated the Civil Rights Act, 1875. The Supreme Court ruled that discrimination in public places did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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