File 1

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on December 6 th, 1865.
Amendment 13:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or and place subject to their jurisdiction...
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 28 th, 1868.
Amendment 14:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws....
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on March 30 th, 1870.
Amendment 15:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude...
SOURCE: U. S. Constitution.

File 2

Carolina 1878

Picture A

Source: First Black Legislature in South

Picture B

Northern artists portrayal of the South Carolina State Legislature during

Reconstruction.

Source: The Cover of Harpers Weekly, March 14, 1874

File 3

File 4

File 5
Source: Protest of the Freedmen of Edisto Island, South Carolina to General Howard, October 1865
Note: This document is in the original spelling in which it was written.

Homesteads - lands to settle and live on

General we want Homesteads; we were promised homesteads by the government; If It does not carry out the
promises Its agents made to us, If the government Haveing concluded to befriend Its late enemies and to neglect
to observe the principles of common faith between Its self and us Its allies In the war you said was over, now
takes away from them all right to the soil they stand upon save such as they can get by again working for your
late and thier all time enemies - If the government does so we are left In a more unpleasant condition than our
former.
we are at the mercy of those who are combined to prevent us from getting land enough to lay our Fathers bones
upon. We Have property In Horses, cattle, carriages, & articles of furniture, but we are landless and Homeless,
from the Homes we Have lived In In the past we can only do one of three things Step Into the public road or the
sea or remain on them working as In former time and subject to their will as then. We can not resist It In any
way without being driven out Homeless upon the road.
You will see this Is not the condition of really freemen.
In behalf of the people
Committee: Henry Bram, Ishmael Moultrie, Yates Sampson

File 6
W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America

"But the decisive influence was the systematic and

overwhelming economic pressure. Negroes who wanted work
must not dabble in politics. Negroes who wanted to increase
their income must not agitate the Negro problem. . . in order
to earn a living, the American Negro was compelled to give
up his political power."
-- Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America,

Source: Harpers Weekly, October 21, 1876.

Caption: Of Course he wants to vote the Democratic ticket

File 7

The Freedmans Bureau

The Freedmans Bureau was created on March 3rd 1865

The bureau was a kind of primitive welfare agency
It was to provide food, clothing, medical care, employment
help and education to freedman
The bureau achieved its greatest successes in education

Name:

Reconstruction History Mystery

File 1
1.
What was the purpose of the 13 amendment?
_________________________________________
th

2.
What was the purpose of the 14 amendment?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________
th

3.
What was the purpose of the 15 amendment?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________
th

4. How will these amendments effect the lives of slaves?

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. Explain the difference between the 15th and 19th Amendment. Who was granted the vote under each
Amendment?

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
File 2
1. Who are the men that appear in photograph A?

____________________________________________
____________________________________________
2. What state are these men from?

____________________________________________
3. How were they able to get elected to the state legislature?

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
6.

Make 5 observations about picture B?

________________________________________
B________________________________________
C________________________________________
D________________________________________
E________________________________________
A

7.
What image is the cartoon trying to portray?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
File 3
1. What is this editorial advocating?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

2. Make 5 observations about the picture:

A_____________________________________________
B_____________________________________________
C_____________________________________________
D____________________________________________
_E____________________________________________
_
3. What does this picture tell us about life for some freed slaves?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

File 4
1.

What does this recollection by John McCoy suggest as a reason for the failure of
efforts to guarantee freedmen full citizenship rights?

____________________________________________
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
___________________
2.

What is a sharecropper?

____________________________________________
__________________________________

3.

Why would someone choose to be a sharecropper?

__________________________________________

4.

How did a sharecropper get supplies?

_________________________________________
5.

Why was it so difficult for a sharecropper to make money?

______________________________________________
____________________________________
File 5
1. What kind of people wrote this letter?

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
2. What do the authors of this passage believe they are entitled to? Why?

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
3.

What do the authors fear will happen if their complaint is ignored?

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

File 6
1.

What According to DuBois, why did freedman stop voting?

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________
2.

Make 5 observations about the picture:

_______________________________________________
B_______________________________________________
C_______________________________________________
D_______________________________________________
E_______________________________________________
A

3. What does this picture tell us about the life of Freedman during Reconstruction?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

File 7

1.

Where were most of the Black colleges established after the Civil War?

__________________________________________

2.

Who do you think established these institutions?

____________________

3.

Why do you think the Freedmans bureau was necessary?

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
___________________________
4.

Make 5 observations the Freedmans Bureau Political Cartoon?

________________________________________
B________________________________________
C________________________________________
D________________________________________
E________________________________________
A

5. What image of the Freedmans Bureau is the artist trying to portray?

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
___________________________
6. Why do you think that the President would be against the bureau, but congress would
vote for it?

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
______________________