Written Source Analysis #1 on American Horizons Chapter 15, American Women: A Concise History, pgs, 90-96
HIST 1302 – 820/821
20 points – see rubric at the end of the assignment
WRITING TASK –
In approximately 1000 words, answer the following question. Show your reliance upon chapter 15 of American Horizons and American Women A Concise History, pgs. 90-96. Any use of AI or unauthorized use of sources other than American Horizons or American Women: A Concise History results in a 0 for the assignment.
Submit it to this spot on Canvass labeled “Essay #1 – HIST 1302 820/821 Spring 2024 Hickman.”
What factors and issues, from 1865-1877, were MOST important in rendering both Congressional Reconstruction and Reconstruction more broadly so difficult?
HELP FROM DR. HICKMAN –
Here is a quick list of many of the items that either Susan Ware’s American Women: A Concise History or American Horizøns, chapter 15 cite as something that complicated the course of that “new birth of freedom” that was supposed to be a part of Reconstruction after the American Civil War.
1) “The evaporation of the major source of wealth for white slaveowners.” This quote is from Ware, pg. 91. American Horizons indicates that emancipation led to a capital loss of at least 3 billion dollars. (This is in 1865 dollars by the way. That is really about 54 billion dollars in 2024 wealth. Makes sense does it not that an important part of southern U.S. society did not want to give up on slavery?)
2) the collapse of the southern economy during and after the Civil War
3) amidst such change, a social structure and hierarchy that clung to, if not reinvented, white supremacy
4) attempts at providing educational opportunities for formerly enslaved persons and even free blacks that were not sustained
5) fights over (and not enough resources for) an agency such as the Freedman’s Bureau
6) The emergence of quasi-enslavement in the form of sharecropping. Or, as American Horizons puts it: “The south replaced slavery with a low wage, free labor system; with that, African-Americans consistently received lower pay for equivalent work done by white workers (523).” Formerly enslaved persons did not come to own and control sufficient property either.
7) Violence, for instance with the emergence of white hate groups such as the KKK. Look to both Ware and the final part of American Horizons, starting on page 529.
8) the increasing presence and permanence of Jim Crow laws in the 1880s and 1890s, these further tarnished any promise from the 14th and 15th Amendments. They had started a bit earlier though than the 1880s. Congress then just did not act with sufficient influence and force to enforce what American Horizons calls “positive liberty (517).”
9) attitudes from enough white persons that formerly enslaved persons had been untutored in work habits so they could never (or not easily) work for wages
10) Lincoln’s murder in April 1865
11) Sufficient number of Confederate personnel who refused to accept the outcome of the war
12) Disagreements between Northern Democrats and Republicans. Eventual weariness and retreat by Northern figures.
13) The fierce disagreements between much of Congress and the 17th President of the United States, Andrew Johnson. Johnson was just way too lenient; this was not what many in the then Republican Party wanted. Persons elected in 1864, for the then Union, were still in Congress in 1865 and 1866. Vast majorities of those persons were part of the Republican Party. American Horizons, for instance, cites the conflict between Johnson and Congress over the re-authorization of the Freedman’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. In 1867 the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson.
14) Key southern Democrats and former Confederates already re-establishing their political roles in 1865 if not soon thereafter. By the early 1870s these persons often able to re-assert power, drive out Black American voters and political representatives from Southern politics.
15) Constituents and supporters of the Republican Party who worried that Reconstruction would take too long and last too long.
16) The election in 1876, one in which the last 3 Republican led state governments in the South. Also featured the deal that gave the GOP the White House with Rutherford B. Hayes.
There are others. This is at least some start. Make sure you are making a persuasive case.
RUBRIC –
Responses earn a 18 or 20, which is an A or A-, when they significantly and thoughtfully engage Reconstruction, significantly demonstrate awareness of what Reconstruction was, and significantly provides information that persuasively addresses the question about what brought about the failure of Reconstruction. The essay also shows college-level editorial care in addition to reliance on the required readings.
Responses earn a 16 or 17, which is in essence a B or B-, that do many but not all of the articulated items for the score above. They can do no worse than adequately meet each of the expectations spelled out for a 20, but they must do some of these things better than adequately. The essay also show college-level editorial care in addition to reliance on the required readings.
Responses earn a 15, which is in an essence a C, that only adequately meet the expectation spelled out for an A or A-.
Responses earn a 12 or 13, which is in essence a D or D-, that minimally engage engage Reconstruction, minimally demonstrate awareness of what Reconstruction was, and minimally provides information that persuasively addresses the question about what brought about the failure of Reconstruction. The essay also shows either or both substandard editorial care and reliance on the required readings.
Responses earn a 11 or below that represent insufficient engagement with the material, fatal misunderstanding(s) of the task, poor college-level writing, or are otherwise shoddy work