#2: Learning Targets

1. I can explain why Reconstruction failed:

          Reconstruction failed because of many reason:

• Johnson's Reconstruction didn't want Freedmen to have rights and tried to put them in a condition similar to slavery, with the institution of Black Codes (laws which denied rights to blacks). He also refused to ratify the 14th Amendment and vetoed the Civil Rights and the Reconstruction Act. But the worst thing that happened under his leadership was that he let people whom had previously  had power in the South before, take it again. 
• Amnesty Act of 1872: the North wanted to leave South alone, and for this reason Democrats took power again on three states of South.
• Compromise of 1877: President Hayes trusted southern white people to keep black rights without the northern army, so he withdrew the troops leaving Freedmen without protection. It's for this reason that a new group of people, Ku Klux Klan, took advantage to torture, kill, murder and to convince them to leave political life. With this, the Reconstruction ends.

2. I can explain how the Dred Scott decision led to the Civil War

Dred Scott decision said that Black Men, free or slave, didn't have to be considered citizens, and for this they weren't allowed to fight for their freedom in the Court; this was one of the reasons that led to the Civil War: blacks didn't want to be slaves anymore and wanted to be considered citizens and have the same rights of whites. 

3. I can explain the differences between the two major political parties during Reconstruction

The two major political parties during Reconstruction were Republicans and Democrats.  

Republicans were on the side of the Freedmen. They believed the South should be punished for starting the war, ratified the 14th Amendment, created the Freedom's Bureau, the Civil Right Act, the Reconstruction Act and the 15th Amendment.
Democrats didn't want Freedmen to be treated equally, to have the same rights, the same laws as whites. President Johnson was a democrat, too.

4. I can state three Reconstruction Amendments and their necessity

1. 13th Amendment: abolished Slavery 
2. 14th Amendment: Freedmen had to have the same rights of whites, to be treated equally and to have the same protection under the law.
3. 15th Amendment: the right to vote is given to all people, independently of their race, color or past as a slave.

5. I can articulate the differences between the Reconstruction Plans of Johnson/Radical Republican

Johnson's Reconstruction Plans:                          
- Supported plans for Reconstruction                      
- Provided to let Southerners obtain                          
   their property and political rights                            
- Supported 13th Amendment                                    
                                         
Radical Republican's Reconstruction Plans:                                    
- Freedmen's Bureau
- Civil Rights
- Reconstruction act
- Believed that South had to be punished because they started the Civil War
- 15th Amendment