Radical Reconstruction

HIST1302

Summer 2022

Essay: Radical Reconstruction: A Brief History with Documents

Due Date: June 14th

Using Radical Reconstruction: A Brief History with Documents, you will need to write an essay of at least 750 words answering ALL of the following questions using specific evidence from the second half of the book to support your answers fully.

Please note: You will not be able to complete this assignment without reading Radical Reconstruction: A Brief History with Documents. Papers submitted without using evidence from the book will earn a grade of 0 as reading this book is a key part of the assignment.

1) Who were the Radical Republicans? What background did many of them have prior to the Civil War? What were some of the main goals that they had for the Reconstruction era? What were their beliefs about freedmen in the and how did they see their role in American life?

2) Why does Prince believe that Reconstruction started with the Emancipation Proclamation and not the end of the war? What forms did Reconstruction take prior to the Radical Republicans taking it over? How does the debate over who was in charge of Reconstruction- the President or Congress- shape this period?

3) Why did the Radical Republicans want to impeach Andrew Johnson? What were some of the main arguments they made for impeachment? Under what charges was Johnson impeached? How did the Senate vote after his trial? Why the author believe that Johnson was acquitted?

4) What was the importance of the 14th Amendment? What main provisions did it provide? Were the Radical Republicans happy with this amendment? Why or why not? How did the Southern states stance on this amendment allow the Radicals to gain further power?

5) What were some of the main arguments made for African-American suffrage in the post-Civil War period? Did northerners appear to support this idea? How did the women’s suffrage movement try to use this momentum to gain the right to vote for themselves? What ultimately is going to lead to the 15th Amendment being passed?

6) What was the legacy of Radical Reconstruction? Ultimately, do YOU believe it was actually “radical” in what it achieved? How did the South- both individually and governmentally- work to stop the gains of Reconstruction? Were they successful? Be sure to fully explain your answer.

In order to receive full credit, you must fulfill the following criteria.

· This essay must be at least 750 words (or very close to.) For every 50 words that you are missing, there will be a penalty of 10-points taken off of your grade

· It is YOUR responsibility to give me a signed word count. Failure to give a word count is a 10-point penalty off of your final essay grade.

· Falsifying your word count will earn the paper an automatic grade of a 0

· Essays need to be typed in 12-point font and double-spaced. I will not accept handwritten papers. Failure to double-space the paper will result in a 10-point deduction

· Papers must be turned into me by 11:59PM on June 14th. I will not accept late work without a valid, verifiable excuse as defined by Houston Community College.

· All of the information for the essays can be found in Radical Reconstruction: A Brief History with Documents so the use of outside sources is not necessary. If you want to use outside sources, you must tell me which sources you are getting your information from and provide full citations and a bibliography. Failure to do so will be considered cheating and dealt with under HCC’s Academic Dishonesty Policy and you will receive a 0 on the assignment. Your footnotes and bibliography will not count towards your word count for the assignment.

· Each essay will be given a letter grade. This letter grade is represented by the following: A= 95, A-= 92, B+= 88, B= 85, B-= 82, C+= 78, C= 75, C-= 72, D= 60 and F= 50 or below

· Bonus: If you use Upswing or go to the Writing Center, I will give you 15 bonus points on your essay as long as you:

· Submit a copy of your draft with their feedback along with a copy of your corrected paper on Canvas

· Upswing can be accessed through: https://hccs.upswing.io

· Please note, it can take Upswing a few days to look over your paper. Submitting a copy to them is not enough to get the points- you must have their feedback and make copies on your final paper for the extra credit points.

· The online tutoring center can be accessed through: https://iied21.hccs.edu/forms/alltutoring/f2f.html