Reconstruction Institutions and Challenges

Supplied materials

• Paper and pencil; drawing or spoken answers are welcome.
• Topic notes: Freedmen’s Bureau: a federal agency assisting formerly enslaved people and others after the war. Constitutional change: amendments altering formal rights and citizenship. Political participation: people taking part in government and public decision-making. Obstruction: actions or rules blocking effective rights.
• Original exercise cards: A card identifies federal assistance involving education and relief. / A card identifies the Reconstruction amendments. / A card describes Black officeholding during Reconstruction. / A card describes violent intimidation of voters. / A card identifies postwar constitutional citizenship protections. / A card describes newly enfranchised men voting. / A card describes discriminatory restrictions undermining participation. / A card names the postwar assistance agency.

Learn the idea

Reconstruction involved rebuilding political arrangements and redefining rights after the Civil War. The Freedmen’s Bureau assisted formerly enslaved people and others; constitutional amendments changed protections; Black political participation expanded; violence and discriminatory laws obstructed equality. Progress and resistance occurred together rather than in a simple uninterrupted line.

Freedmen’s Bureau: a federal agency assisting formerly enslaved people and others after the war. Constitutional change: amendments altering formal rights and citizenship. Political participation: people taking part in government and public decision-making. Obstruction: actions or rules blocking effective rights.

Find the postwar agency, constitutional changes, political participation or actions blocking effective rights. Read the notes and the word cards. You can write, draw or say your answer.

1. Read the four notes. Find the words Freedmen’s Bureau, Constitutional change, Political participation, Obstruction.
2. Find the postwar agency, constitutional changes, political participation or actions blocking effective rights.
3. Read the worked answer. Then try the other cards and explain which words helped you choose.
4. Choose two different examples: one for Freedmen’s Bureau and one for Constitutional change. Explain how their clues differ.

Check your reasoning

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Take it further

New card: “A card names the postwar assistance agency.” Match it with a note, then point to or say the words that helped. Check: The card says: “A card names the postwar assistance agency.” That matches Freedmen’s Bureau. Freedmen’s Bureau is a federal agency assisting formerly enslaved people and others after the war.

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