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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 9

Reconstruction

New rights, and rights rolled back

What your child practices

Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877 as a bridge to high school US history: the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, Black officeholders, the violence that opposed them and how gains were later rolled back.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.8.8.8.1; SS.8.8.22.2 · Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan let a state rejoin when 10% of its 1860 voters swore loyalty to the Union.
  2. Radical Republicans in Congress wanted strong protection of rights for freedpeople.
  3. Andrew Johnson clashed with Congress over Reconstruction and was impeached, but not removed.

Example: Why was Lincoln’s plan called the Ten Percent Plan? It set a rule for a state to rejoin the Union. Some of the state’s 1860 voters had to swear loyalty. The number needed was 10%. Answer: A state could rejoin when 10% of its 1860 voters swore loyalty.

Reconstruction in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 6 of 9 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Factories & Reformers and before The Civil War.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Reconstruction ended in 1877 when…

    • Slavery was restored
    • The Civil War began
    • Federal troops left the South
    • Lincoln was elected

  2. Question 2

    Many Black men were elected to office during Reconstruction. What does this show?

    • The 15th Amendment opened politics to Black voters for a time
    • Only Northerners voted
    • Reconstruction failed immediately
    • Black men could not vote

  3. Question 3

    Reconstruction (1865–1877) was the period of…

    • Building the Erie Canal
    • The Revolution
    • Westward removal
    • Rebuilding the South and bringing Southern states back into the Union

  4. Question 4

    The Ku Klux Klan was formed after the war to…

    • Use terror and violence to stop Black Americans from voting and gaining rights
    • Run schools
    • Rebuild railroads
    • Help freedpeople

  5. Question 5

    Why were many freedpeople eager to attend school?

    • They had nothing else to do
    • Schools paid them
    • It was required by the Confederacy
    • Learning to read had been denied under slavery and opened new opportunities

  6. Question 6

    How did Reconstruction connect to the period from 1763 to 1877?

    • It tried to make the founding ideals of liberty and equality real for more people
    • It brought back British rule
    • It has nothing to do with them
    • It ended American democracy

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