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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 8

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.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: History 2; Civics & Government 2 · Reconstruction and the amendments that ended slavery and promised equal rights

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 Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 4 of 8 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Factories & Reformers and before Maps, Graphs & Data.

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: Maine Department of Education

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

    The Freedmen's Bureau helped formerly enslaved people by…

    • Rebuilding plantations for owners only
    • Collecting their taxes
    • Sending them to Europe
    • Setting up schools, giving food and helping with work contracts

  2. Question 2

    Reconstruction ended in 1877 when…

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

  3. Question 3

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

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

  4. Question 4

    Which statement about Reconstruction is accurate?

    • It happened before the Civil War
    • It ended racism forever
    • It changed nothing
    • It brought real gains in rights, many of which were later rolled back

  5. Question 5

    Radical Republicans in Congress wanted…

    • A king
    • Slavery restored
    • No changes in the South
    • Strong protection of rights for freedpeople

  6. Question 6

    The Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that…

    • Women were citizens only in the North
    • Slavery was legal
    • All people born in the US were citizens with equal rights under the law
    • Only landowners could vote

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