Study
Questions & Essay Topics
Always use specific historical examples to support
your arguments.
Study Questions
1. In what ways
was Reconstruction a success? A failure? Explain.
2. Some historians
have suggested that had Lincoln not been assassinated, Radical Republicans
in the House might have impeached him instead of Andrew Johnson. Defend
this argument.
3. Explain how
three of the following shaped northern politics during Reconstruction:
a) black codes
b) the Depression of
1873
c) Crédit Mobilier
d) the “Swing Around the Circle” speeches
e) the Resumption Act of
1875
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Compare and contrast Lincoln’s
plans for Reconstruction, Presidential Reconstruction, and Radical
Reconstruction.
2. What effect did Reconstruction
have on blacks? Were they better off after Reconstruction than they
were before the Civil War?
3. Was the impeachment of President
Johnson justified? Why or why not? What were the consequences of
his acquittal in the Senate?
4. What effect did the Compromise
of 1877 have
on politics in the North and South?
