Reconstruction has two parts:
Presidential Reconstruction
Congressional Reconstruction
You need to be able to answer the following questions about each one:
What ideas shaped this version of Reconstruction?
What did Southern States have to do to regain full standing in the US?
How did this plan treat African Americans?
How did this plan treat White Americans?
Who could vote under this plan?
How did white Southerners respond to this plan?
How did black Southerners respond to this plan?
How did northerners respond to this plan?
Did this plan change American society?
You need to be able to explain each of those points (the why question).
You need to explain why the US changed from Presidential to Congressional Reconstruction.
African Americans went from being slaves to free people in this period. Be able to explain what they did now that they achieved their freedom. What did they value? What did they do? Why did they do these actions?
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments are very important to this period and to all of US History. You need to know what each of them did.
The Fourteenth Amendment is the most important one. It contains many key ideas for Americans and the rights of the citizens of the United States. You need to know those points as we will return to them frequently going forward in history.
