Reconstruction Dbq

In 1867 a 2/3 Republican Congress passes the Reconstruction Acts, which abolishes all governments, and in the elections, Republicans have the advantage thanks to black voters. In Tennessee, a radical Republican by the name of William G. Brownlow takes over, and he is a rather savage man. He is very radical and believes that those who fought for the Confederacy are traders, and he shows no mercy on returning rebel soldiers. His paper publishes the names of the soldiers, targeting them for revenge. He ratifies the 14th amendment, and while giving rights to freed slaves to vote, it also stripped former rebel soldiers of voting rights. These drastic changes of course anger many southern trying to hold on to the old ways, and in particular, it angers

six rebel soldiers in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee. They return to town worn down by war, they are then forced to swallow the dog or pledge allegiance to the Union.

They decide to create a group, at first it is like a fraternity, but soon this group becomes a paramilitary terror tool. The Ku Klux Klan is used as a political tool, they target any enemy of the South, and intimidate them or even kill them. Grand Wizard Nath Bedford Forrest, a Confederate war hero, attempts to unite all the dens of the Klan to one mission, to disrupt the elections of 1868. Their intimidation works very well as the black voters are driven from the polls and the Republicans numerical advantage is taken away, as many Democrats win state and local elections. It seems as if the Ku Klux Klan and Brownlow’s militia will meet on a battlefield, but Forrest cannot organize his undisciplined Klan army. All types of rebellions happen in the South during this time, the KKK continued to terrorize the South, especially in Arkansas where Daniel Upham fights them tooth and nail. In the Northeast of Texas, Bob Lee leads his own rebellion. He was a war criminal, who killed several prisoners during his time in the army. When he returns home he acts as if he is a war hero who led charges in many important Confederate

victories. He was a firm believer in slavery and refused to give his up at the end of the war. When the Freedmen’s Bureau came for his slaves he attacked them and then formed a posse to terrorize freed slaves and radical Republicans. Like many outlaws in his time, he died in a gunfight, but many like him continued. Another rebellion was the Lumbee Indians in North Carolina, who fought against the terrible treatment their tribe endeared, many times being kidnapped to be used as slave labor. A gorilla war that immortalized a Lumbee by the name of Henry Lowry, who fought against this treatment. He is seen as a hero to his people but is seen as an outlaw to Roberson County.