Discussion 2 - Reconstruction The Second Civil War

Discussion 2 Amh

• Review and identify relevant information on the linked PBS American Experience site, Reconstruction The Second Civil War
• White Men UniteLinks to an external site.
• State by State: Reconstruction timelineDownload State by State: Reconstruction timeline
• This link will direct you to the full transcript of the Wade-Davis Bill.Links to an external site.  What does it suggest about the prevailing Reconstruction sentiments in Congress? 
• Read the section in Chapter 17 which discusses the Black Codes, and the linked site on the Black Codes.Links to an external site. 
• Read the linked document, a selection from The Ills of the South, Download The Ills of the South, written by Charles H. Okten, a Mississippi Baptist preacher, and schoolteacher, in which he describes conditions for Black Americans under the sharecropping and crop-lien system.  

 After you have completed your readings, post your response to ONE of the following questions:

1.  Were the Black Codes another form of slavery?   
2. Based on Okten's statements, discuss how the sharecropping/crop lien system created a vicious cycle.  Was this system simply another version of slavery?  Why or why not.   
3. Consider the following statement:  "The persistence of racism in both the North and the South lay at the heart of Reconstruction's failure." Agree or disagree, and explain your position.