Big Picture

1. How did Northerners react to the ineffectiveness of Presidential Reconstruction?
   • Was this strategy effective? Why or why not?
2. What was the biggest surprise of Reconstruction?
   • That white Southerners violently resisted?
   • That the freedmen proved very capable of exercising political power and holding office?
   • That some of the Reconstruction Era governments were corrupt?
   • That the federal government had to aggressively intervene in order to protect the freedmen?
   • That eventually Northerners and the federal government largely walked away?
   • That by the end of the century Northerners and Southerners had united behind a narrative that cast white Southerners as victims?
   • Explain your choice and provide specific examples of the behavior described.