Grade 8

Unit 7: Civil war and Reconstruction

Activity 8:  Radical Republican Governments in the South (GLEs: 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77)

CC:  Have students use primary and secondary source materials to write editorials, as they would have appeared in the paper during the age of Reconstruction, on the following topics. Students should critique the causes and effects on Louisiana.

Carpetbaggers and scalawags

State Constitutions of 1864,1868

Freedmen

Black Code

The Redeemers

Riots (Mechanics Institute, Colfax, Coushatta)

African American state officials

Corruption of Warmoth's administration (impeachment)

Web Sites:

World Book Online

http://www.louisianaschools.net/worldbook/

EBSCO

(Use your school link to EBSCO)

Additional Resources

Use word processing software such as Microsoft Word to write editorials

Microsoft Word Quick Tips

http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/intech/quick_tips/office/word.htm

Websites: 

Gale Group Resources (keyword: carpetbaggers, scalawags, freedmen,)

http://web3.infotrac.galenet.com/k12/infomark/1/1/1/purl=rc6_STO

Reconstruction: A State Divided

http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab11.htm

The Colfax Riot

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmtha/is_200307/ai_kepm377222