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Difficulty: MediumReconstruction Amendments and Black Political Empowerment

Read the excerpt below and answer the following question.

"I claim to be a man, and I claim the rights of a man on this floor... We have pioneered civilization here; we have built up your country; we have worked in your fields, and garnered your harvests, for two hundred and fifty years! And what do we ask of you in return? Do we ask for compensation for the sweat our fathers poured out...? No, sir! We force on you no such claim. We only ask that you will allow us to remain in these halls... and that you will not pass a bill to degrade us."
— Henry McNeal Turner, speech to the Georgia House of Representatives, September 3, 1868

The conflict described in the excerpt most directly reflects which of the following developments during Reconstruction?

  1. The intense political backlash by white conservatives to disenfranchise Black voters and expel newly elected Black officials from public office.Answer
  2. B
    The immediate and complete enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment to guarantee absolute protection of political rights by Southern state governments.
  3. C
    The realization of equitable wage-labor systems that fully compensated formerly enslaved people for their generational labor.
  4. D
    The universal recognition of the Fifteenth Amendment's voting guarantees by Southern courts immediately following its drafting.

Answer

The intense political backlash by white conservatives to disenfranchise Black voters and expel newly elected Black officials from public office.
The option identifying the political backlash and resistance to newly elected Black officials is correct because the expulsion of Tunis Campbell, Henry McNeal Turner, and other Black legislators from the Georgia General Assembly in 1868 exemplifies the violent political backlash and local resistance by Southern white Democrats against the political empowerment of African Americans during Reconstruction.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary source text and identify the author's argument.
Henry McNeal Turner is defending his right to hold office in the Georgia House of Representatives, protesting attempts to expel Black representatives.
Understanding the core conflict of the document is necessary to place it in the correct historical context.
2
Evaluate the options based on the historical context of the Reconstruction era in 1868.
Identify that the conflict represents local state-level white resistance to the newly established political rights of African Americans, rather than federal success or economic equity.
Distinguishing between legal ideals and actual historical practice helps isolate the correct response.

Key Concept

Reconstruction Amendments and Black Political Empowerment
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Reconstruction Amendments and Black Political Empowerment

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