Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Module: Week 15 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objectives covered: Objective 8 — analyze the causes, conduct, and consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction — the Reconstruction Amendments, the struggle over Black freedom, and why Reconstruction ended in 1877.

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 15 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Week 15 Announcement. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday pattern with Week 15 meeting Tue Dec 8 and Thu Dec 10, with end-of-week work due Sunday Dec 13, 11:59 p.m. Adjust day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 15 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 15: Reconstruction

This is the final instructional week of the course — and it carries the full weight of everything we've been building since Week 1. We close the arc that began with emancipation and the Civil War: what happened after Appomattox? What did the United States try to become — and why did it stop trying?

This week's big argument is about power and will. Reconstruction was not simply the post-war reorganization of Southern states. It was a contested, violent struggle over whether the 13th Amendment's abolition of slavery would mean anything at all — whether Black Southerners would have citizenship, legal protection, political voice, and economic freedom. They fought for all of it. Some of it was won, briefly. And then it was taken away — not because it failed, but because the forces against it were willing to use violence and political manipulation to end it.

By the end of this week, you'll understand not only what Reconstruction was, but whose it was, what it accomplished, and what destroyed it.

The week's big question

"Whose Reconstruction was it — and why did it end?"

By Sunday you'll be able to explain the three Reconstruction Amendments and what each one did, describe the contest between presidential and congressional Reconstruction, analyze the role of Black Codes and the Fourteenth Amendment's direct response to them, identify the forces — violent and political — that dismantled Reconstruction, and take a position in the historiographical debate over whether Reconstruction was a "splendid failure" or an "unfinished revolution."

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist before the quiz.

• [ ] Name and distinguish the three Reconstruction Amendments: the 13th (1865, abolishes slavery), the 14th (1868, citizenship + equal protection + due process), and the 15th (1870, right to vote regardless of race). Know what each one did — the classic trap is mixing up which amendment did what.
• [ ] Explain the difference between presidential and congressional Reconstruction — Johnson's lenient plan vs. the Radical Republican program, and why Congress responded with the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.
• [ ] Describe the Black Codes (1865–66) and explain how they directly motivated Congress to act and the Fourteenth Amendment to be written.
• [ ] Identify the key features of Reconstruction in practice: the Freedmen's Bureau, Black political participation (officeholders in Congress and state legislatures), and the violent backlash including the Ku Klux Klan.
• [ ] Explain the Compromise of 1877 and why historians treat it as the formal end of Reconstruction.
• [ ] Engage the historiographical debate: Du Bois's "splendid failure" vs. Foner's "unfinished revolution" — and argue which interpretation the evidence better supports.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one prepares you for the next.

Reminder on the AI tools: the quiz and the final exam are closed to AI. Everything else this week uses an approved chatbot as a tool — but the thinking, the evidence, and the argument are yours.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. This is the last week to submit work before the final — reach out before any deadline if life happens.

How to succeed this week

• Know your amendments cold. The 13th/14th/15th Amendment confusion is the most common quiz error in this course. Write them down: 13 = abolish, 14 = citizenship + equal protection, 15 = vote. They're in order, they build on each other, and each one addressed something the previous one left open.
• Read the Fourteenth Amendment word by word. The workshop asks you to close-read Section 1. Notice it says "No State shall" — the amendment was directed at state governments, because that's where the Black Codes came from.
• Think about why it ended. Reconstruction didn't collapse from its own weight. It was dismantled: by the Klan, by the withdrawal of political will in the North, by the Panic of 1873, and finally by the Compromise of 1877. That's the argument the discussion asks you to make.
• The historiographical debate is real. Du Bois and Foner are not just vocabulary. They represent a genuine disagreement about how to characterize Reconstruction's legacy — and your discussion asks you to take a side.

This week closes the content arc of the course. Next week is the final exam — so treat this week's workshop and assignment as both a learning opportunity and a review of the arguments you'll need to make under closed conditions.

(B) Week 15 Announcement

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Tue Dec 8, 2026. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post as a draft labeled "Release: Tue Dec 8."

Subject: Week 15 — Reconstruction: whose freedom, and why did it end?

Hi everyone,

We've reached the final instructional week. Everything we've studied — the colonists who said "all men are created equal," the Founders who built slavery into the Constitution, Lincoln's "new birth of freedom" at Gettysburg — arrives here. What happened after the war?

The short answer: a democratic revolution was attempted, partially achieved, and then violently dismantled. This week we ask the hardest question in the course: whose Reconstruction was it, and why did it end?

Three things to know before Tuesday:

1. The three amendments are the spine of the week. The Thirteenth (1865) abolished slavery. The Fourteenth (1868) defined citizenship and guaranteed equal protection — its exact text is this week's Primary Source Workshop. The Fifteenth (1870) protected the right to vote regardless of race. Know what each one did. The quiz engineers the classic confusion between them.

2. The workshop is a close-reading, and it rewards preparation. You'll read Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment from the National Archives transcript, then corroborate it against the Mississippi Black Codes (1865) — the laws Congress was directly responding to. Read both before the workshop.

3. The discussion is historiographical. W.E.B. Du Bois called Reconstruction a "splendid failure." Eric Foner called it "America's unfinished revolution." Come prepared to argue which framing the evidence supports — and why Reconstruction ended when it did.

This is also the week to begin reviewing for the Final Exam (Week 16). It covers everything: all 8 objectives, all 16 weeks. The Week 16 module has a full study guide and practice exam — use them.

See you Tuesday.

Prof. Hartwell