Comprehensive Study Guide: Constitution, Reconstruction, and Western Expansion

Constitution and Constitutional Principles

• Preamble: Authority comes from the people ("We the People"). Purpose: set up a fair, peaceful, and free country.

• 3 Branches of Government:

  • Legislative (Congress): House ($435$ members) and Senate ($100$ members). Makes laws, taxes, declares war.

  • Executive (President): Enforces laws, commands military, vetoes bills, grants pardons.

  • Judicial (Courts): Explains laws. Uses Judicial Review (Marbury v. Madison) to cancel unconstitutional laws.

  • Checks & Balances: Each branch limits the power of the others.

• Amendment Process: $2/3$ of Congress proposes, $3/4$ ($38$) of states approve.

• Bill of Rights (Amendments 1–10):

  • 1st: Speech, press, religion, assembly, petition.

  • 2nd: Right to own weapons.

  • 3rd: No housing soldiers.

  • 4th: Protection from unfair searches (needs probable cause).

  • 5th: Right to stay silent, fair trial, pay for taken land.

  • 6th: Fast trial, jury, lawyer.

  • 7th: Jury in civil suits over $20$.

  • 8th: No cruel punishment or excessive bail.

  • 9th: Extra rights belong to the people.

  • 10th: Powers not listed go to states or people.

• Civil War Amendments:

  • 13th: Ended slavery.

  • 14th: Citizenship & equal protection for all.

  • 15th: Voting rights for all races.

• Student Rights:

  • Tinker: Speech allowed unless heavily disruptive.

  • Hazelwood: Schools can edit school newspapers.

  • T.L.O.: School searches only need reasonable suspicion.

  • Goss: Suspended students get a hearing.

Reconstruction Era

• Presidential vs. Congressional Reconstruction:

  • Presidential: Gentle on South ($10\%$ plan); led to Black Codes.

  • Congressional: Strict army rule in South to enforce 14th and 15th Amendments.

• Freedmen's Bureau: Built over $4000$ schools and gave aid to former slaves.

• Radical Republicans & Impeachment: Fought for Black rights. Impeached President Johnson, but Senate saved him by $1$ vote.

• Sharecropping & Jim Crow:

  • Sharecropping: Farmers trapped in endless debt.

  • Jim Crow: Laws forcing segregation and stopping Black voting.

• KKK & Compromise of 1877:

  • KKK: Violent group attacking Black rights.

  • Compromise of 1877: Hayes became President; federal troops left South, ending Reconstruction.

Western Expansion and Indigenous Policy

• U.S. Westward Expansion:

  • Manifest Destiny: Belief America was meant to expand coast-to-coast.

  • Homestead Act (1862): Gave $160$ acres of free land for farming $5$ years.

  • Transcontinental Railroad: Connected East and West coasts in 1869.

• Indigenous Policies:

  • Plains Wars & Bison Slaughter: Battles over land; buffalo destruction hurt Native culture.

  • Dawes Act (1887): Split tribal land into $160$-acre plots to force assimilation.

  • Boarding Schools: Forced Native kids to leave families and abandon culture.

• Farmers & Populist Party:

  • Struggles: Low crop prices, high train fees, debt.

  • Populist Party (1892): Pushed for silver money ($16 \times 1$), income tax, and