ESSAY

L12 Writing Assignment: Reconstruction and the Rights of Formerly Enslaved African Americans
Submit Assignment
Due Friday by 11:59pm

After emancipation, African Americans recognized that they needed resources and rights to achieve the full benefits of freedom. Between 1865 and 1870, Congress, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and other parts of the federal government acted in response to these concerns. Using evidence from the assigned primary sources, answer the following question:

To what extent did Reconstruction secure the rights of formerly enslaved African Americans between 1865 and 1870?

You should consider both the needs and demands of African Americans and the actions that the federal government took – or did not take – to achieve those ends.

Overview and Submitting
Your paper should be about 2-3 pages in length and include an introduction with a thesis statement and a conclusion.
Guidelines
Papers should be typed, double-spaced with 1” margins. Use Times New Roman 12 point font (or equivalent). Include a title, your name, my name, and the class number.
Make a clear argument, beginning with a thesis statement in the first paragraph of the paper. Underline your thesis statement.
Each body paragraph should present a coherent idea that develops your argument. Paragraphs should begin with topic sentences that clearly establish the main idea of the paragraph.
Use evidence from at least three of the assigned primary sources. No outside research is necessary.
Write in the past tense: “Edmund Ruffin argued…”; not “Edmund Ruffin argues…”
Use Chicago style citations (see, The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations
(Links to an external site.)
)
Use footnotes. Footnotes go after the period at the end of a sentence. For example.[1] For subsequent citations to the same book, use a shorter form. Like this.[2] Or, this.[3] Footnotes should be single-spaced and use 10-point font. Papers without citations or with grossly inaccurate footnotes will receive an automatic deduction of 5 points. (For help, see Microsoft Office Support: Insert Footnotes and Endnotes
(Links to an external site.)
)