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Reading Comprehension Worksheets
After the Civil War
(1865-1870)
Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

After the Civil War<BR>(1865-1870)
After the Civil War
(1865-1870)

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags
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Print Carpetbaggers and Scalawags Reading Comprehension

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.85

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    helping, jigsaw, newly, leadership, federal, setting, scalawag, schools, beginning, jobs, public, powerful, northern, unfair, working, state
     content words:    American Civil War, United States, Civil War, Confederate States, Union Army, Marshall Twitchell, Confederate General James Longstreet, Robert E., Ulysses Grant, In South Carolina

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags
By Toni Lee Robinson 		  
1     The American Civil War was over. The soldiers were coming home! But the war had brought many changes to the southern United States. It was like a big jigsaw puzzle with the pieces all mixed up. No one was sure how to sort it out.
 
2     One thing that had to be fixed was the leadership. The southern states had made their own government at the beginning of the Civil War. They called themselves the Confederate States of America. The United States had sent the Union Army to bring these states back under national rule. The U.S. did not agree that states could make their own rules.
 
3     The Union had won the war against the Confederate States. It was time to put the damaged country back together. Could the Southern states be made to fit back into the United States? Each state would need a person to take charge. Each would need lawmakers and judges. But who would these leaders be?
 
4     Different people came to do these jobs. Some people came from the northern states to find jobs and make money in the South. Union soldier Marshall Twitchell took a job in Louisiana to help freed slaves. Part of his job was collecting taxes to pay for the new government. All the white planters thought the taxes were unfair. They thought Mr. Twitchell was spending the money on himself.
 
5     Southerners didn't like these Northerners. They called them carpetbaggers, after the cloth bags that some carried. "These carpetbaggers didn't come to help," Southerners thought. "They're only after money!"

Paragraphs 6 to 12:
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After the Civil War
(1865-1870)
             After the Civil War
(1865-1870)

United States
             United States


    American Government  
 
    Black History and Blacks in U.S. History  
 
    Children in History  
 
    Government Careers  
 
    Hispanic Heritage  
 
    How Can I Help?  
 
 
    Immigration  
 
    National Parks and Monuments  
 
    Native Americans  
 
    Presidents of the United States  
 
    Women's History  
 

United States History
    A Nation Divided
(1840-1861) 		 
 
    A New Nation
(1776-1830) 		 
 
    After the Civil War
(1865-1870) 		 
 
    American Revolution  
 
    Cold War
(1947-1991) 		 
 
    Colonial America (1492-1776)  
 
    Lewis and Clark
(1804-1806) 		 
 
    Pearl Harbor  
 
    Spanish American War (1898)  
 
    The 1890's  
 
    The 1900's  
 
    The 1910's  
 
    The 1920's  
 
    The 1930's  
 
 
    The 1940's  
 
    The 1950's  
 
    The 1960's  
 
    The 1970's  
 
    The 1980's  
 
    The 1990's  
 
    The 2000's  
 
    The Civil War
(1861-1865) 		 
 
    The Great Depression
(1929-1945) 		 
 
    The United States Grows
(1865-1900) 		 
 
    The War of 1812  
 
    Wild, Wild West  
 
    World War I
(1914-1918) 		 
 
    World War II  
 

50 States

             Fifty States Theme Unit

Document Based Activities
      Document Based Activities



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