Guided Primary Source Analysis: First Post-War Legislature

South Carolina Legislature 1865

Use the Library of Congress primary source analysis tool to analyze the image. What do you notice? What do you find surprising? What can you learn from the bibliographic record? Why do you suppose the men in the image were referred to as radical members? What questions do you have?

Next, analyze the two sources below to learn what this legislature accomplished and what resistance there was to their work. Summarize what you learned and how your new understandings inform your analysis of the image.

Now read a secondary source relating major events in South Carolina reconstruction politics. List the key takeaways you gained. What questions do you have that you might research using the primary sources below?

What other observations, reflections or questions does this source inspire? Let us know!