Reconstruction
The reorganization and rebuilding of the former Confederate states after the Civil War
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, it declared that all slaves in the Confederate states would be free.
Ten Per Cent Plan
The plan to restore the south in 1863; 10% of citizens took an oath of allegiance to the Union
Wade-Davis Bill
1864 Proposed far more demanding and stringent terms for reconstruction; required 50% of the voters of a state to take the loyalty oath and permitted only non-confederates to vote for a new state constitution; Lincoln refused to sign the bill, pocket veto
Election of 1864
In 1864, a number of Republicans sought to prevent Lincoln's renomination. In order to balance Abraham Lincoln's Union ticket with a Southern Democrat, the Republicans nominated Andrew Jackson for vice president. Lincoln was able to overcome Democratic ca
Freedmen's Bureau
Organization created at end of Civil War that aided southerns (mainly former slaves) with education, finding food, shelter and employment.
Ford's Theatre
Washington, D.C. theater where Lincoln was assassinated
John Wilkes Booth
This person was an American stage actor who, as part of a conspiracy plot, assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.
Andrew Johnson
A Southerner form Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, he became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He w
Johnson's Reconstruction Plan
It called for special state conventions which were required to repeal the decrees of seccesion, and ratify the slave freeing 13th amendment
Thirteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment ratified after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude.
Black Codes
Laws passed by southern states that denied many rights of citizenship to former slaves and were designed to control the freedom, mobility, and employment of the freedmen.
Frederick Douglass
United States abolitionist who escaped from slavery and became an influential writer and lecturer in the North (1817-1895)
Radical Republicans
After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South.
Radical Reconstruction
This plan was to punish the south, protect former slaves; US military occupation of South, Confederate military leaders needed pardon to hold office, protect Blacks right to vote
Thaddeus Stevens
A radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South. Leader of the radical Republicans in Congress.
Benjamin Wade
Radical republican and a senator of OH wanted to abolish slavery completely, worked for other civil liberties (like woman's suffrage) was the chair of the committee on the conduct of the war
Alexander Stephens
Former vice president of the Confederacy, who claimed a seat in Congress during reconstruction under Johnson. Congress denied him and other Confederates seats in Congress
Hiram R. Revels
1st African American elected to the U.S. Senate in 1870.
Blanche K. Bruce
An American politician. Bruce represented Mississippi as a U.S. Senator from 1875 to 1881 and was the first black to serve a full term in the Senate.
Civil Rights Bill of 1866
The first congressional attempt to guarantee black rights in the South, passed over Johnson's veto
Fourteenth Amendment
This made "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" citizens of the country
swing the bloody shirt
The Radical Republican tactic to win public support for a more aggressive Reconstruction policy.
Congressional Reconstruction
Based on passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867; divided the south into military districts; states must ratify the 14th Amendment and protect black voting rights.
Military Reconstruction Act
It divided the South into five military districts that were commanded by Union generals. It was passed in 1867. It ripped the power away from the president to be commander in chief and set up a system of Martial Law
Tenure of Office Act 1867
It was a measure passed by Congress in 1867 that prohibited the president from dismissing anyone whose appointment had required the consent of the Senate unless the Senate agreed to the dismissal. Passed because Johnson would violate it, it started the im
Edwin M. Stanton
Secretary of War appointed by Lincoln. President Andrew Johnson dismissed him in spite of the Tenure of Office Act, and as a result, Congress wanted Johnson's impeachment.
Impeachment
The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by a majority vote for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson
House impeaches President Johnson on the grounds that he has violated the Tenure of Office Act and other charges. President was acquitted in the trial in the Senate.
Election of 1868
The Republicans nominated General Grant for the presidency in 1868. The Republican Party supported the continuation of the Reconstruction of the South, while Grant stood on the platform of "just having peace."The Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour. Grant
Horatio Seymour
Nominated by the Democrats In the 1868 election. Militant platform renouncing Reconstruction acts. VP Frank Blair. Did well in the South, but lost to Grant
Fifteenth Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
KKK
Terrorist group of white southerners who used violence to keep blacks from voting
Enforcement Acts
Three acts passed by Congress allowing the government to use military force to stop violence against southern African Americans.
Ku Klux Klan Act 1871
his act authorized the president to use federal prosecution and military force to suppress conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to vote and enjoy the equal protection of law
Election of 1872
Election in which Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) ran against Democrat Horace Greeley; Greeley died during the election; Grant still won by a landslide
Horace Greeley
Editor of the New York Tribune; presidential nominee for the Liberal Republicans and the Democrats for the 1872 election; lost to Grant and died a few weeks after his defeat.
Jim Fisk and Jay Gould
These two men devised a plot to drastically raise the price of the gold market in 1869; On "Black Friday," September 24, 1869, the two bought a large amount of gold, planning to sell it for a profit; in order to lower the high price of gold, the Treasury
Whiskey Ring
This was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors.
Orville E. Babcock
Grant's private secretary who was involved in Whiskey Ring, protected by Grant, resigned in disgrace
William W. Belknap
Secretary of war resigned after impeachment, received bribes from sale of trading posts in Indian Territory.
List a few problems facing the freedmen during Reconstruction
No money, lacked skills to find jobs (restricted opportunbtities), could not read or write, and lack of or no experience
Sharecropping
A system used on southern farms after the civil war in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.
Crop-lien
The system that borrowing against future crops; often created a cycle of debt that tied tenants to sharecropping
Scalawags
Southern whites who supported republican policy throught reconstruction
Carpetbaggers
A northerner who went to the South immediately after the Civil War; especially one who tried to gain political advantage or other advantages from the disorganized situation in southern states;
Redeemers
Southern Democratic politicians who sought to take control from Republican regimes in the South after Reconstruction
Election of 1876
This presidential election was a close contest between Rutherford B. Hayes adn Samuel Tilden. This election is an example of the winner of the popular vote not winning the electoral college. The compromise that settled the election brought Hayes to the Wh
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 - August 4, 1886) was the Democratic candidate for the US presidency in the disputed election of 1876, the most controversial American election of the 19th century.
Rutherford B. Hayes
19th President, ended reconstruction by removing federal troops, disputed Tilden/Hayes election resulted in the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
Ended Reconstruction. Republicans promise 1) Remove military from South, 2) Appoint Democrat to cabinet (David Key postmaster general), 3) Federal money for railroad construction and levees on Mississippi river, Unwritten deal that settled the 1876 presid
Greenbackers
The party that supported the circulation of paper money to stimulate the economy.
Jim Crow Laws
Limited rights of blacks. Literacy tests, grandfather clauses and poll taxes limited black voting rights
Literacy Test
A test given to persons to prove they can read and write before being allowed to register to vote
Poll Tax
A tax of a fixed amount per person and payable as a requirement for the right to vote
Grandfather clause
A clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867.
Slaughterhouse Cases
The name given to the series of Supreme Court cases starting in 1873 that challenged the 14th amendment; court ruled that the 14th amendment only protected federal rights and not STATE rights