Reconstruction

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