secession
the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union
13th amendment
abolished slavery
14th amendment
grants citizenship to all people "naturalized in the U.S
15th amendment
grants voting rights to all male U.S citizens, despite race
confederacy
the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861
reconstruction
rebuilding of the South after the Civil War
freedmen's bureau
established by congress in the last month of the war, assisted former slaves and poor whites in the South by distributing clothing and food
scalawag
democrats who opposed to the Republicans plan for reconstruction
carpetbagger
Northerners who moved to the South after the war
sharecropper
land owners that divided their land and gave each worker a few acres along with seeds and tools
home rule
the ability to run state governments without federal invention
Abraham Lincoln
saved the Union during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth
Andrew Johnson
opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. Lincoln's Vice President after he died, but was a very weak president
Ulysses S. Grant
an American general who achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the Civil War
radical republicans
political party that favored harsh punishment of Southern states after civil war