LPS

Freedmen’s Bureau

Established in 1865 to assist freed slaves and poor whites in the South by providing food, housing, education, and legal assistance.

Radical Reconstruction Plan

A plan aimed to radically restructure Southern society after the Civil War, focusing on civil rights for freedmen and punishment for the South.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

Also called the '10 Percent Plan,' it proposed that Southern states could re-enter the Union once 10% of their 1860 voters took an oath of allegiance.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

Similar to Lincoln's but more lenient toward Southern elites, allowing Southern states to form new governments after ratifying the 13th Amendment.

Congressional Reconstruction Plan

Led by Radical Republicans, focused on ensuring civil rights for freedmen and required Southern states to rewrite their constitutions.

Black Codes

Laws passed in Southern states to restrict the rights of freedmen, aiming to control their labor and movements.

Civil Rights Act

First passed in 1866, designed to protect the civil rights of African Americans, granting citizenship and equal protection.

13th Amendment

Ratified in 1865, it abolished slavery throughout the United States.

14th Amendment

Ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves.

15th Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it granted African American men the right to vote, prohibiting voting restrictions based on race.

Tenure of Office Act

Passed in 1867, restricted the president's power to remove certain officeholders without Senate approval.

Command of the Army Act

Passed in 1867, limited the president's ability to control the military, requiring all military orders through the commanding general.

Scalawags

Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party, often viewed as traitors by other Southerners.

Carpetbaggers

Northern whites who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often seen as exploiting the South's misfortunes.

Sharecropper

Agricultural laborers who worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops, creating cycles of debt.

Crop-lien System

A credit system used by sharecroppers to purchase supplies, often resulting in high debts due to high interest rates.

Liberal Republicans

A faction that broke away from the Republican Party in 1872, advocating for civil service reform and leniency in Reconstruction.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

A major scandal involving bribery of Congressmen connected to railroad companies during Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency.

Grantism

A term describing the political corruption and scandals of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, associated with lack of oversight.

Panic of 1873

A financial panic causing depression in the U.S. due to over-speculation in railroads and other industries.

Seward’s Folly

The 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia, initially mocked but later viewed as strategic and economically beneficial.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist group founded in 1865 aimed to undermine Reconstruction and suppress African American political participation.

Enforcement Acts

Laws passed in the early 1870s to protect African Americans from Klan violence, allowing federal intervention.

Rutherford B. Hayes

The 19th U.S. president whose election marked the end of Reconstruction and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Samuel Tilden

Democratic candidate in the contested 1876 presidential election, lost to Rutherford B. Hayes despite winning popular vote.

Solid Democratic South

Term for the South's political shift to the Democratic Party post-Reconstruction, opposing Republican policies.

Bourbon Government

Conservative pro-business Democrats who controlled Southern states post-Reconstruction, advocating for limited government.

Redeemers

Southern Democrats seeking to return the South to white rule after Reconstruction, promoting conservative values.

Home Rule

The ability of a state or local government to govern itself without federal intervention, in the context of post-Reconstruction South.

New South

A term describing post-Reconstruction Southern economy focusing on industrialization and modernization, still maintaining segregation.

Booker T. Washington

Prominent African American leader advocating for vocational education and economic self-sufficiency through the Atlanta Compromise.

Atlanta Compromise

A speech advocating for African Americans to accept segregation while focusing on economic progress through vocational training.

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

Supreme Court cases ruling the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, limiting federal protection of civil rights.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under 'separate but equal,' legalizing segregation in public facilities.

Cumming v. County Board

A 1899 Supreme Court case allowing segregation in public schools, reinforcing Plessy v. Ferguson ruling.

Disenfranchisement

The systematic denial of voting rights, particularly targeting African Americans in the South after Reconstruction.

Poll Tax

A tax imposed on voters, often used to disenfranchise African Americans and poorer whites in the South.

Literacy Test

A test determining a person's reading and writing ability, employed to disenfranchise African Americans during Reconstruction.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation, instituting 'separate but equal' facilities for African Americans and whites.

Lynching

Extrajudicial killings of African Americans by white mobs, used as a tool of racial terror in the South.

Ida B. Wells

An African American journalist and activist who led anti-lynching campaigns and promoted civil rights.