17 The American Journey

Reconstruction

period of rebuilding after the Civil War

Amnesty

a pardon granted to a large number of people

Ten Percent Plan

when 10 percent of the voters of a state took an oath of loyalty to the Union, the state could form a new government and adopt a new constitution that banned slavery, and then rejoin the union

Thaddeus Stevens

a leading Radical Republican

Wade-Davis Bill

a state could rejoin the union once a majority of white males in a state had swore loyalty to the Union, and the state had adopted a new state constitution that abolished slavery. former Confederates were also denied the right to hold public office

Freedmen

former enslaved persons

Andrew Johnson

vice president for Lincoln; when Lincoln died, this man took his position; his Reconstruction Plan was called "Restoration"

Restoration

a plan that would grant most Southerners amnesty once they declared loyalty to the Union, ratified the thirteenth amendment, denounced secession, and abolished slavery

Thirteenth Amendment

abolished slavery in all parts of the United States

Black Codes

laws aimed to control freed men and women and to enable plantation owners to exploit African American workers

Override

defeat

Fourteenth Amendment

granted full citizenship to all individuals born in the United States, and granted all citizens equal rights

Impeach

formally charge with wrongdoing; esp. towards the president

Ulysses S. Grant

Republican Presidential Candidate for the Election of 1868; won

Fifteenth Amendment

prohibited the state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any male citizen

Hiram Revels

one of the two African American senators during 1869 and 1880; an ordained minister; had recruited African Americans for the Union army during the Civil War; from MS

Bruce K. Blanche

one of the two African American senators during 1869 and 1880; from MS; had taught in a school for African Americans in Missouri when the war began

Scalawags

Southerners who supported Republican policies; a term meaning "scoundrel" or "worthless rascal"

Carpetbaggers

Republican settlers who moved to the south from the north during Reconstruction

Corruption

dishonest or illegal actions

Ku Klux Klan

prevented the rights of freedmen by using fear and violence

Integrate

to include both whites and African Americans

Rutherford B. Hayes

governor of Ohio; Republican Candidate for the 1876 presidential election; won disputed election

Cash Crops

crops that could be sold for money

Poll Tax

a fee that people had to pay before voting

Literacy Test

this was when people had to read and explain difficult parts of state constitutions or the federal Constitution

Grandfather Clauses

laws that allowed individuals who did not pass the literacy test to vote if their fathers or grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction

Segregation

the separation of races

Jim Crow Laws

required African Americans and whites to be separated in almost every public place where they might come in contact with each other.

Lynching

when an angry mob killed a person by hanging

Radical Republicans

favored a more extreme approach to Reconstruction in which freedmen would gain political and social rights.

Plessy v. Ferguson

ruled that segregation was legal as long as both sides had equal access to where they were being segregated. "Separate but equal"

Booker T. Washington

African American leader from the late 1800's until his death form 1915; founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama; encouraged African Americans to learn trades and become economically self-sufficient before calling for equal rights.

Compromise of 1877

Democrats accepted the disputed election results. Rutherford b. Hayes a Republican becomes president. He took Union troops out of the South which ends Reconstruction.

W.E.B. DuBois

1st black to earn Ph.D. from Harvard, encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and discrimination, helped create NAACP in 1910

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which newly freedmen worked land owned by wealthy landowners in return for a small portion of the crops. Cycle of poverty.

Freedmen's Bureau

1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs

Radical Reconstruction

Period beginning in 1867, when the Republicans who had control in both houses of Congress, took charge of Reconstruction

Disenfranchise

denying people the right to vote; poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses were created to stop blacks from voting in the south after Reconstruction

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Divided south into 5 military districts and laid out the process for readmitting southern states into the Union.

Redeemers

Southern Democratic politicians who sought to gain control from Republican governments in the South after Reconstruction.

Tenure of Office Act

1866 - Required the president to seek approval from the Senate before removing appointees. johnson impeached for violating

Amnesty Act

Passed in 1872, law which granted civil rights to ex-confederates and so set the stage for the Democrats them to regain control of the south