US Honors Reconstruction Flashcards Notes

Appomattox

Site of Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War and beginning Reconstruction.

Southern Economy after the Civil War

Devastated with ruined cities and infrastructure, shifted to sharecropping and tenant farming, leading to debt for former slaves and poor whites.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States in 1865.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves (1868).

15th Amendment

Prohibited denial of voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (1870).

Radical Republicans

A Republican faction advocating for punitive measures against the South, strong federal intervention, and protection of civil and voting rights for freed slaves.

Radical Reconstruction

A process where Congress divided the South into military districts, requiring states to ratify the 14th Amendment and grant suffrage to black men to rejoin the Union.

Freedmen's Bureau

Established in 1865, it provided aid, education, and legal assistance to freed slaves and poor whites.

10 Percent Plan

Lincoln's plan that allowed a state to rejoin the Union when 10% of its 1860 voters swore allegiance to the U.S. and accepted emancipation.

Restoration Plan

Johnson's lenient plan requiring Southern states to revoke secession, repudiate Confederate debts, and ratify the 13th Amendment.

Compromise of 1877

Resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, ending Reconstruction with the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states to restrict the freedom of African Americans and maintain a labor force similar to slavery.

Congressional Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Laws passed by Radical Republicans that divided ex-Confederate states into five military districts and required new state constitutions.

Legacy of Reconstruction

Positive: Established federal role in civil rights; Negative: Failed to secure lasting equality for African Americans, leading to Jim Crow laws.

Black Family Structure during Reconstruction

Freed people reunited families, legalized marriages, and formed independent households, supported by churches.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist terrorist organization founded in 1866, using violence to restore white supremacy and suppress black voting.

Sharecropping

An agricultural system where landowners provided land and tools while sharecroppers provided labor for a share of the crop, often leading to debt.