History 261 Midterm pt 1

Abraham Lincoln assassination

April 16, 1865

Reconstruction

1865-1877; the attempt to rebuild and reform the political, social, and economic systems of the South after the Civil War.

Freedman's Bureau

1865-1872, created to aid newly freed slaves by providing food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal support
-citizenship, voting, reunite families
-not completely successful; largest success was in education and establishment of colleges

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln's vp, southern slave owner, believed in equality for WHITE MEN (grew up poor white, anti-plantation owner)
-used for souther rep, anti-slavery

Johnson's plan for Reconstruction

1. states uphold 13th amendment (no slavery)
2. deny succession
3. US do not pay confederacy debt

requirements NOT demanding, no advocacy for Black voting rights

Black Codes

Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states
-combo of vagrancy laws (no home/job) need job to pay fine => hard labor for whites
-young ppl need education => take young black and "educate" thru forced labor

Field Order 15

reallocated land to south ppl (blacks) BUT Johnson reverses act, military doesn't defend blacks and gives land to white owners

Republican Congress during Johnson's presidency

civil rights acts: pass 14th amendment
-guarantees citizenship thru birth right (allows congress to cut # of reps if violate)
-if guilty of insurrection => cannot hold office

"Wave the Bloody Shirt"

remember the bloodshed of war, rallying cry to make fundamental change post war thru 14th amend
-Johnson anti 14th

Reconstruction Act 1867

1867 law, established 5 temporary military zones in Confederate states
-required that the states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment
-permit black to vote
-army thru confederacy null and void

much higher threshold than Johnson's reconstruct, not completely successful

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

president cannot remove exec officer appointed by past president without consent of Senate

Edwin Stanton, secretary of war

in favor of Reconstruction => Johnson wants to replace him w Ulysses S Grant, violates Tenure of Office Act => impeachment

Impeachment 1868

Johnson makes deal to stop interfering w Repub senate so not removed from office
-divides repub part on how radical they should be

Scalwags

poor south whites who are republicans

dems

white supremacists

Carpetbaggers

union solider, business owners in south, northerns relocated to south= voting in REPUB
-want more economic opportunities, industrialization

internal improvements

federal projects, such as canals and roads, to develop the nation's transportation system
-public education/schools, electoral reforms

Elections 1868 Ulysses Grant

popular Union General, young president against Seamore (dem opposed to reconstruction)
-wins 1868 = pushes 15th amendment: universal male suffrage
=> South attempts to undermine reconstruct, mistrust gov/less compliance

Ku Klux Klan (1st wave)

extreme acts of terrorism/violence, target ppl of color, white voting repub (north and south)
-associated with confederate flag, anti reconstruct
-decentralized, hyper local/regionalized (bc easier to avoid mass arrest)
-prioritized amininity => masks
-explicitly aligned w DEMOCRATS

1871 Meridian MS

congress slow to act => KKK targets black politicians, wave of murders march 1871
-31 black ppl murdered during white riot at court hearing

Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

-federal military action w KKK areas
-they stopped terrorizing blacks and denying them the right to vote

Grant not hands on president = liberal repubs

liberal repubs for equality rights

Charles Francis Adams Jr

1869: universal sufferance will lead to collapse of government
-nativist against irish, asian, blacks

Prolitariat

poor working class

Credit Mobilier

1872, fraudulent construction company, took profits of the Union Pacific Railroad
-used government funds, redistributed to stock holders
-bribed congress to avoid investigation

Whiskey Ring

Grant administration, a group of officials importing whiskey
-used offices to avoid paying the taxes on it
-cheating the treasury out of millions of dollars

scandals close to government that make it seem corrupt

Whiskey Ring and Credit Mobilier

collapse of Jay Cooke and Company

depression 1873, investment of railroad company that went bankrupt => economic crisis
-25% unemployment, businesses bankrupt, railroads default to loans
-poor part of society hit the hardest

Sharecropping

farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops
-cant borrow money from bank => loan from land owner r
-1880 3/4 of black and 1/4 of white in sharecropping

15th amendment issues

cant discriminate based on race => literacy/poll tax
-amendments only applied to STATES so individuals are allowed to attack (aka KKK)

US v Reese (1876) and US v. Cruikshank (1876)

as long as not explicitly racial = limited gov interference
-gives free reign to KKK/racial supremacists

Presidential Election 1876 (Rutherford B Hayes v Samuel Tilden)

Tilden (dem): gets popular vote, not electoral college because of high perception of corruption w repubs
-Hayes becomes president BUT ends military occupation in South
=> formally ENDS Reconstruction in south (not west), betrays repubs

Reconstruction in the West

mex american war brings in a lot of land (NA/mexicans), gov wants to integrate west more w east

Homestead Act 1862

gave land in west if:

1. head of household
2. citizen
3. build 12x14 dwelling and stay for 5 yeas => 160 acres yours

*no race or gender requirements, can be an intended citizen -builds confidence to offset economy of east farmers w west -egalitarian BUT NA/Mexican's lands being claimed

1862-1900

80 mil arces being claimed, huge # of ppl, 5-20% claimed by women

Exodusters

biblical African Americans leaving south to go out west
-gain opportunities, escape racism

General Mining Act 1872

if discover mineral resources on federal land => extract w $5/acre fee
-important for industrialization
-inspires multiple mini rushes to west

Union Pacific/ Central Pacific Railroad companies

gov gave them loans/lands for tracks
-gov wants special rate for shipping/priority
-most land from west, companies got $$
Central Pacific = Sacramento, Ca
Union Pacific = Nebraska to West

where the railroad connects

Promontory, Utah (May 10th, 1869)

Northern Pacific (1883)
Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe (1881)
Southern Pacific Railroad (1183)

more northern route, all corrupt, people want/need railroad BUT monopoly, limited access and ppl hate companies

mexicans in the west

most mex are descendats from mex-american war
-stable pop in New Mexico, Texas, California

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

-negotiated to protect rights of Mexicans
-ends Mex-American war , america gets half of mex land
-can keep mex citizenship + stay in US OR after 1 year become US citizen automatically
-cannot enslave Mex people
-property rights protected but grants IMPRECISE from mex gov (=> need to pay lawyer thru land, lose lose)

"racial amagalmation"

there are 4 core races in the world: "white, black, native, and asians"
-not all equal, mexicans are racial amagalmy of natives and whites, less than the pure races

communal land grants

towns + individuals in town/community can work it
-gov can disperse land thru Homestead/Railroad acts

Santa Fe Ring

took control of repub gov in Mex territory
-repub opportunities, participate w/ railroads, many lawyers
-group attempting to accumulate land

Gorras Blancas (1889-1891)

"white caps" not radial (moderate-ish) vigilantes
-willing to take action, secret society white people are scared of
-fighting for Mexicans (seen and heroes/villains)
-not thinking of Native Americans, only mexicans
-not convicted though bc jury is all mex