Reconstruction, Civil Rights, and Gilded Age Industrialization

Freedmen's Bureau (1865-1872)

Created to aid newly emancipated slaves by providing food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal support. Its achievements were uneven and depended largely on the quality of local administrators.

"10 percent" Reconstruction plan (1863)

Introduced by President Lincoln, it proposed that a state be readmitted to the Union once 10 percent of its voters had pledged loyalty to the United States and promised to honor emancipation.

Wade-Davis Bill

Passed by congressional Republicans in response to Abraham Lincoln's "10 percent" Reconstruction plan, it required that 50 percent of a state's voters pledge allegiance to the Union and set stronger safeguards for emancipation. Reflected divisions between Congress and the president, and between radical and moderate Republicans, over the treatment of the defeated South.

Black Codes (1865-1866)

Laws passed throughout the South to restrict the rights of emancipated blacks, particularly with respect to negotiating labor contracts. Increased Northerners' criticisms of President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policies.

Civil Rights Bill (1866)

Passed over Andrew Johnson's veto, the bill aimed to counteract the Black Codes by conferring citizenship on African Americans and making it a crime to deprive blacks of their rights to sue, testify in court, or hold property.

Fourteenth Amendment (ratified 1868)

Constitutional amendment that extended civil rights to freedmen and prohibited states from taking away such rights without due process.

Reconstruction Act (1867)

Passed by the newly elected Republican Congress, it divided the South into five military districts, disenfranchised former Confederates, and required that Southern states both ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and write state constitutions guaranteeing freedmen the franchise before gaining readmission to the Union.

Fifteenth Amendment (ratified 1870)

Prohibited states from denying citizens the franchise on account of race. It disappointed feminists, who wanted the amendment to include guarantees for women's suffrage.

Ex parte Milligan (1866)

Civil War-era case in which the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals could not be used to try civilians if civil courts were open.

Redeemers

Southern Democratic politicians who sought to wrest control from Republican regimes in the South after Reconstruction.

Woman's Loyal League (1863-1865)

Women's organization formed to help bring about an end to the Civil War and encourage Congress to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery.

Union League

Reconstruction-era African American organization that worked to educate Southern blacks about civic life, built black schools and churches, and represented African American interests before government and employers. It also campaigned on behalf of Republican candidates and recruited local militias to protect blacks from white intimidation.

scalawags

Derogatory term for pro-Union Southerners whom Southern Democrats accused of plundering the resources of the South in collusion with Republican governments after the Civil War.

carpetbaggers

Pejorative used by Southern whites to describe Northern businessmen and politicians who came to the South after the Civil War to work on Reconstruction projects or invest in Southern infrastructure.

Ku Klux Klan

An extremist, paramilitary, right-wing secret society founded in the mid-nineteenth century and revived during the 1920s.

Force Acts (1870-1871)

Legislation passed by Congress to ban Klan membership, prohibit intimidation against black voters, and authorize the U.S. military to enforce these acts.

Colfax Massacre

An event on April 13, 1873, where a posse of white Democrats attacked the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana, killing about 150 freedmen, with perpetrators later exonerated by the Supreme Court.

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

Required the president to seek Senate approval before removing appointees; violated by Andrew Johnson, leading to his impeachment.

Seward's Folly (1867)

A popular term for William Seward's purchase of Alaska from Russia, reflecting anti-expansionist sentiments after the Civil War.

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois (1886)

A Supreme Court decision that prohibited states from regulating railroads, granting Congress the sole power to regulate interstate commerce.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

Legislation that established the Interstate Commerce Commission, required railroads to publish standard rates, and prohibited rebates and pools.

vertical integration

The practice of controlling every step of the industrial production process to increase efficiency and limit competition, perfected by Andrew Carnegie.

horizontal integration

The practice of dominating a particular phase of production to monopolize a market, often by forming trusts and alliances, perfected by John D. Rockefeller.

trust

A mechanism where one company grants control over its operations to another company through stock ownership, notably used by Standard Oil in the 1870s.

Standard Oil Company (1870-1911)

John D. Rockefeller's company that symbolized Gilded Age trusts and monopolies, controlling 95 percent of U.S. oil refineries by 1877.

interlocking directorates

The practice of having executives or directors from one company serve on the board of directors of another company. J. P. Morgan introduced this practice to eliminate banking competition in the 1890s.

Bessemer Process

Refers to the innovation in steel production where air was blown on molten iron to remove impurities, allowing steel to be produced cheaply at mass quantities. A portent of Gilded Age industrialization, it was famously used by Andrew Carnegie at his steelmaking factory in Homestead, Pennsylvania.

Social Darwinists

Believers in the idea, popular in the late nineteenth century, that people gained wealth by 'survival of the fittest.' Therefore, the wealthy had simply won a natural competition and owed nothing to the poor, and indeed service to the poor would interfere with this organic process. Some Social Darwinists also applied this theory to whole nations and races, explaining that powerful peoples were naturally endowed with gifts that allowed them to gain superiority over others. This theory provided one of the popular justifications for U.S. imperial ventures like the Spanish-American War.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

A law that forbade trusts or combinations in business, this was landmark legislation because it was one of the first congressional attempts to regulate big business for the public good. At first the law was mostly used to restrain trade unions, as the courts tended to side with companies in legal cases. In 1914 the act was revised so it could more effectively be used against monopolistic corporations.

National Labor Union (1866-1872)

This first national labor organization in U.S. history gained 600,000 members from many parts of the work force, although it limited the participation of Chinese, women, and blacks. The organization devoted much of its energy to fighting for an eight-hour workday before it dissolved in 1872.

Knights of Labor

The second national labor organization, organized in 1869 as a secret society and opened for public membership in 1881. The Knights were known for their efforts to organize all workers, regardless of skill level, gender, or race. After the mid-1880s their membership declined for a variety of reasons, including the Knights' participation in violent strikes and discord between skilled and unskilled members.

Haymarket Square (1886)

A May Day rally that turned violent when someone threw a bomb into the middle of the meeting, killing several dozen people. Eight anarchists were arrested for conspiracy contributing to the disorder, although evidence linking them to the bombing was thin. Four were executed, one committed suicide, and three were pardoned in 1893.

American Federation of Labor

A national federation of trade unions that included only skilled workers, founded in 1886. Led by Samuel Gompers for nearly four decades, the AFL sought to negotiate with employers for a better kind of capitalism that rewarded workers fairly with better wages, hours, and conditions. The AFL's membership was almost entirely white and male until the middle of the twentieth century.

closed shop

A union-organizing term that refers to the practice of allowing only unionized employees to work for a particular company. The AFL became known for negotiating closed-shop agreements with employers, in which the employer would agree not to hire nonunion members.