Unit 2 vocab AICE US history

Wade-Davis Bill

Stricter Reconstruction plan requiring 50% of Confederate state white male citizens to pledge allegiance for new government formation; emphasized freedmen's civil rights.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Federal agency (1865) aiding freed slaves in the South with food, housing, education, medical care, legal assistance, and labor contracts for post-Civil War integration.

Tenure of Office Act 

1867 law restricting presidential power to remove officeholders without Senate approval, primarily to protect Radical Republicans; led to President Johnson's impeachment conflict.

Military Reconstruction 

Post-Civil War plan dividing the South into five military districts to enforce new laws, protect freedmen's rights, and reorganize state governments.

Enforcement acts (Force Acts)

Series of laws (1870-1871) passed to protect African Americans' right to vote, hold office, and serve on juries, primarily targeting the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups.

Amnesty Act (1872)

Federal law that restored political rights to most former Confederates, allowing them to vote and hold office again, except for a few thousand top leaders.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Federal law that guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service; declared unconstitutional in 1883.

Black Codes

Restrictive laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to control the labor and behavior of newly freed African Americans, resembling slavery.

Vagrancy Laws

Laws primarily in the South that criminalized unemployment and homelessness, often used to force African Americans into labor contracts or convict leasing.

Jim Crow Laws 

State and local laws enacted in the Southern and some border states of the United States from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. These laws enforced racial segregation and discrimination against African

Sharecropping

A system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on their portion of land. Often trapped freedmen in cycles of debt.

Segregation

The institutional practice of separating people based on race, class, or other characteristics, often enforced by law or social custom.

Greenbacks

Paper currency issued by the U.S. government during the Civil War to finance the war effort. Not backed by gold or silver, leading to debates over inflation and monetary policy after the war.

Bonds

A debt investment in which an investor loans money to an entity (corporate or governmental) that borrows the funds for a defined period of time at a variable or fixed interest rate.

Andrew Johnson

17th U.S. President (1865-1869), a Democrat who clashed with the Republican-controlled Congress over Reconstruction policies, leading to his impeachment.

Thaddeus Stevens

A leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives during the Civil War and Reconstruction era, advocating for African American rights and punitive measures against the South.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th U.S. President (1877-1881), whose controversial election via the Compromise of 1877 officially ended Reconstruction.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Confederate cavalry general during the Civil War, later a prominent figure in the early Ku Klux Klan.

Salmon P. Chase

U.S. Treasury Secretary during the Civil War and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, known for his abolitionist views and role in legal tender decisions.

Benjamin Wade

Radical Republican senator from Ohio, co-author of the Wade-Davis Bill, known for his strong abolitionist stance