Post-Civil War: Reconstruction (1865-1877)

Vocabulary flashcards covering the Reconstruction era, including economic impacts, legislative amendments, key political figures, and the transition into the Jim Crow era.

Reconstruction

The period of rebuilding after the Civil War, lasting from $1865$ to $1877$.

Southern Economic Impact (Post-Civil War)

Widespread devastation where farms, railroads, and factories were destroyed, leaving cities like Richmond and Atlanta in ruins.

Northern and Midwestern Economic Impact (Post-Civil War)

A strong industrial economy that laid the foundation for industrialization and the emergence of the U.S. as a global economic power.

Abraham Lincoln's Reconstruction View

The belief that the South should not be punished and that the nation should be bound up "with malice towards none, with charity for all."

Lincoln's Political View of Secession

The perspective that secession was illegal; therefore, the Confederate states had never actually left the Union.

John Wilkes Booth

The individual who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre just days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Radical Republicans

A political group that influenced Reconstruction in a punitive way toward former Confederate states and sought to guarantee voting and civil rights to African-Americans.

13th Amendment

The Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery, though it contained a loophole allowing for "convict leasing" through imprisonment.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. and prohibited states from denying equal protection under the law or equal rights.

15th Amendment

Part of the three "Civil War Amendments" that helped provide the legal framework for extending the franchise (voting rights) to Black men.

The Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states in $1865$ to undo the 13th Amendment and re-enslave Black people, serving as the foundation for Jim Crow laws.

Dred Scott Case (1857)

A Supreme Court ruling that declared Black slaves were "property" and not citizens, and therefore had no right to sue.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

A law stipulating that all persons born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens; it was passed after Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson's veto.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Legislation that placed the former Confederacy under military rule and required states to pass new constitutions extending the franchise to Black men.

Enforcement Acts (1870-1871)

Also known as the KKK Act, these criminalized attempts by former Confederates to deny voting rights, office-holding, or equal protection.

Convict Leasing

A system where state governments instituted reforms and rebuilt infrastructure using the forced labor of prisoners.

Andrew Johnson

The successor to Lincoln who clashed with Radical Republicans over civil rights and was impeached by the U.S. Senate.

Impeachment

The process of formally charging a public official, such as a President, with misconduct.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement regarding the disputed election of $1876$ where Republicans received the White House in exchange for ending military occupation in the South.

Jim Crow Era

The period from the $1870s$ to the early $1970s$ during which minorities in the South were denied the full rights of American citizenship.

19th Amendment

The $1920$ amendment that granted suffrage to women, though women of color in the South remained unable to vote for decades due to obstructionism.

Voting Obstructionist Tactics

Methods used to prevent minorities from voting, including the "Grandfather Clause," poll taxes, and literacy tests.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The Supreme Court ruling that established the "separate but equal" doctrine, which was later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court ruling that separate schools were not equal, declaring separate public facilities for different races to be unconstitutional.

Wilmington Massacre of 1898

An event in North Carolina described as the only successful Coup D’Etat in U.S. history.