Reconstruction Era: Key Terms, Amendments, and Political Impact

Tenure of Office Act

A law that required Senate approval before the president could remove members of the cabinet. President Johnson violated this when he tried to fire Edwin Stanton, leading to Johnson's unsuccessful impeachment.

Homestead Act

Set aside 44 million acres in the south for freed blacks and loyal whites, but the land was swampy and unsuitable for farming. Also, they lacked resources like seed, tools, plows, and horses to farm well.

Impeach

Formally charge a government official with misconduct. Johnson was impeached but not removed.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist group using terror to keep African Americans from voting and to restore white supremacy.

Scalawag

White Southerners who joined the republican party to support Reconstruction.

Carpetbagger

Northerner who moved South after the war, sometimes to profit, sometimes to help rebuild.

Black codes

Southern Laws restricting African American rights essentially recreated slavery conditions. These conditions include restrictions on carrying weapons, serving in government, testifying against whites, and traveling without permits. Some could not even own land.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union General and 18th president of the US, he supported reconstruction, but his administration got into multiple scandals.

Rutherford B. Hayes

The Republican president elected in 1876, after a close election his presidency ended Reconstruction.

Hiram Revels

First African American US senator for Mississippi in 1870.

Andrew Johnson

Abraham Lincoln succeeded as president, did not support radical republicans (wanted to not punish the South and give rights to former slaves) vetoed Civil Rights bills, and was impeached.

10% Plan

Lincoln's not strict plan requiring 10 percent of 1860 voters to swear loyalty and rejoin the union.

Wade-Davis Bill

A bill that proposed Congress be responsible for Reconstruction. It declared that the state government should be formed by a majority, not just ten percent of the people who could vote in the United States. Pocket vetoed by Lincoln.

Pocket veto

When a president lets a bill die by not signing it because Congress postpones it.

13th Amendment

Ended slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

Gave citizenship to everyone born in the US and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Gave African American men the right to vote.

Sharecropping

Sharecropping was supposed to let freed African Americans farm small plots of land in exchange for giving landowners a share of the crop. It failed because farmers had to buy supplies on credit, which left them in more debt. They also owed more than they earned in each harvest, leading to more debt. This kept them in a cycle of debt, keeping them tied to their land year after year.

Impact of Reconstruction on the cotton industry

After the war, Southern farmers went back to growing mostly cotton. Prices dropped because too much cotton was grown, and other countries started to make their own. Farmers tried to grow even more to make money, but that made the prices drop even more. Many farmers went into debt, making the South even more poor.

Presidential election of 1876

Was a race between Hayes and Tilden. Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote but was one vote short of winning. Twenty voters were disputed, and a republican commission gave the election to Rutherford B Hayes. In exchange, Democrats agreed to accept Hayes as president, known as the Compromise of 1877.

Compromise of 1877

Hayes became president in exchange for removing federal troops from the South, ending construction, federal money to build a railroad from Texas to the West Coast, and Hayes to appoint a Southerner to the cabinet.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Dividing the South into five military districts required a new constitution. To rejoin the Union, states had to give African American men the right to vote and ratify the 14th Amendment.

Impact of Reconstruction on former slaves

Former Slaves gained freedom, citizenship, the right to vote for men, and could marry legally, and some could reunite families. Many went to school for the first time and built churches and communities of their own. Some held political office. They faced issues like the KKK Black codes, which limited their rights and had economic toughness through sharecropping that kept them poor and in debt.

Scandals during Grant's administration

Credit Mobilier, Whisky Ring, and bribery scandals.

Panic of 1873

In 1873, Jay Cooke's railroad company went bankrupt, causing banks to fail because they invested lots of money into it, leading to a stock market crash. This started a five-year depression where thousands of businesses closed and millions lost their jobs.

Lincoln's Reconstruction plan

Lincoln wanted the South to come back together quickly. His ten percent plan said that 10% of voters in the South had to pledge their support, then the state would be able to rejoin.

Johnson's Reconstruction plan

Johnson followed a not very stern approach by allowing many former Confederate leaders back into power and did not protect former slavers' rights.

Congress's Reconstruction plan

Congress thought both Lincoln's and Johnson's plans were too lenient. Congress made stricter rules, divided the South into military districts, required new constitutions, and gave black men the right to vote.

Immediate challenges faced by freedmen

Most freedmen had no land, no money, and few tools. Many could not read or write. They faced the black codes that limited their freedom. Violence from groups like the KKK put their lives in danger. Jobs were mostly sharecropping or low-wage labor, which kept them poor.

Impact of Reconstruction policies on Southern economy

Sharecropping and tenant farming became popular, which trapped former slaves in a cycle of debt and poverty. Cotton prices collapsed because of other countries producing it. Trying new industries like tobacco and textiles still did not work.

Impact of Reconstruction policies on Southern politics

Radical Republicans tried to rebuild the South with a new state constitution with new voting rights and public schools. Many white southerners resisted, and groups like the KKK used violence to stop black voting, keeping the Republicans in power.

Success and failure of Reconstruction

Reconstruction is considered both a success and a failure due to the mixed outcomes of political and social changes.

Influence of the Ku Klux Klan on Reconstruction politics

Groups like the KKK used terror and violence to suppress Blacks from participating in politics, killing thousands and destroying black schools and churches, helping Democrats win elections in the South by scaring away black voters.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

The railroad company bribed congressmen and the Vice President to skim off large profits.

Whiskey Ring

A scandal where people took bribes to avoid liquor taxes.

Impact of Grant's presidency scandals on public trust

These scandals led to Northerners losing trust in corruption, leading them to not support reconstruction governments in the South.

Significance of the Compromise of 1877

It ended the election dispute, made Hayes president, allowed federal troops to withdraw from the South, and led to 100 years of segregation in the South.

Economic events influencing the end of Reconstruction

The Panic of 1873 crash shifted the focus from reconstruction to survival, leading to the end of funding for Reconstruction programs.

Specie Resumption Act

Gave the return of gold as money.

Impact of railroad bankruptcies on the South

Led to the South running out of money, contributing to the end of Reconstruction.

Legacies of Reconstruction

The civil rights movement was built on the end of Reconstruction and the amendments of it, with ongoing debates about equality between African Americans and whites.

Role of African American churches and schools during Reconstruction

Provided hope for later civil rights movements.

Tenant farming

A system where farmers rented land from landowners to grow crops.

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party that sought to impose civil rights for freedmen and rebuild the South.

KKK (Ku Klux Klan)

A white supremacist group that used violence and terror to suppress Black political participation.

Civil Rights Act

Legislation aimed at protecting the rights of African Americans, which faced challenges during Reconstruction.