Chapter 15, The American YAWP

Reconstruction policies

Policies that first began during the Civil War, before it officially ended.

Black Codes

Laws aimed to limit the freedom of formerly enslaved people through labor control and restrictions on mobility.

Fourteenth Amendment

An amendment that expanded federal power by giving the federal government authority to enforce the Bill of Rights over the states.

Black delegates

Individuals who played a role in southern state governments during Reconstruction by helping establish public schools and strengthen democratic institutions.

Sherman's Field Order No. 15

An order that promised land for freedpeople in Georgia and South Carolina, specifically 'forty acres and a mule.'

Access to land

One of the hardest goals for freedpeople to achieve after emancipation.

Black churches

Institutions that served as community centers, political training grounds, and created leadership opportunities after emancipation.

Fifteenth Amendment

An amendment that enfranchised Black men but excluded women, leading to opposition from some women's rights leaders.

White supremacy enforcement methods

Methods used by white southerners during Reconstruction, including violence, intimidation, and groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

Adelbert Ames

A white sheriff and tax collector significant for defending freedpeople's civil rights and targeted by white supremacists.

Sharecropping

The system that replaced slavery in much of the South.

Economic change during Reconstruction

Increased federal involvement in the economy.

Panic of 1873

A nationwide depression caused by the failure of Jay Cooke and Company.

End of Reconstruction

Marked by the Compromise of 1877, which removed federal troops from the South.