reconstruction era overview

Reconstruction

Readmitting southern states, integrating freedmen, rebuilding infrastructure/economy post-Civil War

Lincoln's 10% Plan

1865 initiative for readmitting states with 10% voter allegiance oath to Union

Oath of allegiance

Pledge to Union for 10% of state voters to follow slavery rules

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States

Black Codes

Laws regulating black behavior in the South post-Civil War

Radical Republicans

Congress members advocating racial equality and punishment for the South post-Civil War

Freedmen's Bureau

Aid organization for freedmen and poor whites post-Civil War

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Granted citizenship to all African Americans post-Civil War

14th Amendment

Ensured equal rights and due process for all citizens post-Civil War

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Divided the South into military districts, required ratification of the 14th Amendment

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South post-Civil War

Scalawags

Southern Republicans in the South post-Civil War

15th Amendment

Granted voting rights regardless of race or color post-Civil War

KKK

Terrorist group targeting Blacks and sympathetic Whites post-Civil War

Amnesty Act of 1872

Allowed Confederates to vote and hold office post-Civil War

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction, made Hayes President, and removed troops from the South

Poll taxes

Small taxes paid to vote, disenfranchising Blacks post-Civil War

Literacy tests

Tests required to vote, disenfranchising illiterate Blacks post-Civil War

Grandfather Clause

Disenfranchisement rule based on ancestors' voting history post-Civil War

Jim Crow Laws

Laws enforcing racial segregation in the South post-Civil War

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case upholding 'separate but equal' doctrine

Sharecropping

Labor system where workers paid in crops, leading to debt post-Civil War

Tenant farming

Renting land for farming post-Civil War