Unit 8: Reconstruction Vocabulary

This set covers key terms, laws, and social systems defining the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.

Reconstruction

The era between 1865-1877 where the Union reorganized itself to re-incorporate the states that had seceded during the Civil War.

Amnesty Plan (10% plan)

Lincoln’s plan to allow new state governments to form once $10\,\%$ of the male population swore allegiance to the US government, excluding high-ranking Confederate officials.

Andrew Johnson

The former Democrat from TN and enslaver who became President after Lincoln; he did not support equal rights for African Americans and presided over Presidential Reconstruction.

13th Amendment

Ratified in December of 1865, it formally abolishes slavery except as punishment for a crime.

Freedmen's Bureau

An agency created to help newly freed enslaved people by providing support with education, housing, and medical care.

40 Acres and a Mule

A field order from General Sherman where approximately $40,000$ freedpeople settled on $400,000$ acres of abandoned land, though the land was later returned to plantation owners by President Johnson.

Presidential Reconstruction

The period where Confederates who pledged loyalty received amnesty and kept property; states were restored after writing new constitutions that abolished slavery and rejected secession.

Black Codes

Laws passed in the South that limited the freedoms of African Americans, such as prohibiting them from owning land, testifying in court, or moving between jobs.

Sharecropping

A system where black farmers worked a landlord's acreage in exchange for a portion of the crop, often trapping them in a cycle of debt.

Convict Leasing System

A system where Southern states leased prisoners to private businesses like railroads and mines for labor without pay, while the state received the money.

Radical Republicans

Abolitionist and pro-Union Republicans, such as Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, who sought equality and universal voting rights for African-Americans.

14th Amendment

An amendment that guarantees citizenship to people born in America and ensures equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

An amendment that bans the government from denying the right to vote based on race.

Civil Rights Act 1866

Legislation that granted full equality and citizenship to every race and color (excluding Native Americans), which was passed after Congress overrode Johnson’s veto.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Laws that divided the South into military districts run by Union generals and required states to ratify the 13th and 14th amendments to gain representation.

Scallywags

A derogatory nickname for Southerners who supported Radical Reconstruction.

Carpetbaggers

A nickname for Northern immigrants who moved to the South for business opportunities during the rebuilding efforts.

Impeach

To charge a public official with a crime; this occurred for the first time with President Andrew Johnson.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws that enforced segregation, which is the legal separation of people based on race.

Literacy Tests

A voting limit requiring voters to prove they were educated enough to vote.

Grandfather Clauses

A voting limit stating that if a person's grandfather did not have the right to vote before 1867, they did not have the right to vote.

Poll Taxes

A requirement for voters to pay a yearly tax in order to register to vote.

Lynching

The murder of someone by mob violence, often used as terror by white supremacist groups like the KKK.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist group founded in 1866 that used terror to prevent African-Americans from using their rights.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction.