Reconstruction

Reconstruction

attempt at rebuilding the south after the war
Aimed to reintegrate the South into the Union
Resistance by white southerners faced.

Reconstruction

1863 (during war)- 1877

13th Amendment

abolished slavery, legally freeing all enslaved peoples

14th Amendment

claims anyone born in the United States is a citizen of the United States, a current controversial topic due to Trump’s immigration current immigration policies

15th Amendment

allows all men regardless of race, color or previous condition to vote

southern states implemented measures to suppress Black voting

poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation (to block off black voters)

Lincoln’s 10 Percent Plan

reconstruction plan that aimed to quickly reintegrate Southern states into the Union after the Civil War if 10% of their voters swore an oath of loyalty to the U.S. and accepted the end of slavery; would restore the properties of south except for slaves

presidential reconstruction

Vice President Andrew Johnson’s plan to offer pardons to most white Southerners and allowing them to form new governments to reintegrate the Southern states into the Union (no revenge on the South- lenient policy after CW)

presidential reconstruction

1865-1867, began immediately after President Lincoln’s assassination

Andrew Johnson

first U.S. president to be impeached, survived the Senate removal by only one vote

Andrew Johnson

17th president of the United States, southerner from Tennessee, he became president after Lincoln was killed (as Jackson was the vice president during Lincoln’s presidency)

Andrew Johnson

opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto

pardons of rebels

efforts of presidents to restore the nation after conflict; about 14k rebels pardoned; just needed to swear loyalty to the union

so outraged that they impeached the president over those pardons (Johnson)

radical republicans’ reactions to pardons

congressional reconstruction

led by radical republicans that leads to the usage of military force to protect blacks’ rights

radical republicans

a group who believed the South should be harshly punished and supported black suffrage and freedom before, during, and after the war

George Gordon Meade

government official who hated Robert E.Lee, created Arlington Cemetary in Lee’s plantation and helped to make sure he didn’t get his citizenship back

Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South, leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress, pushed for civil rights and land reformation

impeachment of Andrew Johnson

he was removed from office for violating the tenure of office

Freedman’s Bureau

federal agency granted aid to free slaves and poor whites; generated food, schools and legal help; funding issues and white resistance occurred

share cropping

African Americans and poor whites would work on a land owned by another in return for small pay or some crops; replaced slavery by keeping former slaves in debt

40 Acres and a Mule

promised by William Tecumseh Sherman 1865; land redistribution to free slaves, never fully implemented due to funding struggles

Reconstruction Act of 1867

divided the south into 5 military districts, required new constitution and black suffrage, enforced through congressional reconstruction

black codes

meant to restrict black rights vagrancy (homeless) policies forced black former slaves to work court charges off on plantations

KKK & Terror

formed in 1865, white supremacists who killed carpetbaggers, blacks and scalawags

carpetbaggers

northerners who capitalized on the defeated south to make a profit

scalawags

derogatory term for southerners who were working with the North to buy up land from desperate southerners

Civil Rights Act of 1871

Federal legislation passed to give federal protection to Fourteenth Amendment rights that were violated by private persons, including those in the Ku Klux Klan. Temporarily suppressed KKK.
President had the power to suspend challenge and legal defense in court (habeas corpus)

compromise of 1877

Rutherford B. Hayes became president . Settled the 1876 election. Ended reconstruction with the end of northern occupation of south.
Southern Democrats regained power

Jim Crow Laws

Limited rights of blacks. Literacy tests, grandfather clauses and poll taxes limited black voting rights. Segregated blacks from whites in schools, facilities, etc. only ending in the 1960s with the civil rights movement.

Home Rule

Belief used by southerners to resist reconstruction through believing that their judgment was best for leading the country

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Confederate cavalry leader who later became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan