5.6-5.8 APUSH

Freedmen's Bureau

A federal agency established in 1865 to assist freed slaves and poor whites in the South by providing food, housing, education, and legal aid.

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party during Reconstruction that sought to ensure civil rights for freed slaves and harsh policies for Southern states' reentry into the Union.

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

Issued by President Lincoln in 1863, offering a pardon to Confederates who took an oath of allegiance and accepted the abolition of slavery.

Wade-Davis Bill

A Reconstruction plan proposed in 1864 requiring 50% of a Southern state's voters to pledge loyalty to the Union and guaranteeing equality for African Americans.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to restrict the rights of freed African Americans and maintain white dominance.

Fourteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1868, it granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves, and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

Reconstruction

The period following the Civil War (1865-1877) when Southern states were reintegrated into the Union and efforts were made to address the rights of freed slaves.

Military Reconstruction Acts

Legislation dividing the South into five military districts, each governed by Union troops to enforce Reconstruction policies and protect African American rights.

Tenure of Office Act

A law passed in 1867 restricting the president's power to remove certain officeholders without Senate approval, leading to President Andrew Johnson's impeachment.

Fifteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it prohibited the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

American Equal Rights Association

An organization formed in 1866 to advocate for equal rights for both African Americans and women, particularly voting rights.

National Woman Suffrage Association

Founded in 1869 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to advocate for women's right to vote and other reforms.

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party, often seen as traitors by other Southerners.

Carpetbaggers

Northern individuals who moved to the South during Reconstruction to profit from or participate in rebuilding efforts, often resented by Southerners.

Sharecropping

A labor system where freedmen and poor whites rented land from landowners in exchange for a share of the crop, often trapping them in debt.

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated to Kansas and other Western states in the late 19th century to escape racial violence and seek economic opportunities.

Redeemers

Southern Democrats who aimed to regain political power and end Reconstruction by reestablishing white supremacy.

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist group formed during Reconstruction to intimidate and violently suppress African Americans and their allies.

Force Acts

Laws passed in the early 1870s to combat the Ku Klux Klan and protect the civil rights of African Americans, including the right to vote.

Panic of 1873

A severe economic depression triggered by the collapse of the Jay Cooke & Company bank, leading to widespread unemployment and weakened support for Reconstruction.

Great Railway Strike

A nationwide strike in 1877 protesting wage cuts for railroad workers, marking one of the first major labor strikes in the U.S.

Slaughterhouse Cases

A series of Supreme Court decisions in 1873 that limited the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment, weakening protections for African Americans.

United States v. Cruikshank

An 1876 Supreme Court case that limited federal power to protect African Americans from violence, undermining Reconstruction efforts.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

A law guaranteeing African Americans equal access to public accommodations, which was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement resolving the disputed 1876 presidential election, resulting in the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction.