HIST-222: Reconstruction

Reconstruction Era

The period after the Civil War focused on reintegrating the Southern states, establishing citizenship, and ensuring equality, particularly for African Americans.

Lincoln's Presidential Reconstruction

A plan for quick restoration of Southern states with lenient terms, requiring only 10\% of a state's voters to pledge loyalty.

Emancipation Proclamation

A declaration in the fall of 1863 that linked Union war aims to the liberation of enslaved people.

Thirteenth Amendment

Ratified on January 31, 1865, it abolished slavery throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime.

Andrew Johnson's Plan

Favored rapid restoration of the Southern states after Lincoln's assassination with limited federal intervention.

Black Codes

Laws enacted in the South under Johnson's plan to control Black labor and restrict their movement.

Civil Rights Act (1866)

A congressional act providing federal protection for civil rights in response to the Black Codes.

Fourteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1868, it established birthright citizenship and guaranteed equal protection under the law for all citizens.

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Legislation that dissolved existing state governments in the South and divided the region into five military districts to oversee Reconstruction.

Fifteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it secured the right to vote for Black men.

Scalawags

A term used disparagingly for white Southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction policies.

Carpetbaggers

A term for Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often viewed as opportunists by Southerners.

Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15

A wartime order that promised land (often referred to as 'forty acres and a mule') to freedpeople, though this policy was largely reversed.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A federal agency initially tasked with redistributing confiscated land to freedpeople, but its policy largely shifted to promoting wage labor.

American Equal Rights Association (AERA)

An organization (1863-1866) that brought together abolitionists and women's rights advocates to push for universal suffrage.

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)

Formed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, advocating for universal suffrage and a 'New Departure' strategy after debates over the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

Ku Klux Klan (Klan)

A white supremacist vigilante group that used terror and violence to suppress Black voting and political activity during Reconstruction.

Enforcement Acts (1870-1871)

Federal legislation aimed at curbing KKK violence and protecting the civil rights and voting rights of African Americans.

Redeemers

White Southern Democrats who sought to regain political control in the South and restore local white rule after Reconstruction.

Mississippi Plan (1875)

A series of tactics used by Redeemers to suppress Black political power and voting in Mississippi, later adopted by other Southern states.

Compromise of 1877

An informal agreement that resolved the contested 1876 presidential election, leading to the removal of federal troops from the South and effectively ending Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

An agricultural system prevalent in the post-Civil War South where freedpeople worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops, often resulting in debt peonage.