Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)

Reconstruction Era

the era after the Civil War in which the South was rebuilt and readmitted to the Union

13th Amendment

abolished(ended) slavery in the U.S.

14th Amendment

made African Americans equal citizens with equal rights and protections

15th Amendment

gives all MALE citizens the right to vote

President Johnson

served as President after Lincoln's assassination and had a lot of conflict with Congress during Reconstruction

Radical Republicans

majority group of REPUBLICANS in US Congress that had a more RADICAL plan for Reconstruction

Freedman's Bureau

federal agency created to help FREED slaves after the Civil War

Scalawag

white Southerners who stayed LOYAL to the UNION during the Civil War

Carpetbagger

Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction to make fast money.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and White League

group who used FEAR and VIOLENCE to deny rights to African Americans

Black Codes

laws passed to limit the rights of African Americans (a recycling of the Slave Code Laws)

Poll tax

having to paying a fee to VOTE

Literacy tests

having to pass a READING test to vote

Grandfather clause

exempted those whose GRANDFATHER had voted before the Civil War from literacy tests therefore eliminating black citizens ability to vote

Segregation

the enforced SEPARATION of races

Sharecropping

a cycle of poverty where LAND and EQUIPMENT is RENTED and FARMED with much of the profit going to the landowner

Tenant Farming

A cycle of poverty where LAND ONLY is rented and the farmer uses his own equipment to work the land with much of the profit going to the landowner.

Ten Percent Plan (Lincoln's Plan)

it offered southerners amnesty, or official pardon, for all illegal acts supporting the rebellion

Radical Republican Plan

A restrictive approach to Reconstruction designed by Northern Republicans to create consequences on Southern states. Leader was Thaddeus Stevens.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Federal law granting citizenship to former slaves; passed over Johnson's veto.

Reconstruction Acts

set of laws that divided the South into five districts under military control

impeachment

An action by the House of Representatives to accuse the president, vice president, or other civil officers of the United States of committing "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Hiram Revels

The first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Compromise of 1877

Deal that settled the 1876 presidential election contest between Rutherford Hayes (Rep) & Samuel Tilden (Dem.); Hayes was awarded presidency in exchange for the permanent removal of fed. troops from the South--> ended Reconstruction

Jim Crow laws

Limited rights of blacks. Supported racial segregation, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and poll taxes limited black voting rights

Plessy

a 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal ("separate but equal" clause)