Reconstruction Era: Key Policies, Amendments, and Laws in U.S. History

Reconstruction

an era of history where the federal government struggles to return the southern states to the Union, rebuild the economy, and promote the rights of former slaves.

Radical Republicans

opponents to Lincoln's reconstruction plan in Congress that favored full citizenship of African Americans, harsh punishments, and the "40 acres and mule" policy.

Black Codes

laws to limit the rights of African Americans and keep them as landless workers.

William Tecumseh Sherman's plan "Forty acres and a mule"

might restore the South's productivity and economy and provide employment and income to African Americans.

Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan

required 10% of state's voters to take a loyalty oath, a state's new constitution must have abolished slavery, and grant pardons to Confederates.

R.R Wade-Davis Bill

required a majority of the state's prewar voters to swear loyalty to the Union and required guarantees of African American equality.

Freedman's Bureau

would provide food, clothes, jobs, and education to both black and white refugees living in the South.

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

offered pardons to all former Confederacy citizens who took oath of loyalty, but not officers or property owners.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

would have created guarantees by federal government for African American civil rights in the states.

14th Amendment

granted citizenship for all born or naturalized people and equal rights.

15th Amendment

the right to vote cannot be denied because of race.

Military Reconstruction Act of 1867

divides the south into military districts governed by a Union army general.

Tenure of Office Act

prohibited the President from removing certain officials from office without senate approval.

Impeach

to charge a government official with wrongdoing.

Black Codes Examples

African Americans forced to enter into 1 year working contract and taxed to do certain jobs.