APUSH Chapter 15

Andrew Johnson

17th president who oversaw early Reconstruction; lenient toward the South and frequently clashed with Radical Republicans.

William Seward

Secretary of State under Lincoln and Johnson; known for purchasing Alaska from Russia in 1867.

Atlanta Compromise

1895 speech by Booker T. Washington urging Black Americans to focus on economic progress rather than immediate civil rights.

Black Codes

Southern state laws after the Civil War designed to restrict the rights and mobility of freedpeople.

Conservative Republicans

Republicans during Reconstruction who favored a more moderate approach and limited federal intervention in the South.

Blanche Bruce

First Black American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate (Mississippi, 1875–1881).

Booker T. Washington

Black educator who promoted vocational training and economic self-help as the path to racial progress.

Convict-Lease System

System in which Southern states leased prisoners (mostly Black men) to private companies for labor under brutal conditions.

Carpetbagger

Northerner who moved South during Reconstruction, often viewed by Southerners as opportunistic.

Charles Sumner

Radical Republican senator who advocated strongly for civil rights and harsh Reconstruction policies.

Tenure of Office Act

1867 law restricting the president’s ability to remove cabinet officials; its violation led to Johnson’s impeachment.

Compromise of 1877

Political deal ending Reconstruction; Democrats accepted Hayes as president in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Crop-Lien System

Credit system trapping farmers in debt by forcing them to pledge future crops to merchants for supplies.

Liberal Republicans

Breakaway Republican faction in 1872 pushing for civil service reform and an end to federal intervention in the South.

Enforcement Acts

Federal laws (1870–71) aimed at suppressing the Ku Klux Klan and protecting Black voting rights.

15th Amendment

Constitutional amendment guaranteeing voting rights regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

National Greenback Party

Political party advocating for continued use of paper money to help debtors and farmers in the 1870s.

14th Amendment

Constitutional amendment granting citizenship to all born in the U.S. and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Federal agency providing food, education, and assistance to formerly enslaved people during Reconstruction.

“Lost Cause” Myth

Ideology romanticizing the Confederacy and portraying the Southern cause as noble despite its defense of slavery.

Hamilton Fish

Secretary of State under Ulysses S. Grant known for diplomatic successes like the Treaty of Washington.

Hiram Revels

First Black American to serve in the U.S. Senate, representing Mississippi in 1870.

Restoration

Johnson’s Reconstruction plan focused on quick readmission of Southern states with minimal conditions.

Ida B. Wells

Journalist and anti-lynching activist who exposed racial violence in the late 19th century.

Jim Crow Laws

Segregation laws enforcing racial separation in the South from the late 1800s through the 20th century.

Ulysses S. Grant

President from 1869–1877; supported Reconstruction but faced major corruption scandals in his administration.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist terrorist group formed during Reconstruction to intimidate Black voters and Republicans.

New South

Postwar Southern vision focused on industrialization and economic modernization.

Social Darwinism

Application of “survival of the fittest” to society, used to justify inequality and limited government aid.

Panic of 1873

Severe economic depression that weakened Northern support for Reconstruction.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case that upheld “separate but equal” segregation.

Henry Grady

Journalist who promoted the “New South” vision of industrial growth.

Radical Republicans

Congressional group pushing for strict Reconstruction, Black rights, and federal oversight of the South.

Redeemers

Southern Democrats who regained political control and ended Reconstruction reforms.

Minstrel Show

Popular 19th-century entertainment based on racist caricatures of Black people.

Reconstruction Bills

Series of congressional acts (1867+) dividing the South into military districts and requiring new state constitutions guaranteeing Black rights.

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party.

Literacy Tests

Voting barriers requiring reading tests, used to disenfranchise Black voters.

Segregated Schools

Schools legally separated by race in the South under Jim Crow.

Sharecropping

System where farmers (often Black) worked land in exchange for part of the crop, usually trapping them in debt.

Williams v. Mississippi

1898 Supreme Court case that upheld state laws enabling racial disenfranchisement.

Thaddeus Stevens

Leading Radical Republican who pushed hard for civil rights and harsh Reconstruction measures.

13th Amendment

Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the United States.

Bourbon Rule

Term for conservative, pro-business Democratic control in the post-Reconstruction South.

Wade-Davis Bill

1864 Reconstruction proposal requiring a majority of white male citizens to swear loyalty; vetoed by Lincoln.