Reconstruction Era Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, amendments, policies, figures, and events of the Reconstruction Era.

Presidential Reconstruction

A soft Reconstruction plan led by Abraham Lincoln focused on forgiveness and reuniting the North and South, requiring Southern states to write a new constitution, elect a new government, repeal secession, cancel war debts, ratify the 13th Amendment, and have 10% of voters take an oath of allegiance.

Congressional Reconstruction

Also known as Hard Reconstruction, a plan led by Radical Republicans under the Reconstruction Act that divided the South into 5 military districts and required states to ratify the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and adopt constitutions guaranteeing voting rights to all male citizens.

Andrew Johnson

The president after Abraham Lincoln who wanted to restore power to former Southern leaders and supported Southern laws restricting freedmen, such as prohibiting them from serving on juries or testifying against white persons.

Radical Republicans

A powerful faction within the Republican Party during and after the American Civil War that demanded harsh punishments for the South, strict requirements for rejoining the Union, and full civil rights, voting rights, and equal legal protection for newly freed African Americans.

13th Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in 1865 that officially abolished slavery and banned forced labor everywhere in the United States except as a punishment for a crime.

14th Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in 1868 that granted full citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves.

15th Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in 1870 that protected voting rights (suffrage) for African American males, prohibiting governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Freedman's Bureau

A federal agency established by Congress in 1865 to assist millions of former Black slaves and poor whites in the South by providing food, medicine, education, and negotiating labor contracts to prevent exploitation.

Black Codes

Discriminatory laws passed by Southern states immediately after the Civil War to restrict the freedom of African Americans, limit their rights (such as prohibiting voting, owning weapons, or serving on juries), and compel them to work for low wages or in debt.

Military Districts

Five zones established in the South by the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, governed by Union generals under Martial Law to enforce law, protect freedmen, and oversee the creation of new state constitutions.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist terrorist hate group formed in 1865 that used violence, intimidation, and terror against African Americans and white Republicans to prevent them from exercising their civil and voting rights.

Redeemers

Southern Democrats who sought to regain political power in the South and eliminate Reconstruction reforms.

Poll Tax

A fixed voting fee that citizens had to pay before casting a ballot in a public election, used as a method to deter freed slaves from voting.

Segregation

The legally enforced separation of different racial groups in daily life, public places, and housing.

Jim Crow Law

State and local laws enacted in the American South after Reconstruction that enforced strict racial segregation and stripped African Americans of their political and economic rights to keep them in a subservient position.

Literacy test

A reading and writing test administered to former slaves as a requirement to vote, designed to disenfranchise African Americans.

Grandfather Clause

A provision that allowed white Southerners to vote even if they could not read, write, or pay the poll tax, stating that voting laws did not apply to anyone whose father or grandfather voted before Jan. 1, 1867.

Disenfranchise

To take away a person's or group's right to vote.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

A Supreme Court case involving Homer Plessy that ruled segregation laws did not violate the 14th Amendment, establishing legal backing for Jim Crow segregation.

Election of 1876

A heavily disputed presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden involving 20 disputed electoral votes, leading to the Compromise of 1876.

Compromise of 1876

An agreement in which Democrats accepted Rutherford B. Hayes as president in exchange for removing federal troops from the South, funding a railroad from Texas to California, providing funds to rebuild the South, and placing a Democrat in the Cabinet, effectively ending Reconstruction.

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported and joined the Republican Party during Reconstruction.

Carpetbagger

Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War seeking political or financial profit.

Martial Law

Government rule imposed directly by military authorities or the army instead of civilian government officials.