APUSH Vocab Unit 5 3/3

Copperheads

Northern Democrats during the Civil War who opposed the war and wanted immediate peace with the Confederacy.

Conscription/Draft

A system requiring men to serve in the military; both the Union and Confederacy used drafts during the Civil War.

New York Draft Riots

Violent 1863 protests in New York City by mostly Irish immigrants angry about the Union draft and racial tensions.

Habeas Corpus Suspension

Lincoln temporarily suspended the right to challenge unlawful arrest so the Union could detain suspected Confederate sympathizers.

Contraband

Escaped enslaved people who fled to Union lines during the Civil War and were considered “contraband of war” instead of being returned.

54th Massachusetts Regiment

A famous Black Union regiment that proved African American soldiers’ bravery, especially in the assault on Fort Wagner.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War when the federal government worked to rebuild the South and integrate formerly enslaved people into society.

Presidential Reconstruction

Lenient postwar plan by Lincoln and Johnson that sought quick restoration of Southern states with minimal protections for freedpeople.

Radical Reconstruction

A harsher plan led by Congressional Radical Republicans that placed the South under military rule and demanded civil rights for freedpeople.

Radical Republicans

A group in Congress that wanted strict punishment for the South and full political and civil rights for African Americans.

Wade Davis Bill

A Radical Republican proposal requiring 50% of voters in Southern states to take a loyalty oath; Lincoln vetoed it.

Freedman’s Bureau

Federal agency created in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people with food, education, labor contracts, and legal protection.

Black Codes

Laws passed in Southern states after the Civil War designed to restrict the rights and freedoms of African Americans.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States.

14th amendment

Granted citizenship to all people born in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

15th amendment

Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Reconstruction Acts 1867

Laws that divided the South into military districts and required states to ratify the 14th Amendment and create new constitutions.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act and clashing with Congress over Reconstruction; he survived removal by one vote.

Tenure of Office

Law that restricted the president’s ability to remove Cabinet officials; used by Congress to limit Johnson’s power.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

First federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law, targeting Black Codes.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often to participate in politics or economic opportunities.

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party.

Sharecropping

A labor system where freedpeople worked land owned by whites in exchange for a share of the crop, often trapping them in debt.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist terrorist group formed during Reconstruction to intimidate Black voters and restore white Democratic control.

Compromise of 1877

Deal that ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the South in exchange for Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president.