UNIT 5, CH 15

During Reconstruction, Republican policymakers aimed to rebuild the South, protect the rights of freedpeople, and create loyal state governments, while ex-Confederates sought to restore white supremacy and regain political control. Freedpeople pursued land ownership, education, family reunification, and full civil and political equality. Republicans succeeded temporarily through amendments, civil rights laws, and military enforcement, and freedpeople made major gains in voting, education, and community life. However, ex-Confederates ultimately succeeded to a greater degree: through violence, political “Redemption,” and court rulings that weakened federal protections, they overturned most Reconstruction reforms and laid the foundation for Jim Crow.

Ten Percent Plan

Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction that allowed a Southern state to rejoin the Union once 10% of voters pledged loyalty to the U.S. and accepted emancipation

Wade–Davis Bill

Radical Republicans’ Reconstruction bill requiring 50% of voters to take a loyalty oath and stronger safeguards for Black rights

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln’s successor who pursued lenient Reconstruction and clashed with Radical Republicans

Black Codes

Southern laws restricting African Americans’ freedom and forcing them into labor systems

Freedmen’s Bureau

Federal agency providing food, labor contracts, and education to freedpeople

Civil Rights Act of 1866

First U.S. civil rights law, granting citizenship and equal rights to African Americans

Fourteenth Amendment

Guaranteed birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law

Charles Sumner

Leading Radical Republican senator advocating equal rights for African Americans

Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republican leader in the House advocating land reform and equality

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Law dividing the South into military districts and requiring new state constitutions with Black voting rights

Ulysses S. Grant

Republican president who supported Reconstruction and enforced civil rights laws

Fifteenth Amendment

Prohibited denying voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Leader of early women’s rights movement who opposed the 15th Amendment for excluding women

American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)

Suffrage group that supported the 15th Amendment and worked for state-by-state women’s voting rights

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)

Stanton and Anthony’s group demanding a federal women’s suffrage amendment

Minor v. Happersett

Supreme Court ruling that citizenship did not guarantee women the right to vote

Sharecropping

Labor system where freedpeople farmed land for a share of the crop, often leading to debt and dependency

Union League

Republican organization that mobilized Black voters and built political power in the South

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported Republican Reconstruction governments

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction, often to aid reforms or seek opportunity

Robert Smalls

Former enslaved man who became a Civil War hero and later a Reconstruction-era political leader

Blanche K. Bruce

First African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate

Convict Leasing

System where states leased prisoners (disproportionately Black) to private employers for forced labor

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Law banning racial discrimination in public accommodations

Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company

Bank created for freedpeople that collapsed due to mismanagement and fraud

Classical Liberalism

19th-century ideology emphasizing limited government, free markets, and individual rights

Laissez-faire

Economic policy of minimal government interference in markets

Credit Mobilier

Major corruption scandal involving Union Pacific Railroad executives and government officials

“Redemption”

Southern Democratic movement to overthrow Reconstruction governments and restore white rule

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Confederate general and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist terror organization targeting Black voters and Republican leaders

Enforcement Laws

Federal laws (1870–71) empowering military force to stop KKK violence and protect voting rights

Slaughter-House Cases

Supreme Court decision limiting the 14th Amendment’s “privileges or immunities” clause

U.S. v. Cruikshank

Supreme Court decision that federal government couldn’t punish individuals for civil rights violations

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Supreme Court decisions striking down the Civil Rights Act of 1875