Unit 5 - Period 5: 1844-1877

10% Plan

The lenient Reconstruction plan proposed by Abraham Lincoln

• allowed Confederate states to rejoin once 10% of voters swore loyalty to US

• New states had to recognize the freedom of slaves

• as long as conditions were met, voters could form new governments, elect delegates, write constitutions (state level)

• created tension with more Radical Republicans who wanted stricter conditions

Wade-Davis Bill

Very strict Reconstruction Policy created by Radical Republicans

• 50% of voters had to swear “Ironclad oath” to rejoin

• New states had to abolish slavery

• Disenfranchised Confederate Officials and High-ranking military officers

• President would appoint provisional military governors

• Lincoln vetoed the bill

Freedmen’s Bureau

U.S. government agency created to aid formerly enslaved African Americans and poor whites post Civil War

• provides essentials: food, housing, medical care

• established schools and hospitals

• received backlash in the South

Black Codes

Discriminatory laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to keep blacks economically subjugated

• labor control: contracts forced freedmen to resign or pay fines for quitting early

• Laws punished unemployment/ vagrancy → freedmen ended up working for former owners to pay fines

• blacks’ right to vote were restricted

13th Amendment

Ratified in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout America

14th Amendment

Ratified in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the U.S and guaranteed all citizens equal protection of the laws and due process from state governments

15th Amendment

Ratified in 1870, this amendment granted African American men the right to vote by prohibiting the federal/ state government from denying suffrage based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

This was an American Protestant-led White Supremacist hate group that terrorized African Americans (and sometimes Jews & Catholics) using violent and intimidation tactics.

• the KKK developed in response to Reconstruction policies in the South which supported the integration of African Americans into American Society

Carpetbaggers

Derogatory term for Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War during Reconstruction

• Southerners viewed them as taking advantage of the South’s devastation to make profit

Scalawags

Slur that anti-black and anti-Reconstruction whites used to refer to other white Southerners who supported Reconstruction policies and efforts after Civil War

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Legislation that granted African Americans equal access to public accommodations, transportation and jury service.

Colfax Massacre

The murder of 62-153 black men by former Confederate soldiers and KKK members

Compromise of 1877

An informal agreement between Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans that settled 1976 presidential election results

• marked the end of the Reconstruction Era

• Northern Republicans agreed to stay out of Southern states’ politics

• Southern Democrats accepted that Republican Rutherford Hayes as president

Civil Rights Cases of 1833 (Main Ones)

Cruikshank vs. U.S
Plessy v. Ferguson

Jim Crow Laws

Laws at both the state and federal level that allowed for the discrimination of African Americans under the pretense of “separate but equal”

• main problem was that the facilities were not equal

Also systemically limited social & economic freedom of Blacks through discriminatory practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests

Booker T. Washington

Promoted the idea of African Americans gradually increasing their rights through economic self-sufficiency

• believed that blacks should be okay with/ prioritize performing manual labor jobs so that they could earn money

W.E.B. Dubois

Believed that African Americans should strive for immediate rights and equality, rather than waiting for white people to hand it to them

• strongly opposed Booker T’s ideas

• encouraged Blacks to pursue education and attain skilled jobs over manual labor