Reconstruction Era and Constitutional Amendments

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the detailed text of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments as well as key historical terms and figures from the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War.

Amendment XIII Section 1

Specifies that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Amendment XIV Section 1

States that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and the State where they reside, and prohibits States from abridging privileges, depriving life, liberty, or property without due process, or denying equal protection of the laws.

Amendment XIV Section 2

Relates to the apportionment of Representatives among States and the reduction of representation if the right to vote is denied to male inhabitants who are citizens and at least $21$ years of age, except for participation in rebellion or other crime.

Amendment XIV Section 3

Disqualifies individuals from holding civil or military office if they previously took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion, unless Congress removes this disability by a vote of $\frac{2}{3}$ of each House.

Amendment XIV Section 4

Confirms the validity of the public debt of the United States while declaring all debts incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion, or claims for the loss or emancipation of any slave, as illegal and void.

Amendment XV Section 1

Mandates that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Conspiracy theory

A belief that people secretly planned something, usually without proof.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War when the South was rebuilt and rejoined the Union.

Military occupation zone

An area controlled by soldiers to keep order after a war.

Ford’s Theatre

The theater where Abraham Lincoln was shot.

Petersen House

The house where Abraham Lincoln died after being shot.

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln’s vice president who became president after Lincoln died.

Ulysses S. Grant

A Union general who later became president.

Carpetbagger

A Northerner who moved to the South during Reconstruction.