Reconstruction leaders, amedments, laws, and their impacts

Reconstruction

12 years after the Civil War when Confederate states were brought back into the United States.

Fredrick Douglas

Abolitionists who fought for the adoption of a constitutional amendment that guaranteed equal voting rights and was a powerful voice for human rights and civil liberties until his death in 1895

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States. His plan for Reconstruction was about brining the nation back together

Radical Republicans

Opposed Lincoln's plan for reconstruction and passed laws to punish the South.

13th Amendment

Abolishes slavery in the United States and any of its territories

14th Amendment

Grants citizenship to all persons born in the United States and guarantees equal protection under the law. After the adoption of the Reconstruction laws. Former Confederates states could not be readmitted to the United States until they held conventions to write new constitutions that adopted this Amendment

15th Amendment (1870)

Ensures all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color or previous servitude. Radical Republicans believed the US Army should force the South to enforce the new amendments.

Black Codes

State laws passed by southern states in response to the 13th Amendment and focused on limiting civil rights. As freedmen gained their freedom Southern government officials started to restrict the rights of freedmen

Civil Rights Act of 1866

African Americans gained equal rights. Made Black Codes illegal and allowed the use of federal troops to enforce laws in the South

Impacts of Reconstruction laws and policies

1. Northern soldiers were sent to enforce Reconstruction policies.

2. Most white Southers resisted the Reconstruction governemnts and worked to replace them as soon as possible

3. Southern military leaders could not hold public office

4. African Americans could hold public office

Hiram Revels

In 1870 he became the first African American senator in US history