Unit 1: Reconstruction to Industrial Expansion (1865–1900)

Vocabulary flashcards covering Reconstruction policies, Jim Crow, industrial growth, labor, and Native American relations.

Reconstruction

Post–Civil War era (1865–1877) focused on reintegrating Southern states and securing rights for formerly enslaved people.

Presidential Reconstruction

Lenient plan under Andrew Johnson that quickly restored Southern governments and allowed Black Codes.

Andrew Johnson

17th U.S. president who granted mass pardons to ex-Confederates and opposed Radical Republican reforms.

Black Codes

Southern state laws (1865–1866) restricting the freedom and labor of African Americans.

Moderate Republican Reconstruction

Congressional phase (1866–1868) that created the Freedmen’s Bureau and passed the 14th Amendment.

Radical Republican Reconstruction

Harsher phase (1868–1877) placing the South under military rule and securing the 15th Amendment.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Federal agency providing education, food, and legal aid to formerly enslaved people.

Reconstruction Amendments

Collective term for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments expanding civil rights.

13th Amendment (1865)

Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment (1868)

Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

15th Amendment (1870)

Prohibited voting discrimination based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist organization using terror to undermine Reconstruction and Black rights.

Compromise of 1877

Deal that resolved the 1876 election, made Rutherford B. Hayes president, and ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the South.

Nadir of Race Relations

Period (1877–early 1900s) marked by intense racism, segregation, and widespread lynching.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local statutes enforcing racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction.

Poll Tax

Fee charged to voters, used to disenfranchise African Americans during Jim Crow.

Literacy Test

Reading requirement used to prevent Black citizens from voting.

Grandfather Clause

Voting rule exempting men whose ancestors voted pre-Civil War, effectively excluding Black voters.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court decision upholding “separate but equal” segregation.

Lynching

Extrajudicial mob killing, often targeting African Americans during the Nadir.

Red Summer of 1919

Series of race riots across U.S. cities that left dozens of Black Americans dead.

Great Migration

Mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities beginning around 1915.

NAACP (1909)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded to fight racial discrimination through legal action.

Second Industrial Revolution

Late-19th-century surge in manufacturing driven by new technology, railroads, and capital.

Captains of Industry

Wealthy business leaders like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan who dominated key sectors.

Social Darwinism

Ideology applying “survival of the fittest” to justify economic inequality.

Gospel of Success

Belief that hard work and virtue inevitably lead to wealth, validating the rich.

Knights of Labor

Early national labor union advocating broad reforms and improved working conditions.

Reservation System

U.S. policy confining Native American tribes to specific lands to open territory for settlers.

Plains Wars

Series of conflicts (1860s–1880s) between the U.S. Army and Plains tribes over land and resources.

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

Notable Plains War battle where Sioux and Cheyenne forces defeated Custer’s 7th Cavalry.

Buffalo Slaughter

Deliberate mass killing of bison to undermine Plains tribes’ economies and resistance.

Early Conservation Movement

Late-19th-century effort to protect natural resources amid rapid industrial exploitation.