The Reconstruction Era

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from the Reconstruction Era lecture notes, focusing on important amendments, laws, and social conditions.

Reconstruction

The process of rebuilding the South and integrating Southern states back into the Union after the Civil War.

Freedmen

African Americans who had been set free from slavery.

Civil Rights

The rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all people as citizens, especially equal treatment under the law.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states during Reconstruction to restrict the rights of freedmen.

Freedmen's Bureau

Congress established this agency to assist former slaves by providing food, medical care, and education.

Fourteenth Amendment

An amendment that granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

Fifteenth Amendment

An amendment that prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Sharecropping

A system where farmers rent land from landowners and pay rent with a portion of the crops they produce.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson

A landmark Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Ku Klux Klan

A secret society formed to maintain white supremacy through intimidation and violence against African Americans.

Amnesty Act of 1872

A law that allowed most former Confederates to regain the right to vote.

Grandfather Clause

Laws that exempted white voters from literacy tests and poll taxes by allowing those who had the right to vote before 1867 to vote without those requirements.

Military Reconstruction Act

A law that divided the South into military districts governed by federal troops.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Legislation that declared all persons born in the U.S. as citizens and aimed to protect the rights of African Americans.