APUSH - Chapter 15

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Civil Rights Act of 1866

This act declared that all African Americans were U.S. citizens and also attempted to provide a shield against the operation of the Southern states' Black Codes

14th Amendment Ratified in 1868

Declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens. Obligated the states to respect the rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with "equal protection of the laws" and "due process of law

Equal protection of the laws

Law should apply equally to all people regardless of race or gender so all people get the same treatment under law.

15th amendment

Prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Ratified in 1870.

Credit Mobilier

In the Crédit Mobilier affair, insiders gave stock to influential members of Congress to avoid investigation of the profits that they were making---as high as 348 percent-- from government subsidies for building the transcontinental railroad.

William (Boss) Tweed

New York City politician, arranged schemes that allowed he and his cronies to steal about $200 million dollars from New York. He was eventually sentenced to prison in 1871.

Patronage

Giving jobs and government favors (spoils) to their supporters

Spoilsmen

Those who got jobs and government favors from boss

Thomas Nast

Political cartoonist that exposed Tweed and brought about his arrest and imprisonment in 1871

Horace Greeley

In the presidential election of 1872, both the Liberal Republicans and the Democrats made this newspaper editor their nominee. He lost the election to Ulysses S. Grant, he died just days before the counting of the electoral vote count.

Liberal Republicans

this party advocated civil service reform, an end of railroad subsidies, withdrawal of troops from the South, reduced tariffs, and free trade.

Panic of 1873

Economic panic caused by over speculation by financiers and over building by industry and railroads. In 1874, President Grant sided with the hard-money bankers who wanted gold backing of the money supply. He vetoed a bill calling for the release of additional greenbacks.

Greenbacks

Name given to paper money issued by the government, so called because the back side was printed with green ink. They were not redeemable for gold.

Redeemers

By 1877, these Southern conservatives had taken control of state governments in the South. Their foundation rested on states rights, reduced taxes, reduced social programs, and white supremacy.

Rutherford B. Hayes

He won the presidential election of 1876, which was a highly contested election. He was a Republican governor from Ohio.

Samuel J. Tilden

In the presidential election of 1876, this New York reform governor was the Democrat nominee. He had gained fame for putting Boss Tweed behind bars.

Compromise of 1877

This informal deal settled the 1876 presidential election contest between Rutherford Hayes (Republican) and Samuel Tilden (Democrat). It was agreed that Hayes would become president. In return, he would remove all federal troops from the South and support the building of a Southern transcontinental railroad.

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

In 1863, President Lincoln's proclamation set up a process for political reconstruction, creating state governments in the South so that Unionists were in charge rather than secessionists. It include a full presidential pardon for most Confederates who took an oath of allegiance to the Union and the U.S. Constitution, and accepted the emancipation of slaves.

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

Stated that the president would appoint provisional governments for conquered states until a majority of voters took an oath of loyalty to the Union. It required the abolition of slavery by new state constitutions, only non-Confederates could vote for a new state constitution. President Lincoln refused to sign the bill

Freedmen's Bureau

The bureau acted as an early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for those who were made destitute by the war -- most african americans and homeless whites.

Andrew Johnson

The 17th President of the United States from 1865 to 1869. This Southerner from Tennessee was Lincoln's vice president, and he became president after Lincoln was assassinated. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote.

Presidential Reconstruction

The period following the Civil War from 1865 to 1867, characterized by the efforts of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson to reintegrate the Southern states back into the Union.

Black Codes

Southern legislatures adopted Black Codes that restricted the rights and movement of former slaves: prohibited blacks from either renting land or borrowing money to buy land, placed freemen into a form of semi bondage by forcing them, as "vagrants" and "apprentices" to sign work contracts, prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court.

Congressional Reconstruction

Congress being angry at Johnson's policies led to a second round of reconstruction. Dominated by congress and featured policies that were harsher on Southern whites and more protective of freed African Americans.

Radical Republicans

This was the smaller portion of the Republican party than the moderates. They were led by Senator Charles Sumner and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. They supported various programs that were most beneficial to the newly freed African Americans in the South.

Charles Sumner

The leading Radical Republican in the Senate from Massachusetts. (Caned by Brooks)

Thaddeus Stephens

Reformer who had control of the Republican Party prior to the 1870s. Pennsylvanian. Hoped to revolutionize Southern society through an extended period of military rule in which African Americans would be free to exercise their civil rights, would be educated in schools funded by the federal government, and would receive lands confiscated from the planter class.

Benjamin Wade

Reformer who had control of the Republican Party prior to the 1870s. From Ohio. Endorsed several liberal causes: women's suffrage, rights for labor unions, civil rights for Northern African Americans.

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Over Johnson's vetoes, Congress Passed three Reconstruction acts in early 1867. Placed south under military occupation. The acts divided the former Confederate states into five military districts, each under the control of the Union army. Increased requirements for gaining readmission into the Union (ex-Confederate states had to ratify the 14th amendment and place its guarantees in the constitution for granting the franchise (right to vote) to all adult men regardless of race).

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

This act prohibited the president from removing a federal official or military commander, without the approval of the Senate. The purpose of the law was purely political, to protect the Radical Republicans in Johnson's cabinet from dismissal.

Edwin Stanton

He was President Andrew Johnson's secretary of war. President Johnson believed the new Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional and he challenged the law, by dismissing him from his position. This led to Johnson's impeachment.

Impeachment

First impeached president was Andrew Johnson-- removed from office. Charged with 11 "high crimes and misdemeanors" by The House.

"Scalawags"

The term for White Republican Southerners who cooperated with and served in Reconstruction governments.

"Carpetbaggers"

The term for Northern newcomers who came to the South during Reconstruction.

Blanche K. Bruce

During the Reconstruction era, he represented Mississippi as a Republican U.S. Senator, from 1875 to 1881. He was the first black to serve a full term in the Senate.

Hiram Revels

one of the first African American to serve in the United States Senate. Hiram Revels helped organize two regiments of colored troops during the Civil War, also serving as chaplain. During the Reconstruction era, this black politician, was elected to the Mississippi senate seat that had been occupied by Jefferson Davis before the Civil War.

Sharecropping

South's agricultural economy was in turmoil after the war because of the lost labor force. Common form of farming for freed slaves in the South. They received a small plot of land, seed, fertilizer, tools from the landlord who usually took half of the harvest. It evolved into a new form of servitude.

Ku Klux Klan

Southern Whites organized secret societies to intimidate African Americans and White reformers. Founded in 1867 by ex-Confederate general Nathaniel Bedford Forrest. Burned black-owned buildings, flogged and murdered freedmen to keep them from exercising their voting rights

Force Acts (1870, 1871)

These act passed in 1870 and 1871, gave power to federal authorities to stop Ku Klux Klan violence and to protect the civil rights of citizens in the South.

Amnesty Act (1872)

Removed the last of the restrictions on ex-Confederates, except for the top leaders. Consequence: allowed southern conservatives to vote for Democrats to retake control of state governments.