The Civil War and the Origins of Reconstruction

These flashcards cover the key concepts, historical figures, and legislative developments discussed in the lecture regarding the transition from the Civil War to the Reconstruction era.

Reconstruction

The period and process of revamping the labor, racial, and political systems of the South after the Civil War to reunite the nation and define the status of former slaves.

Stephen Hahn

A scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'A Nation Under Our Feet' which argues that slaves had political ideas and activism roots.

Overdetermined

A term used by historians to signify that the destruction of slavery had many causes and no single person or reason was responsible for its end.

Harriet Tubman

The great leader of the underground railroad who led groups of slaves out of the South prior to the Civil War.

10% Plan

Lincoln's 1863 Reconstruction proposal offering to restore all rights (except property in slaves) to Southerners if 10% of the 1860 voters took an oath of loyalty and accepted the end of slavery.

A Visit from the Old Mistress

A painting by Winslow Homer that captures the palpable tension and difficulty of interpersonal relations during the transition from slavery to freedom.

Disenthrall

A term used by Abraham Lincoln in an 1862 speech meaning to break free from the imprisonment of old ideas in order to save the nation.

Charles Sumner

A prominent radical Republican and abolitionist senator who was a close friend of Lincoln and a leading advocate for black rights in the Senate.

Treaty of annexation of purchase of Louisiana

The agreement involving Napoleon Bonaparte that granted the free black community in New Orleans unique rights that other free blacks in the U.S. did not possess.

Black Military Service

The enlistment of $200,000$ black men in the Union Army and Navy, which Lincoln viewed as indispensable to winning the war and crucial for putting black citizenship on the national agenda.

Henry J. Raymond

The head of the Republican National Committee who, in 1864, advised Lincoln to rescind the Emancipation Proclamation to avoid losing the presidential election.

Wade Davis Bill

A bill passed by Congress and vetoed by Lincoln that served as an attempt by the radical Republicans to implement their own plan for Reconstruction over the 10% Plan.

Gideon Wells

The Secretary of the Navy whose diary provides insights into Lincoln's final cabinet meeting on the day of his assassination.

Politicization of everyday life

A phrase used to describe how basic social encounters between blacks and whites during Reconstruction became fraught with uncertainty due to the lack of established social etiquette for freedom.

4,000,000

The approximate number of people who were held in slavery until the beginning of the Civil War.

April 14, 1865

The date on which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, leaving the question of Reconstruction unresolved.