Chapters 22-24 - APUSH

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865-1872)

An organization created after the Civil War to help newly freed African Americans by giving them food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal assistance. Its success varied by location and depended largely on the ability of local administrators.

“10 Percent” Reconstruction Plan (1863)

Introduced by President Lincoln, this plan stated that a former Confederate state could rejoin the Union once 10 percent of its voters swore loyalty to the United States and agreed to accept the end of slavery.

Wade-Davis Bill

Passed by Republicans in Congress as a reaction to Lincoln’s 10 percent Plan, this proposal required that 50 percent of a former Confederate state’s voters swear loyalty to the Union and included stricter protections for the end of slavery. It showed disagreements between Congress and the president, as well as divisions between radical and moderate Republicans over how the South should be treated after the war.

Black Codes (1865-1866)

Laws passed across the South to limit the rights of newly freed African Americans, especially in their ability to make and negotiate labor contracts. These laws increased criticism from Northerners of President Andrew Johnson’s lenient approach to Reconstruction.

Pacific Railroad Act (1862)

This act provided financial support for building the Union Pacific transcontinental railroad by giving land grants and government bonds.

Civil Rights Bill (1866)

Passed despite President Andrew Johnson’s veto, this law was designed to fight the Black Codes by granting African Americans citizenship and making it illegal to take away their rights to sue, testify in court, or own property.

Fourteenth Amendment (ratified 1868)

A constitutional amendment that gave freed African Americans civil rights and prevented states from taking those rights away without due process of law.

Reconstruction Act (1867)

Passed by the new Republican Congress, this law split the South into five military districts, took away voting rights from former Confederates, and required Southern states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and create state constitutions that guaranteed voting rights to freed African Americans before they could rejoin the Union.

Fifteenth Amendment (ratified 1870)

This amendment banned states from denying people the right to vote because of their race. It disappointed women’s rights activists, who had hoped it would also guarantee voting rights for women.

Ex Parte Milligan (1866)

A Civil War–era Supreme Court case that decided civilians could not be tried in military courts when regular civil courts were available.

Redeemers

Southern Democratic politicians who tried to take control away from Republican governments in the South after Reconstruction.

Woman’s Loyal League (1863-1865)

A women’s group created to help end the Civil War and push Congress to pass an amendment that would outlaw slavery.

Union League

An African American organization during Reconstruction that taught Southern blacks about civic life, built schools and churches, represented their interests to the government and employers, supported Republican candidates, and organized local militias to protect blacks from white violence.

Scalawags

A negative term used by Southern Democrats to describe pro-Union Southerners, accusing them of working with Republican governments after the Civil War to exploit and steal the South’s resources.

Carpetbaggers

A negative term used by Southern whites to describe Northern businessmen and politicians who moved to the South after the Civil War to take part in Reconstruction efforts or invest in Southern infrastructure.

Ku Klux Klan

An extremist, secret paramilitary organization formed in the mid-1800s and revived in the 1920s that promoted white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant supremacy. It was strongly against immigrants, African Americans, Jews, communism, international involvement, evolution, pacifism, and alcohol bootlegging. Members hid their identities by wearing white robes and used intimidation and violence against freed African Americans and white supporters after the Civil War. By the 1890s, Klan-related violence and Democratic laws had effectively taken away voting rights from most Southern African Americans.

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

This law required the president to get Senate approval before removing appointed officials. When Andrew Johnson fired his secretary of war without that approval, the House impeached him, but he stayed in office because the Senate was one vote short of removing him.

Seward’s Folly (1867)

A commonly used nickname for Secretary of State William Seward’s purchase of Alaska from Russia, reflecting many Americans’ opposition to expansion right after the Civil War and their belief that the deal was a mistake.

“Waving the Bloody Shirt”

The practice of political parties and candidates using symbols, memories, and language from the Civil War to persuade voters to support their side.

Crédit Mobilier Scandal (1872)

A construction company created by the owners of the Union Pacific Railroad to take government contracts and build the railroad at extremely inflated costs for huge profits. In 1872, a scandal broke when reporters revealed that the Crédit Mobilier Company had bribed members of Congress and even the vice president to keep the scheme going.

Panic of 1873

A global economic downturn that started in the United States after one of the country’s largest banks suddenly failed, causing many banks and businesses to collapse. The crisis increased demands for inflationary policies like printing more paper money and allowing unlimited silver coinage, and debates over these money policies strongly shaped politics in the late nineteenth century.

Gilded Age

A term given to the period 1865-1896 by Mark Twain, indicating both the fabulous wealth and the widespread corruption of the era.

Patronage

A common Gilded Age system where political parties gave jobs and favors to loyal members who helped win votes on election day. It provided crucial support for parties but also caused conflicts, especially within the Republican Party.

Compromise of 1877

The deal that resolved the 1876 election and officially ended Reconstruction. In return for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president, he agreed to remove the last federal troops from the South, allowing white Democrats to regain full control of Southern politics.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

The final federal civil rights law until the 1950s, which guaranteed African Americans equal access to public places and banned racial discrimination in jury selection. Because it had no way to be enforced, it was largely ineffective, and in 1883 the Supreme Court ruled most of it unconstitutional.

Sharecropping

A farming system that developed after the Civil War where Black and white farmers rented land and housing from a plantation owner in return for giving a portion of their crops. Sharecropping became the main form of Southern agriculture and was often controlled by landowners to keep tenants in constant debt and tied to the land.

Jim Crow

A system of racial segregation in the South from the end of Reconstruction to the mid-1900s. Called “separate but equal,” they kept Black and white people apart in public places like restaurants, theaters, and transportation. It was mostly maintained through social customs, violence, and intimidation.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

A Supreme Court case that ruled segregation laws were constitutional, stating that “separate but equal” facilities for Black people did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision gave legal support to the Jim Crow system until the 1950s.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

A federal law that blocked most Chinese immigrants from coming to the United States, marking the first major legal limit on immigration in U.S. history.

Pendleton Act (1883)

A law passed by Congress that created the Civil Service Commission, which awarded federal jobs based on exams rather than political connections, helping to curb the spoils system.

Homestead Strike (1892)

A strike at Andrew Carnegie’s steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, that turned violent when 300 Pinkerton detectives and federal troops clashed with workers, leaving 10 dead and over 60 injured. This 1892 strike was part of a nationwide wave of labor unrest that helped the Populist Party gain some support from industrial workers.

Grandfather Clause

A law created in many Southern states in the 1890s that let people vote if they could show their ancestors had voted in 1860. Since enslaved people couldn’t vote before the Civil War, this allowed many white people to vote while keeping Black people from voting.

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois (1886)

A Supreme Court ruling that said states could not regulate railroads because only Congress had the power to control interstate commerce. This shifted efforts for railroad reform to the federal government, which now had exclusive authority over the industry.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

A law passed by Congress that created the Interstate Commerce Commission, required railroads to publish standard rates, and banned rebates and pools. While railroads often found ways to exploit the law, it gave the government an important tool to regulate large businesses.

Vertical Integration

A method used by Andrew Carnegie that involved controlling every stage of production to make operations more efficient and reduce competition.

Horizontal Integration

A strategy used by John D. Rockefeller that focused on controlling one part of the production process to dominate a market, often through trusts and agreements with competitors.

Trust

A method where one company gains control of another company by owning its stock. Standard Oil used this approach in the 1870s to eliminate competition by taking over smaller oil companies.

Standard Oil Company (1870-1911)

John D. Rockefeller’s company, founded in 1870, that became a symbol of Gilded Age trusts and monopolies. By 1877, Standard Oil controlled 95% of U.S. oil refineries and was one of the first multinational corporations, selling much of its kerosene abroad. By 1900, it was targeted by reformers, and in 1911 the Supreme Court ordered it to break into dozens of smaller companies.

Interlocking Directorates

A practice where leaders from one company sit on the board of another company’s directors. J. P. Morgan used this in the 1890s to reduce competition in the banking industry.

Social Darwinists

The belief, common in the late 1800s, that wealth was earned through “survival of the fittest,” meaning the rich had naturally won and did not owe anything to the poor. Helping the poor was seen as interfering with this natural process. Some Social Darwinists also applied this idea to nations and races, arguing that powerful groups were naturally superior. This thinking was used to justify U.S. imperialism, such as during the Spanish-American War.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

A law that banned trusts and business combinations, making it one of the first congressional efforts to regulate big business for the public good. Initially, it was mostly used against labor unions because courts often favored companies. In 1914, the law was updated to better target monopolistic corporations.

National Labor Union (1866-1872)

The first national labor organization in U.S. history, which grew to 600,000 members from various parts of the workforce but excluded many Chinese, women, and Black workers. It focused heavily on advocating for an eight-hour workday and dissolved in 1872.

Knights of Labor

The second national labor organization, started in 1869 as a secret group and opened to the public in 1881. This aimed to organize all workers, no matter their skill, gender, or race. Membership declined after the mid-1880s due to involvement in violent strikes and conflicts between skilled and unskilled workers.

Haymarket Square (1886)

A May Day rally that became violent when a bomb was thrown into the crowd, killing several dozen people. Eight anarchists were arrested for conspiracy, even though evidence against them was weak. Four were executed, one committed suicide, and three were pardoned in 1893.

American Federation of Labor

A national federation of trade unions, founded in 1886, that included only skilled workers. Led by Samuel Gompers for nearly 40 years, the AFL worked to negotiate with employers for fairer wages, hours, and working conditions. Its membership was mostly white and male until the mid-1900s.

Tweed Ring

A well-known example of corruption during the Gilded Age in which “Boss” Tweed and his associates controlled New York City’s Democratic Party in the 1860s and stole about $200 million through bribery, graft, and buying votes. Tweed was eventually arrested, sent to jail, and died in prison.

Closed Shop

A labor term for a workplace policy where only union members are allowed to be hired. The AFL was known for making “closed-shop” agreements with employers, ensuring that companies would not hire nonunion workers.