US History GT Reconstruction & Westward Expansion Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms for the Reconstruction and Westward Expansion unit study guide.

13th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime.

14th Amendment

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

15th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that guaranteed voting rights to citizens regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Jim Crow

State and local laws and social practices enforced in the South to impose racial segregation and disenfranchise African Americans.

Compromise of 1877

An unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 presidential election by awarding the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

Lincoln’s Plan

President Abraham Lincoln's lenient approach to Reconstruction (the 10% Plan) aimed at quickly reuniting the nation after the Civil War.

Johnson’s Plan

President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policy that offered rapid readmission and leniency to former Confederates, leading to the enactment of Black Codes.

Domestic Terror

Violent acts committed by individuals or groups within a country, such as white supremacist group violence during Reconstruction, intended to intimidate African Americans and preserve white control.

Convict Leasing

A system in which Southern states leased prison labor—predominantly African Americans—to private businesses under harsh and abusive conditions.

Sharecropping

An economic system in which tenant farmers worked land owned by someone else in exchange for a share of the crops, frequently trapping African Americans in cycles of debt.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A federal agency established in 1865 to assist newly freed African Americans and poor whites in the South with education, food, healthcare, and resources.

Booker T. Washington

An African American leader and educator who advocated for vocational education, economic self-reliance, and accommodation to social segregation as the path to progress.

W.E.B. DuBois

An African American civil rights leader and scholar who demanded immediate political rights, higher education, and full social equality, contrasting with Booker T. Washington.

Frederick Douglas

A prominent African American abolitionist, author, and civil rights leader who fought against slavery and advocated for equal rights and suffrage during Reconstruction.

Soddy/Soddies

Houses constructed out of sod (blocks of dirt and grass) by homesteaders on the wood-scarce Great Plains.

Assimilation

The process of forcing or encouraging a minority group, such as Native Americans, to adopt the culture, language, and customs of the dominant society.

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated from the South to the Great Plains (primarily Kansas) in the late 1870s to escape racial violence and oppression.

Hiram Revels

The first African American to serve in the United States Senate, representing Mississippi during Reconstruction.

Rutherford B. Hayes

The 19th President of the United States whose disputed election led to the Compromise of 1877 and the conclusion of Reconstruction.

Samuel Tilden

The Democratic candidate in the disputed presidential election of 1876 who won the popular vote but lost the presidency following the Compromise of 1877.

Scalawags

A derogatory term used by Southern Democrats for white Southerners who supported Reconstruction policies and the Republican Party.

Carpetbaggers

A derogatory term used by Southerners for Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction seeking political, economic, or social opportunities.

Grandfather Clause

A rule used in Southern states to disenfranchise Black voters by exempting individuals from literacy tests or poll taxes if their grandfathers had voter status prior to emancipation.

Pacific Railway Act

Federal legislation passed in 1862 that authorized construction of the transcontinental railroad and granted land and bonds to railroad companies.

Lynching

The murder of an individual by a mob without legal trial, used as a form of racial terror and intimidation against African Americans.

Segregation

The enforced separation of racial groups in daily life, public accommodations, and social institutions.

Suffrage

The legal right to vote in political elections.

Great Plains

The vast expanse of prairie land in the central United States that was a major center for Westward expansion, homesteading, ranching, and Indian Wars.

Enfranchisement

The granting of citizenship rights, particularly the right to vote, to a group of people.

Disenfranchisement

The deprivation of a legal right or privilege, especially the right to vote, targeting African Americans following Reconstruction.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization established to combat racial discrimination, lynching, and legal inequality.

Settler Colonialism

A system of colonial displacement where incoming settlers displace Indigenous populations to claim ownership of land and resources permanently.

Indian Wars

A series of armed conflicts between the United States government/settlers and Native American tribes during Westward expansion.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand across the North American continent.

Buffalo/Bison

Essential animals to Native American cultures and survival on the Great Plains, whose systematic extermination by white settlers devastated Indigenous life.

Chinese Exclusion Act

An 1882 federal law prohibiting Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States and denying naturalization to Chinese residents.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The 1896 landmark Supreme Court decision that established the 'separate but equal' doctrine, legalizing state-mandated racial segregation.

Reservation System

A federal system of designated lands set aside for Native American tribes, restricting their movements and sovereignty to enable settler expansion.

Ranching

The commercial practice of raising large herds of livestock on open land, serving as a primary driver of the Western economy.

Radical Reconstruction

The period when Radical Republicans in Congress directed Reconstruction, placing the South under military districts and enforcing civil rights for freed people.

Transcontinental Railroad

A continuous railway completed in 1869 that connected the eastern rail network to the Pacific coast, revolutionizing Western trade and settlement.

Homestead Act 1862

Federal law offering 160 acres of public Western land to citizens who agreed to live on, cultivate, and improve it for five years.

Status Quo

The existing state of affairs or existing social and political order.