BC Reconstruction Era

Condition of the South after the Civil War

Cities in ruins, farmland destroyed, railroads wrecked, economy collapsed, 20% of white Southern males died.

Challenges faced by freed African Americans after the Civil War

Poverty, discrimination, limited job opportunities, desire for education and land ownership.

Freedmen's Bureau

Government agency (1865) that provided food, clothing, medical care, and education to freed people and poor whites.

Significance of the Sea Islands Experiment

Freed people farmed seized plantations for wages; Sherman promised 40 acres; schools and hospitals were built.

Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan

Allowed a state to rejoin the Union if 10% of voters pledged loyalty and banned slavery.

Wade-Davis Bill

Harsher plan requiring majority of white men to pledge loyalty; Lincoln pocket vetoed it.

Pocket veto

When the president ignores a bill at the end of a legislative session so it does not become law.

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865.

Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

Loyalty oath for Southerners, pardons for wealthy planters, repeal secession, abolish slavery, but gave no role to freed people.

Black Codes

Southern laws restricting freedmen's rights—forced labor contracts, limits on renting land, higher taxes, vagrancy laws.

Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republican leader in Congress who wanted to punish the South and guarantee rights for freedmen.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship to all born in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist group formed in 1866 that used violence to intimidate African Americans and Republican supporters.

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Divided South into 5 military districts, required ratification of 14th Amendment, and Black male suffrage.

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

Required Senate approval to remove officials who needed Senate approval for appointment.

Impeachment

The process of charging a president or official with misconduct; requires House vote and Senate trial.

Reason for President Johnson's impeachment

He violated the Tenure of Office Act by firing Sec. of War Edwin Stanton; survived removal by 1 Senate vote.

Scalawag

Southern whites who supported Republican policies during Reconstruction.

Carpetbagger

Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction, often accused of profiting from the situation.

Southern Homestead Act (1866)

Set aside 45 million acres for freedmen, but few benefited due to lack of resources.

Sharecropping

Farming system where landowners provided land/tools in exchange for a share of crops; kept workers in debt.

Tenant farming

Farmers rented land and grew crops; had more independence but often still in debt.

Decline of support for Reconstruction

Economic depression, corruption, violence, high taxes, and waning Northern interest.

Election of 1876

Rutherford B. Hayes (R) vs. Samuel J. Tilden (D); Tilden won popular vote but election disputed.

Compromise of 1877

Hayes became president; in exchange, federal troops were withdrawn from the South, ending Reconstruction.