History 104H: The Civil War and Reconstruction

Fort Sumter and the Outbreak of The Civil War

Slavery and the War

War’s End and Aftermath

Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1867)

Congressional/Radical Reconstruction (1867-1877)

Reconstruction’s End

People, Places, Events, Etc.

  • Richmond:
    • Became a state capital in 1779.
    • Served as the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
  • Major General Benjamin Butler (Union):
    • Union Army officer.
    • Known for his actions during the Civil War.
  • Fort Monroe:
    • Served as a Union stronghold during the Civil War.
    • Became a shelter for escaped slaves.
    • Role in "contraband of war" policy.
  • "Contraband of War":
    • Term coined by Major General Benjamin Butler during the Civil War.
    • Butler refused to return three escaped slaves to their Confederate owner.
    • Argued that the Fugitive Slave Act no longer applied due to Virginia's secession.
    • Classified the escaped slaves as enemy property that could be seized.
  • Confiscation Acts (1861 and 1862):
    • Legislative measures during the Civil War aimed at undermining the Confederate rebellion.
    • Focused on seizing property, including enslaved people.
    • 1861 Act:
      • Allowed the Union to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes.
      • Freed slaves employed in the Confederate military effort.
    • 1862 Act:
      • Expanded the scope to permit the seizure of all Confederate property.
      • Freed all slaves seized.
    • Served to weaken the Confederacy and address the issue of slavery.
  • Militia Act (1862):
    • Authorized the president to draft citizens into state militias to meet federal manpower quotas.
    • Allowed African Americans to serve as soldiers and laborers.
  • Seven Days’ Campaign:
    • A series of battles during the Civil War.
  • Antietam:
    • Bloodiest single-day battle in American history.
    • Marked the culmination of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the Northern states.
  • Emancipation Proclamation:
    • Declared that all enslaved people in the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union would be free.
    • Made the abolition of slavery a central goal of the Civil War.
  • Thirteenth Amendment:
    • Formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
  • Appomattox Court House:
    • Location where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.
    • Signified the end of the Civil War.
  • Freedmen’s Bureau:
    • Primary purpose: to assist newly freed slaves (African Americans) in their transition from slavery to freedom.
    • Provided various types of resources, including education, job training, and legal assistance.
  • Sharecropping:
    • Emerged in the Southern states after the Civil War.
    • A system where tenant farmers worked on land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops.
    • Provided subsistence for poor whites and freed black people but often trapped them in cycles of debt.
  • Andrew Johnson:
    • Became president following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
    • His presidency was marked by a lenient approach to Reconstruction.
    • Aimed to quickly restore the Southern states to the Union with minimal changes to their pre-war social structures.
  • Black Codes:
    • Restrictive laws enacted by Southern states after the Civil War.
    • Designed to limit the freedoms of African Americans and maintain a labor force similar to slavery.
    • Forced African Americans into exploitative labor contracts and criminalized unemployment.
  • Radical Republicans:
    • A faction within the Republican Party during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.
    • Strong opposition to slavery and commitment to securing civil rights for freed slaves.
    • Advocated for harsh penalties against the Southern states.
    • Led efforts to pass the 13th Amendment and Civil Rights Bill.
  • Civil Rights Bill (1866):
    • Protected the civil rights of African Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War.
    • Aimed to counteract the Black Codes.
    • Ensured that African Americans had the same legal rights as white citizens.
  • Fourteenth Amendment:
    • Addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law.
    • Response to the issues affecting freed slaves after the Civil War.
    • Guaranteed citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves.
  • Reconstruction Act (1867):
    • Aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War.
    • Divided the South into military districts, each governed by a Union general.
  • Ulysses S. Grant:
    • 18th President of the United States.
    • Union general during the Civil War.
  • Fifteenth Amendment:
    • Ensured voting rights for African American men.
    • Aimed to protect the voting rights of newly freed slaves.
    • Part of the broader Reconstruction efforts to promote equality and civil rights.
  • Carpetbaggers:
    • Northerners who moved to the Southern states during the Reconstruction era.
    • Often viewed with suspicion by Southerners; some sought to exploit the situation for personal gain, while others aimed to help rebuild the South.
  • Scalawags:
    • Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party after the Civil War.
    • Seen as traitors by many white Southerners.
  • Ku Klux Klan:
    • White supremacist hate group.
    • Aimed to resist Reconstruction policies and maintain white dominance through intimidation and violence against African Americans and their allies.
  • Redeemers/Redeemer Democrats:
    • Part of the Democratic Party.
    • Aimed to regain political control of the Southern states and enforce white supremacy.
  • Samuel J. Tilden:
    • Democratic nominee in the highly disputed 1876 presidential election against Rutherford B. Hayes.
    • Reformer who fought against corruption.
  • Rutherford B. Hayes:
    • Aimed to restore integrity to the presidency after years of corruption.
    • Worked to reconcile the divisions left by the Civil War.
    • Union general during the Civil War.
  • Bargain/Compromise of 1877:
    • An informal agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden.
    • Resulted in Hayes becoming president in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the Southern states, effectively ending Reconstruction.