Civil War and Reconstruction Terms

1. Ku Klux Klan:

- Group in the South that was started to intimidate free blacks in the South and stop them from voting.

2. Carpetbaggers:

- Northerners who went South after the Civil War to help free blacks and for their own opportunity.

3. Tenure of Office:

- Act violated by Andrew Johnson, leading to his impeachment.

4. Redeemers/Bourbons/Solid South/New South:

- Southerners who took over control of the South during the later part of reconstruction.

5. Radical Republicans:

- Group during Reconstruction that wanted military rule over the South, fought for black suffrage, citizenship, and land redistribution.

6. 10% Plan:

- Lincoln's Reconstruction plan that called for leniency and forgiveness of the South.

7. 14th Amendment:

- Amendment stating citizens in the US are entitled to equal protection under the law, essentially declaring blacks as citizens.

8. Lecompton:

- Pro-slavery Constitution drawn up in Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

9. Free Soil Party:

- Political party that eventually became the Republican Party, members were for stopping the expansion of slavery.

10. Dred Scott v. Sanford:

- Case deciding that blacks were not citizens, and Congress could not constitutionally decide slavery in a territory.

11. Plessy v. Ferguson:

- Case deciding that it was okay and constitutional for there to be "separate but equal" facilities.

12. Freedmen's Bureau:

- Group designed to assist both freed slaves and poor whites in the South; this group set up schools, helped with unemployment, etc.

13. Democrat Party:

- Political party that was for popular sovereignty; Douglas was a member; after the Civil War, this party became the party of the white South.

14. Tenant farmers/sharecroppers:

- Farmers who worked the land in return for a share of the crop; farmers were forced to go into debt to buy tools, seed, etc., continuing economic dependency on the rich planter class.

15. Crittenden Compromise:

- After the South seceded, this was the proposal to allow the 36 30' line to continue all the way to the Pacific Ocean with slavery existing south of the line.

16. Emancipation Proclamation:

- In this speech, Lincoln freed the slaves in states in rebellion; many historians say it was done out of military necessity.

17. James Buchanan:

- President directly before Lincoln who supported corrupt popular sovereignty and didn't do anything to prevent the Civil War.

18. Ulysses S. Grant:

- President who didn't stop scandals from occurring in his administration, thereby leading to the Republican Party being labeled as corrupt during this time period.

19. Homestead Act:

- This was passed by the government in 1860 to give free land to settlers who moved out west and worked on the land for 5 years.

20. 13th Amendment:

- Amendment that abolished slavery.

21. 15th Amendment:

- Amendment that gave all male citizens the right to vote regardless of their race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

22. Fugitive Slave Law:

- Part of the Compromise of 1850; Northerners were required to send escaped slaves back to their owners in the South.

23. Sherman's March to the Sea:

- Name of the event in which the Union General and his troops burned cities and plantations in Georgia, leaving the South in ruins and angry.

24. Hayes Tilden Compromise:

- Compromise that ended Reconstruction; the candidate with the more popular votes did not become President, 1876/77.

25. Scalawags:

- Southerners during Reconstruction who cooperated with the North, favored industrial development, or were more interested in themselves than the South as a region.

26. Election of 1860:

- The South seceded after this event because it was obvious that their vote did not matter; the North was more powerful politically.

27. Republican Party:

- Political Party that had the platform that slavery should NOT be extended anymore; Lincoln was a member of this party.

28. Vicksburg:

- Battle in which Union troops gained control of the Mississippi River, thereby cutting off the west from the rest of the Confederacy; coincides with the northern victory at Gettysburg.

29. Compromise of 1850:

- Compromise in which California became a free state, and popular sovereignty was introduced to decide what would happen with the rest of Mexican Cession.

30. Kansas Nebraska Act:

- Repealed the Missouri Compromise and established popular sovereignty as to what would be used to determine the remaining land in the Louisiana Purchase.