Reconstruction Flashcards
Reconstruction
Process of rebuilding the South after the Civil War. (1865-1877)
Lincoln’s Plan
Known was the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction / Ten-Percent Plan.
a. full presidential pardons would be granted to most southerners who (1) took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and the U.S. Constitution AND (2) accepted the emancipation of slaves
b. State could form a state government and federal election if 10% of the people who voted in 1860 swore an oath to the Constitution.
(1863)
Wade Davis Bill
A radical reconstruction plan forwarded by Republicans in Congress but Lincoln ended up pocket vetoing that called for
0% of the people in a state to swear they NEVER supported the CSA and uphold the Constitution.
b. permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution
(1864)
Pocket Veto
President doesn’t say no to a law, he just “forgets about it” and it expires.
(A pocket veto can only occur at the end of a congressional session. If the President does not sign the bill within 10 days AND Congress adjourns within those 10 days, the bill dies and must be reintroduced when Congress reconvenes)
13th Amendment
Bans slavery in the U.S.
(1865)
Freedman’s Bureau
A federal welfare program that:
a. helped ex-slaves get employment, education, and emergency assistance in the form of clothing and food
b. an extension of the bureau was vetoed by Johnson in 1866; but overridden by Congress
(1865)
General Oliver O. Howard
Head of Freedman’s Bureau
Andrew Johnson
Democrat senator from Tennessee who becomes Lincoln’s 2nd V.P. and successor.
Johnson’s Plan
Lincoln’s plan continued but included 3 clauses:
1. disenfranchisement (loss to vote) to all former Confederate leaders and officeholders (and Confederates with more than $20,000 in taxable property)
2. Any Southern state had to ratify the 13th Amendment to come back into the Union.
3. granted many more pardons to former C.S.A. members
Black Codes (later known as Jim Crow Laws)
Southern laws meant to restrict freed slaves’ access to Southern life and services including:
Voting; testifying against white people; sitting on a jury; carrying weapons; working in certain occupations; and traveling with a permit
Radical Republicans
championed civil rights for black people
Thaddeus Stevens
a. Radical Republican leader in the House of Reps who rejected Johnson’s Reconstruction plans and refused to seat any of the new Congress
b. Said Congress was in charge of Reconstruction
c. wanted to revolutionize southern society via an extender period of military rule in which black people would exercise their civil rights, would be educated in schools operated by the federal government, and would receive lands confiscated from the planter elite.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
a. passed to go against the Jim Crow Laws
b. granted freed men all the rights and benefits of U.S. citizens and that federal troops would enforce these rights (helped enforce the Thirteenth Amendment)
c. vetoed by Johnson, but overrode by Congress
14th Amendment
Provides citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law to ALL people of the U.S.
(1868)
Reconstruction Act(s)
Also known as Radical Reconstruction/Military Reconstruction
a. All southern states except Tenn. (who had accepted the 14th Amendment) were divided into 5 military districts, each controlled by a general/Union army
b. must ratify the 14th Amendment to gain readmission into the Union
c. Must draft a new state Constitution that gave African-Americans the right to vote to gain readmission into the Union
Tenure of Office Act
President must get 2/3rds of the Senate to approve before he removes any member of his Cabinet or a military commander
(1867)
Impeach
charging a public official of a crime done while in office
Election of 1868
a. Ulysses S. Grant becomes President in an election where some Southern States were not allowed to vote.
b. Republican Grant defeats NY Democrat Horatio Seymour
15th Amendment
a. No American could be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous conditions of servitude”
b. Effectively grants voting rights to African-Americans
(1869)
Civil Rights Act of 1875
a. called for full equality in public accommodations (such as hotels, RRs, and theaters), for all races, and prohibited the exclusion of African-Americans from juries
b. declared unconstitutional in 1883; Congress would not pass another round of civil rights legislation until the 1960s
Carpet Baggers
Northerners who went to the South to profit from available land and Reconstruction.
Scalawags
Southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction/Reconciliation with the North.
Hiram Revels & Blanche K. Bruce
First 2 African-American members of Congress; elected from the South
Sharecropping
a. Southern system where freed slaves would work part of the land of a former plantation
b. The owner would provide the tools and the seed and the share croppers would do the work and give between 1/2-2/3rds of what was grown back to the owner
c. many become indebted to landowners or to local merchants
d. evolved into a new form of servitude
Redemption (redeemers)
Refers to the White southerners taking back control of their governments in the South after Congressional Reconstruction ended for good.
Ku Klux Klan
a. founded in 1867 by ex-Confederate general Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
b. Radical Southern groups opposed to equal rights
Force Acts of 1870 and 1871
a. gave President Grant the power to declare martial law in any Southern state with Klan activity & to protect the civil rights of citizens in the South
b. Meant to curtail KKK violence
Amnesty Act of 1872
Allowed Confederate officials back into the governments of the South and allowed them to vote in elections.
Election of 1876
a. contested election between Rep. Rutherford B. Hayes (Ohio) v. Dem. Samuel J. Tilden (NY)
b. Tilden wins a clear majority and needs 1 electoral vote from the contested states of S.C., FL, and Louisiana (military still in these states ONLY)
c. special commission gives ALL votes to Hayes
d. Democrats threaten to filibuster the results and send the election to the House, which they controlled
Compromise of 1877
Hayes would become Pres on 2 conditions:
(1) immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South = military leaves
(2) support the building of a transcontinental RR in the South
this ends Reconstruction
Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses
Methods by which Southern governments from keeping African Americans from voting
