Reconstruction, 1865-77 Flashcards
1
Q
South Carolina Freedman’s Convention
A
- 1865
- asked that African Americans be recognised as men
- requested right to trial by jury made up of other blacks
- schools should be set up to education coloured people and white people
- there should be no hurdles in buying a house
- asking to be treated with equality, justice and respect
2
Q
Freedman’s Bureau
A
- set up in 1865
- tried to protect freedmen by supervising labour contracts and taking employers to court if rules were broken
3
Q
13th Amendment
A
- 1865
- abolished slavery and involuntary servitude
4
Q
Civil Rights Act 1866
A
- abolished black codes
- gave freedmen full legal equality apart from the right to vote
- all those born in the US have full rights of a citizen
5
Q
Black Codes
A
- set up in 1865/66
- varied from state to state
- stopped blacks testifying against whites, serving on juries and voting
- this was an attempt by the South to resist the 13th Amendment
6
Q
Emancipation Proclamation
A
- 1st January 1863
- freed all slaves
7
Q
American Civil War
A
1861-65
- Union vs. Confederates
- 11 confederate states wanted to split from the union and create new country
- President Lincoln was on the side of the Union
- Lincoln was not dead set on ending slavery, and only set out the emancipation proclamation so that African Americans would be on his side
8
Q
11 confederate states
A
- Texas
- Florida
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Mississippi
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Virginia
- Arkansas
9
Q
Reconstruction Act 1867
A
- confederate states divided into 5 military districts with new state constitutions by delegates, elected by all male citizens over 21
10
Q
14th Amendment
A
- 1868
- declared that no state could deny any person full rights as an American citizen
- all entitles to due process of law
- ensure equal protection of laws
11
Q
15th Amendment
A
- 1870
- ensured that rights of citizens could not be denied or abridged by any state on account of race
12
Q
1st Enforcement Act
A
- May 1870
- banned any and all discrimination based or race colour or previous condition of servitude
13
Q
2nd Enforcement Act
A
- Feb 1871
- overturned state laws preventing African Americans from voting, as well as providing federal supervisions for elections
- banned use of violence to prevent freedmen from voting
14
Q
3rd Enforcement Act
A
- April 1871
- also known as Ku Klux Klan Act
- made it a federal offence for 2 or more persons to conspire to deprive citizens of their rights to equal protection under law
- made the KKK illegal
15
Q
Civil Rights Act 1875
A
- entitled all citizens to full and equal enjoyment of accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of inns, theatres, public conveyances and other places of public amusement
- however, it was later ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court in 1883 following the Civil Rights Cases
- last congressional legislation concerning civil rights until 1957
16
Q
Southern Homestead Act
A
- 1866
- land made available for freedmen
- however this was of poor quality and the offer wasn’t taken up
- planter class, being the former slave owners, kept the land and African Americans became sharecroppers
17
Q
Sharecropping
A
the owner of the land, the former slave owner, will allow a new tenant, freedmen, to use a part of his land in return for a share of the profits or crops produced
18
Q
Ku Klux Klan
A
- founded in 1865 in response to the freedom of African Americans
- white supremacist group
- used burning, murder, violence and intimidation to drive blacks from any land they managed to acquired, keeping them as a cheap, subordinate workforce
- eradicated in 1872 by third enforcement act
19
Q
Lincoln’s death and Johnson
A
President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 and replaced by Andrew Johnson
- Johnson was a democrat and not a friend of African American civil rights, so slowed down progress
- There was a failed attempt to impeach him by radical republicans in 1868
20
Q
Colfax Massacre
A
- Louisiana 1873
- worst instance of racial violence during this period
- between 60 and 150 freedmen and black state militia were killed by white democrats
21
Q
White League
A
- founded 1874
- white paramilitary group organised in Louisiana
- used violence and intimidation to suppress Republican voting
- helped Democrats take control of Louisiana legislature in 1876
22
Q
Red Shirts
A
- founded 1875
- ex-Confederate soldiers from Mississippi and North and South Carolina
- worked openly to control the Democrats to power by repressing civil rights and voting
- used whippings, intimidation and murder to suppress African American civil rights progress
23
Q
United States v. Cruikshank
A
- 1876
- Supreme Court ruled that federal government didn’t have the authority under the Enforcement Acts to prosecute white paramilitary groups
24
Q
Jim Crow Laws
A
- introduced from 1877 onwards to segregate all aspects of society
25
Q
Hayes Compromise
A
- 1877
- between Tilden and Hayes
- popular vote of the 1876 election went to Tilden, the Democrat candidate
- electoral vote went to Hayes, republican candidate
- 3 contested states: South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida
- compromise was made that Hayes would be made president, a republican victory, provided that he withdrew all remaining troops from the south, leaving those states alone
- after a decline in northern states interest in the goings on of the south over the past few years, and this was the final nail
