Reconstruction Flashcards
What was Reconstruction
The task of rebuilding the former Confederate states and readmitting them to the Union. 1865-1877
amnesty
Forgiveness for any crimes committed. government pardon
Lincoln’s ten percent plan
The voters in Southern states were to take an oath of loyalty to the Union, when ten percent of the state did, they could develop a state government, establish state laws and send representatives to government; they also had to have a state constitution that banned slavery. had to ratify the 13th amendment
freedmen
Men who were former slaves, but now were free men.
What did the Freedmens Bureau do
provided food, medical care and clothing to poor Southerners, set up schools, got the poor Southerners land to start farms to begin to make money
John Wilkes Booth
The man who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Abraham Lincoln’s vice president, took presidency after Lincoln died
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction plan
He gave amnesty to the Southerners who swore loyalty to the Union, he did not require Southern states to ban slavery, they also had to ratify the thirteenth amendment before rejoining.
black codes
Laws designed to help control the newly freed African Americans, created by legislation in the Southern states.
civil rights act of 1866
It gave the federal government the power to get involved with state affairs to protect African American’s rights.
two main goals of radical republicans
To protect and help the newly freed African Americans and to punish the confederates.
14th amendment
It said that everyone born in the United States are citizens of the U.S and of the state they live in, also said that a state cannot take a person’s life, liberty or property without “process of law” and said that every person was entitled to “equal protection of the laws.” It also excluded former Confederate leaders from holding any national or state office unless Congress had pardoned them.
Radical Republicans’ Reconstruction Act of 1867
This law required former confederate states to form new governments, also divided the ten defiant states into 5 military districts, allowed African Americans the right to vote in state elections. gave each one a general, new state constitution written, 13th and 14th amendment.
impeachment
To formally charge the president with wrongdoing.
why did congress impeach Andrew Johnson?
He suspended Stanton from work without the Senate’s permission, Johnson also appointed people the Radical Republicans opposed to command some of the military districts in the South. said he violated the Tenure of Office Act
15th amendment
This amendment guaranteed that state and federal governments could not deny the right to vote to any male citizen because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Scalawags
Southern whites who supported the Republican party
carpetbaggers
Northern whites who moved to the South after the war They were seen by southerners as men seeking political gain or profit from the difficult situation facing the South, some were dishonest but most really in the south to rebuild.
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
A group of resistment in the South, used fear and violence to deny rights to freed men and women, disguised themselves in robes and killed many African Americans and whites who supported them
sharecropping
When landowners rented land to sharecroppers, or farmers, seems to replace slavery, rented in exchange for a percentage of the value of the crop the sharecropper farms. often, unfair business practices by the landowner leave sharecroppers with almost nothing to support themselves and their family.
Name two problems that occurred while Grant was in office.
The Panic of 1873, when a large banking firm declared bankruptcy, which led the country to a depression; and scandals in politics also hurt the Republican party.
who won the election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes
How does the election of 1876 lead to the end of Reconstruction?
When Hayes took office, the troops stationed in the South were ordered to leave and all of the troops there left. The South also wanted to become more industrial like the North, so they set up factories and textile mills and soon produced many products and a new railroad system was set up. agrees to end reconstruction in exchange for 20 disputed electoral votes and 3 southern states
poll taxes
Poll taxes were a fee required for voting, lots of African Americans could not afford to pay the tax, so they could not vote.
