Reconstruction, Oct.27 Flashcards
What was Reconstruction?
Reconstruction was the task of rebuilding the former Confederate states and readmitting them to the Union. (1865-1877)
Define amnesty
Amnesty is the forgiveness for any crimes committed to those who would swear loyalty to the Union.
Describe Abraham Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan.
Required 10% of a state’s voters to swear loyalty to the U.S. It also included ratifying the 13th amendment and amnesty for most Confederates.
Why were the Radical Republicans considered “radical?”
The Radical Republicans were considered “radical” because they favored a more radical approach on reconstruction.
Define freedmen
Freedmen is what Lincoln called a way to help African American’s adjust to life without slavery.
What did the Freedmen’s Bureau do? (List 3)
Food, clothes, and medical care
Who was John Wilkes Booth?
John Wilkes Booth was an actor and Confederate sympathizer that shot Lincoln in the back of the head in Washington D.C. at Ford’s Theater.
Who was Andrew Johnson?
Andrew Johnson was originally a vice president, but then became president, after Lincoln was assassinated. He was a Southerner, but he supported the Union during the Civil War.
Describe Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan.
Sates had to ratify the 13th amendment, amnesty was given to former Confederates, and Southern states were allowed to elect representatives to U.S. House.
What did the 13th amendment do?
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
What were black codes?
Black codes were the laws that were designed to help control the newly freed African Americans.
What did the Civil Rights Act of 1866 do?
Meant to protect rights of freedmen and classify them as citizens.
What were two main goals of the Radical Republicans in their approach to Reconstruction?
Punish Confederates and protect rights of the freedmen.
What did the 14th Amendment do?
The 14th Amendment ended slavery, it took the next step by explaining that born and naturalized people are citizens of the United States.
Describe the Radical Republicans’ Reconstruction Act of 1867.
Divide South into 5 military districts with a General in charge of each one. New state constitution written. 13th and 14th amendments.
Define impeachment.
The process of bringing formal charges against a public official.
Why did Congress impeach President Johnson?
The Congress said he violated the Tenure of Office Act.
What did the 15th amendment do?
Gave voting rights to African American men.
Who did southerners refer to as scalawags?
White people who supported the Union.
Who were the carpetbaggers?
Whites from the North who traveled 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 were really…
Who were the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)?
The Ku Klux Klan was a secret society and a serious danger to the freed people in the South.
What was sharecropping?
Sharecropping was a system where landowners rented land to sharecroppers, or farmers. Sharecroppers gave a percentage of their crops to the landowner. Landowners often demanded an unfairly large percentage that left sharecroppers with almost nothing to support themselves. For many, sharecropping was little better than slavery. Tenant Farmer
Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant became President in 1868. He served for 2 terms, but problems arose during his time in office. Name two problems that occurred while Grant was in office.
- scandals
2. economic depression
Who won the Presidential election in 1876?
Governor Rutherford B. Hayes won the Presidential election in 1876.
How does the election of 1876 lead to the end of Reconstruction?
The election of 1876 leads to the end of Reconstruction by Hayes holding moderate views on Reconstruction. Republicans hoped he would appeal to voters in both the North and the South. in exchange for 20 disputed electoral votes from 3 southern states.
What were poll taxes?
The poll taxes were a fee required for voting. Many African Americans could not afford to pay the tax, so they could not vote.
What were literacy tests?
The literacy tests was a test that required potential voters to read and explain difficult parts of state constitutions or the federal Constitution. Because most Southern African Americans had little education, literacy tests prevented many from voting.
What was the purpose of grandfather clauses?
To excuse whites from having to take a literacy test.
Define segregation.
Segregation was separation of the races.
What were Jim Crow laws? Provide an example.
The Jim Crow laws were laws that required African Americans and whites to be separated in almost every public place.
What was decided in the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson?
Constitutional!
What was a lynching?
Lynching was when angry mobs killed people by hanging them.
Rutherford B. Hayes?
the 19th president that oversaw the end of Reconstruction.
Exodusters
Freedmen that moved to Kansas
Grandfather Clause
excused white voters from taking a literacy test in order to vote
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plan created by Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. The idea was to limit the power of former Confederates and give rights to African Americans.
Sharecropping
The idea of working for a landowner to plant and harvest crops in exchange for a share of the profits from the crop.
