Reconstruction Period Flashcards
13th Amendment
Diminished the existence of slavery in the United States, unless it was punishment for a guilty crime
14th Amendment
Assured that all people born in the United States were citizens, and everyone was expected to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness unless they didn’t go through the process of law
15th Amendment
The right to vote can’t be denied by race
Freedman’s Bureau
A United States government agency that was created to provide relief to freed slaves. The Freedman’s Bureau set up schools and taught people how to read and write
Black Codes
New laws used by the southern states to control African Americans
Carpet Baggers
A name given by southerners to the northerners that went south to start new businesses or pursue political office
Scalawags
Southern whites that opposed segregation during the Civil War
Ku, Klux Klan
Known as the KKK. A secret society used to terrorize African Americans and their white allies
Poll Tax
A personal tax to be paid before voting. It kept a few whites from voting and many poor freedmen from voting
Literacy Test
A test people had to take to vote
Grandfather Clause
Allowed a voter to avoid a literacy test if his father or grandfather had been eligible to vote before January, 1, 1867. African Americans were not allowed to vote before this date
Jim Crow Laws
Laws that barred the mixing of races
Sharecropper
A laborer that worked the land for the farmer who owns it, in exchange for a share of the value of the crop. This kept many African Americans in a cycle of poverty
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Homer Plessy arrested for sitting in a coach marked “for whites only.” Separate but equal is equal
How did the building of the Transcontinental Railroad help change cities like St. Louis, Chicago and Minneapolis?
Decreased the amount of isolation
Where did the railroad begin?
Omaha, Nebraska
Sacramento, California
What is Promontory Point?
The point where the two railroads meet
Which cities was helped by the building of the railroad?
San Francisco, St. Louis, Chicago, and Minneapolis. San Francisco’s population increased from 1860 to 1890. These cities were helped because the railroad decreased the amount of isolation
What happened to the buffalo population between 1800 and 1889?
Population decreased
How was the explosion of population caused by the Transcontinental Railroad?
When the railroad was created, people began to settle around it. It took less time to travel to the west because of the railroad
What meets at the Promontory Point?
The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific
Battle in which the 7th Calvary was killed
The Battle of Little Bighorn-1876
Animal that Native Americans had full dependence on
The buffalo
All Native Americans were forced to move to
Reservations
Ghost Dance
Worried Americans, it made them think that the Native Americans wanted war
Wounded Knee Masacre
When Sioux begin to surrender weapons, a shot breaks out and US army fires into the Indian reservation. Sitting Bull was killed. South Dakota-1890
Sitting Bull
Chief of the Sioux Indians
Sioux (Lakota)
Last group of Indians to refuse to move to reservations. Sitting Bull was chief
Homestead Act
1862-government gives land to anyone willing to work it. The people that accepted their offer were given 160 acres in the Great plains
How were the conditions of the land in the Great Plains?
Land required deep plowing, and the work was tough
Inventions created during this period
Barbed wire, and the steel plow
John Deere
Man that moved to the Great Plains. He invented the steel plow to farm tough land
Kind of houses in Great Plains
Sod Houses-No lumber/trees, so the people shaped mud and grass into bricks
Sod Houses
Very strong and sturdy
