The Reconstruction Flashcards
When was Reconstruction (the years)?
1865 - 1877
Andrew Johnson: compare/contrast him to Lincoln. Why did Lincoln choose him as his running mate in 1864?
He wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign. Johnson was very racist, and they were both unionists
What’s the difference between Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1867?) and Congressional Reconstruction (1867-1877?)?
Presidential Reconstruction was the approach that promoted more leniency towards the South regarding plans for readmission to the Union. Congressional Reconstruction blamed the South and wanted retribution for causing the Civil War.
Where was grant from?
He was originally from Ohio and lived in Illinois prior to the Civil War
What was Grants party when running?
Ran as a Republican
what was grant during the civil war?
He was the head general for a time during the Civil War
what was Grant like?
He had a reputation for both smoking and drinking
what was the difference between the way people used to see him vs now?
In terms of President ranking lists, Grant was at the bottom when the rankings first started, but is now ranked in the middle or the top half of presidents
What was the group that grant tried to stop?
he did a lot to crush the KKK as president
what group voted and supported Grant the most?
The African Americans
What were the results of the 1872 election?
Electoral vote: Grant got 286 electoral votes Greeley got 66 electoral votes
Popular vote: Grant 56% Greeley 44%
What was controversial about Alexander Stephens? Who was he and what happened to him after the Civil War?
He was the vice president of the CSA, but he still became a congressman in the USA after the war.
Freedmen’s Bureau;
an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South.
“black codes”
Restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of african americans
Ku Klux Klan
A hate group against African Americans that did many things to threaten blacks such as burning crosses, and sometimes even commiting murder. Other targets included, Jewish people, those who have immigrated to the United States, and members of the LGBTQ community.
13th Amendment
abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to all people who were born in the U.S. - including former enslaved people- Guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws”
15th Amendment
Granted african american men the right to vote
Unalienable Rights
God given rights, the gov can’t take them away without due process.
Radical Republicans
More extreme than normal Republicans
scalawags
term for white southerners who supported the federal plan from northern reconstruction for their own gain
carpetbaggers and the destruction of Southern forests
Northerners who took advantage of the resources in the south to get rich (like the trees from the forests)
Transcontinental Railroad
a train route across the United States that was finished in 1869
Government subsidies
When the government gives people money to do something
Northwest Passages
A passage from Europe to Asia. The transcontinental railroad made it faster to get there (it was an easier route).
Who was Hiram Revels?
He was the 1st African American senator
What is impeachment?
If a president is impeached they are charged with something by the house. If convicted by ⅔ vote of the senate, the president is removed from office.
How many presidents have been impeached?
Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump(twice) (3 presidents)
How many have been removed by the Senate following impeachment?
0
Why would the government subsidies cause bad incentives for railroad companies? And even contribute to the depression of 1873?
The railroads were not made the most efficient way because railroad workers wanted more money.
what was the big deal about the transcontinental railroad?
TCR cut coast to coast travel from 6 months to 10 days!!!
Why did reconstruction end in 1877?
Things like schools and road repair cost money, which meant taxes, which made republican governments (made republicans very unpopular. White southerners could not accept african americans exercising basic civil rights, holding office for voting
Which election did the bargain of 1877 settle?
1876 U.S. Presidential election
What did the Republicans get in the bargain?
They Got hays (the us president)
What did the Democrats get in the bargain?
They got the federal troops out of the southern states, and another transcontinental railroad through Texas
Even though slavery ended a lot of the same people continued to own the Southern farmland, and slavery was replaced by
sharecropping
How was sharecropping different from slavery?
Landowners would provide housing to the sharecroppers, and the sharecroppers would get a portion of their crops (but former slaves still did work)
Thaddeus Stephens was a leader of a group in Congress called the…
Radical Republicans
… governments in the South claimed that they were saving the southern states from “Northern Republican corruption” and “Black rule”.
Redeemer
How was Reconstruction a success?
Reconstruction was a success in that it restored the United States as a unified nation: by 1877, all of the former Confederate states had drafted new constitutions, acknowledged the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, and pledged their loyalty to the U.S. government.
How was it a failure?
The failure to stop violence and protect the political gains of Reconstruction was a policy failure: the U.S. government failed to coordinate and plan to suppress an advancing revolt; failed to deploy enough troops or use the troops with consistency; failed to consider other options to secure the rights of Black Americans; and otherwise failed in its counterinsurgency and counterterrorism policies.
when was the presidential reconstruction and congressional reconstruction?
1865 - 1867 - presidential
1867 - 1877 - congressional
