Unit 3b Reconstruction Flashcards
Andrew Johnson
Southern democrat chosen by Abraham Lincoln to be Vice President in an effort to keep the Union together prior to the Civil War, becomes President after Lincoln is assassinated
Reconstruction
plan based on rebuilding the South and reuniting the North and South following the Civil War
Amnesty
a pardon; President Lincoln offered a pardon to the South to help reunite the country
13th Amendment
abolishes slavery
14th Amendment
all persons born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens
15th Amendment
black men, despite having been former slaves, have the right to vote
Radical Republicans
Republicans who wanted revenge on the South, protection for the freedmen and to make sure that Republicans stayed in power; were against President Andrew Johnson and tried to get him out of office
Impeachment
to officially charge the President with committing a violation in an attempt to remove him from office
Ku Klux Klan
terrorist group organized by former Confederate soldiers to prevent African American men from voting and keeping white representatives in office
Ulysses S. Grant
wins election of 1868 as a Republican; lacked political experience but was a war hero; won due to the African American vote
Carpetbaggers
derogatory name used by Southerners for Northerners who moved down South to help freedmen in the South
Scalawags
derogatory name used by Southerners against other Southerners who backed the Union and supported Reconstruction
Compromise of 1877
Agreement between Presidential candidates Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden allowing the Republican to become President in return for taking federal troops out of the South
Sharecropping
a farming system that kept many southern farmers in debt since it paid for use of land with crops; made it nearly impossible for farmers to get out of poverty
Jim Crow laws
Laws passed in the South to enforce segregation; laws required segregated public transportation, schools, cemeteries, parks and other public places
Plessey v. Ferguson
Supreme Court Case of 1896 in which Supreme Court ruled separate but equal was constitutional
Booker T. Washington
former slave, political leader, educator & reformer who encouraged newly freed African Americans to gain economic independence by learning trades and getting an education and to peacefully accept discrimination for the time being
W.E.B. DuBois
leader in the black protest movement of Reconstruction who urged newly freed African Americans to protest and rise against discrimination; helped establish the NAACP
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; a civil rights organization primarily founded during Reconstruction to inform Americans about the violence against African Americans after the Civil War
What was Andrew Johnson’s plan to readmit the Southern states?
Each state had to form a new state government. It had to obey all federal laws and deal fairly with newly freed African Americans. But, his plan allowed Southern states to pass black code laws which denied many civil rights to African Americans.
Examples of how Southerners used black codes to deny African Americans their rights
They denied African Americans many civil rights like the right to vote, act as jurors in trails, take certain jobs, own land or have a gun
How did the Freedman’s Bureau help former slaves?
It built hospitals and schools for blacks in the South. It hired black and white teachers from the North and South
Compare and contrast Reconstruction’s successes and failures
Successes were the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, giving freedom and citizenship to African Americans, public schools and industries were expanded in the South. Slavery was over. Failures: after Reconstruction southern states passed new laws again restricting the rights of African Americans, they tried to prevent blacks from voting
Examples of how voting rights continued to be denied in the South
Whites set up voting booths far from African American communities or changes the location of the booths without informing blacks. Some states required a poll tax or payment to vote that blacks could not afford. Some places made blacks take reading tests when they had not been allowed during slavery to learn to read or write. Some said you could only vote if your father or grandfather voted before 1867 when blacks did not have the right to vote
