Unit 4: Crisis - Chapter 15: Reconstruction

Question 1

Define the term: Andrew Johnson

Answer 1

Lincoln’s VP who took over after his assasination

Question 2

Define the term: Reconstruction

Answer 2

The period of time from 1865-1877 where the north attempted to rebuild the war torn south

Question 3

Define the term: Ten Percent Plan

Answer 3

Lincolns original plan for reconstruction, required 10% of the voting population to swear an oath to the union and gave pardons to all but the highest leaders of the confederacy

Question 4

Define the term: Radical Republicans

Answer 4

Republicans who favored more strict policies for the southern states, Andrew Johnson’s key opposition

Question 5

Define the term: Wade-Davis Bill

Answer 5

The law passed by congress which was far more strict than Johnson or Lincolns plan. Required 50% of a states white males to swear an oath to the union, and required black males the right to vote, pocket vetoed by Lincoln

Question 6

Define the term: Suffrage

Answer 6

The right/ability to vote

Question 7

Define the term: Thaddeus Stevens

Answer 7

The representative from Pennsylvania who led the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives

Question 8

Define the term: Charles Sumner

Answer 8

The senator from Massachusetts who led the Radical Republicans in the Senate

Question 9

Define the term: Amnesty

Answer 9

Forgiveness of wrongdoing of political or legal offenses

Question 10

What did the thirteenth amendment do?

Answer 10

Outlawed slavery (except as punishment for prisoners)

Question 11

Define the term: Black Codes

Answer 11

Laws implemented in the south that kept slavery in place de facto (in fact) if not de jure (in law)

Question 12

Define the term: Feedmen’s Bureau

Answer 12

The government organization responsible for assisting former slaves in building their lives, placed them in jobs.

Question 13

Define the term: Freemen

Answer 13

The term used for former slaves

Question 14

Define the term: Refugees

Answer 14

People who are seeking asylum, usually for political or war time purposes

Question 15

What did the 14th Amendment do?

Answer 15

Made people born in the US citizens
Created the federal concept of due process
Granted equal protection of laws
Changed the 3/5 compromise to make all people a whole person
Barred rebels from holding office without congressional approval
Made federal assumption of confederate debts illegal

Question 16

What did the reconstruction act of 1867 do?

Answer 16

Divided confederate states into 5 military districts
Assigned a governor for each of those districts
Required a new constitution
Required blacks as part of the constitutional process
Required ratification of 13th and 14th amendments
Required approval of all those steps from congress

Question 17

Define the term: Tenure of Office Act

Answer 17

Presidents could not fire appointees who had been approved by congress without

Question 18

Define the term: Edwin Stanton

Answer 18

Lincoln’s Secretary of War, the man who the Tenure of Office Act was intended to protect, a Radical Republican, and the guy who barricaded himself in his office

Question 19

Define the term: Impeachment

Answer 19

The formal bringing of charges against a government official

Question 20

Define the term: Sharecropping

Answer 20

You farm the land, and get a portion of the profit on that crop

Question 21

What are the problems with sharecopping?

Answer 21

Landowners would undercut peoples wages

Landowners would charge rent equal to the pay the sharecroppers would recieve

Question 22

Define the term: Tenant Farmer

Answer 22

Traveling farmers who would rent portions of land to farm. Usually had their own tools/animals

Question 23

Define the term: Carpetbagger

Answer 23

Derogatory term for northerners who came south to take advantage (for good and bad) of the economic opportunities

Question 24

Define the term: Scalawags

Answer 24

Derogatory term for southerners who cooperated with northerners and the northern policies congress was implimenting

Question 25

Define the term: Ku Klux Klan

Answer 25

One of the first domestic terrorist organizations who targeted successful black people. Goal was to put blacks back in their “rightful place” below the white men of the country

Question 26

Define the term: Lynched

Answer 26

A mob kill of some perceived offense, often without trial

Question 27

Define the term: Ulysses S. Grant

Answer 27

Successful confederate general who was elected to the presidency in 1872. Notorious for drinking and for scandals during his administration

Question 28

What did the Fifteenth Amendment do?

Answer 28

Gave all citizens (still male) the right to vote, and protection against voting discrimination by race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery)

Question 29

Define the term: Tammany Hall

Answer 29

Political party in New York, led by William “Boss” Tweed who corruptly stole money from the government through bribes and other methods

Question 30

Define the term: Panic of ‘73

Answer 30

The Depression that came during the Grant Administration, fueled by Greenbacks

Question 31

Define the term: Greenbacks

Answer 31

Money that the north had printed to help pay for the war, not backed by anything but the government

Question 32

Define the term: Redeemers

Answer 32

People who were elected in the south who the people viewed as taking them back to their “glory days” post reconstruction

Question 33

Describe the scandal of the Tilden/Hayes election

Answer 33

Tilden needed only 1 more EC vote to win, states sent two slates of electors and Congress had to decide which were legitimate. They set up a committee with 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats, Republicans chose their own party and Hayes won the election. Democrats agreed to abide by it IF reconstruction officially ended

Question 34

Define the term: Compromise of 1877

Answer 34

Democrats agreed to accept the election results if the Republicans agreed to end reconstruction, oversight, and remove military governorships

Question 35

Define the term: Solid South

Answer 35

The term used to describe the southern states, who voted democrats into office exclusively until 1972

Question 36

What three Amendments were added to the constitution during reconstruction?

Answer 36

13th, 14th, 15th,

Question 37

Who were the two leading Radical Republicans in Congress?

Answer 37

Thaddeus Stevens (House) Charles Sumner (Senate)

Question 38

What was the political struggle happening between the President and Congress in terms of reconstruction plans?

Answer 38

Congress viewed the states as conquered provinces, therefor the President had no authority to control the admission of the states back into the union. The President (Johnson) wanted to unify the country through more lenient policies.

Question 39

What agency was established to help former slaves build lives?

Answer 39

The Freedmen’s Bureau

Question 40

What were some of the problems Senator’s had in voting to convict Johnson after impeachment?

Answer 40

They questioned the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act
They knew the impeachment was done for political purposes
They knew that the most radical of the Radical Republicans would become President

Question 41

What were the 3 themes in the election of 1876?

Answer 41

Reconstruction, Republican Scandals, Economic Hard Times