Download Reconstruction Review Reconstruction – 1865 – 1877, the process

Reconstruction Review
1. Reconstruction – 1865 – 1877, the process by which the southern states were
reorganized as a part of the union after the Civil War; the Constitution provided no
guidance on secession or readmission of states
2. Abraham Lincoln – first major goal for Reconstruction was to reunify the nation
3. Lincoln’s Plan – Lenient on the South; It stated the southern states had never really left
the Union
4. Ten Percent Plan - required that ten percent of a state’s voters take a loyalty oath to the
union; it was rejected by the Radical Republicans because they believed that African
Americans should be granted full citizenship
5. Wade Davis Act – Reconstruction plan of the Radical Republicans in response to
Lincoln’s 10% plan; Contrasted with most Lincoln’s reconstruction concerning the
conditions of readmission to statehood
6. John Wilkes Booth – assassinated President Abraham Lincoln
7. Radical Republicans – Group of extremist that attempted to plan the reconstruction;
Republicans became strong in the South, in part because millions of southern African
Americans became voters; Congressmen who supported freedmen and sought to punish
the South for the Civil War
8. Freedmen’s Bureau – first federal relief agency created in America; agency created in
1865 to aid African Americans freed from slavery; provided food, clothing, medical
supplies and education to freedmen; greatest achievement was in the area of
education…250,000 freedmen were educated through this program; Johnson viewed it
as a meddlesome agency that should be killed
9. Andrew Johnson – 17th President; Reconstruction plan required wealthy planters and
Confederates to apply for pardons; under his plan voters had to ratify the 13th
Amendment, and state constitutions had to ban slavery; Congress overturned Johnson’s
vetoes on major reconstruction legislation to support Southern African Americans
10. Thaddeus Stevens – Radical Republican in Congress instrumental in the impeachment of
President Andrew Johnson
11. Tenure of Office Act – law passed by the Radical Republicans restricting the Presidents
ability to remove individuals from office
12. Impeachment of Johnson – Occurred when President Johnson attempted to fire
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton; The House impeached the President but the Senate
failed to remove him
13. Black codes – 1865 laws passed in the south to restrict the rights of African Americans;
main purpose was to ensure a stable labor supply
14. Poll Tax – a black code that required payment of a special fee in order to vote
15. Ku Klux Klan – used violence to prevent freed people from voting
16. 13th Amendment – made slavery illegal in the United States
17. 14th Amendment – guaranteed citizenship and civil rights to freed slaves; promised
equal legal protection to former slaves; its enduring significance is its due process and
protection clauses; Tennessee was the first and only ex-Confederate state to ratify
18. 15th Amendment – failed to fulfill its promise for nearly a century because voting rights
were denied to many
19. Ulysses S. Grant – 18th president; had his ability to lead marred by scandal
20. Successes of Reconstruction – introduction of a tax-supported public school system in
the South; raising AA expectations of their right to citizenship
21. Failures of Reconstruction – racism continued in both the north and south;
22. Compromise of 1877 – Rutherford B. Hayes became President, brought an end to
reconstruction; federal troops were removed from the South and subsidies were given
to the railroads
23. Rutherford B. Hayes – 19th President; his election effectively ended Reconstruction
because federal intervention ended in the South
24. Plight African Americans in the South – most AA families remained in rural areas, where
they worked at jobs such as lumbering or farming
25. End of Reconstruction – northern support faded because the cost of military operations
in the South worried many people
26. Carpetbaggers – Northerners that moved to the South after the war to aid freedmen or
exploit those in the South
27. Scalawags – Southerners that aided or worked with northerners or freed slaves after
the war
Other important information:
The South became a stronghold of the Republican Party.
Southern Economy – was destroyed by the end of the Civil War