Download Chapter 10 Vocabulary

Chapter 10 Vocabulary
1. amnesty - clemency, pardon
2. pocket veto - indirect veto of legislation by refusing to sign it
3. black codes - were laws in the United States after the Civil
War with the effect of limiting the basic human rights and civil
liberties of blacks. Even though the U.S. constitution originally
discriminated against blacks (as "other people") and
both Northern and Southern states had passed discriminatory
legislation from the early 19th century, the term Black Codes is
used most often to refer to legislation passed by Southern states
at the end of the Civil War to control the labor, migration and
other activities of newly-freed slaves.
4. impeach - accuse; formally charge with misconduct; cast doubt
upon; remove from office
5. Radical Republicans - were a loose faction of American
politicians within the Republican Party from about 1854 (before
the American Civil War) until the end of Reconstruction in 1877.
They called themselves "radicals" and were opposed during the war
by moderates and conservative factions led by Abraham Lincoln and
after the war by self-described "conservatives" (in the South)
and "Liberals" (in the North). Radicals strongly opposed slavery
during the war and after the war distrusted ex-Confederates,
demanding harsh policies for the former rebels, and emphasizing
civil rights and voting rights for Freedmen (recently freed
slaves).
6. Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 - was a program proposed for
the Reconstruction of the South written by two Radical
Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and
Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland. In contrast to
President Abraham Lincoln's more lenient Ten Percent Plan, the
bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate
states contingent on a majority in each Southern state to take
the Ironclad oath to the effect they had never in the past
supported the Confederacy. The bill passed both houses of
Congress on July 2, 1864, but was pocket vetoed by Lincoln and
never took effect. The Radical Republicans were outraged that
Lincoln did not sign the bill. Lincoln wanted to mend the Union
by carrying out the Ten percent plan. He believed it would be too
difficult to repair all of the ties within the Union if the Wade–
Davis bill passed.
7. Freedmen’s Bureau - was a U.S. federal government agency that
aided distressed freedmen (freed slaves) in 1865–1869, during
the Reconstruction era of the United States.
8. Civil Rights Act of 1866 - enacted April 9, 1866, is a federal
law in the United States that was mainly intended to protect
the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of
the American Civil War. The Act was enacted by Congress in 1865
but it was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866
Congress again passed the bill, Johnson again vetoed it, but this
time a two-thirds majority in each house overcame the veto and
the bill became law
9. 14th Amendment - grants citizenship to everyone born in the US and
subject to its jurisdiction and protects civil and political
rights
10.
15th Amendment - which guaranteed the right to vote to all
men regardless of race
11.
carpetbaggers - adventurer, Northerner that traveled to the
South to make a profit after the Civil War
12.
scalawags - were southern whites who
supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party after the Civil
War. The term is now in common use among historians.
13.
graft - illegal or dishonest acquisition of money
14.
Ku Klux Klan Act - The Civil Rights Act of 1871, , enacted
April 20, 1871, is a federal law in force in the United States.
The Act was originally enacted a few years after the American
Civil War, along with the 1870 Force Act. One of the chief
reasons for its passage was to protect southern blacks from
the Ku Klux Klan by providing a civil remedy for abuses then
being committed in the South. The statute has been subject to
only minor changes since then, but has been the subject of
voluminous interpretation by courts.
15.
“sin tax” - a tax specifically levied on certain generally
socially proscribed goods and services, for
example alcohol and tobacco, candies, soft drinks, fast foods,
coffee, and gambling.
16.
tenant farmer - person who farms the land of another in
exchange for rent payment or giving a portion of the harvest
17.
sharecropper - is a system of agriculture in which a
landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share
of the crop produced on the land
18.
crop lien - The crop-lien system is a credit system that
became widely used by farmers in the United States in
the South from the 1860s to the 1920s
19.
debt peonage - is when a person pledges him or herself
against a loan. In debt bondage, the services required to repay
the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be
undefined. Debt bondage can be passed on from generation to
generation.
20.
Horace Greeley - was an American newspaper editor, a
founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician,
and an outspoken opponent of slavery. The New York Tribune (which
he founded and edited) was America's most influential newspaper
from the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation
as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to promote
the Whig and Republican parties, as well as opposition to
slavery and a host of reforms ranging
from vegetarianism to socialism.
21.
“Whiskey Ring” - In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was
a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues
in a conspiracy among government agents,
politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey
Ring began in St. Louis but was also organized
in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Peoria.Before
they were caught, a group of mostly Republican politicians were
able to siphon off millions of dollars in federal taxes
on liquor; the scheme involved an extensive network
of bribes involving distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers,
and internal revenue agents.
22.
Panic of 1873 - triggered a severe international
economic depression in both Europe and the United States that
lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The
depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but
is now known as the Long Depression. The panic was caused by the
fall in demand for silver internationally, which followed
Germany's decision to abandon the silver standard in the wake of
the Franco-Prussian war.
23.
Compromise of 1877 - refers to a purported informal,
unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S.
Presidential election, and ended Reconstruction in The South.
Through the Compromise, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was
awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden on the
understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops whose
support was essential for the survival of Republican state
governments in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. The
compromise involved Democrats who controlled the House of
Representatives allowing the decision of the Electoral
Commission to take effect. The incumbent president,
Republican Ulysses S. Grant, removed the soldiers from Florida.
As president, Hayes removed the remaining troops in South
Carolina and Louisiana. As soon as the troops left, many white
Republicans also left and the "Redeemer" Democrats took control.
What exactly happened is in some doubt as the documentation is
scanty.
24.
“New South” - is a phrase that has been used intermittently
since the American Civil War to describe the American South,
after 1877. The term "New South" is used in contrast to the Old
South of the plantation system of the antebellum period.