Chapter 17 Vocab

Horace Greeley

(Feb. 3, 1811- Nov. 29, 1872) an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, and a politician. Was the new Liberal Republican Party's candidate. He was a strong supporter of the war, but subjected Lincoln to searing criticism for refusing to free the slaves.

1st Reconstruction Act

1867; Congressional Act that divided the south into 5 different military districts headed by major military leaders from the north. Also banned Confederate leaders from voting as well as anyone who refused to pledge their allegiance to the U.S. Also granted freed male slaves the right to vote. This Act helped to lead all states to rejoin the Union by 1870.

15th Amendment

States that the rights of citizens to vote cannot be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The congress has the power to enforce the article by appropriate legislation.

Promontory Point

location in Utah territory where Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific Railroad, hammered a ceremonial golden spike which finished the first transcontinental line. This was a major advance in transportation and allowed goods to be transported from further away than before. This also paved the way for a rapid settlement of the West and provided more jobs.

Ku Klux Klan

often referred to as the KKK. Advocated causes such as white supremacy, white nationalism and anti-immigration. The first Klan flourished in the South in the 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. Their iconic white costumes consisted of robes, masks, and conical hat and were designed to be outlandish and terrifying. The Klan served as a way to put down the freedmen and was later recognized as an excuse for federal troops to continue their activities in the South.

Thaddeus Stevens

A republican leader and powerful member of the House of Representatives. He wrote much of the financial legislation that paid for the Civil War. Along with Charles Sumner, he was a prime leader of the Radical Republican. This group opposed Lincoln's efforts to bring states back into the union. They created the Radical plan, which was repealed. And after the president's assassination, they pushed for abolition of slavery and initiated the Reconstruction acts.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Act that protected rights to public accommodations such as restaurants, theatres, and public transportation, for all Americans, regardless of race. However, this was not enforced, and was "repealed" in 1883.

"Forty acres and a Mule"

After the Civil War, there was an abundant amount of newly-freed people in the South that could go wherever they wished, but they had no land or shelter. For awhile, there was much controversy and debating about the question of confiscation of Southern land because slaves had worked and tilled that land for much of their lives and were somewhat entitled to some ownership in the land. So finally after this subject was debated for some time, William Tecumseh Sherman decided that they were going to temporarily give the 40000 freed slaves each forty acres of land and a mule to solve the problems caused by the mass of refuges. However, his plan was only in effect for a year.

Reconstruction Acts

After the end of the Civil War, as part of the on-going process of Reconstruction, the United States Congress passed four statutes known as ____________. These acts created five military districts in the seceded states, not including Tennessee (which had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and was readmitted to the Union), required congressional approval for new state constitutions for Confederate states to rejoin the Union, forced Confederate states give voting rights to all men, and demanded that all former Confederate states must ratify the 14th Amendment. President Andrew Johnson's vetoes of these measures were overridden by Congress, which later repealed the Habeas Corpus act of 1867 to revoke the Supreme Court's appellate power to hear the case of Ex Parte McCardle, fearing the ______________ would be deemed unconstitutional. The ______________ developed strong opposition in the former Confederate states, who, while reluctant, agreed to the terms anyway, though racism in the South continued in new forms, such as the KKK.

Johnson's Plan

Aimed to grant amnesty and pardon to confederates who pledged loyalty to the union and who promised to support the end of slavery except for those worth more then twenty thousand dollars who had to apply for presidential pardons. Johnson also appointed governors to seven of the former confederate states to hold constitutional conventions in which state debts were repudiated, slavery was abolished, and to stop the secession of the confederate states. By fall of 1865 ten of the confederate states met the requirements to rejoin the union.

Sharecropping

An agricultural system in which a landowner grants a farmer a certain amount of land and in return gets a portion of crops that are produced on his land. Benefits both the landowner and the farmer in that both get a portion of the income of the crops, farmer makes money, and the landowner gets someone to do his work for him.

War Democrats

Any Northern Democrats who supported the continuation of the Civil War. The ___________ ran some candidates of their own, but they tended to cooperate with the Republicans. Though they embarrassed their party, they did not win enough votes to significantly change the political demographics.

American Equal Rights Association

Group formed in 1866 by black rights activists and women's rights activists to combine the two causes. Soon after broke apart in 1869 because of differing goals. Anthony Stone, Fredrick Douglass, & Elizabeth Cady Stanton were the founders.

Black codes

In 1866 these laws were passed to restrict basic rights of African Americans in former slave states. They were enacted after the American Civil War. These codes were made to keep a supply of cheap labor and to keep blacks unequal. They also helped encourage segregation. But these laws legalized marriage, allowed property ownership, and allowed requests for judicial help when needed. The black codes did not survive reconstruction.

Civil Rights Act

Promised full citizenship to former slaves. This bill overturned the 1857 Dred Scott Decision and the black codes. It defined that all persons born in the United States (except Indians) as national citizens, and enumerated various rights; including the rights to make and enforce contracts, to sue, to give advice, and to buy and sell property. Under this bill, African Americans acquired "full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens."

US v Cruikshank

Supreme court case that arose after an armed white force in Reconstruction Louisiana killed more than one hundred black men over a disputed gubernatorial election. Three white men involved in the 1873 Colfax Massacre were found guilty of violating section 6 of the Enforcement Act of 1870, which forbade conspiracies to deny the constitutional rights of any citizen. The convicted defendants appealed on the grounds that the indictments were faulty. The Court concluded that punishment for the offenses committed in the Colfax Massacre lay with the state. but the chance of the Southern states would prosecute such offenses was small. The significance of this is that in encouraged violence in the south towards African Americans.

Impeachment

The Constitution defines ______________ at the federal level and limits ___________ to "The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States" who may only be ___________ and removed for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors". Legal matters are dealt with by Congress, who must vote a ⅔ majority to convict the official.The first president to be ___________ was Andrew Johnson in 1868 for violating the terms of the Tenure of Office Act. He was acquitted by the senate after falling one vote short of the necessary ⅔.

14th Amendment

The ____________ gave "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" the right of U.S. Citizenship, and prohibited states from violating the privileges of citizens without due process of law. This empowered Congress to reduce the representation of any state that denied the suffrage to males over twenty-one. Republicans adopted the ______________ as their platform for the 1866 congressional elections and suggested that Southern states would have to ratify it as a condition of re-admission.

13th Amendment

The _____________ to the Constitution prohibits the practice of slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. This amendment caused debates based on racial suffrage which would not be resolved until the fifteenth amendment. It also caused a major change to the economy and society of the US. Particularly in the South.

Slaughterhouse Cases

The ________________ were the first cases to have rulings made upon the 14th amendment. The first case, The Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. The Crescent City Live-Stock Landing and Slaughter-House Company, involved Louisiana granting a monopoly on animal butchering and thus suppressing the pursuit of life, liberty and property of another company, resulted in a ruling that claimed the 14th amendment protected only freed slaves and only their national, not state rights, therefore allowing the state's ruling to stand. The 2nd and 3rd rulings (U.S. vs. Reese and U.S. vs. Cruikshank) restricted enforcement of the Ku Klux Klan Act to states and not the federal government, stated the 14th amendment only protected against state discrimination, not individual or group, and that the 15th amendment did not allow all people to vote, just prevented racial or social discrimination. These decision led to the Civil Rights Act of 1775 being deemed unconstitutional and the institution of poll taxes and property requirements for voting eligibility. Overall these cases allowed for the spread of anti-black hatred and protected it by law, thus ending any real federal protection of non-whites in America until the 1960s and satisfying the South's need to suppress the former slaves and leading to Northerner apathy toward civil rights.

Freedmen's Bureau

The _________________ was an agency of the War Department set up in 1865 to assist freed slaves in obtaining relief, land, jobs, fair treatment, and education. It provided African Americans with important opportunities, especially in education, that they would not have gotten otherwise.

Election of 1868

The _________________ was the first to take place during Reconstruction. Three of the former Confederate states (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) were not yet restored to the Union and therefore could not vote in the election. The incumbent President, Andrew Johnson, was unsuccessful in his attempt to receive the Democratic presidential nomination because of his impeachment by congress, and by alienating constituents. Instead the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour to take on the Republican candidate, Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was one of the most popular men in the North due to his efforts in concluding the Civil War successfully for the Union.

Reconstruction Acts 1867/1868

There were actually four of these acts. These acts created five military districts in the seceded states that ratified the 14th amendment and were readmitted to the union. They required congressional approval for new state constitutions. Confederate states gave all men voting rights. They required all former Confederate states to ratify the 14th amendment. Congress feared that the court may strike the Reconstruction Acts down as unconstitutional; therefore congress repealed the Habeas Corpus act of 1867 to revoke the Supreme Court's appellate power to hear the case.

Radical Republicans

This group had very radical ideas about the nation's government. Most of these politicians had been shaped especially by the slavery controversy. Generally, they had a deep belief in equality in politics and economic opportunity, and a powerful national government. With regard to the South's re-admittance to the Union, most were on the opposite side of the "pendulum" from Lincoln's ideas. They wanted to eliminate the South's "large estates, wasteful agriculture, popular ignorance, social degradation, contempt for honest labor, and a pampered oligarchy" among other things. All _____________ had a common disdain for the South, and were outraged by its "black codes." These men did not make up the majority of the Republican party, but moderate Republicans eventually began to join them, influencing the overall decision-making process in Congress.

Credit Mobilier

This was a "dummy" construction company created by several Union Pacific Railroad stockholders. Its purpose was to divert funds to build railroads. "A group of prominent Republicans" received stock in this company in exchange for political favors. This scandal ended with two congressmen being reprimanded and Vice President Schuyler Colfax's political ruin.

Field Order 15

This was issued by General William Tecumseh Sherman in January of 1865 in order to relieve his army from the demands of impoverish African Americans who had followed him in his journey to the coast. The order gave freed African Americans portions of land in South Carolina as well as the Sea Islands of Georgia, which was about 400,000 acres. Families were given forty acres and a mule, giving origin to the term "forty acres and a mule" which was used by African Americans in the south. The order aggravated the south yet was a pivotal catalyst for the formation of the Freedmen's Bureau and helped slaves transition into freedom. The order was later repealed by Pres. Andrew Johnson.

Election of 1872

Ulysses S. Grant won this election with a popular vote of 55.5% defeating primary opponent Horace Greenley, a democrat who gained 43.8% yet only 3 electoral votes. The two main issues associated with the election included reconstruction and womens sufferage: Susan B. Anthony was arrested and fined for trying to vote. Greeley would die before most of the states he would have won cast a vote. Fact: Mississippi and Alabama would not vote for another republican until 1964.

"Waving the bloody shirt"

Where Republicans during reconstruction would remind people of the dead and wounded Union soldiers. Used to increase the Republican power in Congress during this time and trying to counter the actions done by Johnson and Northern Democrats. Helped to set up the fight between Congress and Johnson for reconstruction.

Election of 1876

_______ left the nation without a clear winner. Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat) and Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) received the most votes. Tilden won the popular vote over Hayes, but republicans refused to concede victory challenging votes in the electoral college. Tilden then won 184 electoral votes, one shy of the majority required. There were 20 disputed votes from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. Then in 1877 Congress established a Electoral Commission which gave Hayes all the disputed votes. Democrats and Republicans made a compromise that promised money for Southern internal improvements and the appointing of a Southerner to Hayes' cabinet.

Compromise of 1877

_________ resulted from a dispute over the election of 1876. The Democrat candidate Samuel Tilden had a lead in the electoral college by a vote of 203-165. However a dispute broke out over voter fraud and voter eligibility in South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Oregon. This left 20 votes in dispute. Although their candidate was likely to win, rather than create a major debate in the wake of the Civil War, the two parties would make an unofficial compromise. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes would be named President in return for the following: 1) All Federal Troops would be removed from the former Confederate states. 2) At least one democrat would be included in Hayes' cabinet. 3) A second trans-continental railroad would be built in the south using the Texas-Pacific Railway. 4) Legislation to help industrialize the South would be passed. The compromise gave the Democrats control over the South which would lead to the discrimination against blacks which would not be resolved until the late 1950's.

Ulysses S. Grant

_________ was born in 1822, fought in the Mexican-American War, became the North's Main General/armed forces commander then went on to become president. was important obviously because he was in charge of the North's fighting force and he became president in the Wake of the Civil War. He also accepted Lee's surrender on very peaceful terms which set a precedent of sorts for the reconstruction.

Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction

____________ was to bring the seceded states back into the Union as quickly as possible. Lincoln was determined to respect the private property of the Southerners (minus the slaves). He offered a full pardon to white Southerners that would swear an oath of allegiance. This excluded civil and military leaders, but he was willing to pardon them. The impact of this was that it caused massive opposition from some Northerners, who wanted harsh punishment for Southerners

Ten Percent Plan

a Reconstruction plan made by Lincoln for the south that proposed that if 10 percent of Confederate voters took an oath of allegiance that they could establish a state government that Lincoln would recognize as legitimate. This was used to shorten Reconstruction and give the Confederates a reason to take sides with the Union.

Tweed Ring

those involved were William H. Tweed, the Democratic Party boss, and his friends. In 1871 a news article was printed about them stealing millions of dollars from the New York city treasury. A cartoon drawn, by Thomas Nast, of Weed shows the corruption in politics then. This cartoon became a symbol of dishonest politics.

Ku Klux Klan Act

was a response to an extraordinary civil unrest during the reconstruction period. It threatened freed slaves lives and political and economical rights. It provided that any person deprived of rights conferred by the Constitution by someone acting "under color" of law or custom could bring suit in federal court and recover damages or equitable relief. It also provided criminal sanctions and a civil damages action for conspiracy to commit a range of offenses. These offenses included attempting to overthrow the government, intimidating witnesses or parties to legal action, using threat or force to influence jurors, or going on the highway in disguise to deprive others of the exercise of constitutional rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

Wade-Davis Bill

was an alternative to the Ten Percent Plan. It called for 50 percent of white male citizens from a seceding state to take loyalty oaths before a state's new constitution could be rewritten. It also gave slaves equality before the law, but they still did not have the right to vote. The bill was written as part of the Reconstruction of the South, but Abraham Lincoln pocket-vetoed it.