The Era of Reconstruction (1865-1877

What is one valid explanation why the U.S. government had such difficulty preventing violence from the Ku Klux Klan?

Bills that would have allowed for a more aggressive response to the Klan were declared unconstitutional.

Which one of the following was not used to suppress the economic advancement of Blacks?

Black Friday

What was one group that was often a target of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1860s and 1870s?

Carpet-baggers.

Which of the following were Reconstruction efforts made by Congress in 1865 and 1866? Select all that apply.

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 Congress overturned the presidential veto of the 1866 Civil Rights Act. Congress extended the life of the Freedmen's Bureau.

What was the ultimate outcome of Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial?

Impeachment by the House and acquittal by the Senate.

The Military Reconstruction Act, passed over President Johnson's veto, approached Reconstruction in the South in what way??

Imposing martial law on states that had not yet rejoined the Union.

How was the Ku Klux Klan's revival in the 1920s different from its original incarnation in the 1860s and 1870s?

In the Twenties, it portrayed itself as more of a respectable political and social club than a violent organization.

In what ways were the economies of both the North and the South impacted by the Civil War?

Inflation set in, increasing consumer costs and eroding savings.

Given that the KKK attempted to operate in secret, keeping no registration records and covering their faces in public, what was the most effective tactic in combating their recruitment efforts and other activities?

Investigations that published lists of Klan members' names.

Although the 13th Amendment made slavery unconstitutional, what was one exception in which involuntary labor was permissible?

Involuntary labor could be a punishment for a crime.

Southern states were empowered to pass the discriminatory Black Codes.

Involuntary labor could be a punishment for a crime.

What was one critique that Radical Republicans had of President Johnson's Reconstruction plan?

It allowed former Confederate officers to be seated in Congress.

The 1866 Civil Rights Act was created by a heavily Radical Republican congress for what purpose?

It allowed the federal government to intervene in the states to protect citizens' rights.

The Fifteenth Amendment forbade any laws restricting the right to vote because of one's race. What was one weakness of this amendment?

It did not prevent restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests.

How did most White Southerners interpret the era of Reconstruction?

A period of misrule and political corruption.

When one was accused of "waving the bloody shirt" in 1860s and 1870s politics, what did this mean?

Accusing the Democratic Party of tolerating disunion and treason.

What was one significant social change for Black women to come from the period of Reconstruction?

An increase in their bargaining power in the labor market.

How did "grandfather clauses" in Southern law subvert the Fifteenth Amendment?

It waived the poll tax for those whose grandfathers voted before abolition.

What was the extent of the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition of slavery?

It was prohibited throughout the entire United States.

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

President Johnson provided sweeping "amnesty and pardon" to rebellious southerners

Which political faction lobbied the most strongly for President Johnson's impeachment?

Radical Republicans

Which of the following includes work undertaken by the Freedmen's Bureau? Select all that apply.

The Freedmen's Bureau worked to gain labor contracts for Black people. The Freedmen's Bureau provided food for White and Black people. The Freedmen's Bureau reunited families of freedmen.

The KKK used many tactics to try to end Reconstruction in the South. Which of the following does NOT characterize something done by the KKK?

The Ku Klux Klan joined forces with the carpetbaggers to bolster White dominance in the South.

What was one way that the Civil War impacted the Southern economy in the long run?

The South could no longer rely as wholly on the plantation system as it did before.

The election of 1876 was a contested election. Hayes was the ultimate victor, but he did not have the majority of the popular vote. In order to get the electoral college votes he needed, he had to promise the Democrats several things. Which of the following were part of the Compromise of 1877? Check all that apply.

The South would get a generous commitment for internal improvements. Federal troops would be removed, officially ending Reconstruction. The Southern Democrats would get a Cabinet pick.

Which of the following did not lead to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment?

The Twelfth Amendment

Which were events that undermined Republican control during Grant's administration? Select all that apply.

The United States began a long economic downturn. Internal problems started to develop within the Republican party. Scandals started to arise in the Grant administration.

In what way did the Wade-Davis plan for Reconstruction differ from Lincoln's plan?

The Wade-Davis plan required far more Southerners to swear allegiance to the Union.

Which of the following describes a key contribution of the Freedmen's Bureau to Black life after the Civil War?

The establishment of schools and educational institutions.

Compromise of 1877

the agreement between Republicans and Democrats, after the contested election of 1876, in which Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the presidency in exchange for withdrawing the last of the federal troops from the South

Reconstruction

the twelve-year period after the Civil War in which the rebel Southern states were integrated back into the Union

Throughout the 1870s, leading up to 1877, most of the Southern states were "redeemed." When that term was used in the South, what did it refer to?

White Southern governments ruling and the end of Black political participation.

Ku Klux Klan

a White vigilante organization that engaged in terroristic violence with the aim of stopping Reconstruction

sharecropping

a crop-lien system in which people paid rent on land they farmed (but did not own) with the crops they grew

crop-lien system:

a loan system in which store owners extended credit to farmers for the purchase of goods in exchange for a portion of their future crops

scalawags

a pejorative term used for Southern Whites who supported Reconstruction

carpetbagger

a term used for Northerners working in the South during Reconstruction; it implied that these were opportunists who came south for economic or political gain

redeemers

a term used for southern White people committed to rolling back the gains of Reconstruction

Ironclad Oath

an oath that the Wade-Davis Bill required a majority of voters and government officials in Confederate states to take; it involved swearing that they had never supported the Confederacy

The most important aspect of the 14th Amendment was that it

defined citizenship for Black people and White people who resided in the United States.

Radical Republicans

northern Republicans who contested Lincoln's treatment of Confederate states and proposed harsher punishments

Thirteenth Amendment

provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

The Freedmen's Bureau is rightly remembered for its aid to African-Americans after the Civil War. Which of these groups staked a greater claim to civic life by participating in the bureau's activities?

Northern Women

Which of the following is NOT an example of a domestic terrorist attack?

The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center

Which of the following measures had eliminated at least some slavery in the United States prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment?

The Confiscation Acts.

What argument was a key to the New Departure strategy used by suffragists after the Civil War?

The Constitution already implicitly granted women the right to vote.

What was the overarching goal of Reconstruction, as envisioned by Radicals during Andrew Johnson's presidency?

To transition the South from a slave labor society to a free labor society.

Which of the following is NOT a common intention of domestic terrorism?

To weaken a nation perceived as an enemy.

Which of the following statements is not true regarding Andrew Johnson's plan for Reconstruction?

No pardons would be available to high Confederate officials and persons owning property valued in excess of $10,000.

What did the Fourteenth amendment do?

Granted citizenship to formerly enslaved men and offered equal protection of all people under the law.

Gerrymandering is often seen as a racially-charged form of voter suppression today. To what does this term refer?

Drawing voting districts in such a way as to dilute the voice of minority voters.

Aside from granting citizenship to formerly enslaved individuals, what was one other key feature of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Due Process, or requiring states to follow fair procedures in criminal justice.

Although the Compromise of 1877 is seen as the end of Reconstruction, its program had been in decline for years. What is one reason Northern reformers seemed to lose interest in Reconstruction in the South?

Economic turmoil and splits in the Republican Party distracted most reformers.

Which tactic was used to suppress Black votes in the Reconstruction era and is still in common usage today?

Felon disenfranchisement

Which of the following is one significant difference between Lincoln and Johnson's respective plans for Reconstruction?

Johnson's plan did not require an oath of loyalty to the Union.

President Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction was met with opposition from the Radical Republicans in Congress because

Lincoln wanted the South to be integrated back into the Union as easily as possible.

Ten percent plan

Lincoln's Reconstruction plan, which required only 10 percent of the 1860 voters in Confederate states to take an oath of allegiance to the Union

What was one reason that federal efforts to stop the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870s fell short?

Local White opposition to Radical Reconstruction.

On which issue did Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans most strongly disagree?

Reconstruction of the former Confederate states.

With the abolition of slavery codified by the Thirteenth Amendment, what was one immediate priority shown by many freed persons?

Seeking out family members from whom they had been separated.

A relationship developed between sharecroppers and landowners. Select all that apply to this relationship.

Sharecroppers paid the landowners with crops they grew. Sharecroppers had to rent the land they worked. Sharecroppers often worked the land they once worked as enslaved people.

What impact did the practice of sharecropping have on Black people who took part in this system during and after Reconstruction?

Sharecropping served to keep many Black families in perpetual debt.

What was one consequence of Andrew Johnson's insistence, in the early years of his presidency, that Reconstruction had already been fulfilled?

Southern states were empowered to pass the discriminatory Black Codes.

What was one critique that suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had about the legal and constitutional changes of the Reconstruction Era?

The rights of African-American men were being prioritized over those of White women.

Toward the end of Reconstruction, the practice of "whitecapping" was used to keep Blacks from achieving economic independence. What does the term "whitecapping" refer to?

The use of vigilante violence against Black job-seekers.

While the Freedmen's Bureau is remembered for positive reforms in the South such as education, how did people working for this institution limit Black economic freedom in the South after the Civil War?

They encouraged freed Blacks to work as wage laborers for their former masters.

What was one substantive critique Radical Republicans had about Lincoln's Reconstruction plan?

They felt he was too lenient toward the former rebels in the South.

How did Radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner wish to carry out the process of Reconstruction during Andrew Johnson's presidency?

They hoped to punish White Southerners for their treason during the Civil War.

What was the purpose of Andrew Johnson's disastrous "Swing around the circle" in 1866?

To argue for his more lenient view of Reconstruction.

Which of the following was, at least initially, part of the purpose of the Freedmen's Bureau?

To distribute land and property to newly freed African-Americans.

Although the Freedmen's Bureau assisted newly emancipated Black Americans with education and housing, it also participated in the system of leased prison labor which was supported by Black Codes. In this regard, what was the ultimate goal of the Bureau when it came to the labor of Black Americans?

To prevent the collapse of the Southern economy.