Chapter 15: Reconstruction, 1863-1877

"Scalawags" and "Carpetbaggers"

Definition: * "Scalawag" refers to a Southern Republican. * "Carpetbagger" refers to Northern Republican that moved South during Reconstruction. * Reason Northerners moved South was for business interests, as they could take advantage of the South's need. Significance: Republican politicians in the South, including newly elected Black politicians, caused bitter resentment among disfranchised ex-Confederates.

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

Definition: * Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill, which proposed more demanding and stringent terms for Reconstruction in 1864. * Bill required 50% of the voters of a state to take loyalty oath and permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution. Significance: The Wade-Davis Bill included demanding and stringent terms for Reconstruction in 1864, which was passed by Congress. Most of all the bill required 50% of voters had to take loyalty oath and vote for a new state constitution.

Reconstruction Act of 1867; Military Districts

Definition: * Congress passed three Reconstruction acts, putting the South under military occupation. * Divided the former Confederate states into five military districts. * Republicans sent the military in order to ensure that blacks' rights were protected. Significance: This radical form of Reconstruction included increased requirements for gaining readmission to the Union, such as ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment and guaranteeing the right to vote for all males.

Civil Rights Act of 1866; Fourteenth Amendment

Definition: * Declared that all people born on US territory were US citizens. * Obligated the states to respect their rights as citizens and provide them with "equal protection" and "due process." * Countered the Dred Scott decision and provided legal protection against the Black Codes. Significance: For the first time, states (not just the federal government) were required by the US constitution to uphold the rights of citizens, which would lead to many Civil Rights court cases in the 1950s.

White Supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Definition: * Founded in 1867, during the period that Republicans controlled Southern state governments. * Founded by an ex-Confederate. * Organized to intimidate black and white reforms to keep them from exercising their voting rights. Significance: In 1870, Congress passed the Force Acts to give power to the federal authorities to stop KKK violence and protect the civil rights of citizens in the South.

Sharecropping

Definition: * Immediately after CW, landowners tried to force blacks to sign contracts to work fields with terms that bound them to permanent labor. * Developed a new system where the landlord provided the seed and other farm supplies in return for a share of the harvest. * Tenant farmers were white and black, but both remained dependent on the landowner. Significance: Although slavery had officially had ended after the Civil War, the South's economy remained dependent on agriculture; sharecropping was a new method to acquire very cheap labor for landowners.

Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan: Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)

Definition: * In 1863, Lincoln set up a political Reconstruction, for reconstructing the state governments in the South so that Unionists were in charge rather than secessionists. * Lincoln's proclamation meant that each southern state would be required to rewrite its state constitution to eliminate the existence of slavery. * Lincoln's policy was designed to shorten the war and to give added weight to the Emancipation Proclamation. Significance: Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan had various obstacles to accomplish such as, reconstructing the state governments in the South, southern states to rewrite its state constitution, and lincoln's policy to shorten and give weight to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Freedmen's Bureau

Definition: * In March 1865, Congress created the Freedmen's Bureau. * Bureau acted as a welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for both blacks and homeless whites. * The bureau's greatest success was in education. Significance: Freedmen's Bureau provided and accomplished a few things that benefited their people like acting as a welfare agency, and being a success in education.

Johnson's Reconstruction Policy

Definition: * In May 1865, Johnson issued his own Reconstruction proclamation. * Reconstruction proclamation provided for the disfranchisement (loss of the right to vote and hold office). * Was an escape clause for the wealthy planters. * Former Candidates were back in office by the fall of 1865. Significance: Johnson's Reconstruction Policy made achievements in a few things but was also a place where people wanted to escape from like it was an escape clause for wealthy planters and it provided for the disfranchisement.

Fifteenth Amendment

Definition: * Prohibited any state from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. * Passed in 1869. * Considered to be one of the three Reconstruction Amendments. Significance: The Republican Congress passed this amendment quickly in order to secure the black vote for their party, which had been important in the previous election.

Congressional Reconstruction

Definition: * Second phase of Reconstruction, which was led by Congress. * Rejected the presidential version of Reconstruction, and adopted a harsher plan. * More strict on Ex-Confederates and more protective of freed blacks. Significance: The policies of Congressional Reconstruction were the result of ex-Confederates returning to high offices and the passage of Black Codes by Southern legislatures, which angered Republicans in Congress.

Black Codes

Definition: * Southern state legislatures adopted Black Codes which restricted the rights and movements of the newly freed African Americans. * The contract-labor system, in which blacks worked the cotton fields under white supervision for deferred wages, seemed little different from slavery. * Refused to seat Alexander Stephens and other duly elected representatives and senators from ex-Confederate states. Significance: The Black Codes were strict and organized. They restricted the rights and movements of freed African Americans, the blacks worked in cotton fields under supervision, and they refused to seat Alexander and elected representatives and senators from ex-Confederate states.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Definition: * The Tenure of Office Act was passed by Congress in 1867. * This law prohibited the president from removing a federal official or military commander without the approval of the Senate. * Congress wanted to protect the Radical Republicans in Johnson's cabinet, such as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was in charge of the military governments in the South. * Johnson became the first president to be impeached. Significance: The impeachment of Andrew Johnson had a few ups and downs, such as the Tenure of Office Act being able to be passed by Congress in 1867, and also this law prohibiting the president from removing a federal official or military commander without the approval of the Senate. In the end Johnson became the first president to be impeached.

Election of 1876; The Compromise of 1877

Definition: * Republican candidate Hayes against Democratic candidate Tilden. * Tilden had a clear majority of the popular vote, but the votes in three southern were contested (questioned). * Special electoral commission was set up, Republicans had a majority on the commission and gave all the electoral votes to Hayes. Significance: An informal deal between the two parties was made in order for the southern Democrats to accept this outcome. The most important part of this deal was that federal troops would be removed from the South, thereby ending Reconstruction.