Chapter 18: Reconstruction, 1865-1872

Describe the terms of the Compromise of 1877 & the abolitionists response to it.

1) Rutherford B. Hayes would become president. 2) The government would remove federal troops from the South. 3) The government would provide land grants and loans for the construction of railroads linking the South to the West coast. 4) Southern officials would receive federal funds for construction and improvement projects. 5) Hayes would appoint a Democrat to him cabinet. 6) The Democrats promised to respect African Americans' civil and political rights. It ended Reconstruction. Abolitionists opposed because they believed the South would not respect African American rights.

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1866?

A law granting African Americans full citizenship passed in response to black codes.

Describe the contract system and its effects on African Americans.

African Americans could decide whom too work for, and planters could not abuse them or split up families. Many owners cheated workers out of wage and it was a little like slavery.

Why did Congress pass the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil Rights Act of 1866?

Congress wanted citizenship for blacks protected in the Constitution.

Describe the terms of the Reconstruction Act of 1867.

Divided the South into 5 military districts. Members of the ruling class lost voting rights before the war. Before the Southern states could rejoin... 1) The Union must approve the new state constitutions that gave the right to vote to all men. 2) The Union must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment

How did Grant win the election of 1868?

Due to the Freedmen's votes. (Most African Americans voted for him)

Describe how Grant fought the Ku Klux Klan.

Grant asked congress to pass a tough law against the Klan. Congress approved the anti-Klan bill in 1811. Federal marshals arrested thousands of Klansmen. Grant won a second term in 1872.

Describe Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies.

He thought it was the president's job not Congress's. He insisted that the new state governments ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibited slavery. He also insisted that they accept the supreme power of the federal government. He offered amnesty to most white Southerners if they promised to return their property and they had to pledge loyalty to the U.S.

Why was President Johnson impeached?

He violated the Tenure of Office Act when he fired his secretary of war without the consent of Congress.

What did the Fifteenth Amendment to give African American men and what was the response of women to it?

It gave African American men the right to vote. Women were upset because they believed they should have the right to vote.

How did Freedmen's Bureau help Southerners?

It set up schools and educated former slaves, distributed clothes, food and fuel to needy Southerners. It also helped reunite families.

Describe the system of sharecropping and the cycle of debt the sharecroppers became trapped in.

Sharecroppers were both African Americans and whites. Workers wanted to farm food to feed family 1) Sharecropper is provided with land and shed. In exchange, he promises landowner half the crop. 2) Sharecropper buys food and clothing on credit from landowner's store. 3) Sharecropper plants and harvests crop. 4) Sharecropper gives landowner crop to sell. Sharecropper will get half the earnings. 5) The landowner and the sharecropper settle up. Sometimes the sharecropper is told that he owes more than he has earned. 6) To pay debt, sharecropper must promise landowner a greater share of next year's crop. Sharecropping created a cycle of debt because worker had to pay off previous year's debt with profit from crops.

Describe the scandals in the Republican Party.

Some of Grant's appointees took bribes. These scandals caused divisions in the Republican Party. Liberal Republicans favored cleaning up corruption in the Republican Party.

Black codes

Southern laws designed to limit the rights of African Americans

Describe the Freedmen's schools.

Started by Freedmen's Bureau, Northern missionary groups and African American organizations to teach newly freed African Americans.

List congressmen who supported land reform as part of Reconstruction.

Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner.

What were the goals of the Ku Klux Klan and what did they do to African Americans & white republicans? How did the Southern military authorities respond to the actions of the KKK?

The Klan's goals were to restore Democratic control of the South and keep former slaves powerless. The Klan attacked African Americans and white republicans. They burned homes, lynched people and stopped African Americans & Republicans from voting. Military authorities in the South often ignored the violence.

What effect did the Supreme Court rulings have on the 14th and 15th Amendments.

The Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not punish individuals who violated the civil rights of African Americans. These rulings undermined the 14 and 15th Amendments.

Describe the Panic of 1817 and its effects.

The panic caused an economic depression, a time of low business activity and high employment. Several powerful Eastern banks failed, the railroad industry suffered, farmers had no way to get their crops to market to market, so they were ruined and economic hard times caused Northerners to lose interest in Reconstruction.

Describe ways African Americans responded to freedom.

They left the plantations, went looking for economic opportunity in the North and West, traveled in search of family members, went to the South and got legally married.

Who were the Radical Republicans and what did they do in Congress to try to bring about equality for African Americans?

They were led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. They helped passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, they proposed the 14th Amendment and then proposed the 15th Amendment.

What was the main goal of Reconstruction?

To readmit the Confederate states to the Union and to rebuild the South.

Carpetbaggers

White Northerners who rushed to the South after the war; some were also delegates to draft the new state constitutions. Southerners felt carpetbaggers were trying to gain political or financial knowledge.

Describe the legacy of Reconstruction.

Most African Americans still lived in poverty. Protection of civil rights became part of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were protected. The nation did reunite and rebuild. Southern Democrats did not respect the civil rights of African Americans.

Scalawags

Scoundrels, group of poor white farmers who were some of the Republican delegates to draft the new state constitutions they went along with Radical Reconstruction.