Reconstruction - Chapter 15

sharecropping

a system used on Southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops

Phillip Sheridan

Civil War general who was the ruler in Louisiana

13th Amendment

End slavery: This amendment freed all slaves without compensation to the slave owners. It legally forbade slavery in the United States.

Thomas Nast

Famous political cartoonist who worked for Harper's Weekly

Robert Smalls

Former slave from the Charlestown docks and secretly guided a vessel out of a harbor

Charles Sumner

He was an unpopular senator from Mass., and a leading abolitionist. In 1856, he made an assault in the pro-slavery of South Carolina and the South in his coarse speech, "The Crime Against Kansas." The insult angered Congressmen Brooks of South Carolina. Brooks walked up to Sumner's desk and beat him unconscious. This violent incident helped touch off the war between the North and the South.(*Leader of the Radical Republican Senate*)

The Newyorker

Horace Greeley was the editor of what newspaper?

1

How many people were executed for war crimes following the civil war?

U.S v. Reese

In 1876, a court case in which the Court ruled in favor of officials who had barred African Americans from voting, stating that the Fifteenth Amendment did not "confer the right of suffrage to anyone" but merely listed grounds on which states could narrow the scope of these amendments so much that the federal government no longer had much power to protect the rights of African Americans. Although the Supreme Court would later overturn them, these decisions impeded African Americans' efforts to gain equality for years to come.

The Stalwards

Wing Grant represented, believed in patriotism,

Bradwell v. Illinois

(1873)-Myra Bradwell applied for the Illinois state bar, but was denied admittance on the basis of her gender. The case ruled 8-1 that the right to practice a profession was not protected by the Fourteenth Amendment

Rutherford B. Hayes

(1877-1881), "His Fraudulency". President as a result of the Compromise of 1877, he resumed gold payments, refused to expand currency, and didn't overhaul civil service as promised. Complained about treatment of blacks but did nothing to prevent it. He started an era of honesty. He played down the tariff issue. He resumed assumption of hold payments and vetoed bills to expand the currency. He was involved in the Customs House Dispute, where he dismissed Chester Arthur and Alonzo Cornell from their positions as officials of the Customs House when they refused to carry out civil service reform measures. He also passed the Band Allison Act.

Freedmen's Bureau

1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs

Nathan B. Forrest

1866- Confederate general founded the Klu Klux Klan- terrorist acts to put fear into blacks to enforce white power; Grand Wizard of the KKK

Andrew Johnson

A Southerner from Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, he became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He was a very weak president.

Credit Mobilier

A construction company owned by the larger stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad. After Union Pacific received the government contract to build the transcontinental railroad, it "hired" Credit Mobilier to do the actual construction, charging the federal government much more than the actual cost of the project. When the scheme was discovered, the company tried to bribe Congress with gifts of stock to stop the investigation. This precipitated the biggest bribery scandal in U.S. history, and led to greater public awareness of government corruption. (Grant Administration)

Solid South

After Reconstruction, the South became solidly Democratic. Once they gained control, the Democrats cut back expenses, wiped out social programs, lowered taxes, and limited the rights of tenants and sharecroppers. These white southerners remained a major force in national politics well into the 20th century. Voted Democratic in every election.

Thadeus Stevens

American lawyer and politician; he was the leader of the Radical Republicans in the Reconstruction effort and was an opponent and critic of Andrew Johnson's policies (*Leader in the House*)

"waving the bloody shirt"

An expression used as a vote getting stratagem by the Republicans during the election of 1876 to offset charges of corruption by blaming the Civil War on the Democrats.-- In the history of the United States, "waving the bloody shirt" refers to the practice of politicians referencing the blood of martyrs or heroes to criticize opponents. In American history, the phrase gained popularity with a fictitious incident in which Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts, when making a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, allegedly held up a shirt stained with the blood of a carpetbagger whipped by the Ku Klux Klan. (While Butler did give a speech condemning the Klan, he never waved anyone's bloody shirt.)

Ku Klux Klan

An organization of white supremacists that used lynchings, beatings, and threats to control the black population in the United States. Expressed beliefs in respect for the American woman and things purely American [anti-immigrant]. Strongest periods were after the Civil War, a resurfacing in 1915 [on Stone Mountain, GA.] continuing through the 1920s, and another upsurge in the 1990s. Catholics, Jews, immigrants and others thought to be un-American were targetec

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Created five military districts, required Congressional approval for new state consitutions, Confederate states give voting rights to all men, and former Confederate states must approve the 14th amendment. IN POWERPOINT: Command of the Army Act. The President must issue all Reconstruction orders through the commander of the military. Tenure of Office Act. The President could not remove any officials [esp. Cabinet members] without the Senate's consent, if the position originally required Senate approval. Designed to protect radicalmembers of Lincoln's government. A question of the constitutionality of this law.

Samuel Tilden

Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, the most controversial American election of the 19th century. A political reformer, he was a Bourbon Democrat who worked closely with the New York City business community, led the fight against the corruption of Tammany Hall, and fought to keep taxes low

Redeemers

Largely former slave owners who were the bitterest opponents of the Republican program in the South. Staged a major counterrevolution to "redeem" the south by taking back southern state governments. Their foundation rested on the idea of racism and white supremacy. Redeemer governments waged and agressive assault on African Americans.

Henry Wirz

Name the person executed for war crimes after the Civil War

Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina

Names of southern states with strange voting

carpetbagger

Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction. They carried their belongings in carpetbags, and most intended to settle in the South and make money there. Part of the radical government, they passed much needed reforms.

Abraham Lincoln

One of the most skillful politicians in Republican party. Lawyer. Tried to gain national exposure by debates with Stephen A. Douglas. The Lincoln-Douglas debates attracted much attention. Lincoln's attacks on slavery made him nationally known. He felt slavery was morally wrong, but was not an abolitionist. He felt there was not an alternative to slavery and blacks were not prepared to live on equal terms as whites. Won presidency in November election.

Enforcement Act of 1870

Protected the voting rights of African Americans and gave the federal government power to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. Passed by Congress to ban the use of terror, force, or bribery to prevent people from voting because of their race (used to stop the KKK)

Harper's Weekly

Publication from New York

15th Amendment

Ratified in 1870. One of the "Reconstruction Amendments". Provided that no government in the United States shall prevent a citizen from voting based on the citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Edmund Ross

Republican senator from Kansas who cast the deciding vote in 1868 against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson; it was later revealed that he demanded several political favors from Johnson in exchange for his vote.

Compromise of 1877

Republicans promise 1) Remove military from South, 2) Appoint Democrat to cabinet (David Key postmaster general), 3) Federal money for railroad construction and levees on Mississippi river, agreement that ended the disputed election of 1876 between Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden; under its terms, the South accepted Hayes's election. In return, the North agreed to remove the last troops from the South, support southern railroads, and accept a southerner into the Cabinet. The _____________________ is generally considered to mark the end of Reconstruction.

black codes

Restricted the rights and movements of newly freed African Americans; 1) prohibited blacks from either renting land or borrowing money to buy land; 2) placed freemen into a form of semi bondage by forcing them, as "vagrants" and "apprentices" to sign work contracts' 3) prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court.

Edwin Stanton

Secretary of War fired by Andrew Johnson

P.B.S. Pinchback

Son of slave and white plantation owner. This African American was sworn in as Governor of Louisiana after Governor Henry C. Warmoth was impeached "for high crimes and misdemeanors" in 1872. He had previously been a delegate to the Republican convention that nominated Ulysses S. Grant for president. He became the first black governor in American history. Name him.

Tenure of Office Act

The 1867 Act prohibited the president from removing any official who had been appointed with the consent of the Senate without obtaining Senate approval. President Johnson challenged the act in 1868 when he dismissed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. For this, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson.

U.S v. Cruikshank

The case in 1876 that emerged from the massacre of African American farmers by ex-Confederates in Colfax, Louisiana, which was followed by a Democratic political coup. In the case, the Court ruled that voting rights remained a state prerogative unless the state itself violated these rights. So long as the civil rights of former slaves were being violated by individuals or private groups (including the Klan), that was a state responsibility and beyond federal jurisdiction. The Court thus gutted the Fourteenth Amendment.

14th Amendment

This amendment declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were entitled equal rights regardless of their race, and that their rights were protected at both the state and national levels.

Radical Republicans

This group in Congress, headed by Thaddeus Steven, Benjamin Wade, Charles Sumner insisted on black suffrage, equal rights for Freedmen, and federal protection of the civil rights of blacks. They gained control of Reconstruction in 1867 and demanded harsh, punitive policies toward the Confederate State and ex-Confederates.

U.S Grant

U.S. president 1873-1877. Military hero of the Civil War, he led a corrupt administration, consisting of friends and relatives. Although Grant was personally a very honest and moral man, his administration was considered the most corrupt the U.S. had had at that time.

tenant farming

Under this system of farming, the farmer owned their own tools, animals, and equipment. They also bought the seed and fertilizer. They either paid the landowner a set amount of money or set portion of the crop.

Oliver O. Howard

Union general known as the "Christian general" because he tried to base his policy decisions on his deep religious piety. He was given charge of the Freedmen's Bureau in 1865, with the mission of integrating the freed slaves into Southern society and politics during the second phase of the Reconstruction Era. Founded and presided as president of Howard University.

Blanche Bruce

a U.S. politician who represented Mississippi as a Republican in the U.S. Senate from 1875 to 1881 and was the first elected African-American senator to serve a full term.

Scalawag

a white Southerner who joined the Republican party during the Reconstruction period. they were also considered traitors to the Southern cause. Part of the radical government, they passed much needed reforms.

Horace Greeley

an American newspaper editor and founder of the Liberal Republican Party; he was opposed to slavery; during Reconstruction, he wrote about the corruption of President Ulysses S. Grant's Republican administration; famous for the quotation supporting Manifest Destiny: "Go west, young man, and grow up with the country." Founder of the Republican Party.

Hiram Revels

he was a Methodist minister from Mississippi who served as a minister in the Union army; in 1870, he became the first African American senator in the U.S. Since he preceded any African American in the House, he was the first African American in the U.S. Congress as well. He represented Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during Reconstruction.

Joseph Rainey

he was born into slavery, freed by his father who purchased his freedom, and he was the first African-American elected into the House of Representatives and the 2nd to serve in the Senate

pardon

release from the punishment or legal consequences of a crime, by the President (in a federal case) or a governor (in a state case)

civil rights

right or rights belonging to a person by reason of citizenship including especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th amendments and subsequent acts of Congress including the right to legal and social and economic equality

Reconstruction

the period after the Civil War in the United States when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union (1865-1877)

impeach

to bring formal charges against a public official; the House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach civil officers of the United States