Reconstruction

What is the Fifteenth Amendment?

Amendment to the United States Constitution that gives African Americans the right to vote. All males 21+ can vote.

What is the Fourteenth Amendment?

An amendment to the United States Constitution that guarantees equal protection of the law and rights of CITIZENSHIP to all people born or naturalized in the USA, including former slaves. ."

Who were freedmen?

Enslaved people who had been freed by the war

What happened to the former slave Georgia General Assembly political members?

They were kicked out of office by racist Southern Democrats.

The three Amendments, in order of when they were passed, and what type of Reconstruction they were passed with:

13th with Presidential Reconstruction; 14th with Congressional Reconstruction; 15th with Military Reconstruction

What was a scalawag?

A derogatory/rude term for white Southerners who supported Reconstruction/helped former slaves following the Civil War.

What was the Freedmen's Bureau?

A government agency founded during Reconstruction to help former slaves/poor uneducated whites get back on their feet/support them

What was a carpetbagger?

A northerner who went to the South immediately after the Civil War; especially one who tried to gain political advantage or other advantages from the disorganized situation in southern states (they were looked down upon by many Southerners).

What was a sharecropper?

A person who works in fields rented from a landowner (and has to get EVERYTHING to farm successfully from the land owner) and pays the rent and repays loans by turning over to the landowner a share/most of the crops. It was HARD for a sharecropper to make any $$ .

What is the Ku Klux Klan?

A secret society created by white southerners (mainly Confederate Civil War veterans) in 1866 that used terror and violence to keep African Americans, and other groups, from obtaining their civil rights.

Who were Radical Republicans?

Congressional group that wished to BIG-TIME punish the South for its secession from the Union; they thought Lincoln and Johnson's reconstruction plan was TOO WEAK!

describe tenant farmers....

Description: typically poor whites who had a little more economic "freedom" compared to sharecroppers (who basically had zero economic freedom)

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan-details?

Gave pardons to basically all the Confederates regardless of whether they owned 10 slaves or 10,000 slaves pre-war. Wasn't as willing as Lincoln to give freed slaves basic rights/respect in society-still didn't feel they were citizens. His Reconstruction Plan semi-mirrored Lincoln's Plan (10% plan-state must pass the 13th Amend.). Most historians feel he was WEAK when it came to punishing the South, and forcing them to acknowledge that former slaves deserved basic human rights/citizenship.

What were the black codes?

Laws denying most legal basic rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the Civil War to keep former slaves from having any type of freedom.

Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan-What are the details?

Lincoln's plan allowed a southern state to form a new gov. after only 10% of its population took oath of loyalty to the U.S. He also encouraged the Southern States to pass the 13th Amendment. Southern state governments had to re-write their state const. abolishing Slavery. Ex-Confed. who had didn't own many slaves were pardoned.

What is Reconstruction?

Rebuilding of the South after the Civil War-both literally (remember, roads, buildings, entire cities in the South were totally DESTROYED), and by "mending" hearts, and "forgiveness"-bringing the South back into the Union

What was Congressional Reconstruction?

Reconstruction strategy that was based on severely punishing the South for causing the war, when the Radical Republicans, who had control in both houses of Congress, took charge of reconstruction....Congress introduces the 14th Amend.

What is segregation?

Separation of people based on racial, ethnic, or other differences

What was Military Reconstruction?

The South continues to refuse to pass the 14th Amend. The KKK has a lot of power over freed slaves. They terrorize former slaves. Many former slaves who have risen to some political power are removed by Southern Democrats from office. Things get so bad, the Federal Gov has to come in and take-over the South, basically (creating "districts"/"zones"). 15th Amendment is proposed, and Georgia REFUSES to pass (the 15th Amend.) at first.

Who were tenant farmers?

They had their own tools/farm equipment, but still had to rent the land from the land owner....and still had to give the land owner a portion of the crops/profit (maybe slightly more of a profit made compared to a sharecropper)

What is the Thirteenth Amendment?

an 1865 amendment to the United States Constitution that bans slavery throughout the nation

What were the 4 basic needs the Freedmen's Bureau provided to (mainly) former slaves?

food, shelter, clothing, supplies

Sharecropping was basically just another....?

form of Slavery (without officially calling it Slavery)

Sharecroppers were almost ALWAYS what?

in-debt to the land owner.....they never really had the opportunity to make a true profit.....they ALWAYS owed money to the land owner. Again, just another form of Slavery.

Georgia would not embrace what?

industry....they remained close-minded, and would NOT make the shift from agriculture/cotton production (to factory/manufacturing production)