Reconstruction

Scalawags

A derogatory term used to describe white southerners that supported Reconstruction following the American Civil War. Scalawags worked together with the Freedmen and carpetbaggers to take control of the government.

Freedmen's Bureau

A government agency that helped freedmen, or free blacks that were once enslaved, from 1865-1869, the Freedmen's Bureau was an important part during the Reconstruction Era because it helped the now free slaves adjust to their new lives and settle some disputes with white southerners.

Ku Klux Klan

A hate group that started in 1865 by veterans of the Confederate Army. It spread around the south during Reconstruction with the purpose of restoring white supremacy, targeting Freedman and those who associated with them. Their actions were suppressed when the government passed the Force Acts, though they continued to rise again at later times.

Redeemers

A term that described a political coalition in the south, originating from the Bourbon Democrats. They exercised their power through the hate groups such as the White League and the Red Shirts.

Exodusters

A term to describe African Americans who fled the south to Kansas due to things like the rumors of slavery coming back during 1879 and 1880. During this travel, an outbreak of yellow fever thought to originate from the Exodusters caused panic.

Black Codes

After the United States Civil War, discriminatory laws imposed on African Americans were put in place to control them such as stricter labor, migration, and penal codes.

Carpetbaggers

Also known as Yankees, the carpetbaggers were people who moved to the south from the north during the reconstruction era. Most carpetbaggers had economic and political interests, causing distrust among the southern community.

Filibuster

Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act actualized a filibuster which is a parliamentary procedure that involves extending the debate on a bill before it is voted on in order to "talk out the bill."

Pardons

Pardon is a forgiveness of a crime, so someone that is imprisoned is released after being pardon. President Andrew Johnson pardoned former Confederate officials after the Civil War which was a very controversial act.

Force Acts

Several acts passed by the US congress after the Civil War. These include Andrew Jackson's Tariff Enforcement of 1833 which taxed imports to favor the domestic economy and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which limited the activities of the Ku Kluk Klan.

Sharecropping

Tenants are permitted to use land of landowners if the landowner gets a return of the crop yield. Sharecropping was a common practice for freed slaves.

Rutherford B. Hayes

The 19th President of the U.S. who oversaw the end of the Reconstruction era and the entry into the Second Industrial Revolution.

The Compromise of 1877

The Corrupt Bargain that settled the 1876 U.S. Presidential election. This led to Rutherford B. Hayes, becoming president over the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden. The reason for this was that Hayes agreed to take away federal troops from republican state governments.

Reconstruction

The period of time 1863-1877 after the civil war in which the southern United States was rebuilt after the Confederate loss is known as the Reconstruction Era. The political party that had much of the power at this time was the Radical Republicans, who removed all of the former confederates from political power and enabled the freedmen. However, this was changed when white democrats declared northern corruption, and violence broke out. Despite the efforts of the government, the divisions between north and south were still apparent, as the south became more democratic.

Wade-Davis Bill -

bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South by radical republicans, Benjamin Wade and Henry winter Davis. Unlike Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan, the bill required for a majority of each Confederate state to take the oath of allegiance to the Union before they would be re-admitted. The bill never passed because it was vetoed by Lincoln

Tenure of Office Act-

stated that all federal officials could not be removed without consent of the Senate. The act allowed the president to suspend an official, but if the Senate refused to agree with the officials removal, the official would be reinstated.

Military Reconstruction Act -

the act passed by Congress that authorize military commander to supervise elections in the South and provide the machinery for constituting new governments.

Civil Rights Bill of 1866 -

the act that was enacted by Congress to protect the civil rights of African-Americans after the Civil War. The content of the bill assured that all people born in the U.S. would be considered citizens.

Fifteenth Amendment -

the amendment to the Constitution ratified in 1870 that prohibited the government from denying citizens the right to vote based on race or prior conditions of servitude.

10 Percent Plan -

the plan President Abraham Lincoln created for the reinstatement of Southern states. The model stated that a state could be readmitted into the Union when 10% of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the Union and pledged to abide by emancipaton.

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction -

the proclamation issued by President Lincoln after the civil war that outlined the steps each southern state would have to take to rejoin the Union. Under the proclamation, once a group in any conquered state equal in number to one tenth of that state's total vote in the presidential election of 1860 took the oath of allegiance to the Union and organized a government that abolished slavery, he would grant that government executive recognition. Lincoln hoped that this plan would undermine the Confederacy by establishing pro-Union governments within the south.

Fourteenth Amendment -

was a Reconstruction Amendment that did several things. It provided a definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott vs Sandfor ruling of the Supreme Court through its Citizenship clause. Its Due Process Clause prevents government from depriving people (including African Americans) life, liberty, or property without fairness. The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide protection to all people within its jurisdiction. The amendment also included clauses that dealt with the Confederacy.