Reconstruction

what were the terms of the Compromise of 1877?

1. The removal of all Federal troops from the former Confederate States. (Troops only remained in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the Compromise finalized the process.) 2. The appointment of at least one Southern Democrat to Hayes' cabinet. (David M. Key of Tennessee was Postmaster General). Hayes had already promised this. 3. The construction of another transcontinental railroad using the Texas and Pacific in the South (this had been part of the "Scott Plan," proposed by Thomas A. Scott, which initiated the process that led to the final compromise); 4. Legislation to help industrialize the South. Points 1 and 2 took effect almost immediately; 3 and 4 were not recognized until 1930.

What problems did the South face after the civil war?

1.The land was in ruins 2.Confederate money was worthless 3.Banks were runied 4.No law or authority 5.The souths transportation system was in complete disorder. 6.Loss of enslaved workers,worth two billion dollars. 7.Government at all levels, had dissapeared

Sharecropping

Southerners adopted this system. In it, the landowner provided land, tools, housing, and seed to a farmer who provided his labor. the resulting crop was divided between them.

Ku Klux Klan

Southerners who objected to congressional reconstruction policies founded several secret terrorist societies. It was organized in Tennessee in 1866 and became a vigilante group dedicated to driving African Americans out of politics by using intimidation and violence

Black Codes

Special laws passed by the southern state governments immediately after the civil war. They were designed to control former slaves, and subvert the intent of the 13 amendment. they outraged northerners

14th Amendment

provided citizenship to freedmen after the civil war and guaranteed them, and all Americans federally protected equal rights under the law. Its provisions were used by Radical Republicans to enact a congressionally controlled Reconstruction policy for the former confederate states.

what did the Reconstruction act do?

divided the south into five military districts.

15th Amendment

forbade all the states to deny the vote to anyone on the account of race, color, or for having been a slave. It was intended to guarantee African American the right to vote in the South.

why was the 14th amendment passed? what did it guarantee for African americans

granted citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States," which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.

How did the Emancipation proclamation impact the war?

it freed the slaves

what was Johnson's plan for reconstruction?

AKA Presidential Restoration Plan Similar to Lincoln's 10% Plan Gave amnesty to all southerners who pledged an oath of loyalty and promised to the abolition of slavery He also returned all property except slaves to southerners who received amnesty

Compromise of 1877

Allegedly a deal was struck in 1877 to settle the disputed outcome of the 1876 presidential election. Democrats accepted the election of the republican in return republicans agreed to with draw the federal troops from the south and end reconstruction

What was Lincolns plan for reconstruction?

Also known as 10% plan. southerners had to accept ban on slavery southerners also had to take a loyalty oath to the united states when 10% of voters in the 1860 election did this, the state could be readmitted to the union Lincoln wanted to reunite the nation as quickly and painlessly as possible

When did reconstruction begin?

Began in 1865 And ended 1877

who were the targets of the KKK and why?

Catholics, Jews, blacks and anyone supporting the rights of African Americans

Force Acts

Congress attacked the KKK with 3 of these in 1870-1871. They placed the state Elections under federal jurisdiction and imposed fines and imprisonment on this guilty of interfering with any citizen exercising his right to vote. They were designed to protect black voters in the south

Wade-Davis Bill

Congress passed this bill in 1864 in response to Lincolns 10 percent plan. it required majority of voters in a southern state to take a loyalty oath in order to begin the process of Reconstruction. it also required states repudiation of its Confederate debt.

what role did freeman's Bureau play following the war?

Definition: The Freedman's Bureau was an agency that provided assistance to tens of thousands of former slaves and impoverished whites in the Southern States and the District of Columbia. Role in Reconstruction: Established in 1865 in the War Department, the role of the Freedman's Bureau was to undertake the relief effort and the unprecedented social reconstruction that would bring full citizenship to freed people.

13th Amendment

Freed the slaves. Ironically, by negating the three-fifths Clause in the constitution, it had the effect of increasing the representation of southern states in Congress. Congressional Republicans balked at this.

Radical Republicans

Headed by the Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Summer, insisted on black suffrage and federal protection of the civil rights of African Americans. they gained control of reconstruction in 1867 and required the ratification of the 14 amendment as a condition of readmission for former confederate states.

Electoral Commission

In 1877 congress created a special group to decide the disputed outcome of the electoral college vote in the 1876 presidential election. The 8 republicans and 7 democrats on the commission awarded all 20 disputed votes to republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and he won't the electoral college vote and the presidentancy 185 to 184

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who went to the South after the civil war. They mixed a lot of idealists and self-interested seekers of political and economic opportunity.

Radical Reconstruction

The 1867 Reconstruction acts divided the South into 5 military districts each governed by a general. They required southern states to guarantee black suffrage and they disfranchised many former confederates. Southern states were required to ratify the 14th amendment as a condition of their readmission to the Union.

what were the black codes? why where they put in effect?

To enable southern states to limit the freedom of people of color after the civil war ended 1865.

What was the Radical Republican Plan for reconstruction?

Wanted the south to change much more than it had before they could return to the union Radical Republicans wanted the federal government to be much more involved in reconstruction

Redeemers

We're laissez-faire white supremacist southern democrats who displace post-civil war radical republican state government in the south in the 1870s

Freedman's Bureau

a federal postwar refugee agency set up to aid former slaves. It provided them food, clothing and other necessities as well as helped them find work and set up schools. Congress overrode President Johnson's veto of a Bill renewal

Civil Rights Act

declared that blacks were citizens of the U.S. and denied states the power to restrict African Americans' basic civil rights. Congress overrode President Johnson's veto of the bill.

in what was the reconstruction a success for blacks in the south?

slavery was outlawed, black institutions and churches were restored, blacks could vote, and be apart of the government as well as society. Former slaves got educated and helped economics.

why did congress pass the civil rights act of 1866?

so that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition.

Scalawags

southern republicans who cooperated with the congressionally imposed reconstruction government setup under the reconstruction acts.

in what was was the reconstruction a failure for blacks in the south?

the Freedmen's Bureau was underfunded and cut short, leaving the vast majority of free slaves uneducated and still in the South. There was no land reform, meaning slaves were forced into a sharecropping system and did not own their own farms, which might have made them more independent, equal and successful. The Black Codes and other laws restricting former slaves, though clearly unconstitutional, were not challenged in court or struck down by local military authorities, leaving African-Americans virtually unprotected and subject once again to working for whites involuntarily.

how was election of 1876 resolved?

the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. The Compromise effectively ceded power in the Southern states to the Democratic Redeemers.1

What options did former slaves have at the end of the Civil war?

they had to resort to share cropping because they didn't have an education, or anywhere to go and sharecropping was the only they would could survive

crop-lien system

to finance the sharecropping system southerners turned to this system. Landowners and sharecroppers borrowed (at high interest rate) against the future harvest. Lenders, usually local merchants insisted that they produce cash crops like cotton. the system made landowners and sharecroppers dependent on the merchants, and prevented the development of diversified farming in the South.

what were the goals of Radical Reconstruction?

to maintain Northern political and economic control over the South