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Radical Republicans
Republicans who opposed Lincoln's plan to introduce a policy that would reconcile Southerners with the Union. These radical republicans did not want to reconcile with the south but rather in Thaddeus Steven's words, to "revolutionize Southern institutions, habits, and manners." Their main goals were to prevent leaders of the Confederacy from returning to power, make the Republican Party a powerful institution in the south, and wanted to help African Americans achieve voting rights. -
Wade-Davis Bill
An alternative to Lincoln's plan agreed upon by moderate and radical Republicans. The bill would require the majority of the adult white males in a former Confederate state to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. The state could then hold a constitutional convention to create a new state government. -
Freedmen’s Bureau
Created during the Civil War (March 3, 1865) to help former black slaves and poor Southern Unionists. The Bureau was created mainly to help freedmen in the South. The Freedmen’s Bureau faced opposition from Southern governments and President Andrew Johnson and was disbanded on June 28, 1872 -
Scalawags
White Northerners who moved South after the Civil War for economic gain by helping freed African Americans. They supported Republicans and earn the name “scalawag” and “carpetbagger” from Southerners and critics who saw them as exploiting the Southern economy -
Special Field Order No. 15
An order approved by Lincoln that allowed Union General William T. Sherman to confiscate a strip of land stretching from South Carolina to Florida and distribute the 400,000 acres to black refugees. This helped to relieve Sherman of his group of black refugees that he was protecting as he could no longer support or protect the refugees while on campaign. Field Order No. 15 also seemingly solved a problem from Republicans on where a new class of Southern workers would live -
Black Codes
Black Codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War. The Black Codes were created to dampen the blacks’ attempt for physical and economic independence. First created by South Carolina and Mississippi in 1865. Would eventually be known as Jim Crow Laws -
Thirteenth Amendment
Amendment that attempted to outlaw slavery. The 13th Amendment was one of three Amendments released as a result of the Civil War. Passed on January 31, 1865 but ratified on December 6, 1865. Slavery was outlawed by name in the South but was kept in other forms -
First Phase of Reconstruction En
this is when the first phase of reconstruction would begin -
President Lincoln’s Assassination
Lincoln was shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. The next day (April 15) Lincoln was pronounced dead. Lincoln’s death helped Congress to do away with Lincoln’s 10% plan and put the Wade-Davis Bill into effect -
Second Phase of Reconstruction Begins
this is when the second phase starts Presidential Plan with President Andrew Johnson. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act (1866) was passed by Congress on April 9, 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. People who denied these rights to former slaves were guilty of a misdemeanor -
ku klux klan
Started in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866 by white soldiers to intimidate African Americans from voting to regain white control in the south. They burned African American homes, schools, churches and followed them and also white Republicans to stop them from voting. Their acts were banned but very few actually served prison time
*Presidential Phase -
Reconstruction Act
in 1867 Congress approved acts that allowed Southern states to be readmitted into the Union under strict requirements, which including ratifying the 14th Amendment and rewriting their state constitutions to allow universal male suffrage and had to approve by Congress. The Act also called for the first 10 “rebel” states to be admitted be split into 5 districts under military control. President Johnson tried to veto the bill but Congress overrode the veto -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship and equal rights to African Americans. The states could not deprive anyone from their rights including African Americans.
*Congressional Phase -
Impeachment of President Johnson
President Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached. His reconstruction program was not supported by many Republicans because it was too lenient. He was impeached because he violated many policies.
*Congressional Phase -
15th Amendment
Guaranteed that the right to vote would not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Women would not be given the right to vote until 1920 but, at the time it let Black men get ahead.
*Congressional Phase -
Sharecropping
Agriculture system of offering land to people and letting them farm the land. Southern farmers liked this system because they did not have to pay people to farm the land, instead they would get a share of the crops. African Americans liked it too because they could live in their own cabins and choose what to plant.
*Congressional Phase -
Enforcement Acts
Four acts meant to protect the African Americans rights granted to them in the 14th and 15th Amendments. The acts gave authority to arrest people who were interfering with the voting process of any African Americans.
*Congressional Acts -
Slaughterhouse Cases
Louisiana granted a monopoly to one corporation over the slaughterhouses. The other slaughterhouses took their case to the Supreme Court and lost because the Supreme Court said that the 14th Amendment did not allow the Federal Government to control the citizens civil rights. It said that the states protect the citizens civil rights and the 14th amendment protects the rights of the Blacks. They also said that the amendment protected all people from state injustices.
*Congressional Phase -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
This act prohibited the discrimination of any Black people in public transportation and other public places like restaurants. It made it illegal to help other discriminate against Blacks. This act was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883.
*Congressional Phase -
Compromise of 1877
The election of 1877. It is not sure if a deal was made during the election because the votes were not clear and it was not clear who had won. The deal was made to end the disputes over the election of 1877.
*Congressional Phase
