Reconstruction

1865-1877
Vocabulary
13th Amendment 1865
the amendment that abolished slavery in the
United States forever
14th Amendment 1868
this amendment gave full citizenship to all
African-Americans (freedmen)
15th Amendment 1870
this amendment gave the right
to vote to African-American
men regardless of their race,
color, or prior condition of being
a slave
freedmen
the name given to all slaves who were now free
assassination
the murder of a high official
Freedmens Bureau
government agency that was set up to help
former slaves (freedmen) with education and
medical needs
black codes
laws put in place in the
South to control
freedmen--some were
beneficial, but many
were put in place to
restrict the rights of the freedmen
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
a group of white southerners
who used violence to stop
blacks from voting or
testifying at trials of
white men
segregation
the act of keeping
one race separate
from another
Andrew Johnson
Vice-President under Lincoln

became the 17th President of the
United States when Lincoln was assassinated

first U.S. President to be impeached


impeach
to bring criminal charges against a political
official
reconstruction
to rebuild
sharecropping
the occupation of freedmen
who harvested and worked
the land of a large land
owner; this kept freemen
extremely poor as they
paid the land owner 50%-75% of all their
earnings

many poor white farmers also were
sharecroppers
civil rights
the rights of citizens to ensure equal protection
under the law
Scalawags
the unkind nickname given to
white southerners who voted for
Republicans after the Civil War
carpetbaggers
Northerners who moved South
to start businesses;
many tried to make money and
cheat the southerners
poll tax
the tax required in the
South to vote; white
men could afford to pay
this, while black men
could not
literacy test
a reading test required in order
to vote; many blacks could not
read or write
grandfather clause
created in order to keep freedmen
from voting;

stated that if a person had voted prior to 1867 and
had grandfathers and fathers who voted before
1867, that person could vote
no freedman had voted before 1867 and neither had his father or grandfather
Jim Crow Laws
laws put in place to segregate blacks from
whites in public places such as restaurants,
train stations, courthouses, etc.