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AP US History: Reconstruction Flashcards

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5823196873black codesLaws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the Civil War Any code of law that defined and especially limited the rights of former slaves after the Civil War.0
5823196874black reconstructionBlacks could vote and had rights, but black codes kept them virtually enslaved. They did get more political power, however.1
5823196875John Wilkes Booth..., was an American stage actor who, as part of a conspiracy plot, assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.2
5823196876carpetbaggersA derogatory term applied to Northerners who migrated south during the Reconstruction to take advantage of opportunities to advance their own fortunes by buying up land from desperate Southerners and by manipulating new black voters to obtain lucrative government contracts.3
5823196877Civil Rights Act of 18661964; banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on paper, and more federally-protected power so that social equality was a more realistic goal4
5823196878compromise of 1877-Ended Reconstruction. Republicans promise 1) Remove military from South, 2) Appoint Democrat to cabinet (David Key postmaster general), 3) Federal money for railroad construction and levees on Mississippi river; as long as Hayes became the president5
5823196879copperheadsA group of northern Democrats who opposed abolition and sympathized with the South during the Civil War.6
5823196880Jefferson DavisAn American statesman and politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865.7
5823196881election of 1866Johnson took to the road and used his infamous, "swing around the circle" speeches to attack Congressional opponents; appealed to racial prejudices of whites; Republicans accused Johnson of being a drunkard and a traitor and used antisouthern prejudices by employing a campaign tactic known as "waving the bloody shirt"-inflaming the hatreds of northern voters by reminding them of the hardships of war; Johnson won but Republicans owned both House and Senate8
5823196882election of 1876Ended reconstruction because neither canidate had an electorial majority. Hayes was elected, and then ended reconstruction as he secretly promised9
5823196883Force Acts of 1870-71Restricted Ku Klux Klan. Banned and sometimes arrested KKK members.10
582319688413th AmendmentAbolish slavery11
582319688514th Amendment1) Citizenship for African Americans, 2) Repeal of 3/5 Compromise, 3) Denial of former confederate officials from holding national or state office, 4) Repudiate (reject) confederate debts12
582319688615th amendmentAmendment that extended suffrage to all races.13
5823196887freedmen1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs14
5823196888Freedmen's BureauOrganization run by the army to care for and protect southern Blacks after the Civil War15
5823196889impeachmentA formal accusation of misconduct in office against a public official, famously used against Andrew Johnson after he disobeyed the Tenure of Office Act.16
5823196890Andrew Johnson17th President of the United States17
5823196891Ku Klux KlanA secret society created by white southerners in 1866 that used terror and violence to keep African Americans from obtaining their civil rights.18
5823196892Military Reconstruction Act of 18671867; divided the South into five districts and placed them under military rule; required Southern States to ratify the 14th amendment; guaranteed freedmen the right to vote in convention to write new state constitutions19
5823196893radical republicansAfter the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South.20
5823196894redeemer governmentsConservative white democrats many of them planters or businessmen who reclaimed control of South following the end of reconstruction21
5823196895sharecropperA person who works fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent and repays loans by turning over to the landowner a share of the crops. You usually go into debt and cant come out.22
5823196896state-suicide theoryThe Southern states had relinquished their rights when they seceded. This, in effect, was suicide.23
5823196897Thaddeus StevensA Radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South. Leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress.24
5823196898Charles SumnerA leader of the Radical republicans along with Thaddeus Stevens. He was from Massachusetts and was in the senate. His two main goals were breaking the power of wealthy planters and ensuring that freedmen could vote25
5823196899Tenure of Office Act of 1867Radical attempt to further diminish Andrew Johnson's authority by providing that the president could not remove any civilian official without Senate approval; Johnson violated the law by removing Edwin Stanton as secretary of war, and the House of Representatives impeached him over his actions26

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