Reconstruction Era

(1865-1877) Period after the Civil War during which Northern political leaders created plans for the governance of the South and a procedure for former Southern states to rejoin the Union; Southern resentment of this era lasted well into the twentieth century.

Radical Republicans

Congressional group that wished to punish the South for its secession from the Union; pushed for measures that gave economic and political rights to newly freed blacks in the South and that made it difficult for former Confederate states to rejoin the Union.

Reconstruction Act

(1867) act placing Southern states under military rule and barring former supporters of the Confederacy from voting.


Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era; traditional elements of Southern society were deeply resentful of profits made by them during this period


term of derision used in the South during the Reconstruction era for white southern Republicans.

Ku Klux Klan

this group was founded in Tennessee in 1866; its oftentimes violent actions during the Reconstruction era represented the resentments felt by many Southern whites towards the changing political, social, and economic conditions of the Reconstruction era.

Compromise of 1877

political compromise ending the disputed presidential election of 1876; by the terms of this compromise Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the electoral votes of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, thus giving him the presidency; in return, all federal troops were removed from the South and the Congress promised to stop enforcing much Reconstruction-era legislation concerning the South.

Ten Percent Plan

(1863) a state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10 percent of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation, citizens of former Confederate states would be given the opportunity to swear allegiance to the government in Washington (high-ranking Confederate military and civilian authorities would not be offered this opportunity), the state was afforded the chance to form its own state government, a state legislature could write a new constitution but it also had to abolish slavery forever, if all processed Lincoln would recognize the reconstructed government

3 states reconstructed under the Ten Percent Plan

Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas (went through procedures to form loyal state governments, applications for renewed participation in the Union were not approved by the Radical Republicans who dominated the Congress)

Black Codes

(1866) passed by all Southern state legislatures, hindered the freedom of blacks, set of regulations limited movement by blacks, prohibited interracial marriage, insisted that blacks obtain special certificates to hold certain jobs

Wade-Davis Bill

(1864) bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states contingent on a majority in each Southern state to take the Ironclad oath (they were not now disloyal to the Union nor had they ever been disloyal), pocket vetoed by Lincoln

Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

(1865) "amnesty and pardon" to any Southerner who would swear allegiance to the Union and the Constitution, ex-Confederate leaders should not be eligible for amnesty (like in Lincoln's plan) as well as individuals (almost always plantation owners) whose property was worth over $20,000, state needed to abolish slavery before being readmitted, state required to repeal secession ordinances be readmittance, ratify 13th amendment, disowned Confederate debts

Freedman's Bureau

(1865) temporary agency created after the Civil War, worked to provide food and medical care, to help the freedmen to resettle, to ensure justice for the freedmen, to manage abandoned or confiscated property, to regulate labor, to establish schools, and to employ them

Civil Rights Act

(1866) declared blacks to be citizens and forbade the states to discriminate between citizen because of race or color, in cases where these rights were violated, federal troops would be used for enforcement

Thirteenth Amendment

(1865) outlawed slavery and other forms of involuntary servitude

Fourteenth Amendment

(1868) granted citizenship to blacks with no interference in their civil and political rights, all citizens were guaranteed the right to vote, citizenship would be the same in all states, states that did not give freedmen the vote would have reduced representation in Congress, former Confederate officials could not hold public office, forbade the payment of the confederate debt

Tenure of Office Act

(1867) denied the President of the United States the power to remove anyone who had been appointed by a past President without the advice and consent of the United States Senate, unless the Senate approved the removal during the next full session of Congress

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

(1867-1868) 1867, Johnson tried to remove Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War, Radical Republicans proclaimed that Johnson had flouted the United States Constitution by directly violating the Tenure of Office Act and began impeachment proceedings against him, The House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson in early 1868 (first president of the United States to be impeached), two-thirds of the Senate had to vote to convict the president for him to be removed but failed to convict Johnson by one vote

Fifteenth Amendment

(1870) stated no American could be denied the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

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