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Lincoln's Reconstruction plan (phase 1)
Offered amnesty or a pardon to all the Southern states who took a oath of loyalty to the United States and accepted the Unions proclamations concerning slavery. A Southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10% of the states voters had taken the oath they could organize a new state government. (Primary document: 1st person point of view) -
Radical Republicans (phase 1)
These were a faction of the American political system within the Republican party. They had 3 goals: to prevent leaders of the confederacy from returning to power after war, wanted the Republican party to become a powerful institution in the South, and wanted the federal government to help African Americans achieve political equality by guaranteeing their right to vote. (Primary document: 1st person point of view) -
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American reconstruction
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Phase 1: Lincoln's Reconstruction
Lincoln wanted a moderate policy that would reconcile Southerners with the Union. A amnesty or pardon was given to all but few Southerners who took an oath of loyalty to the United States and accepted its proclamations concerned with slavery. When 10% of a state's voters in the 1860’s presidential election had taken the oath they could organize a new state government. Members of the former Confederate government who had left their posts to help the Confederacy would not receive amnesty. -
Wade Davis Bill (phase 1)
This bill required the majority of the adult white males in a former Confederate state to take the “iron clad” an oath of allegiance to the Union. The state could then hold a constitutional convention to create a new state government where they would have to abolish slavery, reject the debts the state had required as part of the COnfederacy, and deny all former Confederate government officials and military officer the right to vote or hold office. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Special Field Order 15 (phase 1)
Military order issued during the Civil War that allowed for 40,000 arcs of land on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida where former enslaved African Americans could live. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
13th Amendment (phase 1)
The 13th amendment abolished slavery except as punishment for crime.This amendment was created to ensure equality for the recently emancipated slaves. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Freedmen’s Bureau (phase 1)
Established by congress to help the former war refugees in the South after the aftermath of the civil by feeding and clothing them using the surplus army supplies. The Bureau provided 30,000 helpings of food a day for the next year and helped prevent mass starvation in the South. The Bureau also helped formerly enslaved African Americans to find work on plantations by creating labor contracts with planters. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Lincoln's death (phase 1)
Lincoln's assassination drastically changed the politics of reconstruction. Lincoln's vice president Andrew Johnson now became president. (Primary document: 1st person point of view) -
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Phase 2: Presidential Reconstruction
After Lincoln's death Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson's plan included Amnesty for those taking an oath of loyalty to the United States excluding high ranking Confederates and those with property over $20,000 but they could apply for pardons individually. As well required states to ratify the 13th amendment abolishing slavery. -
Black Codes (phase 2)
Laws passed by Southern states with the use to limit African Americans rights. They laws varied from state to state but all had the same intention to keep African American is similar conditions to slavery. The laws were meant to secure a steady supply of cheap labor and all continued to assume the inferiority of Free African Americans. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Ku Klux Klan (phase 2)
American hate group of political and social terrorists. Their goal was to defeat the Republican party with a white supremacy agenda after the Civil War. This group grew rapidly through the South. Hooded white robed Klan members rode in bands at night terrorizing supporters of the Republican government. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Civil rights bill of 1866 (phase 2)
Act passed by Congress that declared all people born in the U.S where now citizens except Native Americans. It allowed African Americans to own property, states that they were to be treated equal in court and gave the federal government power to sue people who violated those rights. It was created in effort to override the black codes. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Impeachment of President Johnson (phase 2)
The House of Representatives votes 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson detailing “high crimes and misdemeanor”.The main charge against Johnson was that he had broken the law by refusing to uphold the Tenure of Office Act. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
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Phase 3: Congressional/ Radical Reconstruction
The Congressional Reconstruction passed the 14th and 15th amendments. Military Reconstruction divided the south into 5 military districts. New states constitutions required to guarantee voting rights. Military rule protected voting right for African Americans. Empowered African Americans in government and supported their education. -
Reconstruction Act (phase 3)
Also known as the Military Reconstruction Act over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. Laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
14th Amendment (phase 3)
The 14th amendment granted all people born in America were official U.S citizens. Worried the Supreme Court might overturn the Civil Rights Act the Republicans introduced the 14th amendment. Declared no state could deny any person “equal protection of the laws” (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Sharecropping (phase 3)
Most tenant farmers paying rent for the land they farmed became sharecroppers. Sharecroppers did not pay their rent in cash instead they paid a share of their crops. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Scalawags (phase 3)
White Southerners who supported reconstruction and the Republican party after the Civil War. They cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Great Constitutional Revolution (phase 3)
Idea introduced by Carl Schurz about the 3 new amendment, the 13-15th, and their impact. These amendment were the bridge between a divided America at war and one united nation.
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15th Amendment (phase 3)
The 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote. This amendment was the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments the other two include the 13th and the 14th amendment. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Enforcement Act (phase 3)
Three laws passed by Congress to protect African Americans right to vote, hold office, serve on juries, and recieve equal protections from laws. This act allowed the government to step in if these laws were not being protected. At this time newly freed slaves lives were being threatened. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Slaughterhouse cases (phase 3)
Resolved by the Supreme Court ruled that a citizens privileges and immunities as protected by the 14th against the states were limited to those spelled out in the Constitution and did not include many rights given by the individual states. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Civil Rights Act of 1875 (phase 3)
The act prohibited racial discrimination in public places. The act guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public transportation, public accommodations and service on juries. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view) -
Bargain of 1877 (phase 3)
A promise by the Republicans to pull federal troop out if the South Hayes were elected. This in fact what happened within the month if Hayes taking office. This bargain was the outcome of the election of 1877. (Primary document: 3rd person point of view)
