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Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau provided food, housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. It also attempted to settle former slaves on land confiscated or abandoned during the war. -
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Civil War Amendments
Ensures equality for recently emancipated slaves.The 13th Amendment banned slavery and all involuntary servitude, except in the case of punishment for a crime. The 14th Amendment defined a citizen as any person born in or naturalized in the United States, overturning the Dred Scott V. Sandford (1857) Supreme Court ruling stating that Black people were not eligible for citizenship.The 15th prohibited governments from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or past servitude. -
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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. Union victory had given some 4 million enslaved people their freedom, the question of freed blacks’ status was unresolved in the south. Under black codes, many states required Black people to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested, fined and forced into unpaid labor. -
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
The Tenure of Office Act, passed over Johnson's veto in 1867, stated that a president could not dismiss appointed officials without the consent of Congress. He fired a member of his cabinet anyways which resulted in congress giving him an impeachment trial but by one vote he continued president. -
The Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1876 effectively ended the Reconstruction era. Southern Democrats' promises to protect civil and political rights of blacks were not kept, and the end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of blacks voters.