Vocabulary Words
men and women who had been slaves
carpetbagger
uncomplimentary nick-name for a northerner who went to the South after the Civil War
Ten Percent Plan
Lincoln's plan that allowed a southern state to form a new government after 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the United States
Thirteenth Amendment
an 1865 amendment to the United States Constitution that bans slavery throughout the nation
segregation
legal separation of people based on racial, ethnic, or other differences
amnesty
government pardon
Ku Klux Klan
secret society organized after the Civil War to reassert white supremacy by means of violence
Wade-Davis Bill
an 1864 plan for Reconstruction that denied the right to vote or hold office to anyone who had volunteered to fight for the Confederacy
Fourteenth Amendment
An amendment to the United States Constitution that guarantees equal protection of the law and rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the USA, including former slaves.
grandfather clause
law that excused a voter from a literacy test if his father or grandfather had been eligible to vote on January 1, 1867; kept freedmen from voting.
black codes
Southern laws that severely limited the rights of African Americans after the Civil War
sharecropper
person who rents a plot of land from another person and farms it in exchange for a share of the crop
Freedmen's Bureau
government agency founded during Reconstruction to help former slaves
Fifteenth Amendment
Amendment to the United States Constitution that forbids any state to deny African Americans the right to vote because of race. All males 21+ can vote.
Radical Republicans
members of Congress during Reconstruction who wanted to ensure that freedmen received the right to vote
impeach
to bring charges of serious wrongdoing against a public official
poll tax
tax required before a person can vote
Reconstruction Act
an 1867 law that threw out the southern state governments that had refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment
Plessy v. Ferguson
an 1896 court case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public facilities was legal as long as the facilities were equal
Freedmen's Bureau
government agency founded during Reconstruction to help former slaves
scalawag
white Southerner who supported the Republicans during Reconstruction
literacy test
examination to see if a person can read and write; used in the past to restrict voting rights
Homestead Act of 1862
any citizen could occupy 160 acres of government land, if improvements were made to the land citizens would own the land after 5 years
Ku Klux Klan
secret society organized after the Civil War to reassert white supremacy by means of violence
Ten Percent Plan
Lincoln's plan that allowed a southern state to form a new government after 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the United States