Amendments & Law
This 1870 law gave the federal government power to prosecute KKK violence — but the Supreme Court later ruled it mostly unconstitutional.
What is the Enforcement Act (Ku Klux Klan Act) of 1871? In U.S. v. Cruikshank (1875), the Court ruled the federal government could not prosecute private individuals for rights violations, gutting enforcement.
The Liberal Republican Party, formed in 1872, broke from Radical Republicans partly because of this president's administration's corruption scandals and 'Reconstruction fatigue.'
Who is Ulysses S. Grant? The Crédit Mobilier scandal and other corruption in his administration discredited the Republican Party and shifted Northern attention away from Reconstruction.
In this 1896 case — the culmination of post-Reconstruction rollback — the Supreme Court upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of 'separate but equal.'
What is Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)? It legalized Jim Crow for nearly 60 years until Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the 'separate but equal' doctrine.
These laws, enacted across the South after Reconstruction ended, enforced racial segregation in public spaces, schools, and transportation and remained in force until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
What are Jim Crow laws? They were enabled by Supreme Court rulings like the Civil Rights Cases (1883) and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which gave legal cover to state-sponsored segregation.
This 1865 amendment abolished slavery but contained a loophole allowing it 'as punishment for crime.'
What is the 13th Amendment? Southern states exploited this clause to criminalize vagrancy and lease imprisoned Black men as forced labor to private businesses.
This federal agency, established in 1865, helped freedpeople with food, labor contracts, and established over 1,000 schools before being shut down in 1872.
What is the Freedmen's Bureau? It was chronically underfunded and opposed by President Johnson, who vetoed its renewal in 1866.
This white supremacist terrorist organization, founded in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1865, used violence and intimidation to suppress Black voting and overthrow Reconstruction governments.
What is the Ku Klux Klan? Similar groups included the White League and Red Shirts. Their violence was often unpunished after Supreme Court rulings limited federal enforcement.
In this 1873 case, the Supreme Court ruled the 14th Amendment only protected rights of national — not state — citizenship, severely limiting federal protection of civil rights.
What are the Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)? Though the case was originally about a butchers' monopoly in Louisiana, the ruling gutted the 14th Amendment's power to protect freedpeople from state-level discrimination.
In April 1873, over 100 Black men were massacred by a white supremacist mob in this Louisiana town after a disputed local election — one of the deadliest acts of racial violence in U.S. history.
What is the Colfax Massacre? It became the basis for U.S. v. Cruikshank, which the Supreme Court used to rule that the federal government could not prosecute private individuals for civil rights violations.
Ratified in 1870, this amendment prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
What is the 15th Amendment? Radical Republicans saw it as the capstone of Reconstruction — though poll taxes and literacy tests would soon gut its effectiveness.
These laws, passed by Southern states in 1865–66, restricted freedpeople's movement, criminalized unemployment, and required annual labor contracts with white employers.
What are the Black Codes? They were so restrictive that Congress cited them as justification for Radical Reconstruction and the 14th Amendment.
In this 1876 case, the Supreme Court ruled that the 15th Amendment only prohibited state denial of voting rights — not private interference — further weakening Black political power.
What is United States v. Reese (1876)? Along with Cruikshank, it effectively stripped the federal government of its tools to protect Black voters in the South.
This deal ended Reconstruction: Republicans got the White House for Hayes; Democrats got the withdrawal of the last federal troops from the South.
What is the Compromise of 1877? With troops gone, Redeemer Democrats swiftly dismantled Reconstruction governments in Louisiana and South Carolina, the last states where they remained.
Ratified in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and overturned the Dred Scott decision.
What is the 14th Amendment? Its Equal Protection Clause became the legal foundation for civil rights cases well into the 20th century.
In this post-war labor system, formerly enslaved families farmed white-owned land in exchange for a share of the crop — and were kept in debt by the crop-lien system.
What is sharecropping? The crop-lien system meant freedpeople had to borrow tools and seed at high interest, accumulating debt faster than income.
This president clashed repeatedly with Congress over Reconstruction, was impeached by the House in 1868, and acquitted by one Senate vote.
Who is Andrew Johnson? Johnson's vetoes of the Civil Rights Act and Freedmen's Bureau renewal pushed moderate Republicans into the Radical camp.
This 1875 Supreme Court ruling said the federal government could NOT prosecute private individuals for civil rights violations — only states could — making it nearly impossible to punish KKK violence.
What is United States v. Cruikshank (1875)? It arose from the Colfax Massacre of 1873, in which over 100 Black men were killed by white supremacists in Louisiana.
This economic crisis, triggered by the collapse of Jay Cooke & Company, shifted Northern attention away from Reconstruction and toward economic recovery.
What is the Panic of 1873? The depression lasted years and gave Democrats major gains in the 1874 midterms, effectively ending Radical Republican control of Congress.
Passed in 1867 over Johnson's veto, these acts divided the former Confederacy into 5 military districts and required states to ratify the 14th Amendment before re-entering Congress.
What are the Reconstruction Acts of 1867? They represented Congress taking direct control of Reconstruction away from President Johnson.
Freedpeople's most sought-after promise — '40 acres and a mule' — referred to this Union general's 1865 field order, which was reversed by President Johnson within months.
Who is General William T. Sherman / What is Special Field Order No. 15? Johnson's reversal forced freedpeople off redistributed land and back into labor contracts with former enslavers.
This 1883 ruling struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had banned racial discrimination in public accommodations, ruling that Congress could not regulate private behavior.
What are the Civil Rights Cases (1883)? This ruling cleared the legal path for the Jim Crow system of legalized segregation that followed Reconstruction.
Historians use this term for the Democratic politicians who 'redeemed' Southern state governments from Republican and Black political control after Reconstruction ended.
Who are the Redeemers? They used a combination of electoral fraud, economic pressure, and outright violence to restore white Democratic supremacy across the South.