Vocabulary
The constitutional amendment that guaranteed voting rights regardless of race or previous condition of servitude.
What is the Fifteenth Amendment?
Angered by Andrew Johnson's leniency, this faction of the Republican Party took control of Reconstruction in 1867 to pass stricter laws.
Who are the Radical Republicans?
This President's lenient Reconstruction policies were blamed for the rising lawlessness and increased violence against African Americans in the South.
Who is Andrew Johnson?
Thanks to federal military protection during Congressional Reconstruction, over 700,000 African American men registered to vote, largely backing this political party.
What is the Republican Party?
While Radical Republicans demanded full racial equality, this moderate faction of the party preferred a gradual approach, prioritizing Northern business interests and national reconciliation over civil rights.
Who are the Moderate Republicans?
The accusation against a public official of wrongdoing in office.
What is impeachment?
Critics blamed a rise in Southern lawlessness and violence against African Americans on the lenient policies of this historical post-Civil War era.
What is Reconstruction?
Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, these 1870 and 1871 laws empowered the president to use federal troops to combat white supremacist terrorism in the South.
What are the Enforcement Acts?
Collectively known as the "Reconstruction Amendments," these three constitutional additions abolished slavery, granted citizenship, and guaranteed voting rights.
What are the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments?
This Southern political faction sought to oust Republican governments, viewing Reconstruction as an illegitimate, corrupt regime, and ran on a platform of restoring white supremacy and "home rule."
This Southern political faction sought to oust Republican governments, viewing Reconstruction as an illegitimate, corrupt regime, and ran on a platform of restoring white supremacy and "home rule."
A system in which each branch of the government has the power to monitor and limit the actions of the other two
What is checks and balances?
Congressional Reconstruction officially began with the passage of these 1867 acts, which divided the South into five military districts.
What are the Reconstruction Acts?
Signed by Ulysses S. Grant, this 1875 legislation outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty, though it was rarely enforced and later declared unconstitutional.
What is the Civil Rights Act of 1875?
Pioneered during Reconstruction, this widespread agricultural system trapped many newly freed African Americans in a cycle of debt to white landowners.
What is Sharecropping?
Northern Democrats fiercely opposed Congressional Reconstruction, mobilizing voters by claiming that Republican policies favored Black Americans at the expense of this specific demographic group.
Who are White working-class laborers?
A federal law that placed ten former Confederate states under martial law and divided them into five military districts.
What is The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867?
To protect their legislative agenda from President Johnson, Congress passed this 1867 act, which later became the legal basis for his impeachment.
What is the Tenure of Office Act?
Passed during Congressional Reconstruction, this landmark 1866 law was the first federal statute to define U.S. citizenship and affirm equal protection under the law.
What is the Civil Rights Act of 1866?
This type of executive action, used heavily by President Andrew Johnson against Congressional Reconstruction bills, was overridden by Congress a record 15 times.
What is a veto? (or presidential veto)
This short-lived political faction broke away from the mainstream Republican Party in 1872, arguing that Reconstruction had accomplished its goals, federal troops should be withdrawn, and attention should shift to civil service reform.
Who are the Liberal Republicans?
The constitutional amendment which defined citizenship and guaranteed citizens equal protection under the law.
What is the Fourteenth Amendment?
Passed during Congressional Reconstruction over President Johnson's veto, this landmark 1866 legislation was the first US law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law.
What is the Civil Rights Act of 1866?
Passed alongside the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, this law required the U.S. Army's General-in-Chief to issue all military orders, preventing President Johnson from bypassing General Grant to command Southern military districts directly.
What is the Command of the Army Act?
Passed by Southern legislatures immediately after the Civil War, these restrictive local laws aimed to compel freedpeople to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.
What are the Black Codes?
While Radical Republicans prioritized the political rights of Southern freedpeople, Northern labor unions and workingmen's parties criticized Congress for ignoring this domestic movement, arguing that "wage slavery" in Northern factories was being overlooked.
What is the Labor Reform movement?