Federal Policies & Amendments
Which amendment abolished slavery nationwide?
13th Amendment.
Who became president after Lincoln's assassination and oversaw Presidential Reconstruction?
Andrew Johnson
What was the dominant agricultural labor system that emerged in the South after emancipation?
Sharecropping.
What white supremacist organization was founded in 1866 and used terror against Black citizens and Republicans?
Ku Klux Klan.
In what year did Reconstruction officially end?
1877.
Which amendment established citizenship for those born or naturalized in the United States and included a due process clause?
14th Amendment
Which Radical Republican leaders opposed Andrew Johnson’s lenient policies? (Name at least one.)
Thaddeus Stevens and/or Charles Sumner
Give two ways the Freedmen’s Bureau supported formerly enslaved people (list two services or programs).
Founded schools negotiated labor contracts, provided medical care.
What federal legislation did Congress pass in 1870–71 to combat racial terrorism and protect civil rights?
Enforcement Acts.
What was the Compromise that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election and what concession was made in the South?
The Compromise of 1877: Rutherford B. Hayes became president; in return, federal troops were withdrawn from the South.
Which amendment prohibited denying the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"?
15th Amendment
Who led the Freedmen’s Bureau during Reconstruction?
General Oliver O. Howard
Explain how sharecropping could trap workers in cycles of debt.
Sharecroppers often borrowed supplies on credit at high interest and paid with a share of the crop; unpredictable harvests and high costs kept many in debt.
Why did Radical Reconstruction place the South under military districts?
To enforce civil rights and oversee new state constitutions, Congress placed the South under military control to protect Black citizens and ensure fair elections.
Explain how the removal of federal troops affected Black political power in the South.
Without federal troops, Black voters and officeholders faced intense intimidation and loss of protection, leading to rapid declines in political representation.
Name one legal method Southern states used to circumvent the 15th Amendment and disenfranchise Black voters.
Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses.
Name the two Black senators who served in Congress during Reconstruction.
Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce
Describe two economic challenges the Southern states faced immediately after the Civil War.
Destroyed railroads/infrastructure; $1.5 billion+ property damage; transition from slave to free labor; disrupted agricultural systems.
Identify two groups besides the KKK that used violence to oppose Reconstruction.
White League and Red Shirts.
Define "Jim Crow" and give one example of a Jim Crow law or practice enacted after Reconstruction.
Jim Crow were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation; example: segregated public facilities, poll taxes, literacy tests.