Standard 3 Civil War and Reconstruction Study Guide
Abraham Lincoln being elected President caused South Carolina to secede because they felt he would abolish
slavery in the south.
The Civil War started with the firing on Fort Sumter 1861 and ended with Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
Courthouse 1865.
Know key People: Presidents, Generals and Battles
Sherman’s taking Atlanta greatly impact the election of 1864 because it assured people in the North that victory
was in sight, thereby increasing the popularity of President Lincoln and allowing him to win re-election.
Jefferson Davis wanted to fight a war of attrition, in which the South would: defend its territory hoping to resist
long enough the enemy would give up.
The advantages enjoyed by the North during the Civil War:
1. More railways for transporting people and supplies.
2. More factories to produce goods necessary for war
3. Greater population of people
In the end, the following factors contributed to the South’s defeat in the Civil War:
The North had too many resources and too much manpower for the South to keep up its fight.
The North’s Anaconda Plan called for all of the following:
1. A blockade of Confederate ports.
2. Controlling the Mississippi River with gunboats.
3. Dividing the Confederacy and exhausting its resources, forcing surrender.
In their plans for Reconstruction, both President Abraham Lincoln and President Andrew Johnson wanted to
allow the Southern States to reenter the nation as quickly as possible
The following are effects of Reconstruction on the South: 1. Southern resentment grew due to “carpetbaggers’
and Republican policies. 2. Many southern blacks became sharecroppers and tenant farmers, while others came
to occupy political offices at both the state and national level. 3. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan came into being.
The poll tax, the literacy test, and the actions of the Ku Klux Klan were all attempts to limit the effectiveness of
the 14th and 15th amendments.
Booker T. Washington believed that the quickest way for African Americans to achieve equality was to expand
their opportunities for vocational education so they could get jobs and support themselves.
"Although important strides were made, Reconstruction failed to provide lasting guarantees of the civil rights of
the freedmen.” This statement is supported by the following pieces of evidence:
1. passage of Jim Crow laws in the latter part of the 19th century
2. ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments
3. passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1866
Know the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois on how to make life better for
African Americans
The role of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to provide assistance and relief to emancipated slaves, by doing things
like providing meals, education, and sometimes land.
Churches housed schools, hosted social events and political gatherings, and were the center of many African
The main intent of the literacy tests were to prevent African Americans from exercising the basic right of
voting.
The Jim Crow laws of the post-Civil War Era were attempts by state and local governments to restrict the
freedoms of African Americans.
After the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, African Americans continued to experience political
and economic oppression mainly because Southern legislatures enacted Jim Crow laws that kept African
Americans and whites separate.
The Jim Crow laws, upheld by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), provided for separate public
facilities based on race.
The effect the system of sharecropping had on the South after the Civil War was it kept people that had been
slaves economically dependent. This means that they depended on whites for money. If you depend on
someone for money you are not free to make your own choices.
The effect of the Thirteenth Amendment on the United States was it ended the slavery debate forever by
outlawing the institution throughout the country.
Reconstruction ended predominantly (mainly) because of a compromise that put the Republican candidate in the
White House in exchange for withdrawing Union forces from the South and giving power back to state
governments. It was called the Compromise of 1877.
Plessey v. Ferguson is a Supreme Court case that supported Jim Crow Laws that made blacks and whites use
separate facilities and sit in separate sections of restaurants, buses and theaters. The facilities were supposed to
be equal, but not usually the case. “Separate but Equal”
The outcome of the election that made Rutherford B. Hayes president is known as the Compromise of 1877 and
formally ended reconstruction.
1.
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
2.
14th Amendment
Gave blacks citizenship
3.
15th Amendment
This amendment granted black men the right to vote.
4.
54th Massachusetts An all African American regiment famous for their assault on Fort Wagner.
5.
Appotomattox
the courthouse where Lee surrendered to Grant
6.
assassinated
To murder for political reasons. Ex. Abraham Lincoln was _____________ by John Wilkes Booth
at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865.
7.
Battle of Antietam
Civil War battle in which the North succeeded in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland.
Was the bloodiest single day of the war and allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation
Proclamation.
8.
Battle of Gettysburg Turning point of the War in which 50,000 people died, and the South lost its chance to invade
the North.
9.
Battle of Vicksburg With a Union victory, the north now controlled the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy
in half.
10.
Black Codes
laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the
Civil War
11.
Black Codes
laws that were passed to limit African-American freedoms in the South after the Civil War
12.
Booker T.
Black leader at the turn of the century, believed that blacks would eventually achieve political
Washington
rights/equality after they made economic gains. Told blacks to focus on education and
building economic success first. Founded Tuskeegee Institute.
13.
Carpet Bagger
a northerner who went to the south to get political or other advantages in the civil war time
14.
Comprimise of
Allowed Rutherford Hayes to become president, in return all military rule that still existed in
1877
south had to be removed. Marks end of Reconstruction
15.
Confederate States Name of country the South created by seceeding from the Union.
of America
16.
Frederick Douglas
Self-educated slave who escaped in 1838, Douglas became the best-known abolitionist
speaker. He edited an anti-slavery weekly, the North Star.
17.
Freedmen's Bureau 1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished
food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs
18.
Habeas Corpus
a person can't be held in prison without first being charged with a crime
19.
Jim Crow Laws
Laws enacted by Southern state and local governments to separate white and black people in
public and private facilities
20.
Ku Klux Klan
a secret society created by white southerners in 1866 that used terror and violence to keep
african americans from obtaining their civil rights
21.
Ku Klux Klan
An organization of white supremacists that used lynchings, beatings, and threats to control
the black population in the United States.
22.
Reconstruction
the period after the Civil War in the United States when the southern states were reorganized
and reintegrated into the Union
23.
Robert E. Lee
A top graduate of West Point, he distinguished himself as an exceptional soldier in the U.S.
Army for thirty-two years. He is best known for fighting on behalf of the Confederate Army in
the American Civil War.
24.
Scalawag
white Southerner supporting Reconstruction policies after the Civil War usually for selfinterest
25.
Secession
the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity
26.
suffrage
The right to vote
27.
Ulysses S. Grant
an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States. He achieved
international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.
28.
WEB Dubois
1st black to earn Ph.D. from Harvard, encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and
discrimination, helped create NAACP in