Study Island Reconstruction Review
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The term Reconstruction refers to the period after the Civil War, beginning in 1865 and lasting until 1877. During this time,
the former Confederate states were brought back into the Union, and new organizations like the Freedmen's Bureau helped
former slaves. Though amendments and laws were passed to increase the civil rights and liberties of African Americans,
these were virtually ignored by the southern states. Many states managed to pass laws that left African Americans
segregated and without a voice or power in government. For the most part, many historians believe that the attempts to
improve the status of African Americans during Reconstruction failed to do any good.
Reconstruction Events
Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction
Abraham Lincoln's proposed plan for Reconstruction, also known as the Ten Percent Plan, called for 10% of the
voters from the 1860 election in southern states to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States. His plan would
bring the southern states back to the Union quickly, but it was never passed. Shortly after the end of the Civil War,
Lincoln was assassinated. His vice president, Andrew Johnson, was sworn in as the next president.
Presidential Reconstruction
Presidential Reconstruction was the period from 1865 to 1867 that was characterized by the policies of President
Andrew Johnson. Many people in the United States believed President Johnson was too lenient on the former
Confederate states. In the 1866 congressional elections, the Republican party took control of both houses of
Congress in a landslide victory, an event that marked the beginning of the period known as Congressional
Reconstruction.
Congressional Reconstruction
Known as Congressional or Radical Reconstruction, this period was characterized by the imposition of martial law
on 10 southern states with the passage of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. A major tenet of Congressional
Reconstruction was the idea that when new policies were declared, they should actually be enforced. Many
people felt this aspect was lacking in Presidential Reconstruction. Another important goal for Radical Republicans
was to take land away from Southern plantation owners and distribute it among the newly-freed slaves. Congress
attempted to accomplish this through the Freedmen's Bureau, but President Johnson used his executive powers
to return Southern land to its original owners.
Reconstruction Amendments
Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction Amendments were adopted. The Reconstruction Amendments consist
of the 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, and 15th Amendment, all of which are concerned with equal rights.
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13th Amendment: Ratified in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery in the U.S.
14th Amendment: This amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, stated that all people born in the U.S.,
except Native Americans, were U.S. citizens.
15th Amendment: This amendment gave African American men the right to vote and was ratified on February 3,
1870. This amendment states that no citizen of the U.S. can be denied the right to vote based on race or color.
Freedmen's Bureau
Congress created this bureau in 1865 to assist former slaves. The bureau established schools for African
Americans and helped African Americans find employment.
Black Codes
Black codes were a series of laws passed by ex-Confederate states following the Civil War that restricted the rights
of African Americans living in the South. These codes included segregation in public spaces and restrictions on the
rights of African Americans. These included the rights to be free laborers, to own land and homes, and to testify in
court. An African American traveling without a permit, owning a firearm, or being seen out on the streets after
sunset could be punished by law.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
This act granted African Americans citizenship and gave them the right to make contracts, sue, and own property.
The citizenship rights of African Americans were also protected under the 14th Amendment.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 divided the former Confederate states into five military districts that were then
placed under the administration of a Union general and occupied by Union soldiers. Tennessee was the only
southern state not included in the military districts because it had already ratified the 14th amendment and had
been re-admitted to the Union in January of 1866. Other Reconstruction Acts included barring Confederate
leaders from voting or holding office and making the Confederate states ratify the 14th Amendment before being
readmitted to the Union.
Tenure of Office Act & Johnson's Impeachment
Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act of 1867 to prevent President Johnson from interfering with new laws
pass during Radical Reconstruction. This act restricted the president's power in removing government officials,
even from the Cabinet, without the consent of the Senate. In early 1868, Johnson attempted to remove and
replace Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton against the wishes of Congress and was quickly impeached by the
House of Representatives. In the Senate, he was one vote short of being convicted and therefore narrowly
escaped being removed from office.
Election of 1876 & Compromise of 1877
In the 1876 presidential election, Democrat Samuel Tilden ran against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden won
the majority of the popular vote, but a dispute arose over who won electoral votes in several states, including
some states from the South. Following the election, Congress formed a committee in early 1877 to settle the
dispute and eventually declared Hayes the winner. Supposedly, an unwritten and informal agreement known as
the Compromise of 1877 encouraged the committee to come to its decision. Under this agreement, southern
Democrats agreed to support Hayes' ascension to the presidency if the Republicans in government met certain
demands. These demands included the removal of federal troops from the former Confederate states, the
appointment of at least one southern Democrat to Hayes' new cabinet, legislation that would encourage
industrialization in the South, and the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad. Having agreed to meet
these demands, Hayes became the 19th president of the United States, and his presidency marked the official end
of Reconstruction.
Augusta Institute
The Augusta Institute was founded in Augusta, Georgia, to educate African Americans. The school moved to
Atlanta in 1879, and it was renamed Morehouse College in 1913. Other schools for African Americans that were
established during this time period include Alcorn State University, Alabama State University (Lincoln Normal
School), and Lincoln University (Lincoln Institute).
Grandfather Clause of 1895
This clause was added to the voting laws of some southern states to keep African Americans from voting while
allowing poor and illiterate whites to vote. This provision was included because many southern states required
voters to pay poll taxes or pass literacy tests. With the grandfather clause, however, any man could vote as long as
their ancestors had also had the right to vote as of January 1, 1867. No African Americans had been allowed to
vote before this date, so they were all easily denied voting rights. In this way, poor or even illiterate whites could
vote.
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws established legal racial segregation in public places throughout the South and began to appear
in the 1880s after Reconstruction had officially ended. These laws included many provisions, such as forcing
African Americans to sit on separate areas on trains and to attend different schools than whites. Literacy tests
were also set up as a pre-condition for the right to vote. Since many African Americans were not proficient in
reading or writing, these tests excluded them from voting.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that "separate but equal" was
constitutional. The Court claimed that if accommodations really were equal, then they were not in violation of the
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This court ruling was used to justify Jim Crow laws and
other acts of segregation.
Reconstruction Terms
Carpetbagger: a derogatory term for a northerner who came to the South during the Reconstruction period. This
term originated from the use of cheap suitcases covered in carpet that many travelers carried. The prevailing
opinion was that these northerners were opportunists who came to the South only to make money in the areas
that needed to be rebuilt, but some wanted to help the newly freed slaves.
Ku Klux Klan: a group of white supremacists who wanted to keep white control of the South and did not want
African Americans to vote or hold office. They threatened African Americans to keep them from voting and were
responsible for a great deal of violence during the Reconstruction period. Though many Southerners approved of
the Klan's actions early on, a backlash eventually occurred when the violence escalated to a level most felt to be
unacceptable. At this time, Southerners started to blame the Klan for the continued presence of Northern troops
throughout the South.
Radical Republicans: a group of Republicans who supported punishing the Confederate states. Radical
Republicans wanted to force the majority of white males in the Confederate states to take an oath to the U.S. and
to exclude anyone who had served in the Confederate government or army from participating in new
government. Radical Republicans also wanted to take land away from southern plantation owners and distribute
it among the newly-freed slaves. Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania was one of the leaders of the
Radical Republicans.
Scalawag: a southern white who helped in the Reconstruction effort. Some southerners viewed scalawags as
traitors to the South.
Sharecropper: a person who grew crops on land owned by someone else and gave the landlord (owner of the
land) a share of the crop to pay for expenses. Many of these people were freed slaves who could not afford to buy
their own land.
Solid South: the states of the southern U.S. that traditionally supported the Democratic Party after the Civil War.
By 1876, only three southern states (Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana) were under federal occupation and
Republican rule.
Exodusters: A group of African Americans fled from the South to Kansas in 1879 and 1880. These people were
known as Exodusters. In Kansas, there was a large amount of land that was available at low prices. Many African
Americans felt they would have more freedom there than in the South because Kansas had been a free state all
throughout the Civil War. The movement was not an organized migration, but it did have some important leaders.
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton was a major promoter of migration out of the South to Kansas.
1. Federal soldiers were present in the Confederate states as a part of the Reconstruction effort until which
event?
A. the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau
B. the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
C. the passage of the Tenure of Office Act
D. the Compromise of 1877
2. Which of the following Supreme Court cases decided that racial segregation in public places was constitutional?
A. United States v. Morrison
B. Brown v. Board of Education
C. Plessy v. Ferguson
D. Dred Scott v. Sandford
3. Why did Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies lead to his impeachment?
A. Southern congressmen did not like Johnson's policies and voted to impeach him.
B. Congress thought Johnson's actions were too harsh on the former Confederate states.
C. Johnson's policies went against the wishes and plans of Congress.
D. The ideas that Johnson proposed gave too much freedom to African Americans.
4. Which amendment abolished slavery in the United States?
A. the 16th Amendment
B. the 13th Amendment
C. the 15th Amendment
D. the 14th Amendment
5. Which amendment said that citizens may not be prevented from voting because of race or previous status as a
slave?
A. the 14th Amendment
B. the 13th Amendment
C. the 16th Amendment
D. the 15th Amendment
6. What was the name given to Northerners who came to the South during the Reconstruction with the hopes of
financial gain?
A. carpetbaggers
B. scalawags
C. copperheads
D. sharecroppers
7. Which is an example of a scalawag?
A. a former slave who held elected offices
B. a Northerner who moved to the South to participate in the Reconstruction
C. a Southern white who cooperated with Reconstruction officials
D. a member of Congress who wanted to punish the Confederate states for seceding
8. What is the name given to the laws that created a policy of "separate but equal" that meant that blacks were
segregated from whites?
A. the Alien and Sedition Acts
B. the Jim Crow Laws
C. the Reconstruction Acts
D. the Slave Codes
9. In 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached after he removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from
office without first getting approval from the Senate. President Johnson was impeached because he had violated
which law?
A. the Tenure of Office Act
B. the Civil Rights Act of 1866
C. the Kansas-Nebraska Act
D. the Morrill Act
10. What did the passage of the 15th Amendment during the Reconstruction Era accomplish?
A. It blocked states from denying any citizen equal rights.
B. It barred discrimination in hiring procedures.
C. It prohibited slavery in the United States.
D. It outlawed voting discrimination based on race.