Reconstruction Era Vocabulary

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Radical Republican

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A member of the Republican Party who after the Civil War wanted to punish and destroy the political power of former slaveholders, immediate citizenship and voting rights for African Americans, and a powerful federal government that would immediately bring these changes.

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Moderate Republican

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A member of the Republican Party who after the Civil War wanted to rebuild the nation without punishing the South severely, gradually give African American citizenship and the right to vote, and a powerful federal government that would gradually bring these changes.

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Democrat

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A political party very popular in the Southern states who wanted a weak federal government with an emphasis on state’s rights, and the issues of citizenship and voting rights to be decided by the individual states.

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Carpetbagger

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A northerner who moved to the South after the Civil War.

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Scalawag

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A white Southerner who joined the Republican Party after the Civil War.

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Ku Klux Klan

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A secret organization that used terrorist tactics in an attempt to restore white supremacy in Southern states after the Civil War.

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Abraham Lincoln

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President of the United States at the beginning of Reconstruction and a moderate Republican, he wished to make the South’s return to the Union as quick and easy as possible.

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Andrew Johnson

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Democratic President of the United States who took over after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; he favored a lenient Reconstruction policy, supported the states’ rights, and opposed African American equality.

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Thaddeus Steven

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Leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress who was devoted to a harsh punishment of the Southern states. Worked towards equality for African Americans.

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Ulysses S. Grant

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Civil War hero and Republican President of the United States whose Reconstruction efforts were undermined by corruption within his administration.

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Rutherford B. Hayes

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President of the United States whose election brought an end to Reconstruction.

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Suffrage

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The right to vote.

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Impeach

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The process of accusing a public official of wrongdoing.

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Share-cropping

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A system in which landowners give farm workers land, seed, and tools in return for a part of the crops they raise.

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Tenant farming

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A system in which farm workers supply their own tools and rent farmland for cash.

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Military Tribunal Courts

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A kind of a military court designed to try member of enemy forces during wartime or times of rebellion, operating outside the boundaries of regular criminal and civil court cases. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors.

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13th Amendment

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An amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1865, that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.

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14th Amendment

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An amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1868, that makes all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. --including former slaves-- citizens of the country and guarantees equal protection of the laws.

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15th Amendment

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An amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1870, that prohibits the denial of voting rights to people because of their race or color or because they have previously been slaves.

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Wade-Davis Bill

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An 1864 bill passed by Congress and vetoed by President Lincoln that would have given Congress control of Reconstruction.

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The Freedmen's Bureau

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An agency set up by the federal government to help former slaves after the Civil War.

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Black Codes

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The discriminatory laws passed throughout the post-Civil-War South which severely restricted African Americans’ lives prohibiting such activities as traveling without permits, carrying weapons, serving on juries, testifying against whites, and marrying whites.

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Civil Rights Act of 1866

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Was passed as a reaction to the Black Codes. Congress passed this act giving African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws such as the Black Codes.

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Reconstruction Act of 1867

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Law that abolished governments formed in the former Confederate states, divided those states into five military districts, and set up tough requirements for readmission into the Union.

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Compromise of 1877

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The political compromise that gave Republican Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for the withdrawal of all Federal troops from the Southern states. This agreement ended Reconstruction.