Reconstruction: Textbook Key Terms

Question 1

Andrew Johnson definition:

Answer 1

-democrat from TN who served as Lincoln’s vice president
- when Lincoln was killed, he became 17th president
- opposed Radical Republicans policies on Reconstruction bc he was racist

Question 2

Tenure of Office Act definiton:

Answer 2

forbade the president to remove civil officials, including members of his own cabinet without the consent of the Senate

Question 2

Radical Republicans definition:

Answer 2

-aggressively opposed slavery
- fought to expand and protect African American civil rights

Question 2

Ku Klux Klan definition:

Answer 2

• secret society that used terrorism and physical violence to intimidate those freed from slavery and undercut their constitutional rights, especially the right to vote

Question 3

Black Codes definition:

Answer 3

-state laws that developed after the Civil War in the former Confederate states to limit the political power of Black Americans

Question 4

14th Amendment definition:

Answer 4

• granted citizenship to all persons born in the US
  -prohibited states from denying life, liberty, property without due process of law

Question 5

15th Amendment definition:

Answer 5

• forbade states and federal government from denying suffrage to any male citizen on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Question 6

Scalawags definition:

Answer 6

• refers to Southern whites who supported the Republican Party and federal Reconstruction policies after the Civil War

Question 7

Carpetbaggers definition:

Answer 7

• used by white Southern Democrats
• described white men from the North who settled in the South as hopeful businessmen + professionals and supported Republican policies

Question 8

Freedmen’s Bureau definition:

Answer 8

• aimed to help former enslaved people forge independent lives