Reconstruction Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is Reconstruction?

Reconstruction was a period of time in the United States that began right after the Civil War, in 1865 and lasted until 1877. During this twelve-year span, great changes took place in the Union and Confederate states. Reconstruction aimed to restore the Union as it had been before secession, while also addressing issues of emancipation and racial equality.In order to achieve these goals, several policies were put into place during Reconstruction. Initially, President Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan allowed Confederate states to be readmitted back into the Union if 10 percent of their voting population swore allegiance to the United States. This plan was eventually replaced with President Andrew Johnson’s more restrictive policies which required former Confederate leaders to swear loyalty oaths and pay war debts before reentry into the Union could occur. These restrictions were confirmed by Radical Republicans who believed that harsher punishments were needed for those who had seceded from the Union during the war. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and gave African Americans full citizenship rights; however, it did not guarantee social or political equality for African Americans. The 14th Amendment granted due process rights for all citizens regardless of race or color; however, without further legislation it still did not guarantee full civil liberties or voting rights for African Americans living in southern states. Finally, with passage of The 15th Amendment in 1870 African American men gained full voting rights regardless of their former condition as slaves or free persons prior to 1865 (the year they were emancipated). Though Reconstruction saw many advances made towards racial equality including protection from violence and land ownership opportunities; its successes also met many obstacles such as segregated public facilities, discriminatory laws known as Black Codes that limited freedmen’s freedoms (such as where they could live), lack of economic opportunity due to sharecropping arrangements which kept African Americans tied down financially via high debt cycles compounded by low wages & high interest rates on loans taken out ,and Jim Crow Laws that enforced segregation between white people and black people throughout much of America’s south well into 20th century. Ultimately Reconstruction ended after a series of compromises known as Compromise Of 1877 meant that federal troops withdrew from southern states thus ending their human rights enforcement in exchange for a Republican presidential win in Rutherford B Hayes election later that year.