Reconstruction Era
Post-Civil-War rebuilding
The Reconstruction Era was the period following the American Civil War (1865–1877) when the federal government attempted to reintegrate the former Confederate states and establish civil rights for freed slaves.
The era saw constitutional amendments abolishing slavery and granting citizenship and voting rights to Black Americans, but ended with the withdrawal of federal troops and the rise of Jim Crow laws.
Reconstruction Era policies were systematically dismantled in the decades that followed.
Outsiders exploiting local turmoil
- scalawagsPlayful troublemakers
- Freedmen's BureauPost-Civil War relief agency
- sharecroppingFarm rent in produce
- Radical RepublicansStrict Reconstruction-era congressional bloc
Thirteenth Amendment · Fourteenth Amendment · Fifteenth Amendment · Ku Klux Klan · Andrew Johnson · Ulysses S. Grant · Rutherford B. Hayes · poll tax
People released from slavery
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- liberationRelease from constraint
- JuneteenthEmancipation anniversary celebration
- contrabandProhibited trade goods
self-determination · autonomy · citizenship · civil liberties · rights · suffrage · enfranchisement · abolitionists
Guaranteed individual legal protections
- equal protectionUniform legal treatment
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- amendmentChange to official text
- Jim CrowRacial separation laws
Civil Rights Act · voting rights · naturalization · disfranchisement · habeas corpus · state constitutions · congressional oversight · federal intervention
Restoration of friendly relations
- UnionNamed political entity
- readmissionAcceptance back in
- loyalty oathsRequired statements affirming devotion
- amnestyGroup pardon from authorities
Home Rule · national unity · sectionalism · occupation · restoration · federal troops · withdrawal · self-governance
Post-Civil War relief agency
- public schoolsGovernment-funded educational institutions
- historically black collegesUniversities founded for Black students
- infrastructureBasic physical systems
- railroadsTrain transportation systems
land reform · labor contracts · marriage rights · churches · mutual aid societies · Republican Party · political participation · economic development
carpetbaggers
Outsiders exploiting local turmoil
- scalawagsPlayful troublemakers
- Freedmen's BureauPost-Civil War relief agency
- sharecroppingFarm rent in produce
Radical Republicans · Thirteenth Amendment · Fourteenth Amendment · Fifteenth Amendment · Ku Klux Klan · Andrew Johnson · Ulysses S. Grant · Rutherford B. Hayes · poll tax · literacy test
freedmen
People released from slavery
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- liberationRelease from constraint
- JuneteenthEmancipation anniversary celebration
contraband · self-determination · autonomy · citizenship · civil liberties · rights · suffrage · enfranchisement · abolitionists · Frederick Douglass
civil rights
Guaranteed individual legal protections
- equal protectionUniform legal treatment
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- amendmentChange to official text
Jim Crow · Civil Rights Act · voting rights · naturalization · disfranchisement · habeas corpus · state constitutions · congressional oversight · federal intervention
reconciliation
Restoration of friendly relations
- UnionNamed political entity
- readmissionAcceptance back in
- loyalty oathsRequired statements affirming devotion
amnesty · Home Rule · national unity · sectionalism · occupation · restoration · federal troops · withdrawal · self-governance · state sovereignty
Freedmen's Bureau
Post-Civil War relief agency
- public schoolsGovernment-funded educational institutions
- historically black collegesUniversities founded for Black students
- infrastructureBasic physical systems
railroads · land reform · labor contracts · marriage rights · churches · mutual aid societies · Republican Party · political participation · economic development · Howard University
Reconstruction EraAntebellum South
Pre-conflict Southern states
Reconstruction EraJim Crow era
Period of American racial segregation