Reconstruction Study Guide

Reconstruction• Who: African Americans, KKK, Freedmen’s Bureau• What: The United States plans to rebuild the U.S. after the Civil War• Where: Southern States • When: 1865-1877• Why: It helped shaped, good and bad, our nation after the Civil War.

It helped to incorporate African Americans into our free society even despite negative feedback from the South.

Lincoln Assassination• Who: Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth• What: Abraham Lincoln was shot by Booth• Where: Fords Theater• When: April 14, 1865• Why: Booth shot Lincoln because Lincoln represented everything

Booth was against – Freedom vs. Slavery. It also set the tone that the South would not stop fighting for what they believed in.

Andrew Johnson• Who: President of the US• What: He attempted and failed to follow through with Lincoln’s

Reconstruction plans because Congress was not in session. Many southern states established their own laws with how they were going to deal with the new freed men.• Where: The U.S.• When: 1865-1869• Why: He failed in his efforts to help rebuild the country and was later

impeached (kicked out) for misconduct in office.

Freedmen’s Bureau• Who: An government organization• What: They helped build schools, hospitals, find families, resolve

labor contracts, and more for African Americans• Where: The South• When: 1865-1872• Why: They helped with supporting and establishing African Americans

into our society.

KKK• Who: Southerners/Angry Confederates• What: They caused terror, shot, hung and intimated African

Americans • Where: Mainly in the South • When: Post Civil War - Present• Why: They were an influential group that tried to destroy the efforts

of Reconstruction.

Sharecropping• Who: African American, poor whites and land owners• What: African Americans would rent land, supplies, food and more

from the land owner to help grow their crops.• Where: The South• When: Post Civil War • Why: The people who rented the land would be in a constant

state/cycle of debt with the land owner.

Jim Crow Laws• Who: Whites against African Americans• What: Laws that were passed to segregate African Americans from

whites• Where: The South• When: 1865-1965• Why: These laws set the tone of how Southern society was going to

treat African Americans.

13th Amendment• Who: African Americans • What: Abolished slavery• Where: The U.S.• When: 1865• Why: It gave African Americans freedom and was the first attempt to include them in society

14th Amendment• Who: African Americans• What: It gave citizenship to people born or naturalized in the United

States• Where: The US• When: 1868• Why: It helped African Americans gain equality.

15th Amendment• Who: African Americans• What: It allowed all men the right to vote • Where: United States• When: 1870• Why: It improved the equality amongst African Americans and gave

them a voice in society

Plessy v. Ferguson• Who: Homer Plessy• What: A colored group wanted to challenge the 14th Amendment and

a segregation law.• Where: Louisiana• When: 1896• Why: It challenged the 14th Amendment, but the Supreme Court

established the term “separate but equal” was legal