Reconstruction Era Vocabulary & Key Terms

Front

This outlawed slavery for everyone and everywhere (required majority in congress to propose and then required state ratification). Options: 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, Emancipation Proclamation.

Back

13th Amendment

Front

Granted citizenship to all persons born in the US and guaranteed them equal protection under the law

Back

14th Amendment

Front

Ensures all citizens in the U.S. have the right to vote, regardless of race or color or previous condition of servitude (though it was not always enforced at local level)

Back

15th Amendment

Front

Formal pardon or forgiveness for political offenses (in this context, forgiveness for participating in a rebellion against the US)

Back

Amnesty

Front

being in control of your own life, freedom, moral independence; self-governing (something former slaves spoke about)

Back

Autonomy

Front

Local laws in Southern states right after the Civil War (during first 2 years of reconstruction under President Johnson) that severely limited the rights of all black people and former slaves and tried to undermine the 13th Amendment

Back

Black Codes

Front

Laws that separated whites and blacks from the late 1800s through the 1960s, also referred to as "de jure segregation".

Back

Jim Crow Laws

Front

Separation of groups that happens because of fact, circumstances, or customs (ex: neighborhood segregation)

Back

De Facto Segregation

Front

Separation of groups that happens because of law (ex: laws requiring racially segregated public schools)

Back

De Jure Segregation

Front

Money required of voters in some Southern states - disproportionately applied to black voters, which could prohibit their ability to vote

Back

Poll Tax