Civil War Reconstruction Vocabulary Words Plantation A very

Civil War & Reconstruction Vocabulary Words

Plantation A very large farm.

Abolitionist A person who fought to end slavery.

Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy (the South) during the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln United States President during the Civil War. He wrote the Emancipation Proclamation and worked to reconstruct the country after the war.

Anaconda Plan The North’s strategy during the Civil War to cut off supplies from the South by blocking their trade.

Draft A law requiring men to register for military service.

War debts Money owed after a war.

Underground Railroad An above-ground series of escape routes for slaves traveling from the South to the North to gain their freedom.

Conductors People who led runaway slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

Harriet Tubman A former slave, she made over 19 journeys from the South to the North helping slaves escape.

Spirituals Songs sung by slaves and members of the Underground Railroad to encourage hope, defy slave-masters, and secret messages.

Reconstruction The time period when the United States was rebuilt after the Civil War.

Freedmen A newly free slave.

Freedmen’s Bureau An office established in 1865 by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South after the Civil War.

Ten Percent Plan Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction, which stated that a southern state could rejoin the United States once 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the Union.

Amnesty An official pardon for people who have been convicted of political crimes.

Black Codes Laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War, that restricted African Americans' freedoms and opportunities (such as jobs and education)

Reconstruction Acts passed by the Radical Republicans (who took charge of Reconstruction) that put strict requirements in place if a southern state wanted to rejoin the Union.

Radicals Republicans who favored drastic and sometimes harsh measures against the southern states in the period following the Civil War.

Impeach To charge a politician with misconduct or crimes.

Carpetbagger A person from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction.

Ku Klux Klan A secret society of white Southerners in the United States; used threats and violence to suppress black people.

Sharecropper A farmer who rents a piece of land from the owner and pays him back with a portion of the crop he harvests.

Poll Tax A tax that had to be paid every time a person voted. Poll taxes were used after the Civil War to prevent free blacks, who often could not afford to pay them, from voting.

Literacy Test A test of someone’s ability to read and write that had to be passed before voting; used to keep freedmen and the poor from voting.

Grandfather Clause A law that stated that if your grandfather was allowed to vote (as of 1867), then you can vote, too, without having to pass a literacy test.

Segregation Legal separation of races (for example, in schools, bathrooms, or trains)

Jim Crow Laws Racial segregation laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 in certain U. S. states; greatly restricted the rights and opportunities for free black citizens.