James Frawley

Mr. McGoldrick
US History
7 March 2014
Identifications: Chapter 21
Emancipation Proclamation Lincolns issuance of this document was his single most
important act in saving the union by providing a moral justification for continuing the
war. It provided that after January 1, 1863, all slaves in states still in rebellion would be
then, thenceforward, and forever free. Black soldiers were also permitted to flight for
the freedom of their race after this document met with popular approval. While no states
still in rebellion would honor Lincolns executive order, every subsequently conquered
state had to. Thus Lincoln made the war about a new birth of freedom and boasted the
nations morale. Its viewpoint was that blacks should be freed from slavery. It is
significant today because it gave Africans freedom and without it slavery would have
lasted longer.
13
th
Amendment This amendment to the constitution was foreshadowed by the
emancipation proclamation and was a penalty for the secession of the slaveholding states
and the Civil War. Once Lincoln issued his proclamation, the union fought on to secure
emancipation as its new unifying impulse. This step, completed with ratification late in
1865, was the one measure that Lincoln, Johnson, and the Radical Republicans all agreed
should never occur before Reconstruction could be considered a success. The Thirteenth
Amendment was considered by some to be the end of the abolitionist movement and its
crowning achievement. The events of reconstruction, however, left the freedmen in a
general condition not much different form their status before the war. Its viewpoint was
that they needed to maintain that secession from the union was bad and penalty worthy.
It is significant today because it enforced that states should not secede form the union.
14
th
Amendment When the congress tried to confer citizenship rights on freedmen
with the civil rights act of 1866, the law was considered such a usurpation of the rights of
states to determine citizenship that the committee on reconstruction resolved to amend
the constitution. Once it was ratified in the north, the committee demanded that each
southern state do so as a condition of reconstruction. The amendment clarified the
citizenship status of African-Americans and of all people born on American soil.
Furthermore, the federal government was put in charge of monitoring whether or not
states abused the civil rights of their citizens. Provisions of the amendment were also
designed to punish high-ranking confederate leaders by barring them from holding public
office. The committee on reconstruction designed the policies to further punish the
south, and the fourteenth amendment was the basis for federal action during the civil
rights movement. Its viewpoint was to create a standard for federal action in the civil
rights movement. It is significant today because it clarified the citizenship status of
anyone born on American soil.
15
th
Amendment The radical republicans final constitutional blow against the former
confederate states was the fifteenth amendment. African-American males were given the
right to vote in local and national elections before many white southern men and before
all white women. Ratified in 1870, the fifteenth amendment was used to legalize African
male suffrage even in the north where only a small minority of states permitted blacks to
vote. The radical republicans further humiliated the south by finally providing full
citizenship rights to former slaves. Women suffragists rallied against both the fourteenth
and fifteenth amendments because they were the first uses of the word male in the US
constitution and were another hurdle of women would have to leap before they could
claim full citizenship. Its viewpoint was that black men should have the right to vote
now that they are free. It is significant today because it makes womens suffrage more
attainable and it gave blacks some freedoms.
Radical Republicans This wing of the Republican Party in congress sought to punish
the south for having caused the civil war and to elevate the freedmen. Some viewed the
latter issue as another attempt to humiliate the south, whereas others were sincerely
interested in advancing African-Americans to a position of equality. All the Radicals
were said to wave the bloody shirt, or to continually gain political advantage by
blaming the Democratic Party for the war. The Radicals used their numerical advantage
in congress to vie for control of reconstruction with president Johnson, and they
represented the only opportunity to secure the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
amendments to the Constitution for nearly a century because they held complete control
while most southern whites could not vote. Their viewpoint was that the south should be
punished for having started the civil war. They are significant today because they blamed
the democrats for the war and they influenced the approval of multiple amendments.
Lincolns 10 Percent Plan Based on his belief that the seceded states had never left the
country because they had lost their war for independence, Abraham Lincoln sought to
ease the country back to peace with a lenient plan for Reconstruction. His plan first gave
amnesty to almost all confederates, and then he called for states to emancipate their
slaves and swear loyalty to the union. Once 10 percent of the states population took the
oath, Lincoln planned to recognize the states government as legitimate. Most
northerners thought this arrangement was too lenient, but Lincoln could have perhaps
guided his proposals through to a benevolent peace if it were not for his assassination by
John Wilkes Booth. Its viewpoint was trying to get the confederacy, which lost, to agree
to the union and its ideals. It is significant today because the country is the United States
and that would be totally different if all of the states hadnt come to an agreement over
the union.
Wade Davis Bill It was a bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by
two Radical Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry
Winter Davis of Maryland. In contrast to President Abraham Lincoln's more lenient Ten
Percent Plan, the bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states
contingent on a majority in each Southern state to take the Ironclad oath to the effect they
had never in the past supported the Confederacy. The bill passed both houses of Congress
on July 2, 1864, but was pocket vetoed by Lincoln and never took effect. The Radical
Republicans were outraged that Lincoln did not sign the bill. Lincoln wanted to mend the
Union by carrying out the Ten percent plan. He believed it would be too difficult to repair
all of the ties within the Union if the Wade-Davis bill passed. Its viewpoint was that
Lincolns 10% plan was too loose. It is significant today because it was the more
difficult version of the ten percent plan, which is what Lincoln had proposed.
Andersonville Prison The former Camp Sumter was a Confederate prisoner-of-war
camp during the American Civil War. Most of the site lies in southwestern Macon
County, adjacent to the east side of the town of Andersonville. As well as the former
prison, the site also contains the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National
Prisoner of War Museum. The site is an iconic reminder of the horrors of Civil War
prisons. Major Henry Wirz, who was tried and executed after the war for murder,
commanded it. It was overcrowded to four times its capacity, with inadequate water
supply, reduction in food rations, and unsanitary conditions. Of the approximately 45,000
Union prisoners held at Camp Sumter during the war, nearly 13,000 men died. The chief
causes of death were scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery. Friends provided care, food, and
moral support for others in their social network, which helped a prisoner survive. Its
viewpoint was that they needed to protect the history of the civil war. It is significant
today because it is a place of great significance to the war.
Appomattox Courthouse With Union armies encircling the army of Northern
Virginia, general lee surrendered to general grant in April 1865. Lee received rations for
his men and permission for his officers to keep their swords and all soldiers to keep their
own horses and mules. Lees urging of his men to surrendered and return to civilian life
was his greatest contribution to peace. Its viewpoint was that the south confederacy was
not strong enough and was encircled so they needed to surrender. It is significant today
because it was a sign of weakness in the confederacy and they eventually lose the war.
Alabama Settlement Case It were a series of claims for damages by the United States
government brought in 1869 against the British government as a result of ships, such as
the Alabama, it built that aided the Confederate cause in seizing American merchant
ships during the American Civil War. After international arbitration endorsed the United
States position in 1872, Britain settled the matter by paying the United States $15.5
million for damages done by the Alabama and other warships built in Britain and sold to
the Confederacy. They ended the dispute and restored friendly relations through an 1872
treaty with the US. Using international arbitration set a precedent, and the case also
aroused interest in codifying public international law. Its viewpoint was that they were
owed for the damages done. It is significant today because it set precedents for every
occasion.
Andrew Johnson A self-educated tailor, Johnson had risen to become the governor of
Tennessee just prior to the civil war and then a US senator. Because he did not approve
of secession and did not leave the Senate when Tennessee seceded, Lincoln made him
vice president in 1864. He became president after Lincolns assassination but proved to
be inadequate to the task of carrying out Lincolns policies. Even his more stringent plan
for reconstruction met with resistance from the radical republicans in congress who
eventually tried to get rid of Johnson through an impeachment trial. Johnson was not
removed from office, but his presidency still ended in failure. He, like president grant,
was plagued by accusations of alcoholism. His attempts as a southerner to end
reconstruction served only to isolate him from his political party. His viewpoint was that
secession was not a good solution to political differences. He is significant today because
he was vice president to Lincoln and had to assume the position of the president when
Lincoln was killed.
Tenure of Office Act In a quest to rid themselves of Andrew Johnson in order to freely
reshape the south in reconstruction, the radical republicans passed the tenure of office act.
This innocuous-sounding name hid the fact that the law was a trap. Reasoning from the
constitutional power of the congress to review appointments of the executive branch, they
sought to require congressional consent for any firings as well. In his ongoing animosity
for the legislative assertion of one-party power, Johnson tested the law by firing secretary
of war Edwin Stanton. He had first asked permission from the congress, but they said no.
Johnsons going ahead with firing was the grounds whereby the radical republicans
impeached him for high crimes and misdemeanors. Its viewpoint was that there would
need to be congressional approval for firing people. It is significant today because it
prevented the firing of some government officials.
Reconstruction This joint committee of six members of the senate and nine members
of the House of Representatives was appointed to guide matters like the ratification of the
Thirteenth Amendment and other reconstruction policies. Thaddeus Stevens wielded the
solid radical republican majority power in congress to impose his will on the conquered
provinces, as Stevens referred to the former confederate states. The committee declared
congress to be the sole power in the land regarding reconstruction. They were largely
responsible for the fourteenth amendment and the idea of military reconstruction, a fate
only escaped by the state of Tennessee because of its early compliance. The ten other
seceded states faced the wrath of Stevens, the committee, and the radical republicans. Its
viewpoint was to help reconstruct the country and union after the civil war. It is
significant today because many of the reconstruction practices shaped the country into
what it is today.
Sec. Seward He was an American politician from the state of New York. He served as
the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of
State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. A determined opponent of the spread
of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a dominant figure in
the Republican Party in its formative years, and was widely regarded as the leading
contender for the party's presidential nomination in 1860. His viewpoint is that Seward is
a good man who cooperates with investigations. He is significant today because he was
used as a new standard soon after captured for this.
Freedmans Bureau In response to the southern states laws known as the black codes,
the federal government expanded this agency originally formed to transfer abandoned
land to former slaves. Under the leadership of Oliver o Howard, the bureau sought to
provide freedmen with basic necessities until they could either own land or secures jobs.
Bureau agents were supposed to monitor the working conditions to which African-
Americans were subjected, but the land distribution and the staff were never enough. The
freedmans bureaus greatest success was the establishment of the first serious efforts to
educate African-Americans in the south. President Johnson vetoed the legislation saying
that the US Constitution did not call for the federal government to set up welfare agencies
looking out for individual citizens needs. The attempt to elevate African-Americans for
their sakes and to humiliate the South saw this first welfare agency established when the
radical republicans overrode the presidents veto. Its viewpoint was that they should help
the newly freed black people. It is significant today because it was the first form of
welfare that existed in the US.
Sharecropping This form of tenant farming permitted workers, black and white, to live
on a former plantations land while working the cotton or tobacco crops for the land
owner. When the crop was harvested, a portion of the proceeds would be given to the
workers as income, share by share. Most former slaves and many poor whites displaced
by the war accepted this arrangement as their only viable option to make a living.
Sharecropping generally provided a meager existence, however, due to manipulation by
the landowner or by merchants who supplied the sharecroppers with tools and seed on
credit. Furthermore, natural agricultural problems like drought or hailstorms could ruin
crops and leave sharecropping families in debt for generations. Families falling prey to
the system lived little better than the serfs of the medieval period in Europe, and the
existence for former slaves was almost exactly reminiscent of slavery. As the only
plausible labor agreement for the ruined cotton kingdom, however, sharecropping existed
in the south through the great depression and World War II. Its viewpoint was to get
someone to work on the plantations and to provide jobs, even thought it was terrible. It is
significant today because this system had put families into debt for many generations.
Jim Crow Laws They were racial segregation laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 in
the United States at the state and local level. They mandated de jure racial segregation in
all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a
"separate but equal" status for African Americans. The separation in practice led to
conditions for African Americans that tended to be inferior to those provided for white
Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.
De jure segregation mainly applied to the Southern United States. While Northern
segregation was generally de facto, there were patterns of segregation in housing
enforced by covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination, including
discriminatory union practices for decades. Their viewpoint was that races could not be
mixed. They are significant today because they were controversial parts of history.
Democratic Solid South It describes the electoral support of the Southern United
States for Democratic Party candidates from 1877 (the end of Reconstruction) to 1964
(the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964). During this time, the vast majority of local
and state officeholders in the South were Democrats, as were federal politicians the
region sent to Washington, D.C. The virtual non-existence of the Republican Party in the
region meant that a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount
to election to the office itself. Its viewpoint was that it is important to a political
campaign. It is significant today because it would be new construction that would be
useful.
Gilded Age It is a period spanning approximately in the 1870s to the turn of the
twentieth century. The term was coined by writers Mark Twain and Charles Dudley
Warner in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), satirizing what they believed to be
an era of serious social problems disguised by thin gold gilding. The Gilded Age was an
era of economic growth, especially in the North and West. This attracted millions of
immigrants from Europe. American wages, especially for skilled workers, were much
higher than in Europe. The increase of industrialization meant, despite the increasing
labor force, real wages in the US grew 60% from 1860 to 1890, and continued to rise
after that. However, the Gilded Age was also an era of poverty as very poor European
immigrants poured in. Its viewpoint was that everything was wealthy and industrious. It
is significant today because it was a time of great prosperity.
Boss Tweed The epitome of corrupt Gilded Age politics was the career of William
Tweed, the leader of New York City Democratic headquarters, Tammany Hall. Holding
office no higher than a state senator, Tweed controlled state and local political offices and
allotted state and municipal contracts from the 1850s to the 1870s to his cronies. Tweed
pocketed money from all sorts of graft and then bought companies that then received
state and local contracts for business. A favorite victim of Thomas Nasts political
cartooning, Tweed was arrested after some of his inner circle told their story to The New
York Times, and he died in a federal prison in 1878 after being convicted for 204 of the
220 charges against him. His viewpoint was that he would do what he needed to get
ahead. He is significant today because he was a politician who did many illegal things in
the past.