Unit 2: The Transition from Enslavement to Citizenship

Civil War

A conflict from 1861 to 1865 primarily between Northern states (Union) and Southern states (Confederacy) over issues including states’ rights and slavery.

Self-Emancipation

The act of enslaved people freeing themselves by fleeing to Union lines during the Civil War.

Contraband of War

Fugitive enslaved people classified by General Butler as property that could be seized by the Union, thus not returned to their Confederate owners.

Confiscation Acts

Legislation passed in 1861 and 1862 that allowed the Union to seize Confederate property, including enslaved individuals.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in Confederate states to be free.

Border States

Slave states that remained in the Union during the Civil War, including Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri.

United States Colored Troops (USCT)

Regiments composed of African American soldiers during the Civil War.

54th Massachusetts

One of the first African American regiments in the U.S. Army, noted for its courageous assault on Fort Wagner.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War (1865–1877) focused on reintegrating Southern states and establishing rights for newly freed African Americans.

13th Amendment

Ratified in 1865, it abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States.

14th Amendment

Ratified in 1868, it established birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Established in 1865, it was a federal agency aimed at helping former slaves by providing food, housing, education, and legal assistance.

Hiram Revels

The first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate, representing Mississippi during Reconstruction.

Black Codes

Laws enacted in 1865-1866 aimed at restricting the rights of newly freed African Americans and maintaining white supremacy.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States, enacted after Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

A system where landless farmers, often former slaves, farmed a landowner's land in exchange for a share of the crops.

Debt Peonage

A condition in which sharecroppers are trapped in debt to landowners, making it difficult for them to leave their labor.

Convict Leasing

A system where Southern states leased convicted Black men to private companies for labor, exploiting a loophole in the 13th Amendment.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, leading to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and ending Reconstruction.

Poll Taxes

Fees charged to vote, used as a tool of disenfranchisement to restrict voting rights for poor individuals, particularly Black citizens.

Literacy Tests

Exams administered to voters designed to disenfranchise Black voters and some poor whites.

Grandfather Clauses

Legal provisions that allowed white voters to bypass literacy tests and poll taxes based on their ancestors' voting rights prior to 1867.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.

Radical Reconstruction

The period of Reconstruction characterized by strict policies aimed at achieving racial equality and protecting the rights of freed slaves.

Presidential Reconstruction

The lenient approach to Reconstruction led by President Lincoln and President Johnson, focused on quickly reintegrating Southern states.