Congressional Reconstitution

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan:
His plan was to pardon the southerners who swore allegiance to the Union. He allowed each state to hold a constitutional convention. The states were required to recognize the secession as not being valid. Then the states could hold elections and join the Union.

Black Codes:
Black codes were laws that restricted freedman's rights. They established virtual slavery with laws such as these:

1. Black people had curfews and they could not meet after sunset.
2. Freedmen with no work could be fined, whipped or sold for a year's labor.
3. Freedmen had to sign a contract in January for a year of work. Those who quite in the middle of the contract lost the wages they had earned.
4. Freedmen could only rent land or homes in rural area. Otherwise they were forced to live on plantations, which most of them did.

14th Amendment:

It said that all the people born in the USA are citizens of the USA and of the State where they reside. No state can make or enforce any law which will put down the priviliges of citizens of the USA; nor can any state stop any person from living, liberty, or property, without any process from the law; nor deny to any person within its juridiction the equal protection of laws.

15th Amendment:

It stated that no citizen could be stopped to vote "by the USA or by any State no matter the race, color or previous condition servitude."

Radical Reconstitution:

A small group of Radical Republicans saw themselves as moderates (someone who supports the mainstream views of the party, not the more extreme positions). They disagreed with Johnson's Reconstruction policies, black codes, and favored the expansion of the republican party in the South. They wanted to give African Americans their civil rights, such as voting and equal treatment.

Carpetbagger:

The Northern Republicans who moved to the South after the war were known as the carpetbaggers. The southerners gave them this insulting name which referred to them as a cheap suitcase made of carpet rags. This name meant that the northerners had taken a few clothes put them in a carpet bag and ran to the south to take advantage of the southern misery, so they can prosper.

Scalawags:

Southerners had an insulting name for the white southern Republicans as well which was the scalawags. This was a word meaning "scrawny cattle." Some scalawags were passed Whigs who had opposed secession. Some we small farmers who resented the planter class. Still others were former planters. Overall most of the scalawags were poor, but not all.