Steps Toward Equality

13th AmendmentThe 13th Amendment helped

African Americans toward equality because it outlawed

slavery.

Johnson’s Reconstruction

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan allowed Confederate States to rejoin the Union once they had written a new Constitution, canceled it’s war debts, ratified the 13th Amendment, and repealed it’s act of secession.

His plan hindered African Americans from gaining equal rights because he

vetoed a lot of the equal rights legislation written by Congress.

Freedmen’s BureauAlthough it was not funded very long, the

Freedmen’s Bureau helped because it was a government agency created by Congress to help assist former slaves by providing necessities, medical care, and education to freedmen.

Black Codes

The Black Codes hindered by limiting the rights of African Americans. They were created by wealthy Southern planters to control their former slaves by giving them only a portion of the rights a citizen had. A typical law forced blacks to work or face being arrested, essentially forcing them to labor on farms or house servants.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 helped by

outlawing Black Codes. Although

Johnson vetoed this bill, Congress

overrode the veto.

14th Amendment

It helped because it defined citizenship as anyone born in the United States and granted equal rights to all citizens.

Military Reconstruction ActThis Radical Republican plan helped by

dividing the south into military districts to oversee and the enforcement of Reconstruction legislation.

Johnsons ImpeachmentIt helped because Radical Republicans were

tired of Johnson’s vetoes. Although Johnson remained in office by one vote, he lost credibility and power.

Sharecropping

A farming system that hindered by keeping blacks poor and uneducated.

15th Amendment

It helped by giving African- Americans the right to vote.

New State Constitutions

It helped by replacing all confederate

governments in the south.

African- Americans Office Holders

It helped because blacks

began to gain

political power.

Ku Klux Klan

It hindered by terrorizing blacks and keeping them from voting.

Enforcement Act

They helped by outlawing people (Ku Klux Klan)

from interfering with the right to vote and other violations of the equal protection of the law.

Amnesty Act of 1872

It hindered by pardoning Confederate officials and allowing

them to vote and gain political office.

Compromise of 1877

It hindered by ending Reconstruction. It allowed Hayes to become president (Republican), withdrew the military from the south, and returned Southern Democrats to power.

Poll Tax

They hindered by making voters pay a tax to vote. This kept blacks and poor

whites from voting.

Literacy Tests

They hindered by making the

freedmen take tests before they could

vote. They discriminated

against illiterate blacks and poor

whites.

Jim Crow Laws

They hindered by legally segregating whites and blacks.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The Supreme Court case that hindered by legalizing segregation and instituting the “Separate But

Equal” doctrine.