Key events and figures in US history from Reconstruction to the present, tested on the CLEP US History II exam. Front: the term, event, or figure. Back: a one to two sentence explanation of its significance.
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- Reconstruction
- The period following the Civil War (1865-1877) in which the federal government worked to rebuild the South and reintegrate former Confederate states into the Union.
- Radical Republicans
- A faction within the Republican Party during Reconstruction that sought harsh punishment for the South and greater rights for freed slaves through Congressional Reconstruction.
- Compromise of 1877
- An agreement that ended Reconstruction by giving the presidency to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.
- Jim Crow Laws
- State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction, permitting 'separate but equal' facilities for Black and white people.
- Sharecropping
- An agricultural system in the post-Civil War South where poor farmers, including freed slaves, worked land owned by others and shared the crop as payment.
- 13th Amendment
- Ratified in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime.
- 14th Amendment
- Ratified in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to all persons born in the US and guaranteed equal protection and due process of law.
- 15th Amendment
- Ratified in 1870, this amendment prohibited denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
- Gilded Age
- The period of rapid industrialization and economic growth from the 1870s to 1900, marked by great wealth alongside poverty, corruption, and social problems.
- Robber Barons
- Wealthy industrialists and businessmen of the Gilded Age, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, who used ruthless methods to build massive business empires.
- Sherman Antitrust Act
- Passed in 1890, this federal law prohibited monopolies and business practices that unreasonably restricted competition and trade.
- Trust
- A large business organization formed by combining multiple companies under one control, often used to eliminate competition and fix prices.
- Theodore Roosevelt
- The 26th president (1901-1909) who championed Progressive reforms, conservation, trust-busting, and an active foreign policy.
- Square Deal
- Theodore Roosevelt's domestic policy emphasizing fairness for workers, consumers, and businesses through government regulation and labor reforms.
- Muckraking
- A form of investigative journalism that exposed corruption, abuse, and injustice in business and government during the Progressive Era.