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10 percent Reconstruction Plan
The Ten Percent Plan was conceived by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in order to reunify the North and South after the war’s end. He issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction offering pardon to Confederates who would swear to support the Constitution and the Union. -
Wade Davis Bill
The Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 was crafted by Radical Republicans Senator Benjamin Wade and Congressman Henry Winter Davis. The proposed provisions included in the Wade-Davis Bill were inflexible. The legislation called for a complete abolition of slavery to prevent any type of residual survival the institution might have following the conclusion of the war. Remember, the Thirteenth Amendment did not become law until 1865, meaning there was no law in place to abolish slavery in 1864. -
Freedmen's Beureau
This act was passed to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. The Freedmen’s Bureau was to operate “during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter,” and also established schools, supervised contracts between freedmen and employers, and managed confiscated or abandoned lands. -
Compromise
The compromise of 1877 was passed. It resolved the 1876 election and officially ended Reconstruction. It was an informal agreement between southern Democrats and allies of the Republican Rutherford Hayes to settle the result of the 1876 presidential election and marked the end of the Reconstruction era. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
An act that was passed as the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Many Americans on the West Coast attributed declining wages and economic ills to Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation's population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white "racial purity." -
Pendleton Act
Act passed that provided that Federal Government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit and that Government employees be selected through competitive exams. The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons employees who were covered by the law. The law further forbids requiring employees to give political service or contributions. The Civil Service Commission was established to enforce this act.