Compromise of 1877The political deal that brought Reconstruction to a close. It settled the disputed presidential election of 1876.
ConfederacyThe breakaway republic of eleven slaveholding states. It lasted from 1861 to 1865.
federal troopsSoldiers of the national government. The last federal troops left the South in 1877.
impeachTo bring formal charges against someone in high office. In 1868 the House impeached President Andrew Johnson. The Senate's vote to remove him failed by a single vote.
military districtAn area placed under the command of an army general. The Reconstruction Acts grouped ten Southern states into five military districts.
Radical RepublicansThe group in Congress that fought for freedmen's rights. They passed the Reconstruction Acts over President Johnson's vetoes.
readmitTo let a state back into the Union. Former Confederate states had to approve the Fourteenth Amendment before Congress seated their members again.
ReconstructionThe period, after the Civil War, of remaking the South. It followed the Civil War of 1861 to 1865.
Reconstruction ActsThe laws of 1867-68 that put the South under army rule. Military rule lasted in a state until its new government was formed.
secedeTo break away from a country and leave it. Eleven Southern states declared that they had seceded in 1860 and 1861.
Ten Percent PlanLincoln's plan to restore a state once a tenth swore loyalty. President Lincoln announced it on December 8, 1863.
vetoA president's 'no' that stops a bill from becoming law. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 a second time after President Johnson's veto.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)
Freedom and rights 12
amendmentA formal addition that alters the Constitution's text. The Constitution has 27 amendments.
citizenshipFull legal membership in a nation. The Fourteenth Amendment made citizens of everyone born in the United States or naturalized there.
Civil Rights Act of 1866The first federal law to say who is a citizen. It became law in April 1866 over the president's veto.
emancipationRelease from slavery, granted to a whole group at once. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863.
equal protectionThe rule that the law must treat all people alike. The words come from the Fourteenth Amendment: 'the equal protection of the laws'.
Fifteenth AmendmentThe 1870 change that protected Black men's right to vote. The states ratified it on February 3, 1870.
Fourteenth AmendmentThe 1868 change that made the freed people citizens. It was ratified on July 9, 1868.
freedmenThe name for people newly released from bondage. After the war, freedmen asked for schools, the vote and the reunion of their families.
Freedmen's BureauThe federal agency that gave freed people food and schools. Congress created it on March 3, 1865.
ratifyTo give the official yes that puts an amendment in force. An amendment takes effect when three-fourths of the states ratify it.
suffrageThe lawful power to help choose who governs. The Reconstruction Acts gave freedmen suffrage and the right to hold public office.
Thirteenth AmendmentThe 1865 change that ended slavery in the nation. It was ratified on December 6, 1865.
Life in the South 12
Black CodesSouthern laws passed to limit freed people's rights. Southern states passed them soon after slavery ended in 1865.
carpetbaggerA Southern insult for a newcomer from the North. Southerners used the name for Northerners who came after the Civil War.
discriminationTreating some people worse because of race or group. The Fourteenth Amendment protected citizens from discriminatory state laws.
ExodustersBlack Southerners who moved to Kansas in 1879. Their move is known as the Exodus of 1879.
Jim Crow lawsLater Southern laws dividing public places by race. Most that remained were struck down in the 1960s by the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
labor contractA written deal setting a worker's tasks and wages. The Freedmen's Bureau supervised contracts between freedmen and employers.
literacy testA reading test a person had to pass to vote. The officials who gave the test could pass or fail anyone they chose.
poll taxA fee a person had to pay in order to vote. The Twenty-fourth Amendment ended poll taxes in federal elections in 1964.
scalawagA scornful label for a Southern white ally of the freedmen. Scalawags joined freedmen and carpetbaggers in the Republican Party of the South.
segregationThe forced separation of Black and white people. The South's new public schools were segregated by race nearly everywhere.
sharecroppingRaising crops on a landlord's field for part of the harvest. The crop was usually cotton; in some areas it was tobacco, rice or sugar.
tenant farmerA farmer who rents the land he or she works. A tenant might pay the owner in cash or with a fixed part of the crop.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-11. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the English Wikipedia article on the term (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Reconstruction era, Confederate States of America, Secession in the United States, Ten percent plan, Radical Republicans, Reconstruction Acts, Compromise of 1877, Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, Emancipation Proclamation, Freedman, Freedmen's Bureau, Reconstruction Amendments, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Equal Protection Clause, Civil Rights Act of 1866, Sharecropping, Tenant farmer, Black Codes (United States), Carpetbagger, Scalawag, Racial segregation in the United States, Jim Crow laws, Poll taxes in the United States, Literacy test and Exodusters. Secede, readmit, veto, impeach, amendment, ratify, citizenship, suffrage and discrimination were checked against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), under the same license. The history in the meanings and the facts was checked a second time against the National Archives milestone documents for the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/13th-amendment and the two pages beside it), the United States Senate pages Freedmen's Bureau Acts of 1865 and 1866 (https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/FreedmensBureau.htm) and Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson, 1868 (https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/impeachment/impeachment-johnson.htm), and the Library of Congress essays Reconstruction and Rights, The Travails of Reconstruction and The Freedmen (https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/civil-war-and-reconstruction-1861-1877/) and its exhibition page Reconstruction and Its Aftermath (https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/reconstruction.html). The sentence after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work
How it works
These free Reconstruction worksheets for 5th grade are a vocabulary matching worksheet in three sets, each with an answer key. The first has the words of rebuilding the Union: Confederacy, secede, readmit, veto, impeach and Compromise of 1877.
Read the full guide
Freedom and rights
In Set, the second Reconstruction vocabulary worksheet has the words of the new amendments: emancipation, freedmen, Freedmen's Bureau, amendment, ratify, Thirteenth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment, citizenship, suffrage, equal protection and Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Life in the South
The third has sharecropping, tenant farmer, Black Codes, carpetbagger, scalawag, segregation, Jim Crow laws, poll tax, literacy test, Exodusters, discrimination and labor contract. Under the tool each of the vocabulary words of the Reconstruction era has a fact, checked against Wikipedia and pages of the National Archives, the United States Senate and the Library of Congress.
These sheets are vocabulary only: they do not tell of the violence used against freed people and their allies in these years.
Questions and answers
What was Reconstruction?
The years after the Civil War, usually dated 1865 to 1877, when Congress and the presidents set the terms on which the former Confederate states came back into the Union, and three amendments wrote freedom, citizenship and the vote into the Constitution.
What are the Reconstruction amendments?
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, adopted between 1865 and 1870. They are also called the Civil War Amendments.
What is the difference between sharecropping and tenant farming?
A sharecropper paid for the use of the land with a share of the crop, typically half or more, and often bought supplies on credit. A tenant farmer rented the land and had more independence.
Are there Reconstruction worksheets for 4th grade?
The sheets name no grade, so a Reconstruction 5th grade worksheet prints for 4th grade as it stands. Pairs shortens it to four, five, six, eight or ten terms, and the box takes lines in the words of your own textbook.