history

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th U.S. president best known for ending Reconstruction after the Civil War.

John Brown

Abolitionist best known for leading the raid on Harper’s Ferry to spark a slave uprising.

Radical Republican

A group of Republicans who pushed for strong civil rights protections for formerly enslaved people during Reconstruction.

Harriet Tubman

Formerly enslaved woman best known for helping enslaved people escape through the Underground Railroad.

Andrew Johnson

17th U.S. president best known for leading Reconstruction after Lincoln’s assassination and being impeached by the House.

Brigham Young

Mormon leader best known for leading settlers to Utah and helping establish Salt Lake City.

Clara Barton

Nurse best known for founding the American Red Cross.

Henry Clay

Politician best known for creating compromises that helped delay conflict over slavery.

Trail of Tears

The forced removal of Native American tribes from the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Eli whitney

Inventor best known for creating the cotton gin, which increased cotton production.

Stephen Douglas

Senator best known for promoting popular sovereignty and debating Abraham Lincoln.

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to defeat the Confederacy by blockading Southern ports and controlling the Mississippi River.

Compromise of 1850

A series of laws that attempted to reduce tensions between free and slave states.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Supreme Court case that strengthened federal power by ruling states could not tax the national bank.

Monroe Doctrine

Policy declaring that European nations should not establish new colonies in the Americas.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general best known for leading the North to victory in the Civil War and later serving as president.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Supreme Court decision that ruled African Americans were not citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in territories.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that settlers in a territory should vote to decide whether slavery would be allowed.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author best known for writing the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Know-Nothing Party

Political party best known for opposing immigration and immigration-related political influence.

Stephen F. Austin

Settler leader best known for bringing American colonists to Texas.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the United States was destined to expand across North America.

Andrew Jackson

President best known for expanding executive power and enforcing Native American removal.

John C. Calhoun

Politician best known for defending states' rights and slavery before the Civil War.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to one's region of the country rather than to the nation as a whole.

Tariff of Abominations

The 1828 tariff that raised taxes on imports and angered many Southerners.

Pet Banks

State banks chosen by Andrew Jackson to hold federal money after he opposed the national bank.

William Henry Harrison

U.S. president best known for having the shortest presidency in American history.

Forty-Niners

People who rushed to California in 1849 seeking gold during the Gold Rush.

Gettysburg Address

A famous speech by Lincoln that honored Civil War soldiers and emphasized national unity.

Indian Removal Act

The 1830 law that authorized the forced relocation of Native American tribes from the Southeast.

50’40’ or Fight

A slogan used by Americans demanding U.S. control of the Oregon Territory up to latitude 54°40′.

Sam Houston

Leader best known for helping Texas win independence from Mexico.

Texas Revolution

The conflict in which Texas gained independence from Mexico.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Mexican leader best known for commanding forces during the Texas Revolution.

Battle of the Alamo

A famous battle where Texan defenders were defeated by Mexican forces.

Republican Party

Political party founded in the 1850s that opposed the expansion of slavery.

John Wilkes Booth

Actor best known for assassinating President Abraham Lincoln.

William Tecumseh Sherman

Union general best known for his March to the Sea during the Civil War.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and wanted peace with the Confederacy.

Thirteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery in the United States.

Battle of Antietam

The bloodiest single-day battle in American history and a key Union victory.

Battle of Fort Sumter

The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter that began the Civil War.

Battle of Gettysburg

Major Union victory that is often considered the turning point of the Civil War.

Daniel Webster

Politician best known for defending the Union and promoting nationalism.

James K. Polk

President best known for expanding U.S. territory through the Mexican-American War.

Siege for Vicksburg

Union victory that gave the North control of the Mississippi River.

Abraham Lincoln

President best known for leading the Union during the Civil War and ending slavery.

Fugitive Slave Act

Gadsden Purchase

Charles Sumner

Bleeding Kansas

Jefferson Davis

South Carolina

Union

Confederacy

Border States

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

Emancipation Proclamation

Conscription

Martial Law

Mass. 54 Regiment

Appomattox Courthouse

Fourteenth Amendment

Fifteenth Amendment

Poll Tax

Freedman’s Bureau

Carpetbaggers

Scalawags

Hiram Revels

Credit Mobilier

Compromise of 1877

General George Custer

The Grange

Exoduster

Dawes Act

Edwin Drake

Alexander Graham Bell

John D. Rockefeller

Andrew Carnegie

Horizontal Integration

Vertical Integration

Transcontinental Railroad

Laissez-Faire

Social Darwinism

Gilded Age

James Garfield

Patronage

Jane Addams

Emma Lazarus

Nativism

Ellis Island

Chinese Exclusion Act

Booker T. Washington

W.E.B. DuBois

Political Machines

Graft

Lynchings

Ida Wells

Plessy v. Ferguson