Civil War and Reconstruction Vocabulary

Flashcards on the Civil War and Reconstruction era, focusing on vocabulary terms related to the lecture.

Conscription

Forcing people to join the war effort; the draft.

War of Attrition

A prolonged war or period of conflict during which each side seeks to gradually wear out the other by a series of small-scale actions.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A court order requiringExplanation that a person being detained to be brought before a judge or into court to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

Martial Law

Military government involving the temporary substitution of military authority for civilian rule and is usually invoked in time of war, rebellion, or natural disaster.

Contraband of War

Goods that may be seized when entering or leaving a belligerent country during wartime.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued on January 1, 1863, by President Lincoln freeing slaves in designated areas of the Confederacy.

13th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

14th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that granted citizenship and equal protection of the laws to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people.

15th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Sharecropping

A system where the landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land.

Black Codes

Restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.