Untitled Flashcards Set

Homestead Act

A law enacted in 1862 that provided 160 acres of public land to settlers for a small fee, provided they improve the land by building a dwelling and cultivating crops.

Greenbacks

Paper currency issued by the U.S. Treasury during the Civil War that could not be redeemed in gold or silver.

Copperheads

A group of Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and wanted a peace settlement with the Confederacy.

Ex Parte Milligan

A Supreme Court case in 1866 that ruled military trials of civilians were unconstitutional when civil courts were available.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that declared the freedom of all slaves in Confederate-held territory.

Jefferson Davis

The President of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

The commanding general of the Union Army during the Civil War who later became the 18th President of the United States.

Robert E. Lee

The commander of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

King Cotton Diplomacy

The Confederate strategy to leverage cotton exports to gain support from European nations.

Gettysburg Address

A speech given by President Lincoln in 1863 that emphasized the principles of human equality and the fight for a unified nation.

13th Amendment

The amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, that abolished slavery.

14th Amendment

The amendment ratified in 1868 that grants citizenship rights to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and provides equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

The amendment ratified in 1870 that prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

President Andrew Johnson

The 17th President of the United States who succeeded Lincoln and oversaw the early Reconstruction era.

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party after the Civil War.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, often to profit from Reconstruction.

Credit Mobilier

A scandal involving the Union Pacific Railroad and a construction company that defrauded the federal government.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, resulting in the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction.

sharecropping

A system of agriculture where a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crops produced.

Jim Crow

A system of laws enforcing racial segregation and discrimination in the Southern United States.

Black Codes

Laws passed in Southern states after the Civil War to limit the rights and freedoms of African Americans.