Vocab Quiz over Civil War and Reconstruction 2.0

Jefferson Davis

president of the Confederacy during the Civil War, used to have a high school named after him

Homestead Act

several United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost.

Gettysburg

Battle that marked the high tide of the South’s advance, and after suffering a crushing defeat, Lee’s Army thereafter was in a state of retreat.

Vicksburg

Battle that captured the last strong hold of the South on the Mississippi River, and effectively gave control of the river to the North, and split the Confederacy.

Sherman’s March

led by General Sherman across the South using scorch earth warfare. The high point of the campaign was the destruction and burning of Atlanta.

Habeas corpus

the legal concept that one is innocent until proven guilty. During the Civil War Lincoln suspended this right to arrest anti-union /pro-confederate advocates in border states, so as to secure them for the Union.

Emancipation Proclamation

a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln, freeing slaves

13th Amendment

outlawed slavery

14th Amendments

addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws for all men black or white

15th Amendment

give a citizen the right to vote no matter their "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".

Jim Crow Laws

state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Compromise of 1877

The unwritten deal that ended the 1876 U.S. presidential election dispute led to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president. In exchange, the government removed federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction and paving the way for the Jim Crow era.

Reconstruction

refers to the period following the Civil War of rebuilding the United States.

Freedman’s Bureau

a U.S. federal government agency established to aid freedmen (freed slaves) in the South during the Reconstruction era

Radical republicans

Wanted to abolish slavery. Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner

Johnson Impeachment

mainly over his opposition to Reconstruction laws and his attempt to remove a cabinet member without Senate approval. He was not removed from office, as the Senate fell one vote short of convicting him.

Carpet baggers

a Northerner who moved to the South after the American Civil War

Sharecropping

a new system that replaced slavery, but kept many poor farmers (black and white alike) in poverty.

Ku Klux Klan

a very violent secret organization that use terror tactics to undue the influence of the North.