Civil War & Reconstruction

Secession

Formal withdrawl of a state from the Union

Popular Sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.

Dred Scott vs. Sanford

a slave who sued court for his freedom but was even allowed to get a court ruling because he was a slave., A landmark Supreme Court decision which confirmed that status of slaves as property rather than citizens.

Roger Taney

As chief justice, he wrote the important decision in the Dred Scott case, upholding police power of states and asserting the principle of social responsibility of private property. He was Southern and upheld the fugitive slave laws.

Stephen Douglas

A moderate, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty.

John Brown

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1858)

Harper's Ferry Raid

John Brown had a plan to invade the South, take its arms, raise the slaves in a revolt, and take over the Slave and free it of slaves. But in the raid of Harper's Ferry, VA, the slaves didn't revolt. He was captured by the US Marines under Robert E. Lee and convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging.

Abraham Lincoln

Republican challenger Congressman

Jefferson Davis

served as franklin pierces secretary of war and became one of the souths leading advocates in the senate, later became the president of the Confederacy

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

Suffrage

The right to vote in a election.

Abolition

The act of abolishing slavey.

Sectionalism

A tendency to be more concerned with the interests of your particles group or region than with the problems and interest of the larger group country etc.

Bleeding Kansas

A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created XXXX and XXXXX as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.

Election of 1860

Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Republican Party

A party formed that was against slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was formed in 1854. Abe Lincoln was the presidential candidate for this party. They wanted Kansas to be admitted as a free state, and they were against popular sovereignty to decide on the issue of slavery.

Fugitive Slave Law

A rule that was written in the Compromise of 1850 that stated: If a slave goes from the South to the North, they are a fugitive slave and can be returned to the South. It also included the deputization of ordinary citizens so that they were unable to refuse to help.

North in the Civil War

20 million people, 22,000 miles of railroad track, Ahead in Resources, Strong Navy, More Money (Banks, Tariffs, Loans, Currency, 80% Inflation)

South in the Civil War

Experienced Officers, 9 million (3.5 million slaves), 9,000 miles of railroad track, South grew tobacco, cotton & rice (exports), Slave Labor vs. Enemy Behind the Lines, "Cotton is King" - Great Britain & France would come to their aid, Major Debt (No bonds, Direct Taxation, Paper Money, 9000% Inflation)

New Technology

Replaced smoothbore flintlock musket with the rifle, warships, railroads

South's Strategy

Defensive Role, Strong Military, Hopes of Military Aid from Britain & France

Blockade

military tactic in which a navy prevents vessels from entering or leaving an enemy's port

Border States

Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland - Allowed slavery but did not join the Confederacy.

Stonewall Jackson

General in the Confederate army, led Confederate army in the 1st Battle of Bull Run

George B. McClellan

Major General in the Union army, organized the Union Army of the Potomac

Ulysses S. Grant

Commanding General of the Union army

Robert E. Lee

commander of the Confederate army

Emancipation Proclamation

decree by President Lincoln that freed enslaved people living in Confederate states still in rebellion

54th Massachusetts Regiment

all-black unit led by Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw during the Civil War

Habeas Corpus

constitutional guarantee that no one can be held in prison without charges being filed

Clara Barton

nurse during the Civil War who founded the American Red Cross

Mathew Brady

photographic journalist of the Civil War, showed the realities of to everyday people through his photos

Gettysburg

bloodiest battle of the Civil War, a turning point for the war and the last battle fought in the Union

Vicksburg

Split the Confederacy into two

Gettysburg Address

an important speech by President Lincoln about of the ideals of the Union

Appomattox Courthouse

Surrender of Robert E. Lee and Confederate Troops to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union

William Tecumseh Sherman

Union General who used the 'total war' strategy in his "March to the Sea", looting and destroying Confederate property from Tennessee to Savannah, Georgia

John Wilkes Booth

actor and Confederate supporter who shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln

Martial Law

imposition of the highest-ranking military officer as the military governor or as the head of the government, thus removing all power from the previous executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

Freedmen

men and women who had been slaves

Reconstruction

rebuilding of the South after the Civil War

Ten Percent Plan

Lincoln's plan that allowed a southern state to form a new government after 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the United States

Radical Republicans

members of Congress during Reconstruction who wanted to ensure that freedmen received the right to vote

Freedmen's Bureau

government agency founded during Reconstruction to provide services help former slaves and war victims

Thirteenth Amendment

bans slavery throughout the nation

Black Codes

Southern laws that severely limited the rights of African Americans after the Civil War

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Grants citizenship to African Americans and outlaws black codes.

Fourteenth Amendment

An amendment to the United States Constitution that guarantees equal protection of the law and rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the USA, including former slaves.

Johnson's Presidential Plan

Johnson's plan for reconstruction was similar to Lincoln's plus, Pardons would be granted to those taking a loyalty oath, No pardons would be available to high Confederate officials and persons owning property valued in excess of $20,000, A state needed to abolish slavery before being readmitted, A state was required to repeal its secession ordinance before being readmitted.

Radical Reconstruction

period beginning in 1867, when the Republicans who had control in both houses of Congress, took charge of Reconstruction

Military Reconstruction Act

Divided the 10 southern states that had yet to be readmitted into the Union into five military districts governed by Union generals.

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln's Vice President that became President

Impeach

to bring charges of serious wrongdoing against a public official

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Divides former Confederacy into military districts

Fifteenth Amendment

forbids any state to deny African Americans the right to vote because of race. All males 21+ can vote.

Enforcement Act of 1870

Protects voting rights by making intimidation of voters a federal crime

Scalawag

white Southerner who supported the Republicans during Reconstruction

Carpetbagger

uncomplimentary nick-name for a northerner who went to the South after the Civil War

Ku Klux Klan

secret society organized after the Civil War to reassert white supremacy by means of violence

Sharecropper

person who rents a plot of land from another person and farms it in exchange for a share of the crop

Segregation

legal separation of people based on racial, ethnic, or other differences

Plessy vs. Ferguson

an 1896 court case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public facilities was legal as long as the facilities were equal