p5 #2 and #3 quiz review amstud

Kansas-Nebraska Act

proposed that the Nebraska territory be divided into the Kansas territory and the Nebraska territory, and that the settlers there be allowed to decide whether or not to allow slavery; provided Southerners an opportunity which had previously been blocked by the Missouri Compromise; passed after 5 months of bitter debate

Stephen A. Douglas

Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois who proposed the building of a transcontinental railroad and introduced the Kansas-nebraska Act which violated the Missouri Compromise

Bleeding Kansas

what the Kansas territory came to be known as after fighting broke out between proslavery and antislavery gorups vying for control

John Brown/Pottawatomie Creek

an abolitionist and his sons attacked this proslavery farm settlement and killed five settlers

Sumner-Brooks incident

incident in which Congressman Preston Brooks--Senator Andrew Butler's nephew--defended Butler's honor against personal charges made by Senator Charles Sumner (in his speech "The Crime Against Kansas") by beating Sumner over the head with a cane

Republican Party

founded as a direct reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act; made up of a coalition of Free-Soilers and antislavery Whigs and Democrats

James Buchanan

Democrats' 1856 presidential nominee; won a majority of both the popular and electoral votes

Dred Scott v. Sandford

a controversial Supreme Court Case in which the Court ruled that (1) Dred Scott had no right to sue in a federal court because, as a person of African descent, the Framers of the Constitution did not intend for him to be an American citizen, (2) Congress did not have the power to deprive anyone of property, and, if slaves were a form of property, Congress could not exclude slavery from any federal territory, and (3) that because the Missouri Compromise excluded slavery from some territories, its existence was unconstitutional; this decision increased northerners' suspicions of a slave power conspiracy and induced thousands of former Democrats to vote Republican

Chief Justice Roger Taney

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and a southern Democrat; presided over the Dred Scott case

Lincoln-douglas debates

seven campaign debates held in different Illinois towns, in which the Republican challenger attacked Douglas' seeming indifference to slavery as a moral issue and questioned how he could reconcile popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision

Raid at harpers ferry

an attack on the federal arsenal at Harper Ferry led by the fanatical and violent John Brown; he planned to use the guns from the arsenal to arm Virginia's slaves and encourage them to revolt, but his band was captured after a two-day siege and hanged by the state of Virginia

election of 1860

in which Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, was elected as president; the final event that triggered the South's decision to leave the Union

crittenden compromise

a final attempt to prevent southern secession; proposed an amendment that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in all territories south of the 36’30; rejected by Lincoln because it opposed his Republican platform

deep (lower) south

the states in the southeastern United States that were heavily reliant on plantation agriculture (primarily cotton, often called "King Cotton") and a massive system of enslaved labor prior to the Civil War

upper (middle) south

the region of the southern United States that included states such as Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas; had a more diversified economy than the deep south

border states

remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War; their loss would have increased the Confederate population by more than 50 percent and would have severely weakened the North's strategic position for conducting the war

fort sumter

a fort in the harbor of Charleston, SC which was cut off from vital supplies and reinforcements by southern control of the harbor; its attack and capture by Confederates united most northerners behind a patriotic fight to save the Union

confederate states of america

the government of the seceded Southern States; its capital was located at Richmond, Virginia, and it had a strong ideology of states' rights (which hindered its ability to collect money and soldiers from individual states for the war)

jefferson davis

President of the Confederacy; tried to increase his executive powers during the war, but southern governors resisted his attempts at centralization

general george b. mcclellan

the new commander of the Union army in the East; insisted that his troops be given a long period of training and discipline before going into battle, but was stopped by Robert E. Lee and forced to retreat after 5 months

robert e. lee

Confederate General who emerged as the commander of the South's eastern forces; his brilliant tactical moves stopped McClellan's Union army and attacked Pope's forces, sending the Union army backward to Bull Run and Washington

King Cotton/cotton diplomacy

the immense economic and political power of cotton production in the antebellum South; Confederacy's failed Civil War strategy to use cotton as leverage for European support

william tecumseh sherman

prominent Union general during the Civil War, most famous for his pioneering use of "total war" tactics, which targeted the South's economic infrastructure and civilian morale to hasten the end of the conflict.; His most famous application of this strategy was shermans march

confiscation acts/contrabands

declared the power to seize enemy property used to wage war against the United States; the second one freed the slaves of persons engaged in rebellion against the US, and empowered the President to use freed slaves in the Union army in any capacity, including battle

emancipation proclamation

issued by Lincoln in 1863; declared the freedom of slaves in all states outside Union control; also authorized the recruitment of freed slaves as Union soldiers

massachusettes 54th regiment

An all black regiment in the Civil War. (p. 276)

copperheads

opposed the Civil War and wanted a negotiated peace; the most notorious member--Clement L. Vallandigham--was briefly banished from the US to Canada for his "treasonable" pro-Confederacy speeches

new york city draft riots

the fierce opposition to the Conscription Act; poor laborers feared that, when they returned to civilian life, their jobs would be taken by freed African Americans--an Irish American mob in NYC attacked blacks and wealthy whites in July 1863, killing 117

gettysburg address

a famous speech by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It reframed the Civil War as a struggle for human equality and the preservation of a nation "of the people, by the people, for the people," connecting the sacrifices of the war to the founding ideals of liberty and equality from the Declaration of Independence

greenbacks

a paper currency issued by the US Treasury during the Civil War; could not be redeemed in gold (a fact that contributed to inflation) and served merely as legal tinder

morrill tariff act in 1861

raised tariff rates to increase revenue and protect American manufacturers; its passage initiated a Republican program of high protective tariffs to help industrialists

homestead act in 1862

promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to whatever person or family would farm that land

morrill land grant act in 1862

encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain agricultural and technical colleges

pacific railway act in 1862

authorized the building of a transcontinental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the western territories to the eastern states

Proclamation of Amnesty and reconstruction (10% plan)

President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 plan for reintegrating Southern states into the Union after the Civil War. It offered a full presidential pardon to most Confederates who swore a loyalty oath to the Union and accepted emancipation. Once 10% of a state's voters from the 1860 census took this oath, they could form a new state government. This was a lenient approach intended to promote a swift and peaceful reunion with the South. 

wade-davis bill 1864

passed by Congress; proposed that 50% of a state's voters be required to take a loyalty oath, and permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state Constitution; vetoed by Lincoln after Congress adjourned

freedmen’s bureau

created by Congress in 1865; acted as a kind of early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for those made destitute by the war; helped to establish nearly 3,000 schools for freed blacks, including several colleges

andrew johnson

a self-taught tailor who rose in Tennessee politics by championing the interests of poor whites in their economic conflict with rich planters; the only Senator from a Confederate state who remained loyal to the Union; became president after Lincoln, and clashed with Republicans in Congress

radical republicans

championed civil rights for blacks; many endorsed other liberal causes like women's suffrage, rights for labor unions, and civil rights for northern blacks

charles sumner

the leading Radical Republican in the Senate; from Massachusetts

thaddeus stevens

Radical Republican in the House of Representatives; hoped to revolutionize southern society through an extended period of military rule in which blacks would be free to exercise their civil rights, would be educated in federal schools, and would receive land confiscated from the planter class

thirteenth amendment

amendment to the Constitution which abolished slavery and declared it unconstitutional

civil rights act of 1866

pronounced all African Americans to be US citizens and attempted to provide a legal shield against the operation of the southern states' black codes, was rejected by president andrew johnson

fourteenth amendment

declared that all persons born or naturalized in the US were citizens; obligated the states to respect the rights of US citizens and provide them with "equal protection of the laws" and the "due process" or law

reconstruction acts of 1867

took the drastic step of placing the South under military occupation; divided the former Confederate states into 5 military districts, each under the control of the Union; increased the requirements for gaining readmission into the Union

ulysses s. grant

a West Point graduate who partly commanded the North's campaign for control of the Mississippi River; used a combination of gunboats and army maneuvers to capture Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, opening up the state of Mississippi to Union attack

fifteenth amendment

prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude"

scalawags

democrats' nickname for southern Republicans

carpetbaggers

democrats' nickname for northern newcomers to the south

hiram revels

another black Senator sent to Congress by the South; elected in 1870 to take the Senate seat from Mississippi once held by Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederacy)

ku klux klan

founded in 1867 by an ex-Confederate general, Nathaniel Bedford Forrest; burned black-owned buildings and flogged and murdered freedmen to keep them from exercising their voting rights

force acts

gave power to federal authorities to stop Ku Klux Klan violence and to protect the civil rights of citizens in the South; 1870, 1871

black codes

adopted by southern state legislature; restricted the rights and movements of the newly freed African-Americans; they (1) prohibited blacks from renting land or borrowing money to buy land, (2) placed freedmen into a form of bondage by forcing them to sign work contracts, and (3) prohibited them from testifying against whites in court

sharecropping

a system under which the landowner provided the seed and other needed farm supplies in return for a share of the harvest; gave poor people of the rural south the opportunity to work a piece of land for themselves, but they usually remained dependent on the landowners or in debt to local merchants

convict leasing

system of forced labor Southern United States where state governments leased convicts, mostly Black men, to private companies and individuals for a fee. This was a way for Southern states to profit from prison labor and for private companies to access a cheap and exploitable workforce, effectively creating a new form of slavery through the harsh conditions and abuse of the incarcerated workers. 

compromise of 1877

the informal deal worked out between the Republicans and Democrats which allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to take office as President

rutherford b. hayes

nominated by the Republicans because of his uninvolvement with the corruption of the Grant administration; became president on the conditions that he would (1) immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South and (2) support the building of a southern transcontinental railroad