Period 5: 1848-1877 - The Road to the Civil War & Reconstruction

A set of vocabulary flashcards reviewing key terms, historical figures, acts, treaties, and battles from Period 5 (1848-1877), covering Manifest Destiny, the drift toward disunion, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

John Tyler

An after-thought Vice President to William Henry Harrison in 1840 who took over after Harrison died after a month in office, becoming the first Vice President to take office due to a president's death. Though he ran as a Whig because he disliked Andrew Jackson, his Democratic principles led him to oppose many Whig initiatives.

Slidell's Mission

A diplomatic mission in 1845 in which minister John Slidell was sent to Mexico with instructions to offer $25 million for California; Mexico rejected the offer as "insulting," leading to the Mexican-American War.

John C. Fremont

A captain and explorer in California with several dozen well-armed men who helped overthrow Mexican rule in 1846 by collaborating with Americans who raised the banner of the California Bear Republic.

Manifest Destiny

An emotional upsurge of beliefs in the United States during the 1840s and 1850s holding that US citizens should spread their democratic government across North America and possibly extend into South America.

James K. Polk

The surprise ("dark horse") Democratic candidate who defeated Henry Clay in 1844 by promising to annex Texas. He split the Oregon Country with Britain, led the nation in the Mexican-American War, secured the low-rate Walker tariff of 1846, and established an independent treasury system lasting until 1913.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842)

A compromise settling the Maine boundary dispute that granted America more land while giving England the Halifax-Quebec route, patching up tensions from the Caroline Affair of 1837.

Spot Resolution

Resolutions proposed in spring 1846 by Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln to identify the exact spot where American soldiers' blood was shed, challenging President Polk's assertion that 16 soldiers fell on American soil rather than disputed territory claimed by Mexico.

The Tariff of 1842

A protective tax reluctantly signed into law by President John Tyler designed to generate revenue and pull the government out of an economic recession.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

A treaty drawn up by Nicholas P. Trist and signed on February 2, 1848, in which Mexico sold the entire Southwest to the United States for $15 million under the condition that the rights and religion of Mexican inhabitants would be respected.

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

A proposed amendment introduced by Representative David Wilmot stating that any territory acquired from Mexico should be free; it passed the House twice but consistently failed in the Senate, becoming a major symbol of sectional tension over slavery.

self-determination

In politics, the right of a people to assert its own national identity or form of government without outside influence.

homestead

A family home or farm with buildings and land sufficient for survival.

vigilante

Concerning groups that claim to punish crime and maintain order without legal authority to do so.

sanctuary

A place of refuge or protection, where people are safe from punishment by the law.

fugitive

A person who flees from danger or prosecution.

topography

The precise surface features and details of a place—for example, rivers, bridges, hills—in relation to one another.

mundane

Belonging to this world, as opposed to the spiritual world.

statecraft

The art of government leadership.

isthmian (isthmus)

Concerning a narrow strip of land connecting two larger bodies of land.

filibustering (filibuster)

Adventurers who conduct a private war against a foreign country.

mikado

A title of the Japanese emperor used by foreigners.

cloak-and-dagger

Concerning the activities of spies or undercover agents, especially involving elaborate deceptions.

manifesto

A proclamation or document aggressively asserting a controversial position or advocating a daring course of action.

booster

One who promotes a person or enterprise, especially in a highly enthusiastic way.

truce

A temporary suspension of warfare by agreement of the hostile parties.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that was immensely popular in the North and focused heavily on the emotional devastation of slave families being torn apart.

The Impending Crisis of the South

A book banned and burned across the South arguing that non-slaveholding Whites suffered the most harm from the institution of slavery.

Shawnee Mission

A "puppet" government established in Kansas by pro-slavery individuals.

Lawrence, KS

A Free-soil city in Kansas that was attacked and burned by pro-slavery individuals.

Pottawatomie Creek

The site of a violent raid in Kansas led by John Brown, who killed several pro-slavery settlers in direct retaliation for the attacks on Lawrence.

Lecompton Constitution

A controversial Kansas document designed so citizens could vote for a constitution with or without slavery, but with provisions guaranteeing that existing slave ownership remained protected regardless of the outcome.

Caning of Charles Sumner

A violent confrontation on the Senate floor where a South Carolina Congressman beat a Northern Senator, dramatically illustrating the escalating sectional hostility inside the US Congress.

"Fire-eaters"

Militant Southern extremists who openly threatened secession from the Union if a Republican candidate were elected president.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

A landmark Supreme Court decision ruling that Black individuals were not citizens and that Congress possessed no constitutional authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglass's argument that local territorial legislatures could effectively exclude or limit slavery despite Supreme Court rulings, an idea that fractured the Democratic Party.

Harpers Ferry

A raid intended to incite a massive armed slave insurrection; it resulted in seven deaths, the capture and execution of John Brown, and heightened Southern fears of Northern-backed violence.

John Brown

A radical abolitionist who led lethal attacks at Pottawatomie Creek and Harpers Ferry; deeply reviled in the South, his militant actions served as a major catalyst for the Civil War.

Crittenden Amendment

A last-ditch compromise proposal before the Civil War that sought to protect slavery where it already existed and ban it north of the $36^\circ 30'$ line; it was rejected by Abraham Lincoln.

Alabama (1862-1864)

A British-built and manned Confederate commerce raider that plundered Union merchant shipping during the Civil War, built despite vigorous protests from the Union.

Border States

Five slave states—Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia—that remained in the Union during the Civil War, prompting Lincoln to frame the war around preserving the Union rather than abolishing slavery.

Dominion of Canada (established 1867)

A unified Canadian governing system established by Britain to strengthen Canada against potential attacks or annexation overtures by the United States.

Fort Sumter

A federal installation in South Carolina where Confederate forces fired the opening shots of the Civil War in April 1861 after the Union sent supplies to provision the fort.

Greenbacks

Paper currency issued by the Union Treasury during the Civil War that fluctuated in value due to inadequate gold backing, plummeting at one point to 39 cents on the dollar.

Homestead Act (1862)

A federal law granting 160 acres of public land to settlers for approximately $30 on the condition that they reside on and improve the land for five years.

Laird rams (1863)

Two heavily armed ironclad warships constructed for the Confederacy by a British shipbuilding firm, which were purchased by the British government for the Royal Navy to avoid war with the United States.

Morrill Tariff Act (1861)

Legislation that raised import duties back up to 1846 levels in order to generate revenue for the Union war effort.

National Banking System (1863)

A network of member banks created to provide a stable national currency supported by government bonds and to stimulate sales of war bonds.

New York draft riots (1863)

Violent uprisings, primarily led by working-class Irish-Americans, protesting the federal military draft and the unfair provision allowing wealthy men to buy exemptions or hire substitutes.

Trent affair (1861)

A diplomatic standoff between the Union and Great Britain sparked when a Union warship stopped a British mail steamer and arrested two Confederate diplomats traveling on board.

U.S. Sanitary Commission (established 1861)

An organization founded with Elizabeth Blackwell's help that trained Union nurses, collected supplies, and equipped military hospitals, helping professionalize nursing and empower the postwar women's movement.

West Virginia (admitted to the Union 1863)

A mountainous region of nonslaveholding independent farmers and miners that seceded from Virginia in 1861 after Virginia joined the Confederacy, gaining admission to the Union as a separate state.

Writ of habeas corpus

A judicial order requiring authorities to bring a prisoner before a court to justify their arrest, protecting citizens against arbitrary detention; it was suspended by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Antietam, Battle of (September 1862)

A landmark Civil War battle ending in a tactical draw that demonstrated Union military resolve, deterred foreign intervention, and provided Lincoln with the necessary opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Appomattox Courthouse

The Virginia site where Confederate General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865.

Bull Run (Manassas Junction), Battle of (July 1861)

The first major military engagement of the Civil War; a Southern victory that dispelled Northern expectations of an easy, short-lived conflict.

Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War (1861-1865)

A wartime congressional body dominated by Radical Republicans that closely supervised military operations, demanded aggressive action, and pressured Lincoln on emancipation.

Copperheads

Northern anti-war Democrats who actively obstructed the Union war effort by attacking Lincoln, conscription, and the emancipation of slaves.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

A presidential proclamation freeing slaves in rebellious Confederate states while leaving slavery intact in non-rebelling Border States, removing chances for compromise and encouraging slaves to flee to Union lines.

Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Battle of (February 1862)

A crucial victory won by General Ulysses S. Grant that protected Union control over Kentucky and cleared the way for deeper incursions into Tennessee.

Fredericksburg, Battle of (December 1862)

A decisive Confederate victory in Virginia where Robert E. Lee decisively repelled a frontal Union offensive against his fortified lines.

Gettysburg Address (1863)

A brief, famous address delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the Gettysburg soldiers' cemetery, framing the Civil War as a struggle to preserve liberty and democracy.

Gettysburg, Battle of (July 1863)

A three-day battle in Pennsylvania resulting in a Union victory and the defeat of Pickett's Charge, marking the final time the Confederacy mounted an invasion of Northern territory.

Merrimack and Monitor (1862)

Confederate and Union ironclad warships that engaged in an indecisive battle in 1862, ending the dominance of wooden naval vessels worldwide.

Peninsula Campaign (1862)

A failed amphibious advance led by Union General George B. McClellan aimed at capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Reform Bill of 1867

A British reform law granting voting rights to all male British citizens, influenced and supported by the success of American democracy in the Civil War.

Second Battle of Bull Run (August 1862)

A decisive Confederate victory engineered by General Robert E. Lee that opened the path for him to push his army north into Maryland.

Sherman's march (1864-1865)

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's campaign across Georgia employing "total war" to destroy civil infrastructure and military supplies, crippling Southern morale and logistics.

Shiloh, Battle of (April 1862)

A bloody engagement on the Tennessee-Mississippi border resulting in over 23,000 casualties and yielding a narrow victory for Union forces.

The Man Without a Country (1863)

Edward Everett Hale's popular fictional story of a treasonous soldier sentenced to live in naval exile, which inspired deep Union patriotism across the North.

Thirteenth Amendment (1865)

A constitutional amendment abolishing all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude across the entire United States, requiring ratification by former Confederate states before readmission.

Union party (1864)

A temporary coalition of Republicans and pro-war Democrats formed to re-elect Abraham Lincoln and defeat anti-war Peace Democrats in the election of 1864.

Vicksburg, siege of (1863)

A two-and-a-half-month siege by Ulysses S. Grant that forced the surrender of a Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River in July 1863, splitting the Confederacy in two.

Wilderness Campaign (1864-1865)

A brutal series of Virginia clashes between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee that culminated in the Union capture of Richmond and Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Exodusters

African Americans who moved in large numbers from Southern states to Kansas and other western areas during the Reconstruction era.

Civil Rights Bill of 1866

The first congressional measure enacted to guarantee civil rights for Black Americans in the South, passed by Congress over President Andrew Johnson's veto.

Thaddeus Stevens

A Pennsylvania congressman who served as the prominent leader of the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives during Reconstruction.

Tenure of Office Act

A constitutionally questionable federal statute designed to restrict presidential removal of cabinet members; its violation by Andrew Johnson served as the legal basis for his impeachment.

14th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that granted civil rights and equal citizenship protections to all Americans.

15th Amendment

A constitutional amendment extending the right to vote to all African American males.

William Seward

Secretary of State who engineered an initially unpopular, but later valuable 1867 land acquisition deal.

Carpetbaggers

A term used to describe Northerners who relocated to the South during Reconstruction to participate in politics and run Southern state governments.

Scalawags

White Southerners who aligned with and supported the policies and programs of the Radical Republicans.

Freedmen's Bureau

A federal agency created to assist freed slaves after the Civil War that achieved substantial success in education, despite struggling with other relief efforts.

Ku Klux Klan

A secretive vigilante network dedicated to terrorizing freed Black people and restoring White supremacy throughout the Reconstruction-era South.

Force Acts of 1870 and 1871

Federal statutes passed by Congress specifically to curb and suppress Ku Klux Klan violence and electoral intimidation in the South.

Benjamin Wade

The President Pro-Tempore of the Senate who was in line to succeed Andrew Johnson as President of the United States had Johnson been convicted during impeachment.

Military Reconstruction Act of 1867

A law passed by Congress dividing the ten unreconstructed Southern states into five military districts governed by Union generals.

Union League

The primary African American political organization active in mobilizing Black voters and officeholders during Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

An agricultural arrangement where former slaves rented land from owners and made payments through a portion of the harvested crops.

Black Codes

A series of discriminatory Southern state laws passed immediately after the Civil War intended to limit the civil rights and economic autonomy of newly freed Black citizens.

10% Plan

Abraham Lincoln's lenient blueprint for Reconstruction that allowed a rebellious state to reenter the Union once 10% of its 1860 voters pledged allegiance to the United States.

Wade-Davis Bill

A Reconstruction plan sponsored by Radical Republicans demanding that 50% of a state's voters take an oath of allegiance before readmission; it was pocket-vetoed by Abraham Lincoln.