Vocab 5

APUSH

Trent Affair

Trent Affair

an incident in which a Union ship north of Cuba stopped a British mail steamer, the Trent, and forcibly removed two Confederate diplomats going to Europe. This created a diplomatic crisis between the US and Britain during the Civil War.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

a petition requiring law enforcement officers to present detained individuals, either prisoners or mental patients, before court to determine the legality of the arrest. It serves as a check on government power by requiring authorities to justify detentions.

Morrill Tariff Act

a law passed by Congress in 1861, when the north dominated. It was a protective tariff that increased from 5% to 10%, which stimulated northern industries and started the industrial revolution.

Homestead Act

passed in 1862 and allowed settlers moving across the western territories to claim 160 acres of public land in exchange for a small filing fee. The people that claimed this land were required to stay on the land for five years and improve upon the land.

Jefferson Davis

the president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865, during the Civil War. Before the Civil War he was a member of the US Army, a hero of the Mexican War, a senator from Mississippi, and a planter.

Fort Sumter

a fort in South Carolina where Confederate forces fired after the Union forces attempted to provision the fort in 1861. It was the start of the Civil War and provoked the North to assemble an army after the Confederates won.

Clara Barton

a teacher and philanthropist borning is Massachusetts who served as a nurse with the Union army during the Civil War. After the war she played a large role in the newly formed International Red Cross by serving as the first president of the American Branch from 1882 to 1904.

Bull Run

in Virginia the first major full-scale battle in the Civil War, which happened in July of 1861. It ended with a Confederate (Southern) victory which dispelled the Northern illusions of a swift victory.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

a confederate general who was known for his fearlessness in his military strategies by leading rapid marches, flanking movements, and furious assaults. He earned the nickname stonewall during the first battle of Bull Run for standing against union fire.

George McClellan

an officer of the United States army during the Civil War on the side of the Union. He was known for being popular with his men however he consistently clashed with President Abraham Lincoln. The Union victory is partially attributed to him, however his legacy is still debated.

Emancipation Proclamation

a proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 during the Civil War. It declared that all slaves would be free and officially ended slavery. This was a major turning point in the Civil War and American History.

Thirteenth Amendment

added to the Constitution in 1865 and it prohibited all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. The former Confederate States were required to ratify the amendment before they were able to rejoin the Union after the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee

a Confederate general during the Civil War best known for commanding the Army of Northern Virginia. His military strategies and leadership played a large part in influencing the course of the war, which made him a key figure in the military conflicts of this period.

Copperheads

a vocal faction of Democrats in the Northern United States of the Union who opposed the Civil War. They wanted the war to stop and an immediate peace settlement with the Confederacy to be reached

Union Party

all the Republicans and the pro war Democrats. It was formed because they feared the Republican Party was losing control and they were responsible for nominating Lincoln.

A.E. Burnside

an officer in the United States Army during the Civil War. He was controversial and eventually relieved of his command after the Battle of the Crater in 1864. He was most recognized for his bushy sideburns.

Freedmen’s Bureau

the first kind of welfare organization used to provide food, clothing, medical care, and education to freedmen and to white refugees. They helped freedpeople establish schools, purchase land, locate family members, and legalize marriages.

10% Reconstruction Plan

Lincoln’s plan on bringing states back into the Union. His plan would restore states to the Union after at least ten percent of the population swore an oath of loyalty and the state recognized the permanent freedom of formerly enslaved peoples.

Black Codes

a group of restrictions placed upon newly freed African Americans by southern state legislatures. The codes prohibited them from either renting land or borrowing money to buy land, placed freedmen into a form of semi bondage, and prohibited them from testifying against whites in court.

Scalawags

a derogatory name used by Southerners to describe Southern whites who supported Reconstruction; they took advantage of the Reconstruction Laws of 1867. Black freedmen and Northerners teamed up with Scalawags to take control of local and state government.

Carpetbagger

a Northerner who moved to the South during the period of Reconstruction, from 1865 to 1877, for economic, social, or even political opportunities. They were called carpetbaggers because they brought suitcases made of carpet fabric.

Force Acts

banned memberships to the Ku Klux Klan due to the wave of violence caused by the clam. It prohibited the use of intimidation to prevent blacks from voting and gave the US military the authority to enforce these acts.

Tenure of Office Act

a measure passed by congress in 1867 that prohibited the president from dismissing any cabinet members or other federal officials when their appointments were consented to by the Senate. The only way a president could do this would be if the Senate agreed to their dismissal.

Andrew Johnson

the vice president to Abraham Lincoln and the seventeenth president of the United States. He opposed radical Republicans who passed the Reconstruction Acts over his veto. He was the first president to be impeached, however he survived the Senate removal by only one vote.

William Seward

a US senator and secretary of state who helped prevent Great Britain and France from entering the war on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. He also led a drive of American expansion by attempting to annex Midway Islands in the Pacific, gaining the rights to build a canal in Nicaragua, and purchasing the Alaska territories.

Fifteenth Amendment

adopted in 1870 as a Reconstruction Amendment after the Civil War. It prohibited the government from denying citizens the right to vote based on their race or “previous condition of servitude”; basically it granted all male citizens the right to vote.