APUSH 5b Vocab

John Brown

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia

54th Massachusetts

One of the first African-American regiments organized to fight for the Union in the Civil War

Total War

To wage war on all sides; battle strategy used by the North to destroy the South's property from all over

Popular Sovereignty

Principle that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People)

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South after the war, supposedly in an effort to get rich or acquire political power.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A court order requiring jailers to explain to a judge why they are holding a prisoner in custody.

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.

Scalawags

Term for white Southerners who supported Reconstruction or those who joined black freedmen and the carpetbaggers, supporting Republican policies

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders

Copperheads

Peace Democrats, faction of Democrats in the Union who opposed the American Civil War and wanted an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates.

Battle of Bull Run

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson: Confederate general, held his ground and stood in battle like a "stone wall" and defended Richmond (Capital of Confederate); Union retreated to DC; Confederate victory.

Appomattox

Lee surrenders in the last battle; allowed Grant to write surrender terms and Grant offered very generous terms to the Confederate army, attempting to unify the country

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

William Lloyd Garrison

Prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer. Editor of radical abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator", and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Morrill Tariff Act

Law passed by a northern dominated Congress. A protective tariff that increased duties 5-10%. It is important as a protective tariff stimulated northern industries and was the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Battle of Vicksburg

Union victory and gains control of Mississippi River after laying siege on the city multiple times from all directions; confederacy split in two; Grant takes lead of Union armies, total war begins

Tenure of Office Act

The President could not remove any officials [esp. Cabinet members] without the Senate's consent, if the position originally required Senate approval.

Stephen Douglas

American politician and pro-slavery nominee for president, he debated Abraham Lincoln about slavery during the Illinois senatorial race. He proposed the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act, and he established the freeport doctrine, upholding the idea of popular sovereignty.

Homestead Act

Law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens willing to live on and cultivate it for five years

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Sen. Douglas wanted to divide the territory into the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory; to gain support of the South, he decided slavery could be decided by popular sovereignty

Black Codes

Southern laws designed to restrict the rights of the newly freed black slaves

Battle of Antietam

Lee invaded Maryland with his full army; McClellan defended successfully against the Confederate; stalemate but Confederate retreat, prompted the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation

Secession

Formal withdrawal of states from the Union

Freedman's Bureau

Provided food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans.

Radical Republicans

Faction within the Republican party that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too friendly towards the South during Reconstruction; also known for their opposition to slavery