APUSH Unit 5 Vocab Quiz #2

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A 1854 law created by Senator Stephen A Douglas that organized the Kansas and Nebraska territories, allowing settlers to decide whether to allow slavery through the principle of popular sovereignty. Since these territories were located north of the 36 30’ line, this bill gave Southerners the opportunity to expand slavery into lands that had been closed to it by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, leading many Northerners to condemn the bill. This deepened sectional tensions and led to violent conflict in the territory known as Bleeding Kansas.

Stephen A. Douglas

A senator from Illinois who was a key leader in the Democratic Party best known for his role in the debates over slavery and territorial expansion, particularly through the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He championed the idea of popular sovereignty, which allowed territories to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery, a stance that significantly influenced political tensions leading to the Civil War and the eventual secession of Southern states.

“Bleeding Kansas”

The period of violent confrontations between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the Kansas Territory from 1854 to 1859. This conflict arose after the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which used the principle of popular sovereignty to let settlers vote on whether to allow slavery in the territory, ultimately leading to a bloody struggle over the state's status as Northern abolitionists and Free Soilers and Southern slaveholders began to settle in the territory.

John Brown

A stern abolitionist most famous for both his attack on the proslavery farm settlement at Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas and his 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to incite a slave rebellion, which ultimately failed but increased national tensions and made him a martyr for the abolitionist cause after his execution. 

Pottawatomie Creek

A proslavery farm settlement in Kansas. In a key violent event during "Bleeding Kansas", it was attacked by Radical abolitionist John Brown and his sons, who killed five people. 

Sumner-Brooks Incident

An incident in which Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner was brutally beaten over the head repeatedly with a cane by Southern Congressman Preston Brooks. The North was outraged by this action, while the South applauded the deed. The event was another sign of growing sectional tensions and passions on either side. Charles Sumner gave a speech attacking South Carolina Democratic Senator Andrew Butler, and Butler’s nephew Preston Brooks defended his uncle’s honor by brutally attacking Sumner.

Republican Party

A Northern sectional party composed of former Whigs who opposed slavery, Free Soilers, and Antislavery Whigs and Democrats, and its purpose was to oppose the spread of slavery in the territories. Its success alienated the South even more.

James Buchanan

The Democratic 15th President of the United States whose presidency is defined by his failure to address the escalating tensions between the North and South, which ultimately led to the Civil War.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

A 1857 Supreme Court case of an enslaved man who sued for his freedom after living in the free territory of Wisconsin before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Under Chief Justice Roger Taney, a Southern Democrat, the Supreme Court ruled African Americans were not U.S. citizens and had no right to sue in federal court. The decision also declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, stating Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories because slaves were considered a form of property and could not be excluded from federal territories, which intensified national tensions and pushed the country closer to the Civil War. Republicans denounced the decision as terrible, and Northerners used it to justify suspicions of a possible Southern conspiracy.

Chief Justice Roger Taney

Southern Democrat who served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1836 to 1864 best known for his controversial Dred Scott decision in 1857 that declared African Americans were not U.S. citizens and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. His decision intensified tensions over slavery, fueled abolitionist movements, and is widely seen as a major cause of the American Civil War

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of debates between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas in 1858 for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. The main issue of the debates was the expansion of slavery. Lincoln argued slavery should not be expanded into new territories while Douglas championed the idea of popular sovereignty. Though Douglas won the campaign for election to the U.S. Senate, in the long run, Lincoln ended up gaining more ground and emerging as a national figure and leading contender for the Republican nomination for president in 1860.

John Brown/Raid at Harpers Ferry

An attack led by radical abolitionist John Brown on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia that planned to use guns from the arsenal to arm Virginia’s enslaved African Americans, whom Brown believed would rise up in revolt. The plan failed, and federal troops under the command of Robert E. Lee captured Brown and his band after a two-day siege and hanged them. Northern abolitionists hailed Brown as a martyr while Southern whites saw the raid, and Northern support for it, as final proof of the North’s true intentions: to use slave revolts to destroy the South.

Election of 1860

A pivotal presidential election in which Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected as president, directly resulting in the secession of Southern States and starting the Civil War. This election was characterized also by the breakup of the Democratic Party in Northern and Southern Democrats as many of the slave state delegates walked out of the Democratic nominating convention.

Crittenden Compromise

A constitutional amendment proposed by Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in all territories south of the old Missouri Compromise line of 36 degrees 30’. The compromise was a last-stich effort to appease the South to prevent secession. Lincoln, however, said he could not accept this compromise because it violated the Republican position against the extension of slavery.

Deep (Lower) South

The region of the South composed of the states South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, that was the first to secede following the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as U.S. president in 1860 largely due to its deep commitment and heavy reliance on slavery, forming the Confederate States of America.,

Upper (Middle) South

The region of the South composed of the states Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas that was the second to secede and join the Confederacy after it became clear that Lincoln would use troops to defend the Union following the attack on Fort Sumter. 

Border States

The slaveholding states of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky that remained in the Union during the Civil War. These states were strategically critical for the Union due to their location along the border with the Confederacy, providing access to vital resources, transportation routes like rivers and railroads, and preventing Washington D.C. from being surrounded by enemy states. Because the loss of these states would boost the Confederacy’s population and weaken the North’s strategic position, Lincoln's administration worked to keep these states in the Union through a combination of military presence and cautious, gradual policies on slavery.

Fort Sumter

A sea fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked Union-held territory. After the fort was cut off by Southern control, Lincoln announced that he was sending provisions of food to the federal garrison, giving South Carolina the choice of either permitting the fort to hold out or open fire. Carolina’s guns thundered and thus, the Civil War began. The attack had the effect of starting the war but also uniting most Northerners behind a patriotic fight to save the Union. 

Confederate States of America

A republic of 11 Southern states that seceded from the U.S. between 1860 and 1861, primarily to protect slavery and states' rights. This Southern country’s constitution was like the U.S. Constitution, except it placed limits on the federal government’s power to impose tariffs and restrict slavery. Formed in response to the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Confederacy fought the American Civil War. It was ultimately dissolved in 1865 after its military defeat, leading to the restoration of the Union and the abolition of slavery.

Jefferson Davis

The elected president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865, leading the Southern states during the Civil War. He was a staunch advocate for secession, believing it was necessary to protect Southern rights and preserve slavery, and his leadership was characterized by a struggle to manage the Confederacy's internal conflicts, resource shortages, and lack of industrial capacity.

General George B. McClellan

One of the commanders of the Union army in the East, and his leadership is associated with the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam in Maryland. However, he was criticized for his overly cautious military strategies, specifically following his failure to pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee following Antietam, which caused Lincoln to remove him for the final time as the Union commander. He was also the Democrat’s nominee for president in the Election of 1864.

Robert E. Lee

The commanding general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, known for his key military leadership and tactical strategies as well as commanding the Army of Northern Virginia. His use of aggressive, offensive tactics led to initial successes but ultimately faced challenges and contributed to the Confederacy's defeat. He led the Confederate Army to victories in battles such as the Second Battle of Bull Run and Chancellorsville, while suffering crushing losses at the Battle of Gettysburg.

“King Cotton”/Cotton Diplomacy

The Confederate strategy using its virtual monopoly on cotton exports to gain diplomatic recognition and military support from European powers like Britain and France during the American Civil War. The Confederacy believed that European nations' reliance on Southern cotton for their textile industries would force them to intervene on the South's behalf, a strategy that ultimately failed because European countries found alternative sources and were reluctant to get involved. Confederate leaders hoped that cotton would prove to be “king” and induce Britain or France, or both, to give aid to the their war effort. 

William Tecumseh Sherman

A Union general during the American Civil War known for his strategy of "total war" and his March to the Sea. He led a force of 100,000 men on a campaign of deliberate destruction that went throughout the South(states like Georgia and South Carolina), and the troops destroyed everything, burning cotton fields, barns, and houses - everything the enemy might use to survive. His march had it intended effect: to break the spirit of the Confederacy and destroy its will to fight.

Confiscation Acts

Laws passed during the Civil War that allowed the Union to seize enemy property, including enslaved people, used to support the Confederacy. The First Confiscation Act of 1861 permitted the seizure of property aiding the rebellion, including enslaved people, and also gave the president the power to use those freed in the Union army in any capacity, including battle. The Second Confiscation Act of 1862 declared that enslaved people belonging to those who did not surrender/were in rebellion would be freed.

“contrabands”

Enslaved individuals who escaped to Union lines.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that declared all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory to be free. The order was issued following the Battle of Antietam in 1862, where the Confederates had retreated. The proclamation reframed the war as a moral battle against slavery. The proclamation also deterred any European nations from supporting the Confederacy, specifically Britain, who had abolished slavery in 1833. It was a strategic war measure intended to weaken the Confederacy and was a pivotal moment in the Civil War that ultimately paved the way for the abolition of slavery.

Massachusetts 54th Regiment

One of the first official African American units in the United States during the Civil War, established in 1863. They won the respect of Union soldiers for their bravery under fire.

Copperheads

Also known as Peace Democrats, they were Northern Democrats during the Civil War who opposed the war and advocated for immediate peace with the Confederacy, believing the war was not worth the cost.

New York City draft riots

Protests in New York City against the Union Army’s Conscription Law during the Civil War that turned into violence, targeting Black residents. The Union’s March 1863 Conscription Act made all men aged 20 to 45 liable for military service, but it angered poor laborers because a draftee could avoid service by paying a $300 exemption fee. These poor laborers, most of whom were Irish and German immigrants, feared that their jobs would be taken by freed African Americans in their absence, so they protested and rioted against the draft.

Gettysburg Address

A famous speech by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in 1863. It redefined the Civil War as a struggle for equality and national unity, not just for the Union. The address reframed the Civil War as a struggle not just to preserve the Union, but to secure freedom and equality, honoring the soldiers' sacrifices and reinforcing the nation's founding ideals, using powerful rhetoric. His words advanced the cause of democratic government in the U.S. and inspired democracy around the world,

greenbacks

Paper currency, not backed by gold, issued to finance the Civil War by the U.S. (Union) government. It contributed to creeping inflation, which caused prices in the North to raise by 50% during the Civil War.

Morrill Tariff Act(1861)

An act that raised tariff rates to increase revenue to support the Union and protect American manufacturers. Passed by Republicans in the North as part of the probusiness Whig program that was designed to stimulate the industrial and commercial growth of the U.S., its passage initiated a Republican program of high protective tariffs to help industrialists.

Homestead Act(1862)

An act that offered parcels of 160 acres of public land free to any person or family that farmed and cultivated the land for at least five years. Its purpose was to promote settlement of the Great Plains. Like the headright system in colonial Virginia and the sale of the Northwest Territory, this act helped many White settlers but very few African Americans.

Morrill Land Grant Act(1862)

An act that encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to found and maintain agricultural and technical colleges. These schools not only educated farmers, engineers, and scientists, but they also became centers of research and innovation. This legislation transformed higher education by creating a system of public universities that promoted research, agricultural innovation, and industrial growth.

Pacific Railway Act(1862)

A U.S. law that authorized the building of a transcontinental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the Western territories with the Eastern states. The act was passed to create a transcontinental railroad to connect the East and West coasts, encouraging settlement and trade in the western territories. The Act authorized the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads to begin construction, aiming to boost westward expansion, facilitate trade, and secure a military and postal line across the country.