APUSH Unit 5 - VV

"40 acres and a mule"

A Reconstruction-era promise to redistribute land to formerly enslaved people; rarely fulfilled and became a symbol of broken promises.

Conscription

Mandatory military draft used by both North and South during the Civil War; sparked riots like the NYC Draft Riots.

Habeas corpus

Legal protection against unlawful imprisonment; suspended by Lincoln to silence Confederate sympathizers.

Inflation

A rise in prices due to overprinting of currency during the war, especially devastating in the Confederacy.

Loyalty oath

Required pledge by ex-Confederates during Reconstruction to regain political and property rights.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly targeting Irish and Germans; led to the rise of the Know-Nothing Party.

The New South

A vision for a modernized, industrial South post-Reconstruction, though it largely remained agricultural and racially oppressive.

Popular sovereignty

The policy of allowing settlers in a territory to vote on slavery; led to violent conflict like Bleeding Kansas.

Sharecropping

A system where freedmen rented land in exchange for a share of the crops; often led to cycles of debt and poverty.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel that exposed slavery's cruelty; increased abolitionist support in the North.

Battle of Fort Sumter

First battle of the Civil War; Confederate attack on Union fort in South Carolina.

Battle of Gettysburg

1863 turning point of the Civil War; major Union victory that halted Lee's invasion of the North.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent conflict in Kansas over slavery due to popular sovereignty; symbolized sectional tensions.

Civil War

1861-1865 war between North (Union) and South (Confederacy) over slavery and states' rights.

Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln's election led to the secession of Southern states and the Civil War.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act; narrowly avoided removal.

Mexican-American War

War from 1846-1848 where the U.S. gained territory; reignited slavery expansion debates.

Sherman's March to the Sea

Union General Sherman's destructive march through Georgia, aimed to break Southern morale.

Abraham Lincoln

16th U.S. President; led Union through Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln's VP; became president, opposed Radical Republicans, and was impeached.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved South after the war for economic or political gain.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and called for peace with the South.

Dred Scott

Enslaved man who sued for his freedom; Supreme Court ruled that Blacks could not be citizens.

Freedman's Bureau

Federal agency that provided aid, education, and legal help to freedmen post-Civil War.

Freedmen

Formerly enslaved people freed during and after the Civil War.

Free-Soil Party

Short-lived party that opposed expansion of slavery into western territories.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, influential in the abolitionist movement.

Hiram Revels

First African American U.S. Senator (Mississippi, 1870).

James Buchanan

15th U.S. President; failed to prevent Southern secession.

James K. Polk

11th President; oversaw U.S. expansion during the Mexican-American War.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America.

John Breckinridge

Southern Democrat in 1860 election; supported slavery and states' rights.

John Brown

Abolitionist who led the failed raid on Harper's Ferry; became a martyr in the North.

John C. Calhoun

Pro-slavery senator; strong advocate of nullification and states' rights.

Know-Nothing Party

Nativist political party; anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist group founded during Reconstruction to suppress Black rights through terror.

Millard Fillmore

13th President; supported the Compromise of 1850.

Radical Republicans

Congressional Republicans who wanted full civil rights for freedmen and harsh treatment for the South.

Republican Party

Political party founded in 1854 to oppose the expansion of slavery; Lincoln's party.

Robert Smalls

Enslaved man who commandeered a Confederate ship to freedom; later became a U.S. Congressman.

Scalawags

Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and Republican policies.

Stephen Douglas

Illinois senator who supported popular sovereignty; debated Lincoln.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who led to victory in the Civil War; later became president during Reconstruction.

54°40′

Slogan of expansionists pushing for Oregon territory: "54°40′ or fight!" against British claims.

Confederate States

Group of Southern states that seceded from the Union to preserve slavery.

Fort Sumter

Federal fort in Charleston, SC; site of first Civil War battle.

Harper's Ferry

West Virginia, Site of John Brown's 1859 raid to spark a slave rebellion.

10% Plan

Lincoln's Reconstruction plan requiring 10% of voters in Southern states to pledge loyalty to the Union.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States (1865).

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and equal protection to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

15th Amendment

Prohibited denial of voting rights based on race, color, or previous servitude.

Black codes

Southern laws designed to restrict the freedom of African Americans post-Civil War.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws admitting California as a free state and strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act.

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction; Hayes became president in exchange for troop withdrawal from the South.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

1857 Supreme Court case ruling that slaves were property, not citizens.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln's 1863 declaration freeing slaves in Confederate territory.

Fugitive Slave Act

Law requiring return of runaway slaves; penalized those who helped them escape.

Hampton Roads Conference

1865 peace talks between Union and Confederacy; ended without agreement.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Allowed popular sovereignty; repealed Missouri Compromise and led to violence.

Oregon Treaty

1846 treaty with Britain establishing U.S.-Canada border at the 49th parallel.

Personal liberty laws

Northern state laws counteracting the Fugitive Slave Act by protecting escaped slaves.

Reconstruction Act

1867 laws dividing South into military districts; set requirements for reentry into Union.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Ended Mexican-American War; U.S. gained vast Southwest territory.

Wade-Davis Bill

Radical Republican plan for Reconstruction; required majority loyalty; vetoed by Lincoln.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposed law banning slavery in Mexican Cession lands; failed to pass but deepened divisions.