Unit 2 Test Study Guide: Civil War and Reconstruction

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, historical events, legislation, and test guidelines found in the Unit 2 Test Study Guide.

Unit 2 Test Format

An assessment consisting of 25 Multiple Choice Questions and ONE argumentative paragraph with a clear topic sentence and evidence, completed in 45 minutes (or 67.5 minutes with extended time).

Thesis Statement Criteria

A single sentence that answers the prompt question, provides a roadmap, and acts as a provable assertion for an essay.

Manifest Destiny

The nineteenth-century expansionist concept tied to Westward Expansion that severely impacted Native peoples and exacerbated sectional divisions over slavery during the antebellum period.

Missouri Compromise

An antebellum legislative agreement evaluated alongside the Compromise of 1850 to measure the success of political compromises over the issue of slavery.

Compromise of 1850

A package of legislative measures addressing sectional tensions and slavery that is studied alongside the Missouri Compromise to evaluate political efficacy.

Fugitive Slave Act

A federal law that heightened resistance to slavery and deeply influenced the direction of the abolitionist movement.

Gradual Emancipation

An approach to phasing out slavery over time that differed in method and philosophy from early abolitionist movements.

Republican Party

A political party whose founding and rapid rise contributed directly to escalating sectional tensions between the North and South.

Election of Abraham Lincoln

The 1860 presidential election highlighted as a critical catalyst and leading cause of the American Civil War.

States' Rights Debate

The constitutional debate over federal authority versus state sovereignty that fueled the outbreak of the Civil War.

Battle of Gettysburg

A pivotal Civil War battle that, in conjunction with the Gettysburg Address, transformed the strategic direction and purpose of the war.

Gettysburg Address

A landmark speech that redefined the broader purpose and direction of the Civil War and the fight for the Union.

Emancipation

The liberation of enslaved people, examined in terms of whether it served as the primary focus of the Civil War.

Black Codes

Restrictive Southern laws enacted during Reconstruction designed to undermine the legal rights established by the Reconstruction Amendments.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist group whose rise during Reconstruction actively undermined the civil rights guaranteed by the Reconstruction Amendments.

Reconstruction Amendments

Constitutional amendments enacted following the Civil War to protect the rights of formerly enslaved people, which faced severe resistance from the Black Codes and the KKK.