The American Civil War - Beginnings

Vocabulary practice cards covering the key people, events, and terminology of the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

Abraham Lincoln

The $16 ext{th}$ president of the United States who won the election of $1860$ despite receiving no support in the South.

Stephan Douglas

A candidate who ran against Abraham Lincoln twice, first in famous debates about slavery and later in the presidential election of $1860$.

The Clotilda

Known as the last slave ship in the United States, brought to the country in $1860$.

Secede

The act of a state splitting from the Union; the Southern states did this to continue slavery after Lincoln won the election.

Rutherford

The individual who whitewashed slavery in Southern textbooks to minimize its horrors and promote the false narrative of "The Lost Cause".

The Lost Cause

A false narrative present in some textbooks claiming that "states' rights" rather than slavery was the real cause of the Civil War.

South Carolina

The first state to secede from the Union on December $20$, $1860$.

Confederate States of America

The collection of $11$ states that split from the Union and established a new Constitution that made slavery legal.

Jefferson Davis

The individual named as the president of the Confederate States of America.

Civil war

A war between people of the same country.

Fort Sumter

A Union fort in South Carolina where the American Civil War began on April $12$, $1861$.

Union States

The group of $23$ states representing the North at the beginning of the war.

Ironclad ship

A new naval weapon during the Civil War consisting of a ship covered with iron plates to protect it from cannon fire.

Battle of Bull Run

One of the first battles in Virginia which the Confederacy won, leading the North to believe the war would be difficult and long.

Habeas Corpus

The right to be brought before a judge, which was suspended by President Lincoln during the Civil War.

Battle of Antietam

The first time the Confederacy invaded the North in Maryland on September $17$, $1862$, resulting in $23{,}000$ deaths, the bloodiest day in U.S. history.

Emancipation Proclamation

An announcement by Lincoln on January $1$, $1863$, declaring all slaves in the Confederacy should be free and allowing Black people to serve in the Union military.

Underground Railroad

A network that helped approximately $100{,}000$ slaves escape from the South between $1810$ and $1850$.

Harriet Tubman

A prominent figure associated with the Underground Railroad who helped thousands flee slavery, including escape routes by sea.

Clara Barton

The most famous Union nurse who later helped organize the American Red Cross.

Mary Bowser

A Black former slave who is believed to have served as a spy for the Union.

Battle of Gettysburg

A turning point in the war occurring from July $1$-$3$, $1863$, where over $50{,}000$ men were killed or wounded.

War bond

Money lent to the army by Northerners to help pay for the costs of the war.

Gettysburg Address

A famous two-minute speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln to dedicate a cemetery for those who died at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Ulysses S. Grant

The General appointed to lead the Union Army in March $1864$ to whom the Confederacy eventually surrendered.

Robert E. Lee

The Confederate General who surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April $9$, $1865$, officially ending the war.

John Wilkes Booth

The man who shot Abraham Lincoln at a theater on April $14$, $1865$.

13th Amendment

The amendment to the Constitution ratified on December $6$, $1865$, which abolished slavery.