Chapter 20 The American Pageant 16th Edition

Fort Sumter

South Carolina location where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War in April of 1861, after Union forces attempted to provision the fort.

border states

five slave states- Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia.-that did not secede during the Civil War. to keep the states in the Union, Abraham Lincoln insisted that the war was not about abolishing slavery, but rather protecting the Union.

Trent Affair

(1861) Diplomatic row that threatened to bring the British into the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy, after a Union warship stopped a British steamer and arrested two Confederate diplomats on board.

Alabama

(1862-1864) British-built and manned Confederate worship that raided Union shipping during the Civil War. One of many built by the British for the Confederacy, despite Union protests.

Laird rams

two well-armed ironclad warships constructed for the Confederacy by a British firm. Seeking to avoid war with the United States, the British government purchased the two ships for its Royal Navy instead.

Writ of habeas corpus

petition requiring law enforcement officers to present detained individuals before the court to examine the legality of the arrest. Protects individuals from arbitrary state action. Suspended by Lincoln during the Civil War.

New York draft riots

(1863) Uprising, mostly of working class Irish-Americans, in protest of the draft. Rioters were particularly incensed by the ability of the rich to hire substitutes or purchase exemptions.

Morrill Tariff Act

(1861) Increased duties back up to 1846 levels to raise revenue for the Civil War.

greenbacks

paper currency issued by the Union Treasury during the Civil War. Inadequately supported by gold, greenbacks fluctuated in value throughout the war, reaching a low of 39 cents on the dollar.

National Banking System

(1863) Network of member banks that could issue currency against purchased government bonds. Created during the Civil War to establish a stable national currency and stimulate the sale of war bonds.

Homestead Act

(1862) A federal law that sold settlers 160 acres of land for about $30 if they lived on it for five years and improved it by, for instance, building a house on it. The act helped make land accessible to hundreds of thousands of westward moving settlers, but many people also found disappointment when their land was infertile or they saw speculators grabbing up the best land.

US Sanitary Commission

(1861) Government agency founded with the help of Elizabeth Blackwell that trained nurses, collected medical supplies, and equipped hospitals in an effort to help the Union army. The commission helped professionalize nursing and gave many women the confidence and organizational skills to propel the women''s movement in the post war years.

Billy Yank

A name for the typical union soldier, more literate, intellectual, practical, efficient. Adapted quickly to army discipline.

Johnny Reb

Typical confederate soldier, jocular, emotional, religious, personally concerned about the war. Disregard for rules.

Corn and Wheat

two crops that were mostly grown in the North; both took over for King Cotton in the world market, especially in England.

Sally Tompkins

Established an infirmary for wounded Confederate soldiers in Richmond, Virginia. When Confederate hospitals were brought under military control, Jefferson Davis commissioned Tompkins as an officer with the rank of captain, making her the first female military officer in American history.

Clara Barton

Massachusetts born teacher and philanthropist who served as a nurse with the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war she became involved with the newly-formed International Red Cross, serving as the first president of the American branch from 1882 to 1904.

Jefferson Davis

U.S. senator from Mississippi and president of the Confederate States of America. A West Point graduate, staunchly defended slavery and Southern rights throughout his career, but initially opposed secession in 1860. As president of the Confederacy, he faced the formidable task of overcoming southern localism in directing his war effort. After the war he was briefly imprisoned, but pardoned by Andrew Johnson in 1868.