Civil War and Reconstruction

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing key terms, figures, events, and concepts surrounding the causes of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era.

Civil War

The war fought between 1861 and 1865 between citizens of northern and southern states (also referred to as the War Between the States or the War of Northern Aggression), primarily caused by disputes over states' rights and slavery.

Confederate States of America

The new country formed in 1861 by 11 southern states that seceded from the Union.

Jefferson Davis

The man elected as the President of the Confederate States of America.

Reconstruction Era

The period lasting from 1865 to 1877 under 3 different presidents dedicated to rebuilding what had been damaged or destroyed in the South during the Civil War.

Constitutional Amendments (Reconstruction)

Additions to the Constitution that abolished slavery, granted equal protection under the law to all men, and gave all men the right to vote.

Freedman's Bureau

An initiative that, alongside the Civil Rights Act, helped black men find employment and hold elected office following the Civil War.

Andrew Johnson

The president who succeeded Abraham Lincoln; he favored an easy return to the Union for southern states, tried to prevent laws aiding black men, and faced attempts by members of Congress to remove him from office.

Radical Republicans

Members elected to the United States Congress in 1866 who sought to punish Confederate leaders from the South and enabled many black men to become leaders.

Ku Klux Klan

An organization that arose during Reconstruction that acted violently toward black people and local Republican leaders advocating for equal rights.

Carpetbaggers

Northern Republicans who moved to the South to seek new business opportunities and assist black people, whom southerners believed were acting purely for personal gain.

Scalawags

White southerners who believed they would benefit by aligning themselves with the Republicans after the Civil War.

Compromise of 1877

The agreement that officially removed Federal troops from the South, marking the end of the Reconstruction era.

Sectional Disputes in Western Territories

Divisions over the expansion of slavery into western lands that Congress proved unable to resolve prior to the Civil War.

Pre-Civil War Supreme Court Ruling on African Americans

A major judicial decision declaring that African Americans held no constitutional rights under the law.

"House Divided"

The warning delivered by Abraham Lincoln cautioning that the nation could not endure half-slave and half-free amid intensifying sectional conflict.