Unit 5 Vocab & People – The Civil War

Vocabulary and key historical figures from Unit 5 covering the American Civil War and Reconstruction.

Abolitionist

One who wants to do away with something, particularly slavery in the 1800’s.

Antebellum

The period before the civil war.

Blockade

To obstruct or prevent access to.

Compromise of 1850

A law that let California join the US as a free state, Texas join as a slave state, ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., let voters in New Mexico and Utah decide on slavery for themselves, and created a stronger Fugitive Slave Act.

Confederate States of America

The name given to the government formed by the southern states that seceded from the Union in the early 1860’s.

Emancipation Proclamation

A document issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 that freed the slaves in the Confederacy.

Georgia Platform

Georgia’s conditional acceptance of the Compromise of 1850. Georgia’s leaders agreed to resist if (1) the North did not enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, or (2) if the North tried to stop slavery.

Nullification

The idea of voiding and not following national laws within a state.

Reconstruction

The period immediately after the Civil War, when the South rebuilt and the southern states returned to the Union.

Secede

To withdraw from the Union.

States’ Rights

The idea that individual states hold any powers not specifically given to the national government by the U.S. Constitution.

Thirteenth Amendment

An amendment to the US Constitution that made slavery illegal.

Fourteenth Amendment

An amendment to the US Constitution that granted citizenship to the former slaves and forbade the states from denying anyone “equal protection of the law”.

Fifteenth Amendment

An amendment to the US Constitution that extended the right to vote to all males.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States, President during the Civil War, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, assassinated in 1865.

Jefferson Davis

Virginian, President of the Confederate States of America.

Alexander Stephens

Georgia legislator who initially opposed secession, yet became the Vice President of the Confederacy when Georgia voted to secede.

Robert E. Lee

Commander of the Confederate Army.

William T. Sherman

Union General who captured the city of Atlanta, and whose infamous “March to the Sea” left a 600 mile long path of destruction across the state of Georgia.

Dred Scott

A slave who sued his master, claiming that after moving to a free state he should be free; the Supreme Court decided against him ruling that slaves were property and could not be freed by a move.

Andrew Johnson

Originally from Tennessee, but opposed to secession; Vice President of the United States who became President after Lincoln’s assassination.