Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction Flashcards

Flashcards about the American Civil War history and related vocabularies.

1619

A significant starting point of slavery in America; occurred when The White Lion brought 20 enslaved Africans ashore in Jamestown, Virginia.

Antebellum America

The period in American history before the Civil War.

Postbellum America

The period in American history after the Civil War.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

The agreement that admitted Missouri as the 24th state and marked the beginning of the sectional conflict over slavery.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the United States was destined to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across North America.

Border Ruffians

Pro-slavery raiders who crossed into the Kansas Territory to ensure it entered the US as a slave state.

Lecompton Constitution

A pro-slavery constitution drafted in Lecompton, Kansas, protecting slaveholding and excluding free blacks.

Dred Scott Decision

The Supreme Court ruling that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle an enslaved person to freedom.

Bleeding Kansas

A violent guerrilla war between pro-slavery and antislavery forces in Kansas.

Southern Owners without Slaves

Opposed and were threatened by Federal coercion.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

An edict that freed the slaves of the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union.

Appomattox Court House

The location where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A temporary agency to provide food, clothing, and medical care to refugees in the South, especially formerly enslaved people.

Reconstruction Acts

Established military rule over Southern states until new governments could be formed, giving formerly enslaved men the right to vote and hold public office.