Chapter 7.5 to 7.7 U.S. History Vocab

income tax

a tax that must be paid by individuals and corporations based on money earned

bond

a certificate bought from the government that promises to pay the holder back the purchase amount plus interest at a future date; an IOU issued by a corporation or some level of government; certificate issued by a company or government promising to pay back borrowed money with interest

Homestead Act

a 1862 law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens willing to live on and cultivate it for five years

conscription

the drafting of citizens into military service

habeas corpus

a constitutional guarantee that no one can be held in prison without charges being filed

inflation

rising prices; general increase in prices

Clara Barton

(1821-1912) trained as a teacher but went on to serve as a nurse during the Civil War. She changed the role of women nurses by following men into battle and tending the wounded. In 1864, she was appointed the superintendent of nurses for the Army of the James. In 1865, she organized the American Association of the Red Cross, which later became the American Red Cross.

Susie King Taylor

(1848-1912) was a Civil War nurse who was born to enslaved African American parents, but was sent to live with her grandmother at age seven. During the Civil War, she joined other African Americans who traveled to Union occupied territory. Later she wrote a memoir describing her experiences as both a nurse and a teacher.

Copperhead

a negative, or derogatory, term given to antiwar northern Democrats during the Civil War

siege

a military tactic in which an enemy is surrounded and all supplies are cut off in an attempt to force a surrender

Vicksburg

a Confederate stronghold along the Mississippi River, the site of a siege by Union forces that lasted more than a month in 1863 and ended in a Union victory, splitting the Confederacy

Gettysburg

the site of a Civil War battle fought on Union territory, July 1-3, 1863 resulting in a Union victory that forced Confederate forces to retreat to the South

George Pickett

(1825-1875) was a soldier from Virginia who became a Confederate general during the Civil War. He is best known for leading a large contingent in what came to be known as Blank’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

Gettysburg Address

a speech by President Lincoln in which he dedicated a national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and reaffirmed the ideas for which the Union was fighting the Civil War; delivered November 19, 1863

total war

a military strategy in which an army attacks not only enemy troops but also the economic and civilian resources that support them

William Tecumseh Sherman

(1820-1891) was a judge’s son from Ohio who became a renowned Union general during the Civil War. He fought in the Battles of Bull Run and Shiloh before joining forces with General Grant to lay siege to Vicksburg in 1863. Following their victory, he led his “March to the Sea” 250 miles east to capture Savannah, Georgia.

Thirteenth Amendment

the 1865 constitutional amendment that abolished slavery in the United States

John Wilkes Booth

(1838-1865) was an American actor and Confederate sympathizer who shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Eleven days after he assassinated Lincoln, he was killed at a farm in Virginia.

Mathew Brady

(1823-1896) was an American photographer and journalist best known for his photographic documentation of the Civil War.

Land Grant College Act

a 1852 law that made money available to states to establish universities that taught agriculture and mechanical engineering