Key Terms Chapter 20/21

Oliver Howard

Oliver Howard

• Union general

• head of the Freedmen's Bureau

• aiding freed men during Reconstruction.

Andrew Johnson

• 17th U.S. President; succeeded Lincoln; clashed with Congress over Reconstruction policies

• 1st president to be impeached

Thaddeus Stevens

• Radical Republican leader

• advocating for strict Reconstruction policies and civil rights for freedmen.

Hiram Revels

First African American U.S. Senator, representing Mississippi during Reconstruction.

Edwin Stanton

Lincoln’s Secretary of War; his dismissal by Johnson led to Johnson's impeachment trial.

Freedmen's Bureau

Federal agency providing aid (education, housing, jobs) to freed slaves and war refugees.

Wade-Davis Bill

• Proposed strict Reconstruction plan

• requiring 50% loyalty oaths

• vetoed by Lincoln.

'Seward's Folly'

Purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867; criticized initially but later valued for resources.

Black Codes

• Southern laws restricting African Americans' rights

• aiming to maintain white dominance post-Civil War.

Sharecropping

• Agricultural system

• freedmen and poor whites farmed landowners' land for a share of the crops.

Civil Rights Act (1866)

First federal law granting citizenship and equal rights to African Americans.

Pacific Railroad Act

Legislation promoting the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

Redeemers

Southern Democrats who sought to end Reconstruction and Restore white supremacy.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship to all born in the U.S., including former slaves, and guaranteed equal protection under the law and due processes

15th Amendment

Prohibited voting discrimination based on race, color, or previous servitude.

Scalawags

Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party.

Force Acts

• Laws aiming to curb Ku Klux Klan violence

• protect African American rights during Reconstruction.

'Swing Around the Circle'

Johnson's failed speaking tour to rally support against Radical Republicans in Congress.

Military Reconstruction

Division of the South into military districts to enforce laws and aid Reconstruction.

Ex parte Milligan

Supreme Court decision limiting the use of military tribunals in areas where civil courts were operational.

Carpetbaggers

Northern individuals who moved South during Reconstruction to pursue opportunities or aid reform efforts.

Tenure of Office Act

Law restricting the President's power to dismiss certain officeholders without Senate approval; central to Johnson's impeachment.

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general commanding the Army of Northern Virginia.

Thomas 'Stonewall' JaCkson

Skilled Confederate general, earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run.

Ulysses Grant

Union general who led the Union to victory; later the 18th U.S. President.

George McClellan

Union general known for cautious tactics at Antietam; later ran unsuccessfully for president in 1864.

William Sherman

• Union general known for 'Sherman’s March’

• a campaign of total war in the South.

George Meade

Union general who led forces to victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Salmon Chase

• U.S. Treasury Secretary under Lincoln

• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

John Wilkes Booth

Actor and Confederate sympathizer who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Merrimack/Monitor

• Ironclad ships that fought in the Civil War’s first naval battle

• new era of naval warfare.

Battle of Bull Run

First major battle of the Civil War, ending in a Confederate victory.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln’s 1863 declaration freeing slaves in Confederate states.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States.

COpperheads

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and advocated for peace with the Confederacy.

Battle of Antietam

Bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War; led to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Siege of ViCksburg

Union victory that split the Confederacy and gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union.

Battle of Gettysburg

Turning point of the Civil War; a major Union victory in Pennsylvania.

Gettysburg Address

Lincoln’s speech emphasizing national unity and equality during the Civil War.

Sherman’s MarCh

• Union campaign of destruction through Georgia and the Carolinas

• weaken the Confederacy.

Reform Bill of 1867

Confederate states had to rewrite state constitutions to be readmitted.