AICE U.S. History Unit 2 Civil War and Reconstruction Vocabulary

Jefferson Davis/Alexander Stephens

Davis was chosen as president of the Confederacy in 1861. Davis had an impressive military record, becoming Secretary of War in 1853 and fighting in the Mexican-American War. He was considered a good Democrat candidate for the 1860 election since he was well known, well respected, and graduated from West Point. Served in both House and Senate, had rigid viewpoints. Stephens was vice president (go research him, idk much).

CSA/Confederate States of America

Group of 11 Southern states that seceded from the United States ILLEGALLY (goofy ahh). They are: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Not recognized as a nation by Britain because who tf illegally separates from USA (Britain didn't support slave holders).

Fort Sumter

(April 12, 1861) The day after Lincoln's Inaugural Address, South Carolina puts Lincoln to the test because he said he wasn't going to make slavery illegal. Also said that the Union would not attack until the South did first. South Carolina demands control over crucial Union fort, Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor. Union soldiers inside the fort are cut off from supplies and reinforcement. Lincoln sends food provisions; South Carolina says either surrender or get shot. After 36 hours, surrender came, and Civil War began. Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers after losing the fort to serve 3 months.

Border States

Slave states that remained loyal to the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Missouri. West Virginia formed because the western part of Virginia was anti-slavery and wanted to stay with the Union (wow really). Lincoln used controversial methods to lock these states to the Union; controls Maryland's railroads. Then he suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland (other states too) on April 27, 1861. People are now held without trial.

Draft riots

(1863) A series of violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War.

Conscription

Getting drafted into the military (THINK: Uncle Sam!! I WANT YOU FOR THE U.S. ARMY >:( join). Union looked for white men aged 20 to 45; Confederates drafted all able bodied men aged 18 to 35. Women were losing their sons, husbands, and their men in general; they didn't like it (Draft Riots of 1863 pookie).

Anaconda Plan/Winfield Scott

A 3-part plan crafted by General Winfield Scott. Called for the blockade of all Southern ports, like how an anaconda (NICKI MINAJ) coils around prey and suffocates it. Union armies also advance down the Mississippi River to split the South in two. Then, the Union would train a strong army to capture the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia.

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general, commander of the North Virginia Army. One of seven most accomplished Confederate generals. Worked with Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War.

Offensive-Defensive Strategy/War of Attrition

The South fought a defensive war of attrition (protect their land from being taken from the North), and the North had a similar strategy: attack when possible, defend when necessary. However, the North was more for offense so they could take over the South. War of Attrition is what the South fought to wear down the North by exhausting soldiers and depleting their resources.

George McClellan

A general for northern command of the Army of the Potomac in 1861; nicknamed "Tardy George" because of his failure to move troops to Richmond; lost battle vs. General Lee near the Chesapeake Bay; Lincoln fired him twice. Considered a bad general because he was hella slow, overly cautious, and trained soldiers to the point of exhaustion.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general and 18th President of the United States (1869-1877). Led army after George McClellan got fired in the later years of the war (Grant served from 1862 to 1865).

William T. Sherman

Fought in many battles in the Civil War, best known for Battle of Atlanta. Promised African Americans 40 acres and a mule (doesn't actually happen lmao). Used the Total War Strategy, which is targeting not only the Confederate army, but also the civilian population.

Battles of Bull Run (First and Second)

First Battle: July 21, 1861, Virginia

This was the first major battle of the war—a Confederate victory. It shocked the North and gave a false sense of superiority to the South. Convinced both sides that the war would be long and costly.

Total casualties: 847 (Union: 460, Confederate: 387).

Union Commander: Irvin McDowell

Confederate Commanders: Joseph E. Johnson, P.G.T. Beauregard.

Second Battle: August 28-30, 1862, Virginia (Manassas Junction, hence "Battle of Manassas")

Day 1: Jackson forces Pope's army out of the battlefield.

Day 3: Union is forced off the battlefield. Confederates win. Pope is replaced by George McClellan. Lee moved the war into Northern territory to give the Southern farmers a break from fighting on their own soil.

Total casualties: 22,464 (Union: 16,000, Confederate: 9,000 [estimated]).

Union Commander: John Pope

Confederate Commanders: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson.

Monitor vs. Merrimack

March 9, 1862, coast of Virginia.

U.S.S. Merrimack was a destroyed Union ship, Stephen D. Mallory orders reconstruction. Renamed it to C.S.S. Virginia, the first ironclad ship in Confederacy. The Union was also experimenting, created the U.S.S. Monitor, the Union's first ironclad ship. Both ships are destroyed, ending the production of wooden vessels.

Trent Affair

In 1861, the Confederacy sent emissaries James Mason to Britain and John Slidell to France to lobby for recognition. A Union ship captured both men and took them to Boston as prisoners. England's prime minister, Lord Palmerston, demands an apology and the release of Slidell and Mason. He seized all English shipments to the U.S., including a supply of saltpeter, which was the principal ingredient of gunpowder, and the Union was especially lacking in that. Lincoln had no choice but to release the dudes, but he avoids the public apology. Confederacy is still not recognized as a nation by Britain.

Cotton Diplomacy

Confederate efforts to use the importance of Southern cotton to Britain's textile industry to persuade the British to support the Confederacy in the Civil War. After 1862, new supplies from Egypt and India replaced the Southern supply. Britain also needed more grain than cotton because of the crop failures of Western Europe in 1861-1862, so they depended more on American grain and flour than cotton.

Laird Rams

Two well-armed ironclad warships constructed for the Confederacy by a British firm. Seeking to avoid war with the United States, the British government purchased the two ships for its Royal Navy instead. They were ships with iron rams to poke at ships if they ran out of cannon balls/ship fire (like those guns with the blade at the end. Run out of bullets; you stab people with the blade). It was Charles Francis Adams' (U.S. minister to Britain, grandson of President John Adams and son of President John Quincy Adams) idea to persuade the British to cancel the sale rather than risk war with U.S.

Battle of Antietam

Also called the Battle of Sharpsburg.

September 17, 1862, Maryland (border state).

Winner is inconclusive, but the Union counted this as their victory. This is the single bloodiest day in American military history. Confederates lose the hope of being backed by a European nation. Lincoln gained the confidence to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863: blackie people could fight in the war).

Union Commander: George B. McClellan

Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee.

Total casualties: 26,134 (Union: 12,410, Confederate: 13,724).

Confiscation Acts

(1861 - 1862) Laws passed to seize any contraband or weaponry used to wage war against the Union. Because of Dred Scott, slaves are seen as property and taken away from the Confederacy. Leads to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862; it declared that all slaves in areas still at war with the Union were free. Leads to/is the basis of the 13th Amendment (13 is evil and bad luck, so slaves are evil and bad luck). Slavery was seen as evil, not blackies.

54th Massachusetts

African American volunteer military unit with a WHITE leader. Fought at the Battle of Fort Wagner from July to September 1863. Most of the blackies die (L imagine skill issue), but they had a jesus moment and died for our sins. They stopped CSA army advancement and acted as reinforcement while more white Union soldiers came to assist them. 54th Massachusetts achieved the military engagement of black people since they mostly had caca jobs, like picking up dead soldiers.

Sherman's Neckties

Railway tracks wrapped around trees after being heated and removed from the ground. A tactic to completely destroy railroad transportation of soldiers and supplies (destruction of infrastructure).

Ambrose Burnside

General who replaced McClellan in the Battle of Fredericksburg. He was aggressive and reckless but he won anyway. Also an industrialist, inventor, and railroad executive (easy way to remember him: he has a wizard name and an aggressive ahh mustache to match his energy).

Battle of Gettysburg

July 1-3, 1863, Southern Pennsylvania.

Largest battle with the most casualties. The turning point in the war because it is the first Union victory and proved that the South could be defeated. Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, the greatest speech in American history dedicated to the soldiers at a cemetery in Gettysburg about bringing true equality to all citizens.

Total casualties: 51,112 (Union: 23,049, Confederate: 28,063)

Union Commander: George G. Meade

Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee

(this loser tries a strategy called the Pickett's Charge, a failed assault. Confederates lose half their men and Lee is forced to retreat. Also called Longstreet's Assault.)

It was named after Virginia General George E. Pickett (what's with all the georges bruh).

March to the Sea

(November to December, 1864; he actually moves on November 15, 1864). Sherman's march from Atlanta, Georgia, to Savannah, Georgia, which cut off Confederate supplies received by the sea. They wanted to destroy the Southern economy and morale, leading to Southern surrender. Scorched earth is used here; Union troops burn down Southern infrastructure, as well as the city of Columbia in South Carolina.

Total War/Scorched Earth

Destroying a country's resources, economy, and military force in order to defeat their will to wage war. Attacked not only the military but the civilian population as well. Scorched earth policy is most notable in Sherman's March to the Sea, when they burned Southern infrastructure and the city of Columbia in South Carolina.

War of Attrition (already up there)

The South's strategy of war to wear down the North by exhausting their soldiers and depleting their resources (it doesn't work anyway lmao).

Battle of Vicksburg

May, 18, 1863 - July 4, 1863, Mississippi.

Union obtains New Orleans, since it was one of two Confederate holdouts preventing the Union from taking complete control of the Mississippi River. Union victory since Grant focused on getting Vicksburg and the Union actually got the Mississippi River. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas are cut off from the Confederacy because of TOTAL WAR STRATEGY!!

Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant (useless haha)

Confederate Commander: John C. Pemberton

Total casualties: 19,233 (Union: 10,142, Confederate: 9,091).

Election of 1864

5 political parties supported candidates for the presidency: War Democrats, Peace Democrats, Copperheads, Radical Republicans, & National Union Party; each political party offered a different point of view on how the war should be run and what should be done to the Confederate states after the war; National Union Party joined with Lincoln, who won the election on the recent Northern victories against the South; decided that the Confederacy would lose and that slavery was dead and not trendy anymore.

Appotomax Court House

(April 19, 1865) General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at the home of Wilmer McLain, former resident of Manassas that moved because of how close Bull Run Battles were close to his house. Confederate troops are not tried for treason and they got to keep their horses.

John Wilkes Booth

American stage actor who, as part of a conspiracy plot, assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865 (the world is over omg cries we lost an absolute diva, F to pay respects).

Habeas Corpus

A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention. Lincoln suspends this in Maryland (a border state) to secure their loyalty to the Union. Ruled unlawful by Roger Taney in Ex parte Merryman, but Lincoln the baddie ignores his opinion.

Ex parte Merryman

(1861) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger Taney, rules that Lincoln violated the U.S. Constitution when he illegally suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus. He stated that the authority to suspend habeas corpus lay exclusively with Congress. Lincoln was a girlboss, an absolute diva, and ignored Taney.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and sympathized with the South. Obstructed the war through attacks against conscription. Lots of political strength in southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Referred to Lincoln as "Illinois Ape".

Clement Vallandigham

Notorious Copperhead, convicted of treason, ran for governor of Ohio while exiled to Canada. Caused trouble by yapping about the need to end the cruel war. Convicted by military tribunal in 1863 for words of treason and sentenced to prison. Lincoln exiles him to the Confederacy.

Greenbacks

Name given to paper money issued by the government during the Civil War, so called because the back side was printed with green ink. They were not redeemable for gold, but $300 million was issued anyway. Farmers hit by the depression wanted to inflate the notes to cover losses, but Grant vetoed an inflation bill, and greenbacks were added to permanent circulation. In 1879, the federal government finally made greenbacks redeemable for gold ("cha ching" - thaonghi mai 2024)

10% Plan

This was Lincoln's reconstruction plan after the Civil War. Written in 1863, it proclaimed that a state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10% of its voters in the 1860 election pledged their allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation and then formally elect their state governments. This plan was very lenient to the South and would have meant an easy reconstruction.

Wade-Davis Bill

Proposed in 1864, giving far more demanding and stringent terms for reconstruction; required 50% of the voters of a state to take the loyalty oath and permitted only non-confederates to vote for a new state constitution; Lincoln refused to sign the bill, pocket vetoing it after Congress adjourned, saying it was too harsh (softie ahh).

Freedmen's Bureau

Agency aiming to support blacks and homeless brokie whites. Originally called the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen's, and Abandoned Lands, created on March 3rd, 1865. Special Field Order No. 15 granted 40 acres to blacks and white southern unionists (40 acres and a mule). Johnson vetoes extension of Bureau, Congress overrides the veto until 1869. All land is revoked and given back to white farmers. Land stretched from Charleston, SC to St. John's River, FL.

Andrew Johnson

A sucky ass 17th President of the United States. Southerner from Tennessee. Originally V.P. when Lincoln was killed, became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He was a very weak president. Hated blackies and refused to give them citizenship.

Black Codes

Laws passed by southern states after the Civil War in order to restrict the rights of the formerly enslaved, to limit their choice in employment, and to prevent them from owning property, forcing them to sign labor contracts (black people am i right).

Radical Republicans

Small group of people in 1865 who supported black suffrage. They were led by Senator Charles Sumner and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. They supported the abolition of slavery and a demanding reconstruction policy during the war and after.

13th Amendment

Banned slavery everywhere (woo free blackies). Proposed on January 31st, 1865, ratified on December 6th, 1865. Causes the urban population to grow, and many move West.

Civil Rights Act 1866

The nation's first civil rights law. It declared all persons born in the United States to be citizens, "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." This tried to refute the Dred Scott decision and protect African Americans against Black Code. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the legislation, but the veto was overturned by Congress, and the bill became law.

14th Amendment

1) Citizenship for African Americans, 2) Repeal of 3/5 Compromise, 3) Denial of former confederate officials from holding national or state office, 4) Repudiate (reject) confederate debts (sigma)

Reconstruction Acts 1867

Four statutes known as Reconstruction Acts followed the Civil War. They created five military districts in the seceded states; each district was headed by a military official empowered to appoint state officials; voters (whites and freed blacks) were to be registered; states were to draft new constitutions providing for black male suffrage; states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment.

Impeachment

An action by the House of Representatives to accuse the president, vice president, or other civil officers of the United States of committing "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." (L andrew johnson)

Tenure of Office Act 1867

A law that forbids the President from removing any executive officer (cabinet members) who had been appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The law was passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto by Radical Republicans in Congress.

15th Amendment

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color, or precious condition of servitude (anyone can vote. Or can they?)

Poll Taxes and Literacy Tests

Methods which the south used to prevent blacks from voting. Literacy tests were given to people who could vote, but blacks had the harder questions, written in a text that could not be comprehended (different language). Since most blacks were illiterate, they could not pass the literacy tests, therefore denying their right to vote.

Poll taxes were annual taxes paid prior to being qualified to vote. Blacks and whites who were too broke to vote were unable to vote.

Grandfather Clause

allowed people to vote if their father or grandfather had voted before Reconstruction (since blackies could not vote before, they can't vote now).

Plessy v. Ferguson (Jim Crow)

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation is legal and it did not violate the 14th Amendment. Blacks and whites had different facilities, with the colored people having facilities in worse condition than white facilities.

Jim Crow Laws are named after the minstrel song, ending with "Jump Jim Crow." A performance of Blackface done by Thomas D. Rice (it's catchy a little bit). The laws kept blacks and whites separate because Congress couldn't overturn the grandfather clause or poll tax, so the South passes the segregation laws.

Scalawags

A derogatory term for Southerners who were working with the North to buy up land from desperate Southerners.

Carpetbaggers

A derogatory term applied to Northerners who migrated south during the Reconstruction to take advantage of opportunities to advance their own fortunes by buying up land from desperate Southerners and by manipulating new black voters to obtain lucrative government contracts (big ahh description).

Blanche Bruce

An American politician. Bruce represented Mississippi as a U.S. Senator from 1875 to 1881 and was the first black to serve a full term in the Senate (black but named BLANCHE? white???)

Hiram Revels

Black Mississippi senator elected to the seat that had been occupied by Jefferson Davis when the South seceded (FIRST BLACK SENATOR THIS IS REVOLUTIONARY WOO).

HBCUs

HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. Howard University, Morehouse College (Augusta Institute in 1867), Fisk (Fisk Free Colored School in 1866), Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta University in 1865). Funded by money from Reconstuction and black churches also helped to build these universities.

Homestead Act

Passed in 1862, it gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years. The settler would only have to pay a registration fee of $25. Encouraged westward migration (manifest destiny ahh).

Sharecropping/Tenant Farming

agricultural system where black/poor white farmers rented land in exchange for a certain "share" (1/3) of the year's crop; landowners manipulated the system to keep tenants in permanent debt and unable to leave. Farmers were only permitted to plant cotton. Outlawed in 1867 by Congress.

Redeemers/Home Rule

Southern Democratic politicians who sought to regain control from Republican regimes in the South after Reconstruction.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

(my favorite subject and I'm not white) White supremacist group that hated blacks and other colored people, lynching blacks by hanging them in order to terrorize and intimidate the colored people. Started by the first grand wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Often deemed as "worse than slavery" considering the unimaginable acts of violence committed by mfs who look goofy af wearing cone hats made of bedsheets.

Force Acts/KKK Act

effectively eradicated KKK acts of violence in 1871 until the 1915 movie "Birth of a Nation", which presented the KKK and resurrected a reappearance of the KKK.

Amnesty Act

Passed in 1872, a law that granted civil rights to ex-confederates, pardoning them of their past failures or whatever, and letting them rejoin Congress and do whatever the hell they wanted to regain control over the South.

Election of 1872

President Grant was renominated, without opposition, at the Republican convention at Philadelphia in June 1872. The Republican platform condemned racial and religious discrimination and called for granting women greater rights. President Grant's opponent was Horace Greeley of New York. He was first nominated by the "Liberal Republicans" who wished to protest the corruption of the Grant administration. The Democrats were in such disarray that they were unable to select a candidate and therefore endorsed Greeley. Greeley's campaign primarily on the theme of "more honest government". Most Americans still found Grant popular, and were convinced that he was not responsible for the corruption in his administration. Thus, they re-elected Grant.

Misfired Election/Election of 1876

Democrat Samuel J. Tilden wins the popular vote, one vote short of the electoral vote. Southern Democrats agree to accept Hayes as president if federal troops were withdrawn from the South. The Republicans agree, and Reconstruction ends in the South.

Pres. Hayes/Compromise of 1877

Contested votes in 3 states, so there was no decision on who won the presidency. The 3 Southern states give their electoral votes to Hayes instead of Tilden. Hayes had to promise to end federal support for Republicans in the South and provide support for building Southern transcontinental railroad. Reconstruction ends when Hayes is inaugurated and blackie protection is gone.