civil war

Frederick Douglass

An escaped slave who became a leading voice for abolition and equality.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' a novel depicting the harsh realities of slavery.

William Lloyd Garrison

Publisher of the abolitionist newspaper 'The Liberator.'

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that galvanized the abolitionist movement.

The Underground Railroad

A network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved people to escape to free states.

Dred Scott Case

A Supreme Court case ruling that African Americans could not be citizens, intensifying sectional conflict.

John Brown

An abolitionist who believed in using violence to end slavery.

Harpers Ferry

The site of John Brown's failed raid on the federal armory in 1859.

Missouri Compromise

Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state; prohibited slavery north of 36°30′ latitude.

Compromise of 1850

series of five laws meant to ease tensions between slave and free states. included the Fugitive Slave Act ( mandated the return of escaped enslaved people to their owner) and admitted California as a free state.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Allowed settlers in those territories (Kansas and Nebraska) to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty.

Fugitive Slave Act

Required that escaped slaves be returned to their owners, even in free states.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the residents of a territory should decide whether to permit slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

A series of violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Kansas.

North (before the Civil War)

Industrial, urban economy based on manufacturing.

South (before the Civil War)

Agrarian, rural economy based on agriculture and slavery.

Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln won, leading to the secession of Southern states.

Secession

The act of Southern states leaving the Union, which led to the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general during the Civil War.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who later became President.

Abraham Lincoln

President during the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America.

Bull Run

The first major battle of the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.

Antietam

The bloodiest single-day battle, leading to a tactical draw but strategic Union victory.

Gettysburg

A turning point battle of the Civil War with a Union victory.

Vicksburg

Union gained control of the Mississippi River after this battle.

Appomattox

The location where Lee surrendered to Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.

Emancipation Proclamation

Declared all slaves in Confederate states to be free, changing the war's focus.

Radical Republicans

A faction within the Republican Party that pushed for harsh Reconstruction policies.

President Andrew Johnson

Clashed with Radical Republicans over Reconstruction policies.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

15th Amendment

Granted African American men the right to vote.