APUSH Vocab 15-17

Dred Scott Case
A Supreme Court decision in 1857 that ruled African Americans were not U.S. citizens and Congress couldn’t ban slavery in territories.

Roger Taney
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who wrote the Dred Scott decision.

House Divided Speech
Abraham Lincoln's 1858 speech stating the U.S. couldn’t endure permanently half-slave and half-free.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A series of debates in 1858 between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over slavery and its expansion.

Freeport Doctrine
Stephen Douglas’s argument that territories could exclude slavery by refusing to pass laws supporting it.

John Brown - Harpers Ferry
An abolitionist’s 1859 raid on a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to incite a slave rebellion.

Crittenden Compromise
An 1860 proposal to prevent Civil War by protecting slavery in Southern states; it failed.

Fort Sumter
The location in South Carolina where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

Anaconda Plan
The Union’s strategy to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River during the Civil War.

War of Attrition
A military strategy focused on wearing down the enemy through continuous losses.

Monitor vs. Merrimac
A famous 1862 naval battle between ironclad warships during the Civil War; it ended in a draw.

Trent Affair
A diplomatic incident in 1861 when the Union seized Confederate diplomats from a British ship, almost causing a war with Britain.

Suspension of Habeas Corpus
Lincoln’s controversial decision to suspend the right to a court trial during the Civil War.

Martial Law
Military control of civilian areas, used during the Civil War in some regions.

Ex Parte Milligan
An 1866 Supreme Court case ruling that civilians couldn’t be tried in military courts if civilian courts were available.

Copperheads
Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and wanted an immediate peace settlement with the South.

Confiscation Acts
Laws passed during the Civil War allowing the Union to seize Confederate property, including freeing enslaved people.

Antietam
A Civil War battle in 1862; the bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history.

Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln’s 1863 declaration freeing enslaved people in Confederate states.

54th Massachusetts
An African American regiment that fought heroically during the Civil War.

Gettysburg
A key 1863 Civil War battle that was a turning point for the Union.

Vicksburg
An 1863 Union victory giving control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy.

Gettysburg Address
Lincoln’s 1863 speech emphasizing national unity and dedication to democracy.

Pacific Railway Act
An 1862 law supporting the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

Homestead Act
An 1862 law giving 160 acres of public land to settlers for free if they improved it.

Morrill Land Grant Act
An 1862 law funding agricultural and technical colleges through federal land sales.

Morrill Tariff
A high tariff passed in 1861 to protect American industries.

National Banking System
A system established during the Civil War to stabilize currency and finance the war.

Sherman’s March
A destructive Union campaign through Georgia in 1864, led by General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Appomattox
The site in Virginia where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, ending the Civil War.