Civil War & Reconstruction Unit Flashcards
State’s Rights
The belief that states have equal power to that or the federal government.
-States rights people beloved that if it is not explicitly said in the Constitution its a NO
-They did not like the Elastic Clause
Election of 1860
-Lincoln becomes our president
-Wins Northeast, California and Oregon
-It shows how divided our nation has become
-Only time where there were 4 major candidates
- Abraham Lincoln
-Steven Douglas
-Breckenridge
-Bell
-After this, the South decides it’s time for succession.
King Cotton
-The concept that cotton was so valuable that the Europeans and the North would not even fight them if they left
-Thought of the South as an economic leverage
- refers to the economic and political importance of cotton production
Ulysses S. Grant
-The leader/ supreme sergeant of the Union (North)
Robert E. Lee
-The leader/supreme sergeant of the Confederacy (the South)
Innovative weapons/ use of
-Many New weapons were invented during the Civil War.
-It was a transitional war where modern and antique fighting were used.
-Inventions:
-Minie Ball
-Bullet that expands once in the skin, causing large hole and amputations
-Spencer Carbine
-Gatling Gun:
-Not used a lot but very deadly
-Hand Grenade
Emancipation Proclamation
=Created by Lincoln
-All slaves in the South were free
-Except for the border states -Allowed blacks to serve in the military as contractors/supply people.
Thirteenth Amendment
The amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States
Fourteenth Amendment
-Guarantees equal protection under the law and citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States
Fifteen Amendment
-States that no one can be kept from voting because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
-Talking about males
54th Massachusetts Regiment
-First OFFICIAL all black unit of the american civil war
-Not first to be formed or spill blood in civil war -Formed in MA along with the 55th - Will fight at the battle of Fort Wagner -Was hesitant to create all black unites worried about how they will be treated - Black regiments are basically used to catch bullets - Lincoln was very concerned many generals on the union side was just as racist as the southern generals
Gettysburg Address
-After the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln gave a famous statement that indirectly promised that blacks will have equal rights as whites.
10% Plan
-Plan that required 10% of all whites in a Southern states to swear an oath of allegiance and support the banning of slaves in order to be accepted back into the Union (forgiven)
-Lincoln established this in the hopes that by bringing in Southern states, this percent was would grow
-Radical abolitionists were still angry at this because it was ONLY 10% of a whole population of a state
-Wade Davis Plan was then established which required 50% of the population of a Southern state to swear an oath of allegiance and support the banning of slavery to be allowed back into the Union
-Had to make a deal with the Democratic Party
Radical Republicans
-The political version of Radical Abolitionists
-Strongly opposed slavery and supported Reconstruction
-Ex:
-Thaddeus Stevens
Johnson’s impeachment/failed removal
-Johnson went into office after Lincoln’s death
-Imoeachment
-Politcally motivated; he was initially in the way of 1865 and 1866
-Radical Republicans cant stop the veto (do not have enough votes) -Orginally friends with democrats (so obnoxious that they weren't friends anymore)
-Radical Republicans in the election of 1866 push away democrats and they control Congress; have the number of votes
-Still vetoing things because:
1) Racist
2) Sympathetic to South
-Made Radical Republicans angry
-Have control of supreme court, and congress -Only do not have control of the executive branch; want power ASAP
-Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional they wanted immediate power
Tenant farming
-The right that freed slaves could rent land from a large landowner
-Importance:
-
Abolitionists
-Abolitionists: people who wanted to end slavery
-Scale:
-Radical Abolitionists: people who believed ALL slaves should be freed and given the same rights as the white
-Abolitionists
-Neutral
-Most of the Americans were entural because slavery didn’t really interfere with them
Fire Eaters: group of pro slavery people
Fort Sumter
-Start of the Civil War (first battle)
-First two deaths were accidental
-One of the only federal forts not taken by the Confederacy refused to surrender, but was attacked and captured on April 12th 1861
Border States
- 3 States that support slavery but do not join the Confederacy
-Missouri -Kentucky -Maryland-Stay loyal to the Union-Lincoln loved the border states -Lincoln made it a point to ignore this
-If they knew that slavery was going to be banned, they would go crazy-Would start conflict
Mermimack/Monitor
-Took place in Chesapeake Bay
-Two different war submarines
-Example of transitional war because it ended the use of wooden ships
-A pivotal naval engagement during the American Civil War where the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) fought against the Union ironclad USS Monitor on March 9, 1862
Anaconda Plan
-A 3 part plan that the Union devised to conquer the South and win the Civil War
1) The Union navy would would blockade Southern ports, so they could neither export cotton nor import much-needed manufactured goods
2) Union riverboats and armies would move down the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy into 2
3) Union armies would capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia
-Anaconda Plan was named after a snake that suffocates its victims in its coils
-It would limit the South more and more by blocking its ports and taking control of the Mississippi River until they gave up (could no longer fight back because they would be economically struggling,etc)
First Battle of Bull Run
-It’s the first real battle of the Civil War
-Wake up call for North and South
-Realize war is not going to be easy and it is going to be very bloody
Battle Antietam
-High water mark for the South
-Was never doing better till that moment
-They lose; after the battle, they will begin to lose progressively
Turning point of Union
Battle of Gettysburg
-The last gasp for the South
-After the battle, Lee's army is mangled and its clear that the north are going to win -The question is not who is going to win, it is when they are going to win
-Eventually leads to Lincoln presenting the Gettysburg Address.
