Civil War + Reconstruction Vocabulary List

Question 1

Reform

Answer 1

the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc

Question 2

Nativist

Answer 2

a person who urges the promotion of the interests of inhabitants born in a country over those of immigrants:

Question 3

Steam Engine

Answer 3

an engine worked by steam, typically one in which a sliding piston in a cylinder is moved by the expansive action of the steam generated in a boiler.

Question 4

Reform Movement

Answer 4

a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community’s ideal.

Question 5

Suffrage

Answer 5

the right to vote, especially in a political election.

Question 6

Co-Education

Answer 6

the education of students of both sexes together.

Question 7

Abolitionist

Answer 7

(especially prior to the Civil War) a person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

Question 8

Casualty

Answer 8

Military.

Question 9

Revolt

Answer 9

to break away from or rise against constituted authority, as by open rebellion; cast off allegiance or subjection to those in authority; rebel; mutiny.

Question 10

Prohibition

Answer 10

the act of prohibiting.

Question 11

Three Fifths Compromise

Answer 11

compromise agreement between delegates from the Northern and the Southern states at the United States Constitutional Convention.

Question 12

Popular sovereignty

Answer 12

the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.

Question 13

Underground Railroad

Answer 13

Also called underground railway. a railroad running through a continuous tunnel, as under city streets; subway.

Question 14

Dred Scott Decision

Answer 14

See under Scott

Question 15

Bleeding Kansas

Answer 15

describes the period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces

Question 16

Union Troops

Answer 16

a permanent organization of the military land forces of a nation or state.

Question 17

Confederacy

Answer 17

an alliance between persons, parties, states, etc., for some purpose.

Question 18

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 18

1809–65, 16th president of the U.S. 1861–65.

Question 19

Jefferson Davis

Answer 19

the first and only president of the Confederate States of America

Question 20

Secession

Answer 20

an act or instance of seceding.

Question 21

Militia

Answer 21

a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies.

Question 22

Battle of Fort Sumter

Answer 22

marked the official beginning of the American Civil War—a war that lasted four years

Question 23

Battle of Bull Run

Answer 23

The first battle of the American Civil War, fought in Virginia near Washington, D.C

Question 24

Battle of Shiloh

Answer 24

allowed Union troops to penetrate the Confederate interior.

Question 25

Battle of Antietam

Answer 25

a decisive engagement that halted

Question 26

Battle of Gettysburg

Answer 26

Gettysburg marked the turning point of the Civil War

Question 27

Gettysburg Address

Answer 27

the notable short speech made by President Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa.

Question 28

Appomattox Court House

Answer 28

A village in Virginia where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Question 29

Surrender

Answer 29

to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress

Question 30

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 30

the proclamation issued by President Lincoln on September 22, 1862, that freed the people held as slaves in those territories still in rebellion against the Union from January 1, 1863, forward.

Question 31

13th Amendment

Answer 31

an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolishing slavery.

Question 32

US Civil War

Answer 32

a war between political factions or regions within the same country.

Question 33

Reconstruction

Answer 33

the act of reconstructing, rebuilding, or reassembling, or the state of being reconstructed:

Question 34

Jim Crow Laws

Answer 34

any state law discriminating against Black persons.

Question 35

Segregation

Answer 35

one who favors, encourages, or practices segregation, especially racial segregation.

Question 36

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Answer 36

U.S. History. the acts of Congress during the period from 1865 to 1877 providing for the reorganization of the former Confederate states and setting forth the process by which they were to be restored to representation in Congress, especially the acts passed in 1867 and 1868.

Question 37

Amnesty

Answer 37

a general pardon for offenses, especially political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction.

Question 38

Ten Percent Plan

Answer 38

formally the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

Question 39

Freedman

Answer 39

a man who has been freed from slavery.

Question 40

Integrate

Answer 40

to bring together or incorporate (parts) into a whole.

Question 41

Sharecropping

Answer 41

A system of farming that developed in the South after the Civil War, when landowners, many of whom had formerly held slaves, lacked the cash to pay wages to farm laborers, many of whom were former slaves. The system called for dividing the crop into three shares — one for the landowner, one for the worker, and one for whoever provided seeds, fertilizer, and farm equipment.

Question 42

Lynching

Answer 42

to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority