Civil War + Reconstruction Vocabulary List

Question 1

Reform

Answer 1

make changes in (something, typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice) in order to improve it.

Question 2

Nativist

Answer 2

relating to or supporting the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Question 3

Steam Engine

Answer 3

an engine that uses the expansion or rapid condensation of steam to generate power.

Question 4

Reform Movement

Answer 4

A reform movement is a group of individuals advocating for social change through the advancement of a common cause. An example of a reform movement was Abolitionism, which was the effort to end slavery in the United States.

Question 5

Suffrage

Answer 5

the right to vote in political elections.

Question 6

Co-Education

Answer 6

the education of students of both sexes together.

Question 7

Abolitionist

Answer 7

a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery.

Question 8

Casualty

Answer 8

a person killed or injured in a war or accident.

Question 9

Revolt

Answer 9

rise in rebellion.

Question 10

Prohibition

Answer 10

the action of forbidding something, especially by law.

Question 11

Three Fifths Compromise

Answer 11

The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state’s total population for legislative representation and taxation.

Question 12

Underground Railroad

Answer 12

During the era of slavery, the Underground Railroad was a network of routes, places, and people that helped enslaved people in the American South escape to the North

Question 13

Dred Scott Decision

Answer 13

Dred Scott was an enslaved person who accompanied his owner, an army physician, to postings in a free state (Illinois) and free territory (Wisconsin) before returning with him to the slave state of Missouri. In 1846 Scott and his wife, aided by antislavery lawyers, sued for their freedom in a St.

Question 14

Bleeding Kansas

Answer 14

War to do with slavery n’ anti-slavery

Question 15

Union Army

Answer 15

Union Army summary: The Union Army (aka the Federal Army, or Northern Army) was the army that fought for the Union (or North) during the the American Civil War. Actually, it was comprised of several armies, to cover the many departments (geographic regions) in which the

Question 16

Confederacy

Answer 16

a league or alliance, especially of confederate states.

Question 17

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 17

16th President of the United States; saved the Union during the American Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865) synonyms: Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln, President Lincoln.

Question 18

Jefferson Davis

Answer 18

Jefferson Davis (1808-89) was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, the nation formed in 1861 by the secession from the Union of 11 southern states.

Question 19

Secession

Answer 19

the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.

Question 20

Militia

Answer 20

a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.

Question 21

Battle of Fort Sumter

Answer 21

On April 12, 1861, forces from the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Less than two days later, the fort surrendered. No one was killed. The battle, however, started the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history.

Question 22

Battle of Bull Run

Answer 22

The first bloodiest battle in US history

Question 23

Battle of Shiloh

Answer 23

The Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle fought during the American Civil War up to that point in the conflict. Fought on April 6-7, 1862, the two days of carnage led to around 23,000 casualties, making it the deadliest battle of the Civil War up to that point.

Question 24

Battle of Antietam

Answer 24

23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Question 25

Battle of Gettysburg

Answer 25

The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great loss to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle, the most costly in US history.

Question 26

Gettysburg Address

Answer 26

Abraham Lincoln gave this speech.

Question 27

Appomattox Court House

Answer 27

The Appomattox Court House cultural landscape marks the beginning of the country’s transition to peace and reunification following four years of Civil War. This is the site of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant in April, 1865.

Question 27

Surrender

Answer 27

cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.

Question 28

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 28

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

Question 29

13th Amendment

Answer 29

The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Question 30

US Civil War

Answer 30

American Civil War, four-year war (1861–65) between the United States and 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.

Question 31

Reconstruction

Answer 31

The Reconstruction era (1861 to 1900), the historic period in which the United States grappled with the question of how to integrate millions of newly freed African Americans into social, political, and labor systems, was a time of significant transformation within the United States.

Question 32

Jim Crow Laws

Answer 32

Racial laws

Question 33

Segregation

Answer 33

the action or state of setting someone or something apart from others.

Question 34

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Answer 34

The Reconstruction Act of 1867 outlined the terms for readmission to representation of rebel states. The bill divided the former Confederate states, except for Tennessee, into five military districts.

Question 35

Amnesty

Answer 35

an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offenses.

Question 36

Ten Percent Plan

Answer 36

In December, President Lincoln proposed a reconstruction program that would allow Confederate states to establish new state governments after 10 percent of their male population took loyalty oaths and the states recognized the permanent freedom of formerly enslaved people.

Question 37

Freedman

Answer 37

a person who is not a serf or a slave

Question 38

Integrate

Answer 38

combine (one thing) with another so that they become a whole.

Question 39

Sharecropping

Answer 39

Sharecropping is a system where the landlord/planter allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop. This encouraged tenants to work to produce the biggest harvest that they could, and ensured they would remain tied to the land and unlikely to leave for other opportunities.

Question 40

Lynching

Answer 40

(of a mob) kill (someone), especially by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial.