Period 5 Part II (Chapters 7-12) Flashcards
Secession
The action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state; in this time period, the withdrawal of eleven southern states from the Union in 1860, leading to the Civil War.
Fort Sumter
In the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, this fort was cut off by Southern control of the harbor. Rather than giving up Fort Sumter or attempting to defend it, Lincoln announced that he was sending provisions of food to the small federal garrison. He thus gave South Carolina the choice of either permitting the fort to hold out or opening fire. Carolina’s guns thundered and thus, on April 12, 1861, the war began.
Confederate States of America
Created by representatives of the seven states of the Deep South, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, the constitution of this Southern country was like the U.S. Constitution, except that the Confederacy placed limits on the government’s power to impose tariffs and restrict slavery. Elected president and vice president were Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and Alexander Stephens of Georgia.
Anaconda Plan
General-in-Chief Winfield Scott’s plan to use the U.S. Navy to blockade Southern ports, cutting off essential supplies from reaching the Confederacy.
Antietam
The Union army intercepted the Confederates at Antietam Creek in the Maryland town of Sharpsburg. Here, the bloodiest single day of combat in the entire war took place, with more than 22,000 soldiers killed or wounded. Unable to break through Union lines, Lee’s army retreated to Virginia. Disappointed with McClellan for failing to pursue Lee’s army, Lincoln removed him for the final time as the Union commander.
Gettysburg
On July 1, 1863, the Confederate army surprised Union units at Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania. What followed was the most crucial battle for the war and the bloodiest, with more than 50,000 casualties. Lee’s assault on Union lines on the second and third days, including a famous but unsuccessful charge led by George Pickett, proved futile and destroyed part of the Confederate army. Lee’s forces retreated to Virginia, never to regain the offensive.
Sherman’s March
Leading a force of 100,000 men, Sherman set out from Chattanooga, Tennessee, on a campaign of deliberate destruction that went across the state of Georgia and then swept North into South Carolina. Marching through Georgia, his troops destroyed everything, burning cotton fields, barns, and houses - everything the enemy might use to survive. Sherman took Atlanta in September 1864 in time to help Lincoln’s reelection. He marched into Savannah in December and completed his campaign in February 1865 by setting fire to Columbia, the capital of South Carolina and cradle of secession.
Habeas Corpus
A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention, that was temporarily suspended by Abraham Lincoln right after the Fort Sumter Crisis.
Emancipation Proclamation
A proclamation issued by Lincoln that stated:
I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, shall recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
Copperheads
Democrats, also called Peace Democrats, who opposed the war and wanted a negotiated peace.
Gettysburg Address
A speech delivered by Lincoln on November 19th, 1863, in which Lincoln rallied Americans to the idea that their nation was “dedicated to the proposition that tall men are created equal.”
Homestead Act
Promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to any person or family that farmed that land for at least five years.
Reconstruction
Period after the Civil War during which Northern political leaders created plans for the governance of the South and a procedure for former Southern states to rejoin the Union.
Wade-Davis Bill
Required 50% of the voters of a state to take a loyalty oath and permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution. Lincoln pocket-vetoed this bill after Congress adjourned.
Freedmen’s Bureau
Also known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, this bureau acted as a welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for both Black and White Americans left destitute by the war.
13th Amendment
An amendment abolishing slavery.
14th Amendment
- Declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens
- Obligated the states to respect the rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with “equal protection of the laws” and “due process of law.”
- Disqualified former Confederate political leaders form holding either state or federal offices
- Repudiated the debts of the defeated governments of the Confederacy
- Penalized a state if it kept any eligible person from voting by reducing that state’s proportional representation in Congress and the Electoral College.
15th Amendment
Prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Scalawags
What Democratic opponents derisively called Southern Republicans.
Carpetbaggers
What Democratic opponents derisively called Northern newcomers (after cheap luggage made from carpet fabric).
Crédit Mobilier
Insiders gave stock to influential members of Congress to avoid investigation of the profits they were making - as high as 348% - from government subsidies for building the transcontinental railroad.
Ku Klux Klan
A secret society to intimidate African Americans and White reformers founded in 1867 by a former Confederate General, Nathaniel Bedford Forrest. The “invisible empire” burned Black-owned buildings and flogged and murdered several thousand freedmen to keep them from exercising their voting rights.
Black Codes
Adopted by Southern slate legislatures, these restricted the rights and movements of African Americans:
1. They could neither rent land nor borrow money to buy land.
2. They could not testify against Whites in court.
3. They had to sign work agreements or they could be arrested for vagrancy. Under this contract-labor system, African Americans worked cotton fields under White supervision for deferred wages.
Sharecropping
The landlord provided the seed and needed farm supplies in return for a share (usually half) of the harvest.
Compromise of 1877
An informal deal worked out between the Democrats and Republicans in which the Democrats would allow Rutherford B. Hayes to become president, and in return, he would:
1. Immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South.
2. Support the building of a Southern transcontinental railroad.
