Unit 5: Important Figures Flashcards
William H. Seward
New York politician, anti-slavery and important figure in the republican party. Key player in the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia in an act that was ridiculed at the time as “Seward’s Folly”
Ulysses S. Grant
1862 he captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee, escaped defeat at the Battle of Shiloh. Ended Confederate control of the Mississippi in Vicksburg. Defeated Bragg at Chattanooga. Directed the Union army in the Wilderness Campaign and received Lee’s surrender.
William T. Sherman
He fought in the Vicksburg and Chatanooga campaigns and undertook the Atlanta Campaign. He burned Atlanta and set off, with a force of 60,000, on his famous march to the sea, devastating the country. After capturing Savannah, he turned north through S. Carolina, and received the surrender of General Johnston.
Thaddeus Stevens
the leaders of the Radical Republican. Opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, secure their rights during Reconstruction, opposition to President Andrew Johnson.
Hinton R. Helper
book entitled ‘Impending Crisis of the South’ prove that indirectly the non-slave holding whites were the ones who suffered the most from slavery; banned in the South, distributed as campaign material for republicans
John Brown
American abolitionist who attempted to end slavery through the use of violence. This increased the tension between the North and South.
Preston Brooks
Congressmen Brooks of South Carolina. Brooks walked up to Sumner’s desk and beat him with his cane unconscious after he gave an anti-slavery speech.
Abraham Lincoln
Republicans chose to run against Senator Douglas (a Democrat) in the senatorial elections of 1858 loss victory. Lincoln came to be one of the most prominent northern politicians, a Republican nominee for president. Won the presidential elections of 1860, he was a minority and sectional president (he was not allowed on the ballot in ten southern states).
Jefferson Davis
an American statesman and politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865
Andrew Johnson
president when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. one of two presidents to have been impeached; the House of Representatives charged him with illegally dismissing a government official. The Senate tried him, and he was acquitted by only one vote.
Robert E. Lee
Commanding the Army of N. Virginia, the 7 Days Battle and beat the Union army at the 2nd battle of Bull Run. Lee prevented Union advances at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and Grant’s assaults in the Wilderness Campaign. Surrendered to Grant at Appomatox Courthouse.
Charles Sumner
unpopular senator from Mass. and a leading abolitionist. In 1856, he made an assault in the pro-slavery of South Carolina and the South in his coarse speech, “The Crime Against Kansas.”
Dred Scott
black slave who had lived with his master for five years in Illinois and Wisconsin territory. He sued for his freedom on the basis of his long residence in free territory. Ruled that Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen. could not sue in a federal court.
Frederick Douglas
born a slave but escaped to the North and became a prominent black abolitionist; gifted orator, writer, and editor; published “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”
James Buchanan
The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to prevent the secession of South Carolina
Clara Barton
a Union nurse during the Civil War, known as “the Angel of the Battlefield.” nursing; helped the Union obtain medical supplies. Worked for the International Red Cross, organized the American Red Cross, which she headed until 1904.
Thomas Nast
caricaturist and editorial cartoonist, father of American political cartooning. He helped people realize the corruption of some politicians.
John Wilkes Booth
An American stage actor part of a conspiracy plot, assassinated Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in 1865
John Crittenden
He is responsible for the Crittenden Compromise to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, and he proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee forever the right to hold slaves in states south of the compromise line.
Harriet Tubman
Abolitionist born a slave on a plantation in Maryland, conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North (1820-1913)
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth (1840s)freed black woman in New York who fought tirelessly for black emancipation and women’s rights
Rutherford B. Hayes
19th president of the united states, was famous for being part of the Hayes-Tilden election in which electoral votes were contested in 4 states, most corrupt election in US history. Republican.
