Unit 6: The Civil War And Reconstruction Flashcards
Secession
The withdrawal from the United States of eleven southern states in 1860 and 1861. The seceding states formed a government, the Confederacy, in early 1861. Hostilities against the remaining United States, the Union, began in April 1861 (see Fort Sumter), and the Civil War followed.
Conscription
commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the federal government of the United States in four conflicts: the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War
Anaconda Plan
the name applied to an outline strategy for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War
Antietam
also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South, was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek as part of the Maryland Campaign
Gettysburg
was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War
Civil/ Ironclad War Ships
The Union was also building a large armored frigate, the USS New Ironsides, and the smaller USS Galena. The first battle between ironclads happened on 9 March 1862, as the armored Monitor was deployed to protect the Union’s wooden fleet from the ironclad ram Virginia and other Confederate warships.
Appomattox Court House
Lee forced to totally surrender at this court house in 1865; Union treated enemy with respect and allowed Lee’s men to return home to their families with their horses
Sherman’s March to the Sea
more formally known as the Savannah Campaign, was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army
Election of 1864
Republican Pres. Abraham Lincoln defeated Democrat George B. McClellan. As the election occurred during the American Civil War, it was contested only by the states that had not seceded from the Union
Wade Davis Bill
was a bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by two Radical Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland
Robert E. Lee
was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865
Stonewall Jackson
Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and the best-known Confederate commander after General Robert E. Lee
Andrew Jackson
was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party
Charles Sunner
was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War working to destroy the Confederacy, free all the slaves, and keep on good terms with Europe. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen
Copperheads
A faction of the democratic party formed after the death of Stephen Douglas. A vocal group of Democrats in the Northern United States who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates
Cotton Diplomacy
refers to the diplomatic methods employed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to coerce the United Kingdom and France to support the Confederate war effort by implementing a cotton trade embargo against the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe
George McClellan
was an American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician
Jefferson Davis
was an American politician who was a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from Mississippi, the 23rd U.S. Secretary of War, and the President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War
John Breckinridge
was a lawyer, politician, and soldier from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861
John C. Fremont
was an American military officer, explorer, and politician who became the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States
Ulysses S. Grant
was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War
William Seward
was United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as Governor of New York and United States Senator
Bleeding Kansas
was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery “Free-Staters” and pro-slavery “Border Ruffian”, or “southern” elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861, including “Bleeding Congress”
Roger B. Taney
was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864
Crittenden Compromise
was an unsuccessful proposal introduced by United States Senator John J. Crittenden (Constitutional Unionist of Kentucky) on December 18, 1860. It aimed to resolve the secession crisis of 1860–1861 by addressing the fears and grievances about slavery that led many slave-holding states to contemplate secession from the United States
Battle of Fort Sumter
was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army that started the American Civil War
Monitor and Merrimack
The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (or Virginia) or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia’s largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade
Vicksburg
The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War
William Tecumseh Sherman
was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–65), for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the “scorched earth” policies he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States
George Meade
was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in the coastal construction of several lighthouses. He fought with distinction in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War
Habeas Corpus
a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment before a court, usually through a prison official
Scalawags
southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party, after the American Civil War
Carpetbagger
was a Northerner who moved to the South after the American Civil War, during the Reconstruction era (1863–1877). Many white Southerners denounced them fearing they would loot and plunder the defeated South and be politically allied with the Radical Republicans
Thaddeus Stevens
was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s
Andrew Johnson
was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson became president as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
was a United States presidential proclamation and executive order issued on December 8, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln, during the American Civil War
Civil Rights Act of 1866
was passed by Congress on 9th April 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
Law created by Radical Republicans that was originally vetoed by Johnson but overridden by Congress; established harsher requirements for Confederate states; divided Southern states into military districts; required states to vote to ratify 14th amendment
Freedmen’s Bureau
Welfare agency set up to help newly freed blacks with aid and education. Viciously attacked by the South
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Prohibited discrimination against blacks in public place, such as inns, amusement parks, and on public transportation. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Radical Democrats
liberal democracy and deliberative democracy, in their attempts to build consensus, oppress differing opinions, races, classes, genders, and worldviews
Radical Republicans
Following the Civil War those Northerners who wanted to punish the South and help the newly freed slaves.
Force Acts
series of four acts passed by Republican Reconstruction supporters in the Congress between May 31, 1870, and March 1, 1875, to protect the constitutional rights guaranteed to blacks by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
Tenure of Office Acts
Law put in place in order to prevent Johnson from removing Republican cabinet members; eventually declared unconstitutional, but was first the basis of the impeachment trial of Johnson.
Civil Rights Cases 1883
were a group of five US Supreme Court constitutional law cases. Against the famous dissent of Justice Harlan, a majority held the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional, because Congress lacked authority to regulate private affairs under the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the Thirteenth Amendment “merely abolishes slavery”. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 had banned race discrimination in access to services offered to the public. The decision was effectively reversed in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court from 1937, and finally by legislation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Plessy v. Ferguson
was a landmark constitutional law case of the US Supreme Court. It upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of “separate but equal”
Reese v. United States
was a voting rights case in which the United States Supreme Court narrowly construed the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided that suffrage for male citizens could not be restricted due to race, color or previous condition of servitude.
Minor v. Happersett
a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Constitution did not grant women the right to vote.
Cruikshank vs. the United States
was an important United States Supreme Court decision in United States constitutional law, one of the earliest to deal with the application of the Bill of Rights to state governments following the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Slaughter House Cases
was the first United States Supreme Court interpretation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment which had recently been enacted. It was a pivotal case in early civil rights law and held that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the privileges or immunities of citizenship of the United States, not privileges and immunities of citizenship of a state.
15th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
13th Amendment
Abolition of slavery
14th Amendment
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
