US History Chapter 3 Flashcards
Wilmot Proviso
no slavery in land won from Mexican war
Popular Sovereignty
Territories vote to allow slavery or not
Forty-Niners
The people who moved to California for the gold rush
Secession
Leaving the Union and declaring your own country
Underground Railroad
A path with conductors to help people get out of slavery
Harriet Tubman
A woman who helped many slaves escape on the Underground Railroad
Transcontinental Railroad
A railroad that went all the way to the Pacific, there was a northern and southern route
John Brown
An abolitionist who wanted to start an armed rebellion against slave owners and he also gave slaves weapons
Insurrection
Armed rebellion
Jefferson Davis
the first president of the Confederate states
Fort Sumter
A Union fort in a Confederate state that was invaded by Jefferson Davis, there was a battle, but eventually Fort Sumter surrendered
Martial Law
new laws that are usually made during war enforced by the army (military law)
Habeas Corpus
The right to know why you are being arrested and the right to trial
Robert E. Lee
Confederate general
Greenbacks
the paper money that was the new national currency
The Conscription
Forced military service
Attrition
The idea that you needed to kill more people than you lose in every battle
Blockade Runners
Confederate people who tried to sneak past the Union blockade
Ulysses S. Grant
Union general, and later president
54th Massachusetts Regiment
first black volunteer regiment
Foraging
looking for food in the wilderness
William Tecumseh Sherman
Union general who wanted to make “old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.” He invaded many Southern towns and terrorized them to make them lose hope in the war.
George B. McClellan
An overly cautious Union general who was eventually fired because Lincoln thought he was extending the war
Thirteenth Amendment
An amendment that abolished slavery
Appomattox Court House
the courthouse where the treaty that ended the Civil War was signed
Pillaged
to rob violently
George Meade
the Union general who replaced Hooker, but he was eventually replaced by Grant
Sherman Neckties
Union soldiers would twist Confederate railroad ties into knots
Carpetbaggers
The people who moved south to take advantage of the economic opportunities
Debt Peonage
when someone is in debt without a way to get out of it (financial slavery)
What problem did all the territory gained from the war with Mexico cause for the US?
The new territories upset the balance of slave/free states. If they went either way, that side would have more power.
What was the compromise of 1850? What problem did it solve?
This said that California will be a free state, the new territories will have popular sovereignty, the slave trade is abolished in Washington D.C., and the Fugitive Slave Law is stricter.
What is Uncle Tom’s cabin? What kind of impact did it have on the northerners who read it?
It was a book written by a white woman that told the story of a slave in the midst of slavery. It was told as a story, not as a debate therefore people were not defensive when reading it and it gave them an emotional reaction to what happened to the slave. It made abolition more popular and changed peoples minds on slavery due to the disarming way it was written.
What was Bleeding Kansas? Why did it happen?
This was a mini civil war between those in Kansas for slavery and those against it. This happened because both those who did and didn’t support slavery went to Kansas to vote whether or not this state would be free or not.
Who was Dred Scott? What was the result of the Dred Scott v. Sandford case?
He was a slave who sued his master for freedom after he took Dred Scott to live in a free state for a while. Sandford won because the supreme court told Dred Scott that black people could not sue.
How was the election of Abraham Lincoln the last straw for southerners?
They already had a free state majority in Congress and then an anti-slave president got elected. They thought their only choice was to lose slavery, their way of living, or secede.
What dilemma did president Davis face regarding Fort Sumter?
He had to decide whether to let the Union Soldiers stay or kick them out.
If the Confederacy hadn’t have fired on Fort Sumter, with what decision would President Lincoln have been faced?
If they didn’t, he would have decided whether or not to “take the first hit” or not against the South. Because they did this, the North instead acted out of self defense.
What is the basic message of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address?
He is essentially saying that the problems of the Civil War are the peoples’, not Lincoln’s, and that they need to work together to survive.
