American History I - Unit 8
The Civil War & Reconstruction
Terms in this set (63)
Confederate firing on this port on April 12, 1861 by the South officially began the Civil War
1st state to secede
elected president of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
SC, MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX, VA, AR, NC, TN
New technology in warfare
ironclad ships (Monitor and Merrimack)
hand grenades and land mines
Northern strategy for victory:
1) blockade southern ports and coastline
2) take control of the Mississippi River and divide the Confederacy in half
3) capture Richmond (Confederate Capital)
Capital of the Confederacy
Battle of Bull Run
July 21, 1861. Va. (outside of D.C.) Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson: Confederate general, held his ground and stood in battle like a "stone wall." Union retreated. Confederate victory. Showed that both sides needed training and war would be long and bloody. Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union army.
Union general, 1st commander, overly cautious, fired by Lincoln at Antietam. Later ran against Lincoln for POTUS in 1864
Battle of Shiloh
April 1862, Tennessee
Confederate troops ambushed Union troops
Union troops counterattacked Confederate troops
heavy losses on both sides
taught each side to always be prepared
Battle of Antietam
Civil War battle in which the North suceedeed in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland. Was the bloodiest battle of the war resulting in 25,000 casualties. Lincoln fires McClellan here.
guarantees that a person will not be held in custody without evidence of a crime or without the possibility of a trial
54th Massachusetts Regiment
Most famous African-American regiment in the Union army who made a courageous yet failed attack on Fort Wagner.
Ulysses S Grant
Commander of the Union army (after McClellan)
POTUS from 1868-1876.
Nickname was "Unconditional Surrender" Grant
War hero yet little political experience, not a very effective president
Robert E Lee
Commander of the Confederate forces
Europe's (Great Britain's) views on American Civil War
given the name "Stonewall" because of his braveness at the Battle of Bull Run.
Killed when Confederate troops mistook him for a Union soldier, shot in the arm and died several days later.
issued by Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that freed the slaves in the Confederate states that were rebelling. Did not free slaves in Union states that had slavery. Allowed for African Americans to enlist in the Union Army
Confederate war camp in Georgia with terrible conditions for soldiers
tax that takes a portion of wages
first put in place in the Union in 1863 to help pay for the war
Battle of Gettysburg
turning point in the war.
The south never again successfully invades a northern state.
famous speech given by Lincoln, delivered at the dedication of a cemetery in Pennsylvania, spoke of uniting the nation.
May-July 1863, Confederacy surrenders this fort and Union gains control of the Mississippi River.
Election of 1864
Northern Democrats - George McClellan
Radical Republicans - Fremont
National Union Party - Lincoln and Johnson for VP
Lincoln and Johnson win.
involuntary draft during the Civil War
Northern Democrats who encouraged peace with the south during the Civil War
William Tecumseh Sherman
known for using the "total war" strategy to defeat enemies.
famous for his "March to the Sea" during which he burned many towns and cities in GA, SC, and TN
General Sherman led some 60000 troops on a march south across southern states; burned cities and destroyed everything in his path; killed civilians, destroyed crops. Sherman believed in total war.
Appomattox Court House
Where Lee surrendered the Confederate army to Grant on April 9, 1865
John Wilkes Booth
assassinated Lincoln on April 14,1865 at Ford's Theatre in DC.
Clara Barton helped found this American foundation in 1881, now an international organization dedicated to the medical care of the sick or wounded in wars and natural disasters
National Bank Act
Passed in 1863, this helped the Union raise money for the war effort while also making banking safer for investors by establishing a system of federally chartered banks.
period between 1865-1877 in which the nation begins to rebuild itself; actions and processes taken to readmit southern states back into the Union.
Lincoln's 10% Plan
southern states could be readmitted back into the Union once 10% of voters took an oath of allegiance and created a new state government and constitution
led by Thaddeus Stevens; believed in full citizenship and voting rights for African Americans; wanted harsh punishment for Confederate states
Proposed by Radical Republicans in response to Lincoln's 10% plan in 1864 said that Confederate states could not reenter the Union until a majority of the state swore allegiance to the Union and guaranteed black suffrage; vetoed by Lincoln
Became 17th POTUS after Lincoln's death; wanted harsh punishment for Southern states and abolition, but did not necessarily want full rights for blacks; almost impeached for firing Edwin Stanton from the cabinet.
Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction Plan
southern states could be readmitted if... 1) withdrew secession 2) swore allegiance to the Union 3) cancelled Confederate war debts 4) Ratified the 13th Amendment (banning slavery)
established in the last months of the Civil War; gave aid (food and clothes) to African Americans and poor whites; established hospitals and schools in the south
Civil Rights Act of 1866
ensured the rights of black citizens
Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the Civil War
president's power to reject a bill passed by Congress
Reconstruction Act of 1867
passed to punish the South; divided remaining southern states into 5 military districts - voters in the districts (including African Americans) would elect delegates to make new state constitutions that ensured black suffrage; all states had to ratify the 14th Amendment (citizenship rights for African Americans)
Tenure of Office Act
passed by the Radical Republicans - stated that a president could not fire anyone from the cabinet during an active term without the approval of the Senate - Johnson fired Stanton, Sec. of War to test the act
To accuse government officials of misconduct in office
Enforcement Acts of 1870
designed to overturn the black codes and punish states who failed to extend civil rights to African Americans
gave citizenship rights and equal protection under the law to African Americans
African American suffrage
first black US Senator
Derogatory name for Southerners working for or supporting the federal government during Reconstruction
northerners who came to the south after the Civil War
farm system that included paying rent to a landowner and then was free to choose/manage his own land.
system in which landowners leased a few acres of land to farm workers in return for a portion of their crops; led to perpetual debt and essentially a legal form of slavery
Ku Klux Klan
formed in TN in 1866, wanted to restore white supremacy in the south through preventing African Americans to exercise their new rights; killed and terrorized thousands of people.
Tactics used by southerners to deny voting rights to African Americans
poll taxes, literacy tests, and the Grandfather clause
the term given to Democratic regain of power in the South during Reconstruction
Panic of 1873
a banker invested in a railroad company but did not have enough money to back up the investment, when his bank went under, so did the railroad, which led to a series of financial failures, resulting in a 5-year depression
Election of 1876
Hayes would be elected president if he agreed to the Compromise of 1877
Rutherford B. Hayes
19th POTUS, ended Reconstruction with the Compromise of 1877
Samuel J. Tilden
Democratic candidate for the US presidency in the disputed election of 1876, the most controversial American election of the 19th century.
Compromise of 1877
Hayes would be granted POTUS if he would remove all troops from the South, fund a southern railroad, and appoint a conservative southerner to his cabinet
the ability to run state governments without federal intervention