Civil War & Reconstruction Vocab US History Honors

Civil War Vocab Compromise of 1850: a series of congressional measures intended to settle the major disagreements between free states and slave states (California admitted as free state and much more strict Fugitive Slave Act) Fugitive Slave Act: a law enacted as part of the Compromise of 1850, designed to ensure that escaped slaves would be returned to slavery popular sovereignty: a system in which the residents vote to decide an issue secession: the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union

Civil War Vocab Anaconda Plan: a three part strategy by which the Union proposed to defeat the Confederacy in the Civil War conscription: the drafting of citizens for military service Emancipation Proclamation: an executive order issued by Lincoln freeing the slaves in ALL regions behind Confederate lines Thirteenth Amendment: abolished slavery and involuntary servitude

Civil War Vocab Battle of Gettysburg: turning point of the Civil War, the South (Confederacy) never invaded the north again Gettysburg Address: famous speech given by Lincoln, at a dedication of a national cemetery in Gettysburg Total War: military strategy in which an army attacks not only enemy troops but the economic and civilian resources that support them Appomattox: court house where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant which ended the Civil War

Reconstruction Vocab Reconstruction: the period of rebuilding that followed the Civil War, during which the defeated Confederate states were readmitted into the Union Fourteenth Amendment: makes all persons born in the US – including former slaves – citizens of the country and guarantees equal protection of the laws Fifteenth Amendment: prohibits the denial of voting rights to people because of their race or color or because they have previously been slaves Freedmen’s Bureau: a federal agency set up to help former slaves after the Civil War

Reconstruction Vocab Black Codes: discriminatory laws passed throughout the post Civil War South which severely restricted African Americans’ lives Ku Klux Klan: a secret organization that used terrorist tactics in an attempt to restore white supremacy in Southern states after the Civil War Sharecropping: a system in which landowners give farm workers land, seed, and tools in return for part of the crops they raise Poll Tax: an annual tax that formerly had to be paid in some Southern states by anyone wishing to vote

Reconstruction Vocab Literacy Test: tests that potential voters were required to pass in some Southern states Grandfather Clause: clause used formerly in some Southern states that exempted whites from the strict voting requirements used to keep African Americans from the polls Separate but Equal: agreement that came from Plessy v. Ferguson case that allowed Southern states to have separate facilities for African Americans as long as the facilities were equal in quality Segregation: separation of the races

Westward expansion Vocab Manifest Destiny: 19th century belief that the United States would inevitably expand westward to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican Territory Land Grant: land given to railroad companies by the federal government to motivate settlers to move west Assimilation: a minority group’s adoption of the beliefs and way of life of the dominant culture Reservation: a piece of public land set aside by the federal government for Native American tribes