Vocabulary

1. American History I Unit 6 – The Civil War Presidents: M. Fillmore – A Johnson R. M. Tolles Vocabulary

2. Uncle Tom's Cabin – AH1U6 • Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, portrayed the evils of the institution of slavery, published in 1852 • Aroused sympathy for runaway slaves among all classes of Northerners and hardened many Northerners against the South's insistence upon continuing slavery • Seen as an underlying cause or step toward Civil War

3. Jim Crow Laws - AH1U6 • Laws that institutionalized segregation in the South from the 1880s through the 1960s • Segregated schools, transportation (buses), and other public accommodations • These laws made it difficult or impossible for southern blacks to vote and often forbade intermarriage

4. Freeport Doctrine - AH1U6 • Stephen Douglas's attempt to reconcile his belief in popular sovereignty the the Dred Scott decision. • In the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Douglas argued that territories could effectively forbid slavery by failing to enact slave codes, even though the Dred Scott case deprived government of the right to restrict slavery in the territory

5. Fugitive Slave Act - AH1U6 • Passed in 1793 and strengthened as part of the Compromise of 1850, it allowed Southerners to send posses onto Northern soil to retrieve runaway slaves • Northerners mounted resistance to the act by helping escaped slaves and passing personal liberty laws • The Act had very lose interpretations on what was a slave and a free person, giving the final decision to the posses

6. The Liberator - AH1U6 • Published by radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison • Expressed new and controversial opinions such as the belief that blacks deserved legal rights equal to those of whites

7. Bleeding Kansas - AH1U6 • Violence broke out between representatives of the free-state government in Topeka and the fraudulently elected proslavery government in Lecompton. • Bleeding Kansas represented a major setback for the doctrine of popular sovereignty, as the doctrine failed to provide a clear resolution to the question of slavery in Kansas • Seen as a step or cause of the upcoming Civil War

8. James Buchanan – AH1U6 • 15th President • A moderate Democrat with support form both North and South, did little to stop the steps toward Civil War • He often did little to help the slavery debate, and when the results of the 1860 election were known, he allowed several southern states to succeed from the Union under his watch.

9. Thaddeus Stevens - AH1U6 • Leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress, Thaddeus Stevens was a gifted orator and an outspoken legislator devoted to stringent and punitive Reconstruction. Stevens worked toward social and political equality for Southern blacks

10. Abraham Lincoln - AH1U6 • 16th President of The United States – argueably the best or at least top 5 President • Lincoln emerged during the late 1850s as the nation's top Republican. His victory in the presidential election of 1860 precipitated the secession of the first southern states, paving the way for the Civil War. Lincoln's primary goal during and after the Civil War was to restore the Union. He did change the moral outlook of the war and pave the way for equality by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. • He was assassinated in 1865 before he could realize his goal

11. Stephen A. Douglas – AH1U6 • Supporter and leader in the popular sovereignty debate dealing with slavery • He battled Abraham Lincoln for a seat in the Senate (successfully) in 1858 • He ran for President against Lincoln in 1860 (unsuccessfully)‏ • Lincoln – Douglas Debates

12. Personal Liberty Laws - AH1U6 • During the 1850s some northern states passed personal liberty laws to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act. • These state laws guaranteed all alleged fugitives the right to trial by jury and to a lawyer and prohibited state jails from holding alleged fugitives

13. Fredrick Douglas – AH1U6 • Perhaps the most famous of all abolitionists. An escaped slave, Douglas worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison to promote abolitionism in the 1830s.

14. Roger B. Taney – AH1U6 • Taney served as chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1836 to 1864. In support of slavery laws, he delivered the majority opinion of Dred Scot v Sanford

15. Union – AH1U6 • A general term for the combined states of the United States during the Civil War, “Union” referred to the government and troops of the North

16. William Lloyd Garrison – AH1U6 • Founder of the Abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. • Most famous white abolitionists, he pushed for equal rights for blacks

17. Millard Fillmore – AH1U6 • Taylor died – Vice President Fillmore took over • Limited as a president, only recognizable feat was the passage of the Compromise of 1850

18. Harriet Tubman – AH1U6 • A former slave, Harriet Tubman helped to establish the Underground Railroad, a network of safehouses and escorts throughout the North to help escaped slaves to freedom

19. Battle of Antietam – AH1U6 • The Battle of Antietam made September 17, 1862 the single bloodiest day of the Civil War, resulting in some 25,000 casualties. • Led to Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which changed the moral outlook of the war • Considered one of the big Three battles in the Civil War

20. Uncle Tom's Cabin – AH1U6 • Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, portrayed the evils of the institution of slavery. • The book aroused sympathy for runaway slaves among all classes of Northerners against the South's insistence upon continuing slavery • Considered a cataylist

21. Wade-Davis Bill – AH1U6 • Congress passed this bill setting forth stringent requirements for Confederate states' readmission to the Union. • Effectively vetoed by President Lincoln, because he never signed off on it

22. Emancipation Proclamation – AH1U6 • Issued after the Battle of Antietam • Freed all slaves in states of rebellion only. • IT DID NOT END SLAVERY • Changed the moral outlook of the war

23. Sherman's March to the Sea – AH1U6 • Union general William T. Sherman led his forces on a march from Atlanta to Savannah and then to Richmond. General Sherman brought the South “to its knees” by ordering large-scale destruction • Part of the Anaconda Plan

24. Lincoln-Douglas Debate – AH1U6 • Senatorial debates – Lincoln-Douglas debates pitted Abraham Lincoln, a free-soil Republican who favored gradualism, against Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat in favor of popular sovereignty. • The debates were hard-fought, highly attended, and in the end, inconclusive. • They crystallized the two dominant positions of the North in regard to slavery and propelled Lincoln onto the national scene

25. John Brown/Harpers Ferry – AH1U6 • “The Meteor of the War” • Extreme abolitionist who was crazy – tried to lead a slave revolt at Harpers Ferry, VA • The attempt failed and Brown was hung for treason against a state • Led to the call for Southern militias which would become the Confederate Army • Hero and matyre to some in the north, hated and accused of insanity in the south

26. Robert E. Lee – AH1U6 • The commanding general of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Lee was a brillant strategist, an excellent commander, and a brave fighter. • Many historians believe that the Confederacy held out as long as it did only because of Lee's skills and loyalty he earned from his troops.

27. Free-Soil Party – AH1U6 • A political party supporting abolition, the Free-soil Party formed in 1848 from the merger of a northern faction of the Democratic Party, the abolitionist Liberty party, and the anti-slavery Whigs. • The Free Soilers nominated Martin Van Buren as their candidate for president. • The relative success of the Free-soil Party demonstrated that slavery had become a central issue in national politics

28. Dred Scott v. Sandford – AH1U6 • In the 1857 Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that no black, whether slave or free, could become a US citizen or sue in federal court. • The decision further argued that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment's protection of property – including slaves – form being taken away without due process. • Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (Southern) helped push through the ruling • Basically stated – Slaves are not people, will never be people, slaves are property

29. Andrew Johnson – AH1U6 • Johnson became president upon Lincoln's death in 1865 and remained in office until 1869. • Johnson's plan for presidential Reconstruction was too lenient in the eyes of a Congress heavily influenced by Radical Republicans. • Congress fought his initiatives and undertook a more stringent and retributive Reconstruction plan. • Johnson's relationship with Congress declined steadily during his presidency, culminating in impeachment proceedings in 1868

30. Underground Railroad – AH1U6 • The Underground Railroad was a network of safe houses and escorts established by Northern abolitionists to foil enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. The network escaped slaves reach freedom in the North and in Canada • Harriet Tubman – famous conductor

31. Hayes-Tilden Compromise or The Great Compromise of 1877 – AH1U6 • This compromise resolved the conflict arising from the presidential election of 1876. Republican leaders contested the election returns of some states thus ensuring the victory of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden – who won the popular vote. • To minimize protest form Democrats, Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction by removing federal troops from the last tow occupied states in the South

32. Franklin Pierce – AH1U6 • Served as President from 1853-1857 • His performance in office can best be described as perfunctory. He was little more than a caretaker in the years leading up to the Civil War

33. Confederate States of America – AH1U6 • The seceded states formed the Confederate States of America during the Civil War

34. Jefferson Davis – AH1U6 • A former secretary of war, Davis was lected president of the Confederacy shortly after its formation. • Davis was never able to garner adequate public support and faced great difficulties in uniting the Confederate states under one central authority

35. Battle of Gettysburg – AH1U6 • Gettysburg, PA, was the site of the largest Civil War battle. Widely considered the turning point of the war, the battle marked the Union's first major victory in the East. The three-day campaign, from July 1-July 4, 1863, resulted in an unprecedented 51,000 total casualties. • Turning Point – militarily • High water mark of the Confederacy

36. Republican Party – AH1U6 • The Republican Party was formed in the mid-1850s after the collapse of the Whig Party. • A sectional party concentrated in the N orth, the Republicans focused primarily on promoting the issue of free soil • In 1860, the party successfully elected Abraham Lincoln president, and dominated politics during the Civil War

37. Ulysses S. Grant – AH1U6 • Grant was commanding general of the Union forces in the West for much of the war and of all Union forces during the last year of the war. • Grant later became the nation's eighteenth president, serving from 1869-1877 and presiding over the decline of Reconstruction • His administration was marred by corruption