APUSH Civil War/Reconstruction – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers
question
601. Stephen A. Douglas
answer
A moderate, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty.
question
602. Popular Sovereignty
answer
The doctrine that stated that the people of a territory had the right to decide their own laws by voting. In the Kansas-Nebraska Act, popular sovereignty would decide whether a territory allowed slavery.
question
603. Thirty-six, thirty line
answer
According to the Missouri Compromise (1820), slavery was forbidden in the Louisiana territory north of the 36º30' N latitude. This was nullified by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
question
604. Election of 1856: Republican Party, Know-Nothing Party
answer
Democrat - James Buchanan (won by a narrow margin). Republican - John Fremont. Know- Nothing Party and Whig - Millard Fillmore. First election for the Republican Party. Know- Nothings opposed immigration and Catholic influence. They answered questions from outsiders about the party by saying "I know nothing".
question
605. "Bleeding Kansas"
answer
Also known as the Kansas Border War. Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery forces from Missouri, known as the Border Ruffians, crossed the border into Kansas and terrorized and murdered antislavery settlers. Antislavery sympathizers from Kansas carried out reprisal attacks, the most notorious of which was John Brown's 1856 attack on the settlement at Pottawatomie Creek. The war continued for four years before the antislavery forces won. The violence it generated helped percipitate the Civil War.
question
606. Lawrence, Kansas
answer
1855 - Where the pro-slavery /anti-slavery war in Kansas began ("Bleeding Kansas or Kansas Border War).
question
607. "Beecher's Bibles"
answer
During the Kansas border war, the New England Emigrant Aid Society sent rifles at the instigation of fervid abolitionists like the preacher Henry Beecher. These rifles became known as "Beecher's Bibles".
question
608. John Brown's Raid
answer
In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by massacring slave owners and freeing their slaves. He was captured and executed.
question
609. Pottawatomie Massacre
answer
John Brown let a part of six in Kansas that killed 5 pro-slavery men. This helped make the Kansas border war a national issue.
question
610. New England Emigrant Aid Company
answer
Promoted anti-slavery migration to Kansas. The movement encouraged 2600 people to move.
question
611. Sumner-Brooks Affair
answer
1856 - Charles Sumner gave a two day speech on the Senate floor. He denounced the South for crimes against Kansas and singled out Senator Andrew Brooks of South Carolina for extra abuse. Brooks beat Sumner over the head with his cane, severely crippling him. Sumner was the first Republican martyr.
question
612. Lecompton Constitution
answer
The pro-slavery constitution suggested for Kansas' admission to the union. It was rejected.
question
613. Dred Scott Decision
answer
A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.
question
614. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (pronounced "Tawny")
answer
As chief justice, he wrote the important decision in the Dred Scott case, upholding police power of states and asserting the principle of social responsibility of private property. He was Southern and upheld the fugitive slave laws.
question
615. Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 during Illinois Senatorial campaign
answer
A series of seven debates. The two argued the important issues of the day like popular sovereignty, the Lecompton Constitution and the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won these debates, but Lincoln's position in these debates helped him beat Douglas in the 1860 presidential election.
question
616. Freeport Doctrine
answer
During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas said in his Freeport Doctrine that Congress couldn't force a territory to become a slave state against its will.
question
617. Panic of 1857
answer
Began with the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance Company and spread to the urban east. The depression affected the industrial east and the wheat belt more than the South.
question
618. George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South, or the Failure of Free Society
answer
The most influential propagandist in the decade before the Civil War. In his Sociology (1854), he said that the capitalism of the North was a failure. In another writing he argued that slavery was justified when compared to the cannibalistic approach of capitalism. Tried to justify slavery.
question
619. Hinton Helper, The Impending Crisis of the South
answer
Hinton Helper of North Carolina spoke for poor, non-slave-owing Whites in his 1857 book, which as a violent attack on slavery. It wasn't written with sympathy for Blacks, who Helper despised, but with a belief that the economic system of the South was bringing ruin on the small farmer.
question
620. Lincoln's "House Divided" speech
answer
In his acceptance speech for his nomination to the Senate in June, 1858, Lincoln paraphrased from the Bible: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." He continued, "I do not believe this government can continue half slave and half free, I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do believe it will cease to be divided."
question
621. John Brown, Harper's Ferry Raid
answer
In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by massacring slave owners and freeing their slaves. He was captured and executed.
question
622. Election of 1860: candidates, parties, issues
answer
Republican - Abraham Lincoln. Democrat - Stephan A. Douglas, John C. Breckenridge. Constitutional Union - John Bell. Issues were slavery in the territories (Lincoln opposed adding any new slave states).
question
623. Democratic Party Conventions: Baltimore, Charleston
answer
The Democratic Party split North and South. The Northern Democratic convention was held in Baltimore and the Southern in Charleston. Douglas was the Northern candidate and Breckenridge was the Southern (they disagreed on slavery).
question
624. John Bell
answer
He was a moderate and wanted the union to stay together. After Southern states seceded from the Union, he urged the middle states to join the North.
question
625. John Breckinridge (1821-1875)
answer
Nominated by pro-slavers who had seceded from the Democratic convention, he was strongly for slavery and states' rights.
question
626. Republican Party: 1860 platform, supporter, leaders
answer
1860 platform: free soil principles, a protective tariff. Supporters: anti-slavers, business, agriculture. Leaders: William M. Seward, Carl Shulz.
question
627. Buchanan and the Secession Crisis
answer
After Lincoln was elected, but before he was inaugurated, seven Southern states seceded. Buchanan, the lame duck president, decided to leave the problem for Lincoln to take care of.
question
628. Crittenden Compromise proposal
answer
A desperate measure to prevent the Civil War, introduced by John Crittenden, Senator from Kentucky, in December 1860. The bill offered a Constitutional amendment recognizing slavery in the territories south of the 36º30' line, noninterference by Congress with existing slavery, and compensation to the owners of fugitive slaves. Republicans, on the advice of Lincoln, defeated it.
question
629. Border states
answer
States bordering the North: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. They were slave states, but did not secede.
question
630. South's advantages in the Civil War
answer
Large land areas with long coasts, could afford to lose battles, and could export cotton for money. They were fighting a defensive war and only needed to keep the North out of their states to win. Also had the nation's best military leaders, and most of the existing military equipment and supplies.
question
631. North's advantages in the Civil War
answer
Larger numbers of troops, superior navy, better transportation, overwhelming financial and industrial reserves to create munitions and supplies, which eventually outstripped the South's initial material advantage.
question
632. Fort Sumter
answer
Site of the opening engagement of the Civil War. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, and had demanded that all federal property in the state be surrendered to state authorities. Major Robert Anderson concentrated his units at Fort Sumter, and, when Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, Sumter was one of only two forts in the South still under Union control. Learning that Lincoln planned to send supplies to reinforce the fort, on April 11, 1861, Confederate General Beauregard demanded Anderson's surrender, which was refused. On April 12, 1861, the Confederate Army began bombarding the fort, which surrendered on April 14, 1861. Congress declared war on the Confederacy the next day.
question
633. Bull Run
answer
At Bull Run, a creek, Confederate soldiers charged Union men who were en route to besiege Richmond. Union troops fled back to Washington. Confederates didn't realize their victory in time to follow up on it. First major battle of the Civil War - both sides were ill-prepared.
question
634. Monitor and the Merrimac
answer
First engagement ever between two iron-clad naval vessels. The two ships battled in a portion of the Cheasepeake Bay known as Hampton Roads for five hours on March 9, 1862, ending in a draw. Monitor - Union. Merrimac - Confederacy. Historians use the name of the original ship Merrimac on whose hull the Southern ironclad was constructed, even though the official Confederate name for their ship was the CSS Virginia.
question
635. Lee, Jackson
answer
General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson were major leaders and generals for the Confederacy. Best military leaders in the Civil War.
question
636. Grant, McClellan, Sherman and Meade
answer
Union generals in the Civil War.
question
637. Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Antietam, Appomattox
answer
Battle sites of the Civil War. Gettysburg - 90,000 soldiers under Meade vs. 76,000 under Lee, lasted three days and the North won. Vicksburg - besieged by Grant and surrendered after six months. Antietam - turning point of the war and a much-needed victory for Lincoln. Appomattox - Lee surrendered to Grant.
question
638. Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens
answer
Davis was chosen as president of the Confederacy in 1861. Stephens was vice-president.
question
639. Northern blockade
answer
Starting in 1862, the North began to blockade the Southern coast in an attempt to force the South to surrender. The Southern coast was so long that it could not be completely blockaded.
question
640. Cotton versus Wheat
answer
Cotton was a cash crop and could be sold for large amounts of money. Wheat was mainly raised to feed farmers and their animals. The North had to choose which to grow.
question
641.Copperheads
answer
Lincoln believed that anti-war Northern Democrats harbored traitorous ideas and he labeled them "Copperheads", poisonous snakes waiting to get him.
question
642. Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham
answer
An anti-war Democrat who criticized Lincoln as a dictator, called him "King Abraham". He was arrested and exiled to the South.
question
643. Suspension of habeas corpus
answer
Lincoln suspended this writ, which states that a person cannot be arrested without probable cause and must be informed of the charges against him and be given an opportunity to challenge them. Throughout the war, thousands were arrested for disloyal acts. Although the U.S. Supreme Court eventually held the suspension edict to be unconstitutional, by the time the Court acted the Civil War was nearly over.
question
644. Republican legislation passed in Congress after Southerners left: banking, tariff, homestead, transcontinental railroad
answer
With no Southerners to vote them down, the Northern Congressman passed all the bills they wanted to. Led to the industrial revolution in America.
question
645. Conscription draft riots
answer
The poor were drafted disproportionately, and in New York in 1863, they rioted, killing at least 73 people.
question
646. Emancipation Proclamation
answer
September 22, 1862 - Lincoln freed all slaves in the states that had seceded, after the Northern victory at the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln had no power to enforce the law.
question
647. Charles Francis Adams
answer
Minister to Great Britain during the Civil War, he wanted to keep Britain from entering the war on the side of the South.
question
648. Great Britain: Trent, Alabama, Laird rams, "Continuous Voyage"
answer
A Union frigate stopped the Trent, a British steamer and abducted two Confederate ambassadors aboard it. The Alabama was a British-made vessel and fought for the Confederacy, destroying over 60 Northern ships in 22 months. The Laird rams were ships specifically designed to break blockades; the English prevented them from being sold to the South.
question
649. Election of 1864: candidates, parties
answer
Lincoln ran against Democrat General McClellan. Lincoln won 212 electoral votes to 21, but the popular vote was much closer. (Lincoln had fired McClellan from his position in the war.)
question
650. Financing of the war effort by North and South
answer
The North was much richer than the South, and financed the war through loans, treasury notes, taxes and duties on imported goods. The South had financial problems because they printed their Confederate notes without backing them with gold or silver.
question
651. Clara Barton
answer
Launched the American Red Cross in 1881. An "angel" in the Civil War, she treated the wounded in the field.
question
652. Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan
answer
Former Confederate states would be readmitted to the Union if 10% of their citizens took a loyalty oath and the state agreed to ratify the 13th Amendment which outlawed slavery. Not put into effect because Lincoln was assassinated.
question
653. Assassination of April 14, 1865
answer
While sitting in his box at Ford's Theatre watching "Our American Cousin", President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.
question
654. John Wilkes Booth
answer
An actor, planned with others for six months to abduct Lincoln at the start of the war, but they were foiled when Lincoln didn't arrive at the scheduled place. April 14, 1865, he shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre and cried, "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" ("Thus always to tyrants!") When he jumped down onto the stage his spur caught in the American flag draped over the balcony and he fell and broke his leg. He escaped on a waiting horse and fled town. He was found several days later in a barn. He refused to come out; the barn was set on fire. Booth was shot, either by himself or a soldier.
question
655. Ex Parte Milligan
answer
1866 - Supreme Court ruled that military trials of civilians were illegal unless the civil courts are inoperative or the region is under marshall law.
question
656. Radical Republicans
answer
After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South.
question
657. Wade-Davis Bill, veto, Wade-Davis Manifesto
answer
1864 - Bill declared that the Reconstruction of the South was a legislative, not executive, matter. It was an attempt to weaken the power of the president. Lincoln vetoed it. Wade-Davis Manifesto said Lincoln was acting like a dictator by vetoing.
question
658. Joint Committee on Reconstruction (Committee of Fifteen)
answer
Six senators and nine representatives drafted the 14th Amendment and Reconstruction Acts. The purpose of the committee was to set the pace of Reconstruction. Most were radical Republicans.
question
659. Reconstruction Acts
answer
1867 - Pushed through congress over Johnson's veto, it gave radical Republicans complete military control over the South and divided the South into five military zones, each headed by a general with absolute power over his district.
question
660. State suicide theory
answer
The Southern states had relinquished their rights when they seceded. This, in effect, was suicide. This theory was used to justify the North taking military control of the South.
question
661. Conquered territory theory
answer
Stated that conquered Southern states weren't part of the Union, but were instead conquered territory, which the North could deal with however they like.
question
662. The unreconstructed South
answer
The South's infrastructure had been destroyed - manufacturing had almost ceased. Few banks were solvent and in some areas starvation was imminent. General Sherman had virtually destroyed large areas on his "march to the sea".
question
663. Black codes
answer
Restrictions on the freedom of former slaves, passed by Southern governments.
question
664. Texas v. White
answer
1869 - Argued that Texas had never seceded because there is no provision in the Constitution for a state to secede, thus Texas should still be a state and not have to undergo reconstruction.
question
665. Thaddeus Stevens
answer
A radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South. Leader of the radical Republicans in Congress.
question
666. Charles Sumner
answer
The same Senator who had been caned by Brooks in 1856, sumner returned to the Senate after the outbreak of the Civil War. He was the formulator of the state suicide theory, and supporter of emancipation. He was an outspoken radical Republican involved in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
question
667. Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)
answer
A Southerner form Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, he became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He was a very weak president.
question
668. Freedmen's Bureau
answer
1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs.
question
669. General Oliver O. Howard
answer
Service as director of the Freedmen's Bureau.
question
670. Ku Klux Klan
answer
White-supremacist group formed by six former Conferedate officers after the Civil War. Name is essentially Greek for "Circle of Friends". Group eventually turned to terrorist attacks on blacks. The original Klan was disbanded in 1869, but was later resurrected by white supremacists in 1915.
question
671. Civil Rights Act
answer
1866 - Prohibited abridgement of rights of blacks or any other citizens.
question
672. Thirteenth Amendment
answer
1865 - Freed all slaves, abolished slavery.
question
673. Fourteenth Amendment and its provisions
answer
1866, ratified 1868. It fixed provision of the Civil Rights Bill: full citizenship to all native-born or naturalized Americans, including former slaves and immigrants.
question
674. Fifteenth Amendment
answer
Ratified 1870 - No one could be denied the right to vote on account of race, color or having been a slave. It was to prevent states from amending their constitutions to deny black suffrage.
question
675. Tenure of Office Act
answer
1866 - Enacted by radical Congress, it forbade the president from removing civil officers without consent of the Senate. It was meant to prevent Johnson from removing radicals from office. Johnson broke this law when he fired a radical Republican from his cabinet, and he was impeached for this "crime".
question
676. Impeachment
answer
To bring charges against a public official. Johnson was impeached, but was saved from being taken out of office by one vote.
question
677. Chief Justice Chase
answer
Chief Justice in 1868, he upheld Republican Reconstruction laws and ruled that paper money was not a legal substitute for specie.
question
678. Secretary of War Stanton
answer
As Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton acted as a spy for the radicals in cabinet meetings. President Johnson asked him to resign in 1867. The dismissal of Stanton let to the impeachment of Johnson because Johnson had broken the Tenure of Office Law.
question
679. Scalawags
answer
A derogatory term for Southerners who were working with the North to buy up land from desperate Southerners.
question
680. Carpetbaggers
answer
A derogatory term applied to Northerners who migrated south during the Reconstruction to take advantage of opportunities to advance their own fortunes by buying up land from desperate Southerners and by manipulating new black voters to obtain lucrative government contracts.
question
681. Purchase of Alaska
answer
In December, 1866, the U.S. offered to take Alaska from Russia. Russia was eager to give it up, as the fur resources had been exhausted, and, expecting friction with Great Britain, they preferred to see defenseless Alaska in U.S. hands. Called "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox", the purchase was made in 1867 for $7,200,000 and gave the U.S. Alaska's resources of fish, timber, oil and gold.
question
682. Secretary of State William Seward
answer
1867 - An eager expansionist, he was the energetic supporter of the Alaskan purchase and negotiator of the deal often called "Seward's Folly" because Alaska was not fit for settlement or farming.
question
683. Napoleon III
answer
Nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, and elected emperor of France from 1852-1870, he invaded Mexico when the Mexican government couldn't repay loans from French bankers. He sent in an army and set up a new government under Maximillian. He refused Lincoln's request that France withdraw. After the Civil War, the U.S. sent an army to enforce the request and Napoleon withdrew.
question
684. Maximillian in Mexico
answer
European prince appointed by Napoleon III of France to lead the new government set up in Mexico. After the Civil War, the U.S. invaded and he was executed, a demonstration of the enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine to European powers.
question
685. Monroe Doctrine
answer
1823 - Declared that Europe should not interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere and that any attempt at interference by a European power would be seen as a threat to the U.S. It also declared that a New World colony which has gained independence may not be recolonized by Europe. (It was written at a time when many South American nations were gaining independence). Only England, in particular George Canning, supported the Monroe Doctrine. Mostly just a show of nationalism, the doctrine had no major impact until later in the 1800s.
question
686. Ulysses S. Grant
answer
U.S. president 1873-1877. Military hero of the Civil War, he led a corrupt administration, consisting of friends and relatives. Although Grant was personally a very honest and moral man, his administration was considered the most corrupt the U.S. had had at that time.
question
687. Treaty of Washington
answer
1871 - Settled the Northern claims between the U.S. and Great Britain. Canada gave the U.S. permanent fishing rights to the St. Lawrence River.
question
688. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
answer
A member of the Grant administration, he was an able diplomat who peacefully settled conflicts with Great Britain through the Treaty of Washington.
question
689. Election of 1872: Liberal Republicans, Horace Greeley
answer
Liberal Republicans sought honest government and nominated Greeley as their candidate. The Democratic Party had also chosen Greeley. Regular Republicans renominated Grant. The Republicans controlled enough Black votes to gain victory for Grant.
question
690. Election of 1876: Hayes and Tilden
answer
Rutherford B. Hayes - liberal Republican, Civil War general, he received only 165 electoral votes. Samuel J. Tilden - Democrat, received 264,000 more popular votes that Hayes, and 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. 20 electoral votes were disputed, and an electoral commission decided that Hayes was the winner - fraud was suspected.
question
691. Compromise of 1877 provisions
answer
Hayes promised to show concern for Southern interests and end Reconstruction in exchange for the Democrats accepting the fraudulent election results. He took Union troops out of the South.
question
692. Solid South
answer
Term applied to the one-party (Democrat) system of the South following the Civil War. For 100 years after the Civil War, the South voted Democrat in every presidential election.
question
693. Sharecropping, Crop Lien System
answer
Sharecropping provided the necessities for Black farmers. Storekeepers granted credit until the farm was harvested. To protect the creditor, the storekeeper took a mortgage, or lien, on the tenant's share of the crop. The system was abused and uneducated blacks were taken advantage of. The results, for Blacks, was not unlike slavery.
question
694. Segregation
answer
The separation of blacks and whites, mostly in the South, in public facilities, transportation, schools, etc.
question
695. Hiram R. Revels
answer
North Carolina free black, he became a senator in 1870.
question
696. Blanche K. Bruce
answer
Became a senator in 1874 -- the only black to be elected to a full term until Edward Brooke in 1966.
question
697. Prigg v. Pennsylvania
answer
1842 - A slave had escaped from Maryland to Pennsylvania, where a federal agent captured him and returned him to his owner. Pennsylvania indicted the agent for kidnapping under the fugitive slave laws. The Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for bounty hunters or anyone but the owner of an escaped slave to apprehend that slave, thus weakening the fugitive slave laws.
question
698. Dred Scott v. Sandford
answer
A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.
question
699. Ablemann v. Booth 1859
answer
Sherman Booth was sentenced to prison in a federal court for assisting in a fugitive slave's rescue in Milwaukee. He was released by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the grounds that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court overturned this ruling. It upheld both the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act and the supremacy of federal government over state government.
question
700. Mississippi v. Johnson
answer
Mississippi wanted the president to stop enforcing the Reconstruction Acts because they were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court decided that the Acts were constitutional and the states must obey them.
Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New