Civil War Vocab

Declaration by Lincoln that slaves in Confederate-controlled territory would be free on January 1, 1863

A Union general who helped win the Civil War and later became president

A former slave who became a famous speaker and writer fighting against slavery

Law that let people in Kansas & Nebraska vote on slavery, leading to violent conflicts; repealed the Missouri Compromise

A slave who sued for his freedom but lost in a Supreme Court case that said Black people had no rights

Economically revived South where many Southerners moved from rural areas to factory towns & cities for jobs in industry

The president after Lincoln who struggled with Reconstruction and was impeached.

Novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe; drew public attention to the plight of slave families and runaway slaves

An abolitionist who published The Liberator and demanded an immediate end to slavery

Disastrous Confederate attack with staggering casualties led by General George Pickett at the Battle of Gettysburg

Federal fort in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor; the site of the first shots of the Civil War

A group pardon

Law that allowed Missouri to be a slave state, Maine to be a free state, & banned slavery in the north part of the West

The Confederate army’s top general who led Southern forces in the Civil War

Songs sung by slaves revealing how they felt about their condition; dealt with various biblical subjects

The president during the Civil War who worked to end slavery and keep the country united

A white Southerner supporting Reconstruction; means “scoundrel” or “worthless person”

Period from the end of the Civil War to 1877

The act of a state leaving the Union

Short-term agency whose primary purpose was to assist former slaves during Reconstruction

Farmers of small plots of land owned by planters; a portion, or share, of the crop was paid to the planter as rent 

An escaped slave who helped others reach freedom through the Underground Railroad

General Sherman’s (Union General) sixty-mile-wide band of destruction from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia

Restrictive laws passed in southern states that placed African Americans in an inferior position to white people 

The author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that showed the cruelty of slavery

Government organized by states that seceded from the Union 

Secret organization formed in 1866 to place black people firmly under white control through intimidation and violence

Network of people who aided runaway slaves; “conductors” hid escaping slaves by night

Village where Lee and Grant met to sign the surrender of the Confederate army; the end of the Civil War

The president who ended Reconstruction by removing federal troops from the South

Northerners who came South during Reconstruction to take advantage of the post-war situation

Former slaves

The president of the Confederate States who led the South during the Civil War

Also called the First Battle of Manassas; first major battle of the Civil War; Confederate victory

Law dividing South into districts & required South states to let Black men to vote before rejoining the Union

Towns built by owners/investors for workers near factories or mills, with housing, churches, schools, offices, & stores

Group of whites who wanted to save the South & its culture by overthrowing blacks and other Republicans who held offices

People who wanted to abolish slavery

The two-minute speech delivered by President Lincoln dedicating a cemetery at Gettysburg

“Before the war”; in America used for the time period before the Civil War

The actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln

Set of laws allowing California to be a free state, made strict fugitive slave laws, & let new states decide on slavery