U5 1844 - 1877: Civil War and Reconstruction

Flashcard deck · A.P. U.S. History · 1844 - 1877 - Civil War and Reconstruction · History

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APUSH flashcards on the Civil War and Reconstruction era, covering Manifest Destiny, the Kansas–Nebraska Act, 13th–15th Amendments, Black Codes, and the Compromise of 1877.

Terms in this deck

Wilmot Proviso: 1846 proposal to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico; intensified sectional conflict over slavery's expansion.
Kansas–Nebraska Act: 1854 law that created Kansas and Nebraska territories and applied popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise.
sharecropping: Labor system in which formerly enslaved people and poor whites farmed land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crop.
sectionalism: Strong loyalty to the interests and culture of one's region (North or South) over the nation as a whole, deepening divisions over slavery.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: 1848 peace treaty ending the Mexican–American War; Mexico ceded California and the Southwest to the United States.
Civil War: 1861–1865 armed conflict between the Union (North) and Confederacy (South) over slavery and secession; deadliest war in American history.
Fugitive Slave Act (1850): Law requiring Northern citizens to assist in capturing and returning escaped enslaved people to their Southern owners.
Mexican–American War: 1846–1848 war between the U.S. and Mexico that resulted in the U.S. gaining vast western territories, raising slavery questions.
Compromise of 1877: Informal agreement that ended the disputed 1876 election; Hayes became president and federal troops were withdrawn from the South, ending Reconstruction.
Thirteenth Amendment: 1865 constitutional amendment that formally abolished slavery throughout the United States.
Reconstruction: Period (1865–1877) of rebuilding the South and reintegrating former Confederate states after the Civil War, including new rights for freed people.
Radical Reconstruction: Congressional plan (1867–1877) imposing military rule on the South and pushing for greater political and civil rights for African Americans.
Emancipation Proclamation: President Lincoln's 1863 executive order declaring enslaved people in Confederate states to be free, transforming the war's purpose.
Compromise of 1850: Series of laws admitting California as a free state, organizing new territories, and strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act to reduce sectional tension.
Fifteenth Amendment: 1870 constitutional amendment prohibiting denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
popular sovereignty: The principle that settlers of a new territory should vote to decide whether to allow or ban slavery there.
Election of 1860: Presidential election won by Abraham Lincoln; Southern states seceded in response, leading directly to the Civil War.
secession: The formal withdrawal of Southern states from the United States in 1860–1861 to form the Confederacy, triggering the Civil War.
Republican Party: Political party founded in 1854 opposing the spread of slavery into new territories; Abraham Lincoln was its first winning presidential candidate.
Polk, James K.: 11th U.S. president whose 1845 inaugural address promoted annexation of Texas and aggressive westward expansion.
Ku Klux Klan: Terrorist organization founded in 1865 that used violence to intimidate Black voters and undermine Reconstruction in the South.
Freedmen's Bureau: Federal agency established in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people with food, housing, education, and legal matters during Reconstruction.
"Bleeding Kansas": Period of violent conflict (1854–1858) between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas Territory over the slavery question.
Fourteenth Amendment: 1868 constitutional amendment granting citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
Manifest Destiny: The belief that the United States was destined by God and history to expand its territory across North America to the Pacific Ocean.
O'Sullivan, John: Journalist and editor who coined the term "Manifest Destiny" in 1845 to justify U.S. westward expansion.
"Failure of Reconstruction": The inability of Reconstruction to secure lasting equality for African Americans, due to white Southern resistance and Northern abandonment.
Confederate States of America: Government formed in 1861 by eleven seceding Southern states to preserve slavery and states' rights against the federal government.
Black Codes: Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to restrict the rights and freedom of formerly enslaved African Americans.
Lincoln, Abraham: 16th U.S. president who led the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and was assassinated in 1865.
abolitionism: Movement demanding the immediate end of slavery in the United States, gaining strength in the 1840s and 1850s.
Douglass, Frederick: Formerly enslaved abolitionist, author, and orator who argued powerfully against slavery and the Mexican–American War.
total war: Military strategy used in the Civil War, especially Sherman's March, aimed at destroying the South's economic and civilian capacity to fight.
impeachment of Andrew Johnson: 1868 attempt to remove President Johnson from office over his resistance to Radical Reconstruction policies.
transcontinental railroad: Railroad completed in 1869 linking the eastern and western United States, dramatically accelerating western settlement and economic development.
Johnson, Andrew: 17th U.S. president whose lenient Reconstruction plan and veto of civil rights legislation led to conflict with Congress.
"Bleeding Sumner": 1856 attack on Senator Charles Sumner by Congressman Preston Brooks, symbolizing the violent breakdown of sectional relations.
Uncle Tom's Cabin: 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that depicted the horrors of slavery and intensified Northern anti-slavery sentiment.
states' rights: The principle that individual states hold significant power and sovereignty against the federal government, used to defend slavery and secession.
Homestead Act (1862): Law granting 160 acres of public land to settlers willing to farm it for five years, boosting westward migration after the Civil War.
Battle of Antietam: September 1862 Civil War battle; the bloodiest single day in American military history and the occasion for the Emancipation Proclamation.
military Reconstruction Acts (1867): Laws dividing the South into military districts and requiring new state constitutions guaranteeing Black male suffrage as conditions for readmission.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Series of 1858 Senate debates between Lincoln and Douglas over slavery's expansion, elevating Lincoln to national prominence.
Treaty of Kanagawa (1854): Agreement opening two Japanese ports to U.S. trade, marking a key step in American expansion of ties with Asia.
Dred Scott v. Sandford: 1857 Supreme Court ruling that enslaved people were not citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in territories, intensifying sectional conflict.
Anaconda Plan: Union military strategy to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, strangling the Confederacy economically.

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