World History Study Guide

Gadsden purchase - is a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854 and signed by President Franklin Pierce, with final approval action taken by Mexico on June 8, 1854. The purchase was the last major territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States, adding a large area to the United States.
Lecompton Constitution - was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas (it was preceded by the Topeka Constitution and was followed by the Leavenworth and Wyandotte). The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates. The territorial legislature, consisting mostly of slave-owners, met at the designated capital of Lecompton in September 1857 to produce a rival document. Free-state supporters, who comprised a large majority of actual settlers, boycotted the vote. President James Buchanan's appointee as territorial governor of Kansas, Robert J. Walker, although a strong defender of slavery, opposed the blatant injustice of the Constitution and resigned rather than implement it.This new constitution enshrined slavery in the proposed state and protected the rights of slaveholders. In addition, the constitution provided for a referendum that allowed voters the choice of allowing more slaves to enter the territory.
Wilmot proviso - one of the major events leading to the American Civil War, would have banned slavery in any territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War or in the future, including the area later known as the Mexican Cession, but which some proponents construed to also include the disputed lands in south Texas and New Mexico east of the Rio Grande.
Who owned slaves?
Dred Scott decision - Dred Scott filed a case in Mississippi for freedom because his owner took him to a free slave territory. The Supreme Court ruled against it and stated the Mississippi compromise was unconstitutional about banning slavery.
Election of 1860 - 19th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. It served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln and John C. Breckenridge
George McClellan - a major general during the American Civil War and the Democratic Party candidate for President in 1864. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly (November 1861 to March 1862) as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union. Although McClellan was meticulous in his planning and preparations, these characteristics may have hampered his ability to challenge aggressive opponents in a fast-moving battlefield environment. He chronically overestimated the strength of enemy units and was reluctant to apply principles of mass, frequently leaving large portions of his army unengaged at decisive points.
Ulysses S Grant - was the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877) following his highly successful role as a war general in the second half of the Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military; having effectively ended the war and secession with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox
Redeemers - were terms used by white Southerners to describe a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era which followed the American Civil War. Redeemers were the southern wing of the Bourbon Democrats, the conservative, pro-business faction in the Democratic Party, who sought to oust the Republican coalition of freedmen, carpetbaggers, and scalawags.
Tenant farmer - who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying amounts of capital and management.
Black Codes - laws in the United States after the Civil War with the effect of limiting the civil rights and civil liberties of blacks. Even though the U.S. constitution originally discriminated against blacks and both Northern and Southern states had passed discriminatory legislation from the early 19th century, the term "Black Codes" is used most often to refer to legislation passed by Southern states at the end of the Civil War to control the labor, migration and other activities of newly-freed slaves.
Wade Davis bill - bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by two Radical Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland. In contrast to President Abraham Lincoln's more lenient Ten Percent Plan, the bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states contingent on a majority in each Southern state to take the Ironclad oath to the effect they had never in the past supported the Confederacy.
Dorothea Dix - American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as Superintendent of Army Nurses.
Sherman's march to the sea - Savannah Campaign conducted through Georgia from November 15, 1864 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army in the American Civil War. The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia, on November 16 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. Sherman's forces destroyed military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and other civilian property.
Know nothings party - The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing"
Brooks Sumner incident -Brooks approached Sumner at his desk in the Senate chamber during a recess, raised a heavy cane, and began beating him repeatedly on the head and shoulders. Sumner, trapped in his chair, rose in agony with such strength that he tore the desk from the bolts holding it to the floor. Then he collapsed, bleeding and unconscious. So severe were his injuries that he was unable to return to the Senate for four years. Throughout the North, he became a hero -- a martyr to the barbarism of the South. In the South, Preston Brooks became a hero, too. Censured by the House, he resigned his seat, returned to South Carolina, and stood successfully for reelection.
Popular sovereignty -the principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty expresses a concept and does not necessarily reflect or describe a political reality. It is usually contrasted with the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, and with individual sovereignty
1850 compromise - package of five bills, passed in the United States in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). The compromise, drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democrat Stephen Douglas, avoided secession or civil war and reduced sectional conflict for four years.
Uncle Tom's Cabin - anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman.
Lincoln's first inaugural - The speech was primarily addressed to the people of the South, and was intended to succinctly state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that section, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Written in a spirit of reconciliation toward the rebellious states, Lincoln's inaugural address touche
Fort Sumter - Third System masonry sea fort located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter. In 1966, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Compromise of 1877 - purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election, and ended Reconstruction in the South. The compromise involved Democrats who controlled the House of Representatives allowing the decision of the Electoral Commission to take effect.
Waterhouse cases -
Reconstruction acts -"An act to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel States" and it was passed on March 2, 1867. Fulfillment of the requirements of the Acts were necessary for the former Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union. The Acts excluded Tennessee, which had already ratified the 14th Amendment and had been readmitted to the Union.
Civil war casualties - Union Casualties : 110,000 killed in action 360,000 total dead 275,200 wounded Confederate Casualties :93,000 killed in action 260,000 total dead 137,000 wounded
10 percent plan - It decreed that a state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10% of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation.
Clara Barton - pioneer American teacher, patent clerk, nurse, and humanitarian. At a time when relatively few women worked outside the home, Barton built a career helping others. One of her greatest accomplishments was founding the American Red Cross.
Civil War draft laws - Both sides instituted a draft , however people could pay "substitutes" to go in their stead.This made the draft and the war largely a poor mans lot as rich people could pay for a substitute to go instead. Usually the fee was around $300 which was a large sum then.
Pottawatomie Creek - . In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence(Kansas) by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. This was one of the many bloody episodes in Kansas preceding the American Civil War, which came to be known collectively as Bleeding Kansas.
Freeport doctrine - stated that the territories could still determine the existence of slavery through unfriendly legislation and the use of police power, in spite of the Supreme Court...
Lewis Cass - American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, a U.S. Senator representing Michigan, and co-founder as well as first Masonic Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan.
Kansas- Nebraska Act - initial purpose of the Kansas–Nebraska Act was to open up many thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. It became problematic when popular sovereignty was written into the proposal so that the voters of the moment would decide whether slavery would be allowed. The result was that pro- and anti-slavery elements flooded into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, leading to a bloody civil war there
Fugitive Slave Act - was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a "slave power conspiracy". It declared that all runaway slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves
Confiscation Act (1862)- called for the seizure of land from disloyal citizens (supporters of the Confederacy) in the South as well as the emancipation of their slaves. Under this act, conviction of treason against the U.S. could be punishable by death or carry a minimum prison sentence of five years and a minimum fine of $10,000. This law also stated that any citizen convicted of aiding and abetting any person known to have committed treason against the United States could be imprisoned for up to 10 years and face a maximum fine of $10,000, if convicted.
Clement L. Vallandigham- Ohio politician, and leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the American Civil War. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives.
Credit Mobilier scandal - involved the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the western portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. In 1868 Congressman Oakes Ames had distributed Crédit Mobilier shares of stock to other congressmen, in addition to making cash bribes, during the Andrew Johnson presidency. The story was broken by the New York newspaper, The Sun, during the 1872 presidential campaign, when Ulysses S. Grant was running for re-election. The scandal's origins dated back to the Abraham Lincoln presidency, when the Union Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1864 by the federal government and the associated Crédit Mobilier was established.
Sharecropping - a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have encompassed the system.
Thirteenth Amendment- outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
Fourteenth Amendment- Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) that had held that black people could not be citizens of the United States.Its Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness.Its Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction.
Fifteenth Amendment- prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"
Results of the Civil War- no state can leave the Union; the South was virtually destroyed; the vast majority of slaves were freed (those who were in the Confederate states); afterwards blacks were awarded citizenship; the South became industrialized after the war with the arrival of the Yankee carpetbaggers; and the old antebellum, plantation based South was essentially wiped off the map. The federal government now ranked supreme, and put an end to the idea of secession. The federal government could now override southern legislation. It provided an opportunity for the grown of the transcontinental railroad. This united most of the country. To name a few.
Radical Republicans- lose faction of American politicians within the Republican Party from about 1854 (before the American Civil War) until the end of Reconstruction in 1877. They called themselves "radicals" and were opposed during the war by moderates and conservative factions led by Abraham Lincoln and after the war by self-described "conservatives" (in the South) and "Liberals" (in the North). Radicals strongly opposed slavery during the war and after the war distrusted ex-Confederates, demanding harsh policies for the former rebels, and emphasizing civil rights and voting rights for Freedmen
Vicksburg and Gettysburg- series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's forces stationed there. series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War.
Battle of Bull Run- It was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia, and a battle of much larger scale and numbers than the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) fought in 1861 on the same ground.