The Impending Crisis
Fighting between antislavery "Jayhawkers" and proslavery "border ruffians" over the status of slavery in this territory led directly into the Civil War.
What is Kansas?
The Confederate attack on this federal fort at the mouth of Charleston harbor in 1861 marked the official beginning of the war.
What is Fort Sumpter?
Lincoln's focus, at the beginning of the war, on restoring the Union, as opposed to the emancipation of the slaves, was largely due to his concern about keeping these states from joining the secession movement.
What are the border states? (e.g. Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Deleware)
Issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, this declaration freed enslaved people in Confederate-held territory and redefined the Union's war aims.
What is the Emancipation Proclamation?
This president, a Tennessee Unionist and Democrat who succeeded Abraham Lincoln, was the first to be impeached, largely due to his lenient policies toward the South during Reconstruction.
Who is Andrew Johnson?
This Massachusetts senator was famously beaten within an inch of his life on the floor of the U.S. Senate by South Carolina representative Preston Brooks, after his fiery speech "The Crime Against Kansas."
Who is Charles Sumner?
Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North was turned back by George Gordon Meade's forces at this small town in Pennsylvania in what was the deadliest battle in the Civil War; a few weeks later, its battlefield was consecrated by Lincoln in one of his most memorable and quoted public speeches.
What is Gettysburg?
This Union strategy, named after a constricting snake, aimed to suffocate the Confederacy by blockading its coastline and controlling the Mississippi River.
What is the Anaconda Plan?
Ratified in 1865, as the war was ending, this amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime.
What is the Thirteenth Amendment?
Ratified in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteed equal protection under the law.
What is the Fourteenth Amendment?
In 1859, John Brown attempted to seize this federal armory at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, hoping to capture the weapons for a guerrilla war against slavery in the heart of the slaveholding South; instead, he made himself the martyr of the antislavery North.
What is Harper's Ferry?
This Union general led a campaign of "total war" in Georgia and South Carolina, cutting his army off from his supply lines and destroying civilian infrastructure in a path of destruction through the heart of the Confederacy.
Who is William Tecumseh Sherman?
Massive rioting on the streets New York City in 1863, depicted at the end of Gangs of New York, were in protest against this unpopular wartime measure that disproportionately affected Irish working-class immigrants.
What is military conscription or the draft?
Enslaved people who escaped to Union lines during the Civil War were referred to by this term, as they were considered confiscated enemy property.
What is contraband of war?
Founded in 1865, this white supremacist paramilitary group used violence and intimidation to resist Reconstruction efforts and maintain white control in the South.
What is the Ku Klux Klan?
This provision of the Compromise of 1850 proved odious to northern public opinion, especially after a series of high-profile attempts by federal marshals to enforce it, most famously in the case of Anthony Burns.
What is the Fugitive Slave Act?
This military debacle for the Union Army on the outskirts of Washington, DC, the first major battle of the war, led to the reorganization of the northern armies and dissolved northern hopes of a quick, easy war.
What is the Battle of Bull Run?
This former general of the Army of the Potomac ran for president on the Democratic ticket against Abraham Lincoln in 1864, promising to negotiate peace with the Confederacy if elected.
Who is George B. McLellan?
This African American regiment, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, gained fame for its bravery in the 1863 assault on Fort Wagner, depicted in Glory.
What is the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment?
This 1877 agreement ended Reconstruction, with federal troops withdrawn from the South in exchange for resolving the contested 1876 presidential election.
What is the Compromise of 1877.
A Pennsylvania congressmen introduced this measure to a war appropriations bill at the beginning of the Mexican American war in 1846 in an attempt to exclude slavery from any territory gained from Mexico during the war; it sparked a furious debate in Congress that reignited the issue of slavery and its status in the western territories.
What is the Wilmot Priviso?
Ulysses S. Grant's successful siege of this city in 1863 split the Confederacy in two and gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River; it also led to Grant's promotion to Chief of Armies.
What is Vicksburg?
In 1861, this British mail packet was intercepted by the Union Navy, sparking an international incident over Confederate envoys that very nearly led to Great Britain going to war against the Union.
What is the HMS Trent?
This Tennessee fort was the site of an infamous 1864 massacre, where Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest killed many surrendering African American Union soldiers.
What is Fort Pillow?
This phase of Reconstruction, led by Congress, sought to punish the South, extend civil rights to freedmen, and establish military districts in former Confederate states.
What is Radical Reconstruction?