Abraham Lincoln
James Buchanan
The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860.
Popular Sovereignty
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
The Confederacy
The new nation and government formed in 1861 by the southern states that seceded when Abraham Lincoln was elected. Jefferson Davis was the only President and the Confederacy was dissolved after the end of the Civil War.
Civil War
The period of warfare between the Confederate States of America (1861-1865) and the United States over the issues of states' rights and slavery.
Lecompton Constitution
The pro-slavery constitution suggested for Kansas' admission to the union. It was rejected.
Abraham Lincoln
The sixteenth president of the United States, serving from March 4 1861-March 3 1865 ; 2 terms but was assassinated soon after he started his first term
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This Act set up Kansas and Nebraska as states. Each state would use popular sovereignty to decide what to do about slavery. People who were proslavery and antislavery moved to Kansas, but some antislavery settlers were against the Act. This began guerrilla warfare.
13th Amendment
This amendment freed all slaves without compensation to the slave owners. It legally forbade slavery in the United States.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories, Lincoln emerged as strong Republican candidate
Andrew Johnson
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.
Battle of Antietam
Civil War battle in which the North suceedeed in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland. Was the bloodiest battle of the war resulting in 25,000 casualties
Battle
From Virginia to California, mostly in the Mississippi River Valley
Robert E. Lee/Thomas Jackson
General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson were major leaders and generals for the Confederacy. Best military leaders in the Civil War.
Tecumseh's Curse
Harrison fought chief Tecumseh before his presidency and folklore took over saying that he had cursed Harrison. It then became more than Harrison, but every president that was elected with the year ending in a 0 (any president elected in a yea r ending in Zero will die before he leaves office. (Up until Reagan, the curse was true)
John Brown's Raid
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
General Sherman
In 1864, heavily relied on by Lincoln. Won brilliantly in Atlanta. Basically destroyed the South. In Sherman's March he took 300-mile march to the sea from Atlanta, destroying everything in his path and freeing slaves. Also ravaged South Carolina.
Copperheads
Lincoln believed that anti-war Northern Democrats harbored traitorous ideas and he labeled them "Copperheads", poisonous snakes waiting to get him.
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln issued it and freed all the slaves in the Confederate states, but slaves in Border States loyal to the Union remained enslaved. It only applied to states in rebellion (Confederate states). It led to slaves rebelling and joining the Union army and increased sympathy from Europe.
Preservation of Union
Lincoln left the nation in 'good condition' by acting "with malice towards none"
Election of 1864
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.)
Suspension of Habeas Corpus
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.
Election of 1860
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).
Military Strategy
Rested upon an effective blockade of the South's 3,500 miles of shoreline, including a dozen major ports and nearly two hundred inlets, bays, and navigable rivers BUT by the end of the war Lincoln commissioned about five hundred ships, with an average of 150 on patrol at any one time. These ships captured or destroyed approximately fifteen hundred blockade runners.
Personal Life
Suffered great personal anguish over the death of his beloved son and the depressed mental condition of his wife, Mary. The pain of war and personal loss affected him deeply, and he often expressed his anguish by turning to humor and by speaking eloquently about the meaning of the great war which raged across the land. His Gettysburg Address, delivered after the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as his second inaugural in 1865, are acknowledged to be among the great orations in American history
States Entering Union while in office
West Virginia 1863 Nevada 1864
Border States
States bordering the North: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. They were slave states, but did not secede.
South's Advantages in the Civil War
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.
North's Advantages in the Civil War
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.
Dred Scott Decision
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.
Crittenden Compromise
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.
Stephen A. Douglas
A moderate, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty.
The Gettysburg Address
A speech given by President Lincoln in 1863 is considered one of the most important in history, as it defined the principles of liberty and equality on which the government of the United States was founded
36º30' Parallel
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.
Buchanan/Secession Crisis
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.
"Bleeding Kansas"
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 precipitate the Civil War.
Battle of Gettysburg
An 1863 battle in the Civil War in which the Union defeated the Confederacy, ending hopes for a Confederate victory in the North
Jefferson Davis
An American statesman and politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865.
Clement L. Vallandigham
An anti-war Democrat who criticized Lincoln as a dictator, called him "King Abraham". He was arrested and exiled to the South.
First Battle of Bull Run
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.
Vowed to...
End secession, enforce the laws of the United States and preserve the Union
Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech
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."
Pottawatomie Massacre
John Brown let a party of six in Kansas that killed 5 pro-slavery men. This helped make the Kansas Border War a national issue.
Great Orations in American History
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address delivered after the Battle of Gettysburg and his second inaugural in 1865
End of War
Nearly two hundred thousand African Americans had fought for the Union cause, and Lincoln referred to them as indispensable in ensuring Union victory (he urged black males to join the Union forces as soldiers and sailors)
Vindication of Democracy
Proved right, it works when citizens doubted.
When Elected...
Seven slave states left the union to form the Confederate States of America and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and the South
Fort Sumter
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
John Wilkes Booth
Was an American stage actor who, as part of a conspiracy plot, assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.
The Constitution
set up a federal system, in which political authority was divided between the national government and the state governments. Provided a separation of power between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government
Active Intervention in the War
the Confederacy informally cut off most cotton exports in 1861
Slavery
the practice of holding people against their will and making them work without pay
Secession
the withdrawal of eleven Southern states from the Union in 1860 which precipitated the American Civil War
President Lincoln
was the first Republican President, and Union victory ended forever the claim that state sovereignty superseded federal authority +Lincoln left the nation a more perfect Union and thereby earned the admiration of most Americans as the country's greatest President