APUSH Civil War

National Banking Act

A United States federal law that established a system of national charters for banks. The Act, together with Abraham Lincoln's issuance of "greenbacks," raised money for the federal government in the American Civil War by enticing banks to buy federal bonds and taxed state bonds out of existence.

Morrill Tariff (1861)

An act passed by Congress in 1861 to meet the cost of the war. Raised tariff rates to increase revenue and protect American manufacturers; initiated Republican program of high protective tariffs to help industrialist.

Crittenden Compromise (1860)

Attempt to prevent Civil War by Senator Crittenden - 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 - defeated by Republicans and Lincoln

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Decreed by the Abraham Lincoln, president of the Union, the command free all slaves in the states that were rebelling during the Civil War. The purpose of the proclamation was to make the eradication of slavery an unambiguous and clear goal of the Civil War and Union Army. In areas where the rebellion had been pacified this freed about 30,000 slaves and as the Union army moved into Confederate territory it set up the background for how slaves were to be freed. The act only further angered the south yet it set the Union towards not only reunification of the United States of America but the establishment of true freedom for all citizens.

Trent Affair (1861)

In 1861 the Confederacy sent emissaries James Mason to Britain and John Slidell to France to lobby for recognition. A Union ship captured both men and took them to Boston as prisoners. The British were angry and Lincoln ordered their release

Morrill Land Grant (1862)

In this act, the federal government had donated public land to the states for the establishment of college; as a result 69 land- grant institutions were established.

Clara Barton

Launched the American Red Cross in 1881. An "angel" in the Civil War, she treated the wounded in the field.

Pacific Railroad Act (1862)

Law passed by Congress in 1862 that gave loans and land to the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad companies to subsidize construction of a rail line between Omaha and the Pacific Coast ; connected economies of the eastern and western American provinces (Transcontinental Railroad)

Enrollment Act (1863)

Law which enabled the military draft to be used on a federal scale in the United States for the first time - although the Confederacy had instituted conscription the previous year. It was passed during the Civil War, at a time when the North had suffered a series of defeats and was short of men. The act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863.

Election of 1864

Lincoln vs. McClellan, Lincoln wants to unite North and South, McClellan wants to press on the war, citizens of North are sick of war so many vote for McClellan, Lincoln wins. McClellan says south should be allowed to secede in order to save American lives and end the war.

Homestead Act (1862)

Passed in 1862, it gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years.

Confiscation Acts

Prequil to Emancipation Procclamation; Series of laws passed by fed gov. designed to liberate slaves in seceded states; authorized Union seizure of rebel property, and stated that all slaves who fought with Confederate military services were freed of further obligations to their masters; virtually emancipation act of all slaves in Confederacy

Dorthea Dix

Tireless reformer, who worked mightily to improve the treatment of the mentally ill. Appointed superintendent of women nurses for the Union forces.

NY Draft Riot (1863)

Violent disturbances in of the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the Civil War; turned into a black riot; remain the largest civil and racial insurrection in American history