harriest beecher stowe
Author of the 1852 slave narrative Novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin".
popular sovereignty
Literal meaning of "the peoples' authority", this idea was applied to the slavery question for new territories after 1850.
John Brown
This man led an 1859 attack on the federal armory at Harper's Ferry and is often called "The Meteor" that began the Civil War.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This legislation opened areas of the Louisiana Purchase territory to popular sovereignty in 1854.
Abraham Lincoln
Republican Presidential candidate in 1860 whose primary focus was to stop the expansion of slavery.
secession
The idea that states retained the individual sovereignty when they joined the United States of America and therefore could leave whenever they felt it served their best interest.
Martial Law
By declaring this, civil authority is removed from local jurisdiction and given to federal powers.
writ of habeas corpus
In suspending this, Abraham Lincoln was able to arrest and hold secessionists and southern sympathizers without trial in the border states.
gettysburg
This battle, fought on July 1-3 1863, proved to be the turning point for the North in the east.
vicksburg
This battle, culminating a two year siege of this river town, proved to be the key to defeating the Confederate armies in the west.
Robert E. Lee
This man was originally offered the command of the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln, but turned down the position to lead the Army of Northern Virginia.
13th amendment
This constitutional amendment officially abolished the institution of slavery in the United States.
14th amendment
This constitutional amendment defined the scope of citizenship in the United States. It also prohibited any former Confederate officers from holding public office.
15th amendment
This constitutional amendment gave blacks the right to vote.
Homestead Act
This 1862 government program gave 160 acre farms for those who were willing to move to unsettled territories.
Manifest Destiny
the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean
Sank Creek Massacre
Incident in the Indian Wars of the United States that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory
ghost dance movement
a religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems that promised a peaceful end to white American expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans.
labor union
an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions.
trust
A business entity formed between numerous businesses in a particular industry with intent to monopolize business, to restrain trade, or to fix prices.