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Civil War
Civil war Vocab
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Sectionalism | undue concern with local interests or petty distinctions at the expense of general well-being. |
Fugitive | a person who has escaped from a place or is in hiding, especially to avoid arrest or prosecution. |
Secede | withdraw formally from membership in a federal union, an alliance, or a political or religious organization. |
Abstain | formally decline to vote either for or against a proposal or motion |
Popular Sovereignty | a pre-Civil War political doctrine that held that individual states should decide whether to permit slavery or not. |
Border ruffians | a group of pro slavery people from Missouri, who crossed the border into Kansas to force them to accept slavery. |
Arsenal | a collection of weapons and military equipment stored by a country, person, or group |
Secession | the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state |
States rights | the rights and powers held by individual US states rather than by the federal government. |
Border state | a US state that borders Canada or Mexico. |
Blockade | an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving |
Offensive | actively aggressive; attacking |
Rebel | a person who rises in opposition or armed resistance against an established government or ruler |
Yankee | a federal or northern soldier in the American Civil War. |
Blockade runner | a vessel that runs or attempts to run into or out of a blockaded port. |
Ironclad | a 19th-century warship with armor plating. |
Casualty | a person killed or injured in a war or accident. |
Emancipate | set free, especially from legal, social, or political restrictions |
Ratify | sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid. |
Habeas corpus | Habeas corpus is a recourse in law whereby a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment before a court |
Draft | compulsory recruitment for military service |
Bounty | a premium or reward, especially one offered by a government |
Greenback | a U.S. legal-tender note, printed in green on the back since the Civil War, originally issued against the credit of the country and not against gold or silver on deposit. |
Inflation | a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money |
Entrenched | to dig trenches for defensive purposes around (oneself, a military position, etc.). |
Total war | a war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued, especially one in which the laws of war are disregarded. |