Term
click below
click below
Term
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Civil War Vocab
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Sectionalism | the intense loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole |
Fugitive | an enslaved person who had escaped from their owner. |
Secede | to formally withdraw or separate from a political union |
Abstain | to choose not to do or have something |
Popular Sovereignty | the principle that residents of a territory, not the federal government, should decide whether or not to permit slavery within their borders |
Border ruffians | proslavery Missourians who crossed into Kansas Territory, primarily between 1854 and 1860, to influence elections and force slavery on the territory |
Arsenal | a place where weapons and military equipment were stored or manufactured |
Secession | the act of eleven Southern states withdrawing from the Union, primarily due to the issue of slavery and states' rights, and forming their own government, the Confederate States of America |
States rights | slave-holding states that remained loyal to the Union despite their proximity to the Confederacy |
Border state | slave-holding states that remained loyal to the Union despite their proximity to the Confederacy |
Blockade | a military strategy where one party, typically a nation, restricts the entry of goods or the exit of people and goods from a defined area, most often a port or coast controlled by an enemy |
Offensive | a military operation involving an aggressive push by armed forces to achieve a goal, like occupying territory, gaining an objective, or winning a battle. |
Rebel | primarily refers to the people, especially soldiers, fighting for the Confederate States of America |
Yankee | a soldier or civilian from the Union (northern) side of the conflict |
Blockade runner | a warship with a wooden hull covered in iron or steel armor plates |
Ironclad | a warship with a wooden hull covered in iron or steel armor plates |
Casualty | a military person lost through death, wounds, injury, sickness, internment, capture, or through being missing in action |
Emancipate | the act of freeing enslaved people from bondage |
Ratify | the process by which the U.S. Constitution was amended following the war, particularly the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments |
Habeas corpus | the right of any person to appear before a court to ensure their detention is lawful |
Draft | the conscription laws implemented by both the Union and Confederate governments to raise troops for the war effort |
Bounty | program of cash bonuses paid to entice enlistees into the army |
Greenback | the paper currency issued by the Union government to finance the war effort |
Inflation | the depreciation of the currency, particularly the paper money issued by both the Union and Confederacy to finance the war |
Entrenched | a military position that is fortified by digging trenches or other earthworks for defense |
Total war | a military position that is fortified by digging trenches or other earthworks for defense |