Term | Definition |
sectionalism | excessive regard for sectional or social interests |
fugitive | a person that is fleeing from prosecution |
secede | to formally withdraw from an alliance |
abstain | to hold oneself voluntarily |
popular sovereignity | the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will |
border ruffians | pro-slavery activists from the slave state of Missouri, who in 1854 to 1860 crossed the state border into Kansas Territory to force the acceptance of slavery there |
arsenal | a place of storage or a magazine containing arms and military equipment for land or naval service |
secession | the act of seceding |
states rights | the rights belonging to the various states |
border state | the slave states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri that refused to secede from the union |
blockade | the isolating, closing off, or surrounding of a place, as a port, harbor, or city, by hostile ships or troops to prevent entrance or exit |
offensive | offense or attack |
rebel | a person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of his or her country |
yankee | a native or inhabitant of the united states |
blockade runner | a ship or person that passes through a blockade |
ironclad | a ship for naval warfare covered in iron plates |
casualty | someone injured or killed in an accident |
emancipate | to free from restraint |
ratify | to confirm by expressing consent |
habeas corpus | a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court |
draft | a first or preliminary form of any writing, subject to revision, copying |
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 |
inflation | a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency |
entrenched | to place in a position of strength |
total war | a war in which every available weapon is used and the nation's full financial resources are devoted |