Slavery and the Civil War Flashcards

Grade 4 · Social Studies · Flashcards

Key people, terms, and events related to slavery and the American Civil War.

Flashcards

Slavery: The ownership and forced labor of human beings as property, with no rights or freedom
Underground Railroad: Secret network of safe houses and routes helping enslaved people escape to the North
Harriet Tubman: Escaped slavery; led ~70 others to freedom; called 'Moses' by those she helped
Abolitionist: A person who believed slavery was wrong and worked to end it
Secession: When eleven Southern states formally left the United States to form the Confederacy
Union: The Northern states that remained loyal to the United States during the Civil War
Confederacy: The eleven Southern states that seceded and formed their own government
Abraham Lincoln: 16th U.S. President; led the Union through the Civil War; issued the Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln's 1863 declaration freeing enslaved people in Confederate states
Thirteenth Amendment: 1865 constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout the United States
Fort Sumter: Union fort in South Carolina where Confederate forces attacked in 1861, starting the Civil War
Appomattox: Virginia site where Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant in April 1865
Plantation: Large Southern farm using enslaved labor to grow tobacco, cotton, rice, and other crops
Reconstruction: Period after the Civil War (1865-1877) when the South was rebuilt and formerly enslaved people gained rights