Crittenden Compromise

A plan proposing a constitutional amendment to protect slavery from federal interference in any state where it already existed and for the westward extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the California border.

total war

A form of warfare that mobilizes all of a society’s resources—economic, political, and cultural—in support of the military effort.

habeas corpus

A legal writ forcing government authorities to justify their arrest and detention of an individual. During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended this writ to stop protests against the draft and other anti-Union activities.

King Cotton

The Confederate belief during the Civil War that the South’s staple crop was so important to the British and French economies that those governments would recognize the South as an independent nation and supply it with loans and arms.

greenbacks

Paper money issued by the U.S. Treasury during the Civil War to finance the war effort.

“contrabands”

Slaves who fled plantations and sought protection behind Union lines during the Civil War.

Radical Republicans

Those who were bitterly opposed to slavery and to southern slave owners since the mid-1850s. With the Confiscation Act in 1861, these lawmakers began to use wartime legislation to destroy slavery.

Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln’s declaration issued on January 1, 1863, that legally abolished slavery in all states that remained out of Union control. While this declaration did not immediately free a single slave, it signaled an end to the institution of slavery.

War & Peace Democrats

Members of the Democratic Party that split into two camps over Civil War policy.

Jefferson Davis

Former Senator from Mississippi and Secretary of War, he was elected as President of the Confederate States of America in 1861.

Robert E. Lee

This Virginia plantation owner and veteran officer in the U.S. Army was offered command of the Union troops, but resigned when his state joined the Confederacy. He would later take command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

George McClellan

This General originally led the Army of the Potomac, but was relieved of his command by Lincoln for refusing to act aggressively at the Battle of Antietam, thus losing the opportunity to capture Lee’s army and prolonging the war.

Ulysses S. Grant

Lincoln named him commander of all Union armies in March of 1864 after his victory at Vicksburg. In order to win decisive victories against the Confederate army, he was willing to accept heavy casualties, which earned him the reputation of a “butcher.”

William T. Sherman

This Union General developed the tactic of “hard war,” treating the civilians as enemy combatants. His scorched earth March to the Sea through Georgia after taking Atlanta helped bring the end of the war and Union victory.