Flashcard library · AP US History
APUSH: Civil War & Reconstruction
This flashcard deck covers the essential events, causes, and consequences of the American Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction era. It's designed to help you master the key figures, legislation, battles, and social changes crucial for success on the APUSH exam.
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What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) do?
Let popular sovereignty decide slavery in those territories, repealing the Missouri Compromise line and leading to "Bleeding Kansas."
What did Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) rule?
Black Americans were not citizens, and Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.
What was Lincoln's main war aim in 1861?
Preserving the Union, not yet abolishing slavery.
What was the Anaconda Plan?
Winfield Scott's strategy to blockade Southern ports and seize the Mississippi River, squeezing the Confederacy.
Why was Antietam (1862) significant?
It was the bloodiest single day of the war and gave Lincoln the victory he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
What did the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) do?
Declared enslaved people in areas still in rebellion free, and opened Union military service to Black men.
Why were Gettysburg and Vicksburg (1863) turning points?
Gettysburg ended Lee's invasion of the North; Vicksburg gave the Union the Mississippi, splitting the Confederacy.
What was total war, as in Sherman's March to the Sea?
Destroying the enemy's resources and infrastructure, not just its armies, to break its ability to fight.
What happened at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865?
Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the war.
How did Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction differ from Johnson's plan?
Johnson offered quick, lenient readmission; Radical Republicans demanded stronger protection of freedpeople's rights.
What did the Thirteenth Amendment do?
Abolished slavery.
What did the Fourteenth Amendment do?
Made everyone born or naturalized in the US a citizen and guaranteed equal protection and due process.
What did the Fifteenth Amendment do?
Barred denying the vote on account of race — enfranchising Black men.
What was the Freedmen's Bureau?
A federal agency (1865) that gave food, schooling, medical care and legal help to freedpeople and poor whites.
What were Black Codes?
Southern laws after 1865 restricting freedpeople's rights and forcing them into labor contracts.
What was sharecropping?
Farming a landowner's land for a share of the crop, which often trapped freedpeople in debt.
What did the Compromise of 1877 do?
Gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.