American History Mid-Term Review: Key Events & Figures (1860-1900)

Posted on Aug 18, 2024 in History

American History Mid-Term Review

Jefferson Davis – President of the Confederate States of America; ordered the attack on Fort Sumter, initiating the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln – President of the United States; issued the Emancipation Proclamation and oversaw the Union victory.
Ulysses S. Grant – Union General; key figure in the Union victory and later became the 18th President of the United States.
William T. Sherman – Union General; known for his “March to the Sea” and his strategy of total war.
Andrew Johnson – 17th President of the United States; oversaw the initial phase of Reconstruction, clashing with Radical Republicans.
John Wilkes Booth – Assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Emancipation Proclamation – Freed slaves in Confederate-held territories.
Battle of Gettysburg – Pivotal Union victory in the Civil War.
Battle of Vicksburg – Union victory that gave control of the Mississippi River.
13th Amendment – Abolished slavery in the United States.
Reconstruction – Federal programs to rebuild the South and integrate formerly enslaved people into society.
Radical Republicans – Advocated for a more radical approach to Reconstruction, including civil and political rights for African Americans.
Freedmen’s Bureau – Provided aid to formerly enslaved people and poor white Southerners.
Black Codes – Laws enacted in Southern states to restrict the rights of African Americans.
14th Amendment – Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson – Charged with violating the Tenure of Office Act.
Carpetbaggers – Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, often for political or economic gain.
Scalawags – Southern whites who supported Reconstruction.

Thomas Edison – Inventor of the light bulb, phonograph, and many other innovations.
Cornelius Vanderbilt – Railroad tycoon and a symbol of the Gilded Age’s wealth and power.
Andrew Carnegie – Steel magnate and philanthropist.
John D. Rockefeller – Founder of Standard Oil and a dominant figure in the oil industry.
Leland Stanford – Railroad tycoon and founder of Stanford University.

Cash Crop – Crops grown for sale rather than for the farmer’s own use.
Sutter’s Mill – Location of the California Gold Rush.
Homestead Act of 1862 – Granted land to settlers in the West.
Bimetallic Standard – Monetary system based on gold and silver.
The Grange – Organization of farmers that advocated for their interests.
Sharecropping – System of agriculture where farmers worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops.
Pullman Strike – Nationwide railroad strike in 1894.
Temperance Movement – Social movement advocating for the prohibition of alcohol.
Nativism – Favoring native-born Americans over immigrants.
William McKinley – 25th President of the United States.
Yellow Journalism – Sensationalized news reporting.

Booker T. Washington – African American educator and advocate for vocational training.
W.E.B. Du Bois – African American sociologist and civil rights activist.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett – Journalist and activist who campaigned against lynching.

Plessy v. Ferguson – Supreme Court case that upheld the legality of “separate but equal” racial segregation.
Solid South – Domination of the Democratic Party in Southern politics after the Civil War.
Spanish-American War – Brief conflict between the United States and Spain in 1898.
Muckrakers – Journalists who exposed corruption and social problems.