Unit 8 Vocabulary

1. Unit 8 Vocabulary The Civil War and Reconstruction

2. state’s rights rights held by the states that place limits on the implied powers of the federal government over state governments

4. secede to formally withdraw from an organized body

6. sovereignty complete power and authority

7. regiments a military unit made up of a number of battalions, or groups, of troops

9. ironclads ships used during the Civil War that were heavily armored with iron plates

11. drafted required to serve in the military

12. martial law rule by the military instead of the usual civil authorities

13. freedpeople former slaves who have been freed from slavery

14. suffrage voting rights

16. civil rights individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution

17. impeach to bring charges against a public official

19. scalawags name given to southerners who supported Reconstruction for personal economic gain

20. carpet baggers Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War; so called because they often carried all they owned in bags made of carpet

21. segregation Forced separation of whites and African Americans in public

22. tenant farmers people who rent land to grow crops

23. sharecroppers farmers who lacked land and necessary supplies and thus promised a large part of their crop to the landowner in exchange for these items

24. sectionalism excessive devotion to local interests and customs

26. blockades the isolation of a nation, area, city, or harbor by hostile ships or forces in order to prevent the entrance and exit of traffic and commerce

28. Reconstruction The post-Civil War era from 1865 to 1877; the U.S. re-admitted the southern states to the Union and the federal government implemented policies affecting southern states

30. amendment a change made to the U.S. Constitution

31. allegiance loyalty to a nation or cause

32. emancipation the act of freeing someone from the control of another

33. proclamation the act of announcing something officially or publically

34. vigilantism the act of taking matters in to one’s own hands and out of the hands of the law

36. federalism a system in which power is distributed between the central or federal government and smaller state or local governments