Mexican Cession: A major tract of land that Mexico ceded to the United States following the Mexican-America war: included California as well as parts of other Western territories.
Fire-Eaters: A general unofficial term used to describe a group of Southern politicians who were extremely in favor of slavery and thus advocated for secession.
Underground Railroad: A route that slaves took to secretly escape from their masters to freedom.
Harriet Tubman: A particularly famous conductor of the railroad, helping to sneak hundreds of slaves out of servitude.
William H. Seward: A somewhat radical politician who advocated for the abolition of slavery on moral grounds.
Higher Law: The stance that…show more content… It was technically only symbolic in nature.
Butternut Region: Term used to describe the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio: though technically non-slaveholding, the amount of settlers from the South led them to support the Southern cause.
War Democrats: Members of the Democratic Party who advocated for a more militant approach toward the Confederacy: they generally supported Lincoln’s policies.
Peace Democrats/Copperheads: The War Democrats’ more level-headed counterparts who advocated for peace between the Union and the Confederacy.
Clement L. Vallandingham: Ohio Democrat who was a strong advocate for the anti-war peace position of the Peace Democrats.
Lost Cause: A literary movement used to effectively create an aggregate representation between Antebellum South and the Confederacy.
1. Why was the battle of Antietam “probably the most decisive of the Civil War’?
After the South had had a key string of victories, a major victory at Antietam likely would have spelled disaster for the North and its morale levels. When the North prevailed, morale was increased, Europe was dissuaded from assisting the South, and Lincoln had a healthy climate for the Emancipation
