| A | B |
|---|
| arbitration | settlement of a dispute by a neutral, unbiased person or persons selected by both sides of the dispute. |
| blockade | a barrier (often made up of warships) set up around a nation to prevent it from trading with other nations. |
| blockade-runner | a fast-moving ship designed to sail around or through a naval blockade. |
| compact theory of government | a theory that the American states made an agreement (compact) which created the U.S. Constitution and that states, therefore, had the right to withdraw from that compact or declare actions of the national government unconstitutional. |
| Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) | a nation formed by the eleven states that seceded from the U.S. in late 1860 and 1861. (The U.S. claimed the secession was illegal, and the U.S., as well as other nations, did not officially recognize the C.S.A.'s right to exist.) |
| confederation | a union of states where, generally, the member states retain their sovereignty and where the unifying government (central government) may suggest national policies but is unable to force those policies upon the member states. |
| conscription | to force men of a certain age to serve in the armed forces. |
| Copperhead | a Northerner who believed that the South had the right to seceded and opposed military methods to force the South's return to the U.S. |
| draft | a law requiring men of a certain age to serve in the armed forces. |
| emancipate | to set free. |
| Emancipation Proclamation (1863) | a declaration by President Lincoln freeing all slaves in the Confederacy. |
| excise tax | a tax on goods made or sold within a country. |
| federation | a union of smaller political units, such as states, into a single nation wherein the national government exercises major powers, but the states maintain certain powers and rights. |
| greenbacks | paper money printed during the Civil War which was not backed by specie (gold or silver). |
| habeas corpus, writ of | a court order requiring police to bring before the court a person in custody to determine if that person is being held legally. |
| inflation | a rise in the price of goods often associated with an increase of money in circulation. |
| insurrection | a revolt against established authority. |
| laissez-faire | the idea that government should not interfere with private business. |
| malice | desire to harm others. |
| "Merrimack" | the ironclad warship (the first in history) used by the South in an attempt to ram and sink wooden warships of the U.S. Navy that were blockading the South's coast. (It sunk soon after a battle in 1862 with the "Monitor.") |
| "Monitor" | the ironclad warship of the Union which engaged the South's ironclad, the "Merrimack," in 1862 and prevented it from sinking the Union's wooden ships. |
| Radical Republicans | members of the Republican Party who wanted to punish strictly the southern states and their rebel leaders after the Civil War. |
| siege | the surrounding and bombarding of a fortified place by an enemy force with the intent of forcing its surrender. |
| strategy | a plan of action such as a plan for winning a war. |
| tactics | the military science of moving and placing armed forces with the intent of winning a battle. |
| tariff | tax on imported goods. |
| Union | name given to that part of the U.S. which did not secede during the Civil War. |
