Civil War Vocabulary Worksheet
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Civil War Vocabulary Worksheet
Read the briefing
The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. Before the war, several Southern states seceded, or formally withdrew, from the United States and formed the Confederacy. The Union was the national government and the states that remained in it. Slavery was central to the conflict. Abolitionists worked to end slavery, while enslaved people resisted bondage and many sought freedom. The Underground Railroad was a network of people, routes, and safe places that helped some enslaved people escape; it was not an actual railroad. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved people in areas still rebelling against the United States to be free. It did not immediately end slavery everywhere. The Union also used a naval blockade to restrict supplies reaching Confederate ports. After the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, the nation faced the difficult task of rebuilding the South and deciding how former Confederate states would return to the Union and how freedom would be protected.
1861 — Civil War begins
1863 — Emancipation Proclamation issued
1865 — Confederacy surrenders; war ends
After 1865 — Postwar rebuilding period
Vocabulary in context
Choose the best answer for each clue.
- Abolition
- Secession
- Reconstruction
- Blockade
- Reconstruction began
- The Emancipation Proclamation was issued
- The Underground Railroad was built
- The Confederacy surrendered
- Someone working to end slavery
- A soldier guarding a Confederate port
- A person who supports secession
- A sailor enforcing a blockade
- Abolition
- Secession
- Reconstruction
- Blockade
Crack the vocabulary clues
Write the historical term that best completes each clue.
Explain your thinking
Use details from the briefing to support your answers.
3 printable pages
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
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