1. Unit 8 Texas in the Civil War and Reconstruction Unit 8 Texas in the Civil War and Reconstruction Vocabulary

2. Amendment Amendment – a change made to a law, bill or document, in this case the U.S. Constitution.

3. Federalism Federalism – power is distributed between a national government and the states

4. Freedmen Freedmen – a person who has been freed from slavery.

5. Martial Law Martial Law – rule by an army instead of the usual civil authorities.

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

7. Secede Secede – to withdraw, in this case, from the U.S.

8. Sectionalism Sectionalism – excessive devotion to local interests and customs to a region of a nation.

9. Sharecropper Sharecropper – a tenant farmer who receives a share of the value of the crop minus charges for rent and other expenses.

10. Draft To select for some service as to conscript for military service

11. Ratified To approve

12. Conscription The forced enrollment of people into military service

13. Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."