This site is 100% ad supported. Please add an exception to adblock for this site.

Chapter 13-15 pre civil war

Terms

undefined, object
copy deck
The Growing Distinctiveness of the South
-Despite many national, ethnic, and religious similarities, Southerners and Northerners were different -Slavery was the principal reason for the differences between the two regions
Cotton Kingdom, Slave Empire
-In the mid-nineteenth century, Southerners moved into the Southwest -The migration reflected the growing dominance of cotton, which adapted easily to a variety of climates and soils -Plantation slaves cultivated 75 percent of the cotton, and as the crop expanded, so did the slave population, which reached approximately four million by 1860 -The extraordinary growth in the number of southern slaves was the result of natural reproduction -the ending of the international slave trade led to better treatment of the slaves -By 1860, the South produced three-fourths of the world's cotton supply and had more slaves than all the other slave societies in the New World combined.
The South in Black and White
-The presence of large numbers of African Americans generated deep-seated fears among southern whites, who in some parts of the South found themselves in the minority -Consequently, whites in the South were dedicated to white supremacy and to maintaining a racial hierarchy supported by harsh slave codes
The “Positive Good” of Slavery
-As northern abolitionist attacks mounted during the 1830s, southern apologists constructed a proslavery argument that claimed the institution was a "positive good" compared to the tyranny of northern capitalist "wage slavery" -Not just planters and legislators endorsed white supremacy; all white classes and professions had a stake in the system -Thus, to a certain extent, black slavery helped whites bridge differences in class, wealth, education, and culture, as both slaveless whites and slave masters stood united in their difference from, and superiority to, blacks
The Plantation Economy
-Most southern whites worked small farms, and only about 25 percent of white families owned slaves, most having fewer than five
Planters
-owned more than 20 slaves, did not work the land themselves -Despite their minority status, planters dominated the southern economy, which in turn remained emphatically agricultural in character -The main staples of southern agriculture were tobacco—the oldest plantation crop in North America—sugar, rice, and cotton; the cultivation of tobacco, sugar, and rice required backbreaking labor in sometimes dangerous and uncomfortable conditions.
King Cotton
Cotton was the dominant cash crop because it was relatively easy to grow and took little capital to get started -Although nearly every southern farmer grew cotton, large planters produced three-quarters of the region's cotton and received the majority of their income from it -The plantation economy was highly profitable for planters, and it benefited the national economy as well -Northerners served as intermediaries between planters and British textile mills; they warehoused cotton, shipped it, and sold northern manufactured goods in the southern market
Lack of large Southern cites
-Unfortunately for the South, nonagricultural forms of economic activity, especially manufacturing, developed slowly, if at all -Most Southerners were afraid that an industrial economy and the development of a southern, urban, industrial working class would upset the slave system -As such, the South had no real urban centers equal to those in the North and few immigrants -While the North developed a diversified economy—agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing—the majority of white Southerners remained devoted to agriculture
Plantation Masters
Most plantation masters conceived of their relationship with slaves as one that historians call "paternalistic"—one where, in exchange for their labor and obedience, slaves were given care and guidance
Paternalism
-Though in most instances planters provided food, clothing, and shelter sufficient to sustain slaves, a slaveholder's concern was rooted not in moral considerations but in the fact that slaves were valuable property -Moreover, after the transatlantic slave trade was banned, masters realized that the expansion of the slave labor force could come only from natural reproduction by healthy slaves -Paternalism provided slaveholders with a means of legitimizing their rule, but it also provided some slaves with leverage over the conditions of their lives
Give and take relationship
-Slaves learned to manipulate a slaveholder's need to see himself as a good and decent master, negotiating small garden plots, a few days off, and a dance when they had gathered the last of the cotton -White southern men tended to be obsessed with their reputation for honor, which contributed to the prominence of dueling as a part of southern culture -Masters' overwhelming power meant that southern laws against miscegenation frequently were broken
Plantation Mistresses
-In some respects, affluent southern white women occupied roles similar to those of their northern counterparts -the obsession with chivalry among the white male elite meant that southern white women were kept subordinate in southern culture -Most faced the impossible task of reconciling the ideal of the refined southern lady with the daily hard work of helping to manage the plantation, not to mention the dangers of childbearing and responsibilities of child rearing -Another problem was miscegenation, with the children that slaveholders had with their female slaves serving as a constant reminder to white women of their husbands' infidelity -Most, however, expressed no open discontent because the mistress's world, like that of her children and slaves, was controlled by the plantation master
Mary Boykin Chestnut
-wife of S.C. senator, diarist, wrote about southern way of life, plantation mistresses speculated which slaves were fathered by the masters but denied it happened at home
Field Work
-the desire for exploitable labor was the chief reason for slavery's origin in the New World as well as for its existence into the nineteenth century -The majority of slaves in 1860 were field hands -Slaves worked hard, performing light tasks while still children and then working in the fields by the age of eleven or twelve -pregnant women were forced to work in the fields late in their pregnancies which led to low birth weight and high infant mortality, mothers were quickly forced back to the fields and older women brought their babies to them in order to nurse.
House Slaves
-The few slaves who became household servants (about one in ten) had a somewhat easier life physically than field hands, but they were constantly at the master's or mistress's beck and call
Slave Artisans
-Even rarer than house servants were slaves who worked as skilled artisans (about one in twenty)—blacksmiths, carpenters, mason, mechanics, millers, or shoemakers
Slave Drivers
-Rarest of all (no more than one in a hundred) were those slaves who served as drivers, overseeing the labor of other slaves in the fields
Slave Marriages
-In their limited free time away from exhausting labor, slaves made the most of their families, religion, and communities -Although slave marriages were not legally binding, some slave owners encouraged unions to promote stability as well as slaves' reproduction, “Jumping the Broom” -Small plantations would allow a slave to marry another slave on a neighboring plantation -However, the breakup of marriages and families by sale occurred all too frequently -Slave husbands and fathers did not have the same powers as free men, but they did what they could to protect and provide for their families
Slave Religion
-Religion provided another bulwark against the oppressiveness of slavery, although masters hoped that it would foster obedience -Often meeting secretly, slaves created a distinctive variant of evangelical -Protestantism, which incorporated elements of African religion and stressed those portions of the Bible that spoke to the aspirations of an enslaved people thirsting for freedom -Moreover, their Christian music, preaching, and rituals showed the influence of Africa, as did much of the slaves' secular activities, such as wood carving, quilt making, and storytelling
Br’er Rabbit
-African stories of the weak outsmarting the strong
Resistance and Rebellion
-Black response to bondage was a combination of adaptation and resistance -Resistance sometimes took the form of simple defiant acts: sabotaging work by losing or breaking tools or performing tasks slowly or improperly -Thousands of slaves showed their discontent and desire for freedom by running away, a fraction making it to freedom in the North or Canada -For the majority, however, flight was not an option because they lived too deep in the South to reach free soil
Nat Turner
-In 1831, Nat Turner, a black slave in Virginia, and other coconspirators killed fifty-seven whites before they were caught and either killed or arrested -terrified white Southerners -Slavery's destructive power had to contend with the resiliency of the human spirit -Slaves fought back physically, culturally, and spiritually -They not only survived bondage, but they created in the slave quarter a vibrant African American culture and community
Black and Free: On the Middle Ground
-Of the 4.1 million blacks living in the South in 1860, approximately 6 percent-some 260,000-were free. Nonetheless, whether they were in the North or the South, free blacks stood on dangerous middle ground and often were denied legal and political equality with whites.
Precarious Freedom
-In the South after the Revolution, there was a brief flurry of emancipation that increased the number of free blacks in the region to more than 100,000 by 1810 -The cotton boom ended the trend, however, and free blacks were subjected to humiliating rules that confined their activities, limiting many to a life of poverty and dependence as unskilled agricultural laborers or domestic servants. They were often forced to pay special taxes, to register annually with the state, and to carry papers proving their free status; in some states, they had to gain official permission to travel from one state to another. Most southern whites abhorred free African Americans, whose presence they believed undermined the racial hierarchy that was the essence of slavery.
Achievement despite Restrictions
Despite laws restricting them, free blacks had some advantages over enslaved ones. They could own property, choose occupations, marry, and pass on their heritage of freedom to their children. Free blacks varied in status. Most lived in poverty, but in a few cities, an elite group of usually light-skinned free blacks prospered. These men generally worked in skilled trades as tailors, mechanics, carpenters, and such and were patronized by prominent whites who appreciated their skilled services. Some successful free blacks even owned slaves. On the whole, free blacks tried to keep a middle course, neither owning slaves nor inciting insurrection in order to preserve their freedom
The Plain Folk
-The typical white Southerner was not a wealthy planter and slaveholder but a modest yeoman farmer who owned his own land and did not have slaves. In the antebellum South, there were two yeoman societies, separated roughly along geographic lines.
Plantation Belt Yeomen
-Yeomen in the flatlands that spread from South Carolina to east Texas lived in the midst of the plantation system and were linked to it in important ways. These small farmers, who grew food crops and cotton, depended on the local plantation aristocracy, who allowed them access to plantation gins and baling machines, helped them ship and sell their cotton, and extended a helping hand in all kinds of ways to poorer neighbors -In many areas, kinship networks also connected yeoman farmers with wealthy planters. These many links ensured that poorer farmers shared the planters' commitment to white supremacy, thus considerably lessening the potential for class conflict between whites.
Upcountry Yeomen
-The majority of the yeoman farmers located in the western parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, in northern Georgia and Alabama, and in eastern Tennessee and Kentucky had a different economy and society from that in the plantation belt—an economy and society not dominated by slavery or large plantations -The hilly geography, cold climate, and lack of transportation limited the prosperity of upcountry yeomen. Yeomen worked in family units, and tasks were often divided according to gender. They devoted their efforts to growing subsistence crops as well as a little cotton or tobacco, but their agricultural production was limited by their geographic isolation. Although they did not benefit directly from slavery, most yeomen and nonslaveholders supported or at least tolerated the institution.
The Culture of the Plain Folk
-Approximately one-fourth of southern white farmers owned no land. These poor whites supported themselves by farming on rented land or by working for wages. Like planters, poor white men would fight to defend their honor, but their fights were more violent and chaotic than the gentleman's duel. Despite the rigors of poverty and disease, most poor whites worked hard and aspired to rise in southern society. Moving from renter to landowner was a popular but difficult goal of poor whites. As would-be small farmers, poor whites shared much in common with yeomen. Situated on scattered farms and in tiny villages, rural plain folk lived isolated, local lives. Bad roads and a lack of newspapers meant that everyday life revolved around family, a handful of neighbors, the local church, and perhaps a country store. Formal education was a low priority for most plain folk, who preferred the revival tent to the schoolroom and who became the most receptive and largest audience for evangelical revivalism.
The Politics of Slavery
Southern politics, like much of southern society, reflected the impact of slavery. Throughout the antebellum period, political power rested securely in the hands of the slaveholding planter elite. Although white yeoman farmers made up a vastly larger portion of the population, slaveholders were able to wield power far in excess of their actual numbers because most southern whites believed that the slave system benefited all Southerners.
Planter Power
-Whether Whig or Democrat, the majority of southern officeholders were slave owners. The dominance of southern politics by the planter elite reflected the persistence of a culture that valued tradition and stability and deferred to the upper classes in political matters. Slaveholders had to convince the majority of plain folk that slavery and plantation agriculture benefited all southern whites, and they worked hard to cultivate the favor and votes of the common people. The massive representation of slaveholders meant that legislatures preserved slavery in a variety of ways. Slaves were taxed at a lower rate than land, and public support of railroads was beneficial primarily to large planters -Beginning in the 1830s, slaveholders ceased to tolerate criticism and worked to suppress any arguments against slavery. Critics were censored, ostracized, and even threatened. This could have had a definite impact on poorer Southerners' awareness of attacks on slavery. In the antebellum South, democratization was able to occur simultaneously with growing political elitism.
Acquired Lands from Mexico
-Between 1846 and 1848, the nation grew by 1.2 million square miles, an incredible two-thirds -It quickly became clear that Northerners and Southerners had different visions of the West, particularly regarding the place of slavery in its future -As it became clear that war with Mexico would result in new U.S. territories, politicians in 1846 began floating a variety of plans for resolving the issue of whether those territories would be slave or free
The Wilmot Proviso and the Expansion of Slavery
-In August 1846, while the Mexican-American War was still in progress, David Wilmot, an antislavery Democrat from Pennsylvania, proposed that Congress prohibit slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico -Many northern politicians and voters backed Wilmot's proviso because they opposed slavery as an institution, did not want southern political power to increase, or wanted to reserve western land for white settlers -Southerners universally denounced the proviso, arguing that Congress had no right to exclude slavery from a territory
Popular Sovereignty
-Other congressional leaders supported a plan proposed by Senator Lewis Cass that became known as "popular sovereignty," which would allow the people of each territory to decide the status of slavery there
The Election of 1848
-When Polk declined to run again, the Democrats nominated Lewis Cass and adopted a vague platform -The Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, a slave owner from Louisiana and hero of the Mexican-American War, and adopted no platform at all -Taylor won the electoral vote by 163 to 127, but the election showed that both parties had been shaken by the issue of slavery in the territories
Debate and Compromise
-Once in office, Zachary Taylor surprised everyone by urging the immediate admission of California and New Mexico (whose largely antislavery settlers had begun writing free-state constitutions) to the Union as free states -The plan aroused intense opposition in the South because of the prospect that only free states would continue to emerge in the territories
Stephen Douglas
-Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois stepped in and was able to fashion a compromise in the form of a series of measures that could be voted on separately -By mid-September 1850, Congress had acted, and President Millard Fillmore (who had assumed the presidency after Zachary Taylor's unexpected death in July 1950) had signed all the components of the Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850
-1. California entered the Union as a free state 2. New Mexico and Utah became territories where the question of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty 3. Congress passed a more stringent fugitive slave law but ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia -The compromise was a temporary cease-fire that did not resolve the larger issues
The Fugitive Slave Act
-Northerners did not like fugitive slave laws; they had responded to a 1793 federal law authorizing slave owners to enter other states to recapture their slave property by passing "personal liberty laws" to give fugitives some protection -The Fugitive Slave Act provoked northern outrage because it demanded that all citizens assist officials in capturing fugitive slaves -Southerners regarded northern obstruction as a betrayal not only of the Compromise of 1850 but of the Constitution as well -Meanwhile, the enforcement of this unpopular law served to radicalize many Northerners against slavery, especially in New England
Uncle Tom's Cabin
-In 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was published. Stowe's account was the single most powerful attack on slavery ever written -With 300,000 copies sold in its first year, it became America's first literary blockbuster and exerted an extraordinary influence on public opinion -In her book, Stowe succeeded in personalizing the abstract horrors of slavery with characters like Eliza, the slave mother fighting to keep her son from being sold away, and Simon Legree, the wicked overseer -The novel awakened millions of Northerners to the evils of slavery, while Southerners denounced the book as being full of gross distortions and fabrications -Perhaps more important, the book confirmed for increasing numbers of Southerners their suspicion that they had few northern supporters
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
-As a senator from Illinois and a booster of western economic development, Stephen Douglas naturally wanted to secure the eastern terminus of the transcontinental railroad for his state -He thus introduced a bill in 1854 to organize a new territory, known as Nebraska, west of Iowa and Missouri -To win southern votes, Douglas inserted a provision that the status of slavery would be determined by popular sovereignty, and he added an explicit repeal of the antislavery provision of the Missouri Compromise -In its final form, the measure was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and after much debate, it became law in May 1854, with the unanimous support of southern Whigs and Democrats -However, about half of all northern Democrats refused to support it
The Old Parties: Whigs and Democrats
The Whigs' weak showing in the election of 1852 made clear that they were no longer a strong national party -Their decline and collapse left the Democrats as the country's only national party -Since most of the northern Democrats who supported Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska bill were not reelected the following year, after 1854 the Democrats became by default a southern-dominated party -The collapse of the Whigs and the alienation of northern Democrats from their party meant that many Americans remained politically adrift
Know-Nothings
-In the vacuum left by the collapse of the Whigs, a number of different parties emerged. One of the most powerful and successful was the American Party (also called the Know-Nothings), which was viciously opposed to immigrants and Catholics -The Know-Nothings enjoyed a series of successes in 1854 and 1855, particularly in Massachusetts
Republicans
-Of greater future significance was the rise of the Republican Party, which attracted a variety of disaffected elements from across the political spectrum, all opposed to the extension of slavery into the territories -Republicans also became the political voice of the free-labor ideology, arguing that the "Slave Power" of the South degraded work and whites alike and was driving to extend its oppressive system while undermining the Constitution
The Election of 1856
The Republican Party platform revealed the strictly sectional nature of the new organization, as it called for congressional prohibition of slavery in all territories. The Republican nominee was the soldier and explorer John C. Frémont; the Democrats nominated another "doughface," James Buchanan; and the Know-Nothings turned to former president Millard Fillmore as their standard-bearer. During the campaign, Buchanan touted popular sovereignty as the key to the slavery issue and labeled the Republicans as antislavery extremists. The rhetoric worked, and Buchanan won a narrow victory, beating Frémont in the electoral college by a margin of 174 to 114. Despite losing, the Republican Party demonstrated that sectionalism had created a new party system, one that could prove dangerous for the Republic.
"Bleeding Kansas"
-When Kansas was organized in the fall of 1854, a bitter contest began for control of its territorial government -In the first territorial elections, proslavery settlers combined with thousands of illegal Missouri voters to give the proslavery forces victory -However, Free-Soilers, who were the majority of the actual territorial residents, established a rival government under a constitution outlawing slavery -A small-scale civil war erupted, culminating in May 1856, when proslavery forces attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence -A bloody reprisal was carried out by the antislavery fanatic John Brown and his followers at Pottawatomie Creek -For Republicans, "Bleeding Kansas" became a potent symbol of the existence of a hostile Slave Power
Attack on Charles Sumner
-Another symbol soon appeared in the U.S. Senate, where the hardcore antislavery Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner was beaten unconscious by South Carolinian Preston Brooks for having insulted in a speech Brooks's relative, Senator Andrew P. Butler
The Dred Scott Decision
-After his master's death, slave Dred Scott sued for his freedom on the basis that he had lived for many years in an area (the Wisconsin Territory) where slavery had been outlawed by the Missouri Compromise -The majority ruled against Scott, with Chief Justice Roger Taney proclaiming that because Scott was not a citizen, he could not sue -Taney further argued that no African American, slave or free, could be a citizen. But the most significant part of the ruling was the Court's declaration that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in any territory -The decision made popular sovereignty an untenable solution to the territorial issue and undermined the Democrats while giving a boost to Republican claims of a slaveholder conspiracy
Prairie Republican: Abraham Lincoln
-By the time of the Dred Scott decision, Abraham Lincoln had become a successful railroad lawyer in Illinois, but politics was his real passion -Lincoln practiced a politics of moderation and pragmatism, especially on the issues of the Union, slavery, and race -He opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act because it effectively destroyed the Missouri Compromise, yet Lincoln accepted slavery where it already existed -Still, he was convinced that slaveholders were involved in an aggressive and dangerous conspiracy to nationalize slavery -Like a majority of Republicans, Lincoln defended black humanity without challenging white supremacy -He denounced slavery as immoral and believed that it should end, but he also viewed black equality as impractical and unachievable within the United States -By 1858, Lincoln had so impressed Illinois Republicans that they decided to pit him against Stephen Douglas, the North's premier Democrat, in that year's Senate race
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
-The 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates attracted enormous crowds and received wide attention -By the time they ended, Lincoln's eloquent and passionate attacks on slavery had made him nationally prominent -At the heart of the debates was the issue of slavery -Lincoln argued that slavery was wrong, but he was no abolitionist and shared many northern whites' belief in white supremacy and in the Constitution's protection of slavery where it existed -However, he made it clear he opposed the institution's spread -Douglas maintained in the so-called Freeport Doctrine that settlers could still keep slavery out of the territories by refusing to pass protective laws, and he accused the Republicans of promoting sectional conflict, of wishing to interfere with slavery in the South, and of advocating social equality of the races -Though Douglas ultimately won reelection, Lincoln emerged from the contest with a growing following both within and beyond the state
John Brown's Raid
-Abolitionist John Brown and his followers tried to start a slave rebellion by capturing the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia and distributing firearms to the area slaves, but the raid failed at he was captured -Brown survived his raid on Harpers Ferry only to be tried and convicted of treason - Virginia authorities hanged Brown on December 2, 1859 -The reaction to Brown's death intensified the already sharp sectional feelings surrounding his attempted slave insurrection -Brown died with dignity, causing some northern abolitionists to praise both him and his tactics. Although most Northerners repudiated Brown's violence, they admired his willingness to die for his abolitionist principles
The Aftermath of John Brown's Raid
-When Southerners learned that many Northerners mourned Brown's passing, they became convinced that such fanaticism was supported by the Republican Party and that the North would resort to fomenting similar slave uprisings to put an end to the institution -The opposing reactions in the North and South to Brown's raid added to the sectional slit that many feared would manifest itself in the 1860 presidential contest
Republican Victory in the Election of 1860
-The Democratic Party was torn apart by the conflict over slavery -When the party convention endorsed popular sovereignty, delegates from eight Lower South states walked out, and the remaining delegates later nominated Stephen Douglas -In the meantime, Lower South Democrats met and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky -Still another group, made up of Southern moderates, formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee as their standard-bearer -This hastily thrown-together party endorsed the Union but remained silent on slavery -Smelling victory, the Republicans worked to broaden their party base with a platform that endorsed protective tariffs, internal improvements, a homestead bill, and a Pacific railroad to be built with federal financial assistance. They also supported the right of existing slave states to maintain the system -The Republican convention nominated Abraham Lincoln as the party's presidential candidate, and he won the presidency with a majority of the electoral votes and 39 percent of the fragmented popular vote. Most Southerners viewed the election as a catastrophe since Lincoln wanted to contain slavery where it existed and they had to “expand or die”
Secession
-Almost as soon as the news of Lincoln's election reached the South, the region's militants—the "fire-eaters"—demanded an end to the Union -Within weeks, the secession process had begun -Unionists argued that the South should wait and see what Lincoln did in office, but secessionists emphasized the urgency of the moment and the dangers of delay; the South's minority status made it impossible for Southerners to defend slavery within the Union - South Carolina seceded first, on December 20, 1860 -By February 1861, the six other Lower South states (Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida) had withdrawn from the Union and sent representatives to Montgomery, Alabama, to form a new nation—the Confederate States of America -Eight southern states remained undecided -Congressional efforts at forging a compromise failed -When president-elect Lincoln arrived in Washington for his inauguration, nothing had been resolved -Despite Lincoln's conciliatory statements about respecting slavery in the South, he made it clear that secession would not be tolerated.
. Lincoln’s Reaction to Secession
-President Lincoln was determined to stop the spread of secession and to take no action that would push the still undecided Upper South into seceding
Jefferson Davis
-MS senator, President of the Confederacy
Attack on Fort Sumter
-To the Confederacy, Fort Sumter-a federally manned fort at the entrance to Charleston harbor-was a hateful symbol of the nation it had abandoned -Union forces at the fort were running short of supplies and, unless reprovisioned, would have to evacuate -Lincoln knew that to surrender Fort Sumter would be to abandon his commitment to preserving the Union, so he sent a relief expedition carrying supplies but no soldiers -Confederate officials debated whether to become the aggressors; the decision was made, and Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter began on April 12, 1861 -The Union troops in the fort surrendered on April 14. The Civil War had begun -Northerners responded enthusiastically to Lincoln's call for 75,000 militia troops to put down the rebellion.
The Upper South Chooses Sides
-Lincoln's call for troops forced the undecided slave states to choose sides -Within weeks of the attack on Fort Sumter, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina seceded -In the border slave states of Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri, secession was thwarted by a combination of local Unionism and federal intervention, including the use of martial law to suppress Confederate sympathizers
Creation of West Virginia
-Dissatisfaction was so rife in the western counties of Virginia that in 1863 citizens there voted to create the separate state of West Virginia, loyal to the Union
Robert E. Lee
-Robert E. Lee was typical of many Southerners who opposed secession but refused to fight the Confederacy -Lincoln offered Lee the command of the Union army, he refused and became the commander of the Confederate army, this could only happen in a civil war
Northern Advantages
-The balance sheet of war was overwhelmingly in favor of the North, whose population, industrial capacity, and transportation networks far exceeded those of the South
Southern Advantages
-The southern armies, for the most part, fought a defensive war on familiar terrain -Southerners believed that their fighters, though fewer in number, were far superior to those in the North -The North would have to conquer a massive region
Lincoln and Davis Mobilize
-The aristocratic Jefferson Davis, unanimously elected to head the Confederacy, had superb qualifications but proved to be an ineffective administrator and an opinionated but uninspirational leader -While Lincoln lacked the demeanor of a cultured gentleman and impressive military credentials, he soon proved to be an able and inspirational leader in the North's drive for victory -The South's lack of infrastructure meant it had to build much of its war machine from scratch, while Northerners had to convert their superior numbers and industrial resources into war readiness
Anaconda Plan
-Union plan to blockade the Southern port cities and gain control of the Mississippi River in order to cut the Confederacy in half
Battling It Out, 1861—1862
-During the first year and a half of the war, the armies fought dramatic campaigns in the East and more decisive battles in the West -All the while, the numbers of casualties rose at an alarming rate
Bull Run
-near Washington, D.C., terrible rain -The battle was a severe defeat for the Union as well as a severe blow to Union morale -Lincoln replaced his first general, Irvin McDowell, with George B. McClellan, who took the dispirited Army of the Potomac and molded it into a powerful, well-trained force
George B. McClellan
-was not very interested in using the army to fight battles, to Lincoln's frustration -In the spring of 1862, McClellan finally launched an offensive on the Confederate capital of Richmond but was stopped by Confederate forces under the excellent leadership of General Robert E. Lee -Lincoln said McClellan had the “slows”z
Battle of Antietam
- The two armies met again at Antietam Creek and fought the bloodiest battle of the war, a Union victory, on September 17, 1862
Battle of Fredericksburg
-Lincoln continued to shift commanders, with General Ambrose Burnside overseeing the Union troops at the December 1862 battle of Fredericksburg, which was one of the worst Union defeats of the war -the Confederate was protected by a stone wall -By the end of 1862, the military struggle in the East had settled into a long and frustrating stalemate
Union Victories in the Western Theater
-The first decisive operations of 1862 occurred in the western theater of war, where the Union forces were attempting to take control of the Mississippi River to divide the Confederacy and give the North easy access to the southern heartland
Ulysses S. Grant
-The principal battles in the western theater saw Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant capture Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River -Grant then pushed on to meet Confederate forces at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee -Beaten on the first day of battle, Grant called for reinforcements and drove the Confederates from the field on the second day -By the end of 1862, most but not all of the Mississippi valley lay in Union hands -Grant earned the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant, had drinking problem, but Lincoln did not mind since he was the Union’s most effect commander
War and Diplomacy in the Atlantic Theater
-As the war progressed, the Union began to build an overwhelming advantage in naval power, and its blockade of the southern coast grew tighter every month, shutting the Confederacy off from supplies and weakening its military strength
Ironclad Ships
-The Confederates made bold attempts to break the blockade, including using new ironclad warships, but the Union government was soon building ironclads of its own
Union and Freedom
-In spite of Lincoln's initial assertions, the war to preserve the Union ultimately became a war for African American freedom -In the field among soldiers and commanders, in Congress, and in the White House, the truth gradually became clear: Since the Confederate war machine depended heavily on the labor of slaves, the North would have to destroy slavery in order to win the war against the South
From Slaves to Contraband
-However, in March 1862, Congress authorized the government to confiscate runaway slaves, who came to be called "contraband," after a year earlier passing the first Confiscation Act, which allowed the seizure of any slave employed by the Confederate military
Emancipation Proclamation
-On September 22, 1862, Lincoln announced his intention to issue an executive order freeing all the slaves in the Confederacy -Despite criticism from Democrats who did not want to make ending slavery a goal of the war, on New Year's Day 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, forever freeing all slaves in the Confederacy -The edict did not apply to the border slave states, which had never seceded from the Union
War of Black Liberation
C. War of Black Liberation -Blacks tried to enlist for the armed services from the time the war broke out but often were rejected for armed duty and put into labor positions only -However, the Emancipation Proclamation eroded white resistance to black soldiers -Approximately 179,000 African Americans, the majority of them former slaves, eventually served in the Union armed services during the war and made a vital contribution to the North's victory -Although they were enrolled in segregated units, were paid less than white soldiers, and were used disproportionately for garrison duty or heavy labor behind the lines, black soldiers fought heroically in several major engagements during the last two years of the war and served in disproportionately high numbers compared with whites
Massachusetts 54th Regiment
-African-American regiment commanded by Robert Gould Shaw that fought bravely, but was annihilated trying to take Fort Wagner outside Charleston, S.C.
The North at War
-Northern farms, factories, and cities remained untouched by the fighting because battles generally remained within Confederate borders -Still, the northern home front was profoundly affected by the war, experiencing great social and economic changes -With southern Democrats out of Congress, the Republican Party had free rein to enact an aggressive program in order to promote economic development
Homestead Act
-created the procedure for settlers to claim land in the west at practically no cost, had been blocked by Southerners but now they were in Washington
Morrill Act
-also called the Land-Grant College Act setting aside public lands to support universities that focused on agriculture, created Oklahoma A & M, later changed to Oklahoma State University
Politics and Dissent
-The party system survived the war and even helped to strengthen the government by providing clear channels for dissent. Democrats were, however, unhappy with Lincoln's willingness to interpret the Constitution loosely -In 1862, to stifle popular opposition to the war, Lincoln proclaimed all persons who discouraged enlistments or engaged in disloyal practices to be subject to martial law, and many were arrested or imprisoned, albeit for relatively short periods
New York City Draft Riots
-Another problem for the government was a provision in the 1863 Conscription Act that allowed those who could afford it to avoid service by hiring someone to go in their place or by paying the government a fee of $300 -Opposition to the measure was widespread, especially among laborers and immigrants, and violence occasionally erupted, as in the 1863 New York City draft riots during which Democratic Irish workingmen went on a rampage and killed African Americans, whom they blamed for the war -These were among the bloodiest riots in American history, with 105 people killed
Grinding Out Victory, 1863—1865
-Though the Union's prospects looked dim in the early months of 1863, the balance was tipped in the Union's favor after General Ulysses S. Grant took supreme command -The North slowly ground out victory, but if the Confederacy was beaten, Southerners did not know it
Vicksburg
-In the spring of 1863, Ulysses S. Grant attacked the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi, whose residents finally surrendered after a six-week siege, giving the Union complete control of the length of the Mississippi River
Gettysburg
-At the same time that Grant was taking Vicksburg, the most decisive and bloody battle of the war was being fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1-3, 1863 -A series of Confederate attacks failed to dislodge Union general George Meade's troops from the high ground they occupied
Pickett’s Charge
-The following day, General Lee launched a final, desperate assault led by General George Pickett that had disastrous results -The Union army was protected by a stone wall -Pickett’s Charge is considered the “high water mark” of the Confederacy since after this happened, they continued to retreat until they finally surrendered -Gettysburg cost Lee 28,000 casualties, more than one-third of his army -The defeats at Vicksburg and Gettysburg would prove to be the turning point of the war, although this was not obvious at the time: The Confederacy still controlled the South's heartland, Lee's army still was capable of doing damage, and it was fully possible that the North would tire of the war before it was won
Grant Takes Command
-In the fall of 1863, Grant routed the Confederate army at Chattanooga, Tennessee, opening the door to Georgia -By March 1864, Grant had become general in chief of all Union armies -Grant was not a subtle general; he simply believed in using the North's superior numbers of men and materiel to overwhelm the South
War of Attrition
-Grant did aware with old tactics and continued to fight no matter how many casualties he suffered -He accepted large numbers of casualties as long as he was inflicting similar or greater suffering on his enemy -Grant’s men called him “the Butcher’ -After taking command, Grant ordered a multipronged offensive to finish off the Confederacy, the main movements of which were a march toward Richmond led by Grant and a thrust by the western armies, now led by General William T. Sherman, to Atlanta and the heart of Georgia -In May and June, Grant and Lee fought a series of bloody battles in northern Virginia, in which twice as many Yankees as rebels died-but since the Confederates had only half the troops of the Union, the damage to the South was considerable
Sherman’s March to the Sea
-While Grant harassed Lee, Sherman took Atlanta and embarked on a scorched-earth campaign through Georgia, arriving in Savannah in the third week of December -Sherman cut his supply lines and had his men take what they needed for plantations and farmers -Union solders intentional destroyed the South’s ability to fight including railroad lines
The Election of 1864
-In 1864, the Democrats seemed to be in a good position to capitalize on Republican divisions and to capture the White House -Their platform appealed to war weariness by calling for a cease-fire, but they ran a war candidate, General George B. McClellan
Copperheads
-Northerners who were against the war and wanted to bring the war to an end
Andrew Johnson
-However, Union successes and an uncompromising Unionist vice presidential candidate, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, boosted Lincoln's popularity, and he won with 212 electoral votes and 55 percent of the popular vote -The victory was a mandate to continue the war until slavery was gone and the South had surrendered
The Confederacy Collapses
-The concluding military operations revealed the futility of further southern resistance -More and more, Southerners gave up on the war, not because they believed that their cause was not worthy but because they had been battered into submission -Grant forced the Confederates to abandon Petersburg and Richmond on April 2, 1865, pursuing them westward for a hundred miles
Appomattox Court House
-Recognizing the hopelessness of further resistance, Lee surrendered his army in the village of Appomattox Court House on April 9, ending the war
Casualties
-a total of 620,000 died in the Civil War and settled once and for all that the federal government had the supreme authority over the states
John Wilkes Booth
-But the North's joy at victory soon turned to sorrow and anger when John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14 -The man who had led the nation through the war would not lead it in its postwar search for peace

Deck Info

97

honeyrose19

permalink