AP U.S History Unit 5

1. The Civil War and Reconstruction AP U.S HistoryUnit 5

2. What to focus on as you read: • Events that led to the Secession of the Southern States. • Advantages and disadvantages of both sides • Military “turning points” that effected the outcome of the war. • Events that led to the end of the war • Confrontations between the President and Congress over Reconstruction policies. • The nature of Radical Reconstruction • Events that caused the end of Radical Reconstruction and the return of “white supremacy” in the Southern States.

3. Introduction: • Various tensions within and between the North and South came together to cause the Civil War. • A fundamental disagreement between Northerners and Southerners about the constitution contributed to the Civil War. • Slavery became a crisis in the context of western expansion. • Compromise on slavery, dating from the ratification of the constitution, became harder and eventually impossible by 1860.

4. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • How did a lack of, or limited, economic interdependence lead to friction between the North, West, and South? • What role did Cotton play in forming the Southern dependence on Slavery and how did that dependence lead a population of mostly non-slave owning people to be willing to wage war of the “peculiar institution”? • In what ways did the North and the South differ in terms of their views on the Constitution and legality of secession? • How did the North and South’s attitudes towards each other affect the general demeanor of the nation towards the issue of slavery, how did it drive the nation out to radical extremes?

5. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • How did a lack of, or limited, economic interdependence lead to friction between the North, West, and South? • By the 1830s the nation was forming into three separate and distinct regions. • The South produced Cash Crops like tobacco, rice, and COTTON (the invention of the Cotton Gin caused a boom in demand for cotton and for slavery). • The North was mainly a manufacturing society based on Banking, Shipping, Industry, and small and big business (creating a viable Middle Class in the North). • The West had been primarily pioneer settlers who lived by subsistence farming, however by this time large corn, wheat, and dairy farms were becoming prominent. • When the West shifted from subsistence farming to mass production of foodstuffs (corn, wheat, etc.) they forged an economic alliance with the North who traded finished manufactured products for food. • This relationship was only made stronger by the containment of slavery to the Southern United States. • Preventing slavery from moving west created more (not less) economic opportunity for the Northern and Western citizens. • Although the North was tied to the South by Cotton and Textiles , the Northern economic diversity limited the importance of Southern Cotton . The opportunities in the West were far more important. • The South’s fantasy that “Cotton was King” and consequently the dependence of the North and foreign nations like Great Britain would keep them economically viable caused the South to reject industrialization and remain very static socially, politically, and economically. • The political leadership of the South, although distrusted and disliked by many southerners, was the Planter=Slave Owner Class who believed their livelihood depended on the continued existence and spread of slavery across the nation.

7. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • What role did Cotton play in forming the Southern dependence on Slavery and how did that dependence lead a population of mostly non-slave owning people to be willing to wage war of the “peculiar institution”? • As important as Tobacco, Rice, and Indigo were, no crop was more important to the South than Cotton. • The political leadership of the South postured with the belief that Southern Cotton was so vital to the North that they would continue to compromise on the expansion of slavery into western lands. • Southern politicians used the quotes “Cotton is King” and the “Cotton Kingdom” to emphasize that the Northern economy would collapse without Southern Cotton. • The South would later base much of its military strategy in the Civil War on the delusion that the British would enter the Civil War on the South’s behalf to keep from losing access to their cotton. • Most white southerners were subsistence farmers who owned no slaves, only about 25% of the southern population owned slaves and smaller still was the percentage that owned slaves in large numbers. • Many of these people, though they distrusted the Planter Class, either feared the economic loss that may come from abolition, had dreams of economic growth that would allow them to one day own slaves, or held onto a deep-seeded racism that fostered a belief in white superiority. • The Planter class held the political power, they controlled the flow of information, and they perpetuated the concept of African Slaves as property/investments/second-class humans • The South during this time was a different world, life moved at a slower pace, society was based on rigid social structure, and their was little emphasis on education and social mobility.

8. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • In what ways did the North and the South differ in terms of their views on the Constitution and legality of secession? • Compact Theory • The States, not the people, created the union. • States’ Rights are supreme in conflicts with the laws and actions of the Federal Government • The use of Personal Liberty Laws by Northern States that did not wish to cooperate with the new Federal Fugitive Slave Law drafted in 1850. • The States can deem the laws of the Federal Government null and void if they deem it “necessary and proper” to do so. • The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions • The Hartford Convention • The South Carolina Exposition and Protest (related to the Tariff of Abominations) • The Ordinance of Nullification (1832) (again related to the Tariff of Abominations). • If a State voluntarily joined the Union, it should be able to voluntarily withdraw (secede) from the Union. • Contract Theory • The people, not the States, created the Union. • The Federal Government is Supreme. • Federal laws and actions take precedence over the States. • Reference the rulings of the Marshall Court, John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, and the general intent of the Constitution. • Secession is illegal • Texas v. White (1869) – Supreme Court ruled that Texas had never seceded from the Union, that secession and legislative actions therein were null.

9. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • How did the North and South’s attitudes towards each other affect the general demeanor of the nation towards the issue of slavery, how did it drive the nation out to radical extremes? • The South towards the North • Many southerners saw their society as the peak of chivalrous, gentile living. • Southerners looked upon the cities of the north as dirty, barbaric, and riddled with crime and disease. • Southerners convinced themselves that their treatment of slaves was far more humane than the living and working conditions of the northern “wage slave” (as wage laborers were characterized by the southern Planter Class. • The Planter Class portrayed the slave as an investment (some slaves cost as much as $2000), where the northern wage laborer could be easily replaced the slave had to be cared for and maintained. • Many southerners even perpetuated the myth of the “happy slave” who lived better than most free citizens of the north. • These arguments are rendered ignorant when the truth of harsh mistreatment, dissolving of families, and brutal torture come to light. • The Southerner was convinced that the only reason the north wished to contain slavery was that it would lead to greater economic opportunity and, consequently, more money in the hands of the North’s wealthy elite. • Industrial Capitalists saw the west as a goldmine for economic growth, sought to poison the country with lenient immigration laws, and sought monopoly in the guise of capitalism that would only serve to abuse the consumer and worker as the wealthy elite increased their profit. • Increasingly, political power in the South fell into the hands of “Fire Eaters” (a group of militant political leaders who saw abolition as an act of war against the southern states). • These extremists would not bend on any issue that proposed the containment, let alone the abolition, of slavery.

11. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • How did the North and South’s attitudes towards each other affect the general demeanor of the nation towards the issue of slavery, how did it drive the nation out to radical extremes? • The North towards the South • Don’t make the mistake of believing that most northerners were morally opposed to slavery. • Many northerners, not directly exposed to the institution, were apathetic toward slavery. • Many of those who were opposed to slavery only wished to stop it spreading to the west. • Others, like Abraham Lincoln and James Monroe, supported the American Colonization Society which proposed to move African Slaves back to Africa. This effort ultimately resulted in the formation of Liberia in West Africa and its capitol city of Monrovia. • Most northerners were, however, alarmed by the prospect of slavery expanding into the rich opportunities for economic development in places like Kansas, Oregon, and California. • Slavery was seen as destructive of Capitalism and limiting economic opportunity. • Plantation Agriculture discouraged industrialization. As long as Britain was dependent on Southern Cotton they would continue to provide manufactured and commercial products. • Most northerners saw the South as “old fashioned”, “behind the times”, a static society with little opportunity for economic growth, and therefor not a place for investment and certainly not a place where the “wage laborer” had any future as long as slavery continued to exist. • Because of this very few immigrants settled in the South, most settled in the northern cities or moved into the western territories.

13. Unit 5.1: Sectionalism created divisions socially, economically, and politically. • How did the North and South’s attitudes towards each other affect the general demeanor of the nation towards the issue of slavery, how did it drive the nation out to radical extremes? • From this clash of cultures three groups of extremists emerged that would prove to inflexible on any debate on the issue of slavery. • Increasingly, political power in the South fell into the hands of “Fire Eaters” (a group of militant political leaders who saw abolition as an act of war against the southern states). • The Fire Eaters were militants who would refuse to bend on any compromise that would contain, let alone abolish slavery. • From a combination of Northern Democrats, Whigs, Know-Nothings, and Free Soilers the Republican Party was formed with the motto of “Free Labor, Free Soil, Free Men”. • From the Republican Party would emerge Abraham Lincoln who pledged to halt the westward expansion of slavery and made the famous statement “a house divided cannot stand” quoting biblical scripture. • Rather than working to contain slavery, Abolitionists worked to eliminate the “evil institution”. • The ranks of the Abolitions ranged from speakers and writers like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass to activists like Harriet Tubman to violent radicals like Nat Turner and John Brown.

14. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • Were the compromises of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster really successes or were they only delaying the inevitable? • How did the Compromise of 1850 guarantee that there would be a Civil War? • How did Abraham Lincoln’s emergence in politics become the beginning of the end? • In what ways did Legislation, Court Cases, and acts of violence contribute to the steady move toward Civil War?

15. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • Were the compromises of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster really successes or were they only delaying the inevitable? • Compromises at the Constitutional Convention • The Slave Trade (Commerce) Compromise • Banned the importation of slaves as of 1808 • The Three-Fifths Compromise • Allowed the southern states to count three of every five slaves toward Congressional representation. • The Missouri Compromise of 1820 • This compromise was initially designed to sooth Northern fears of an imbalance in the Senate between Free and Slave states. • Maine was admitted to the Union as a Free State, Missouri as a Slave State. • The Compromise established a dividing line at 36 30 North Latitude. North of the line would be free, south of it would be slave. • Although initially successful, the Compromise would later stir Southern fears of an imbalance in the Senate that would be further stirred by the Wilmot Proposal (banning slavery in all of the Mexican Cession). • The Compromise Tariff of 1833 • This Compromise came in response to John C. Calhoun’s call for secession in South Carolina over the Tariff of Abominations (1828) and President Andrew Jackson’s potential use of the Force Bill to send federal troops into South Carolina to collect the tariff. • The Compromise Tariff lowered the Tariff gradually over the next ten years and John C. Calhoun resigned as Vice President to return to the Senate. • South Carolina was now to the Civil War what Massachusetts was to the Revolution.

16. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • How did the Compromise of 1850 guarantee that there would be a Civil War? • In 1849 Gold is discovered in California and 100,000 settlers move to the territory and apply to enter the Union as a free state. • Southern Fire Eaters were strongly opposed and threatened secession if this occurred. • Henry Clay stepped in and proposed a Compromise, but died (as did John C. Calhoun) before it could be signed into law by President Millard Fillmore. • Clay’s initial attempt to pass each component through Congress individually failed, but after his death Stephen Douglas picked up the Compromise and presented it to Congress as an omnibus bill. The measure passed. • California would enter as a free state • A new Fugitive Slave Law would require the Federal Government to assist in the capture and return of runaway slaves. • The Slave Trade (not ownership) was banned in Washington DC • The territory gained from Mexico (The Mexican Cession) would determine the question of slavery through popular sovereignty . • Popular Sovereignty was the idea of Stephen Douglas • It would allow territorial citizens to vote on the issue of slavery and take the issue out of the hands of the Federal Government. • This would prove to be the final Compromise of the antebellum period.

18. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • How did Abraham Lincoln’s emergence in politics become the beginning of the end? • In 1858 Abraham Lincoln ran for the Senate seat in Illinois against Stephen Douglas (Compromise of 1850). • The two engaged in a series of debates centered around the issue of slavery. • Lincoln’s rhetoric (even though he was not an abolitionist) found favor with those who opposed the westward expansion of slavery and were morally opposed to the institution. • Where Lincoln addressed slavery as a moral issue (“if slavery is not wrong then nothing is”), Stephen Douglas approached slavery as a legal issue. • In the Freeport Doctrine Douglas asserted that slavery could only exist in communities that passed laws (slave codes) to establish and maintain it. • This infuriated Southerners who had latched onto the Dred Scott decision’s ruling that slavery could exist anywhere and that Congress had no right to regulate the property of territorial citizens. • However, Douglas could not say anything else without destroying the credibility of his own doctrine of popular sovereignty. • Abraham Lincoln was then elected President, despite losing the Senatorial election in 1858, in 1860 prompting the secession of seven southern states and the beginning of the Civil War.

20. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • In what ways did Legislation, Court Cases, and acts of violence contribute to the steady move toward Civil War? • The Kansas-Nebraska Act • Stephen Douglas was pushing a Bill that would build a major railroad line through Illinois (through his own landholdings). • To get the Bill passed he went to Southern Democrats and struck a deal that became known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. • The Nebraska Territory would be divided into the Kansas and Nebraska territories. • Settlers there would determine the status of slavery through popular sovereignty. • Northerners were outraged, both these territories were north of 36 30 and deemed free territory by the Missouri Compromise. • So angered were Northerners that they formed the Republican Party with the intent of standing against the “slavocracy” of the South.

22. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • In what ways did Legislation, Court Cases, and acts of violence contribute to the steady move toward Civil War? • The Dred Scott Decision • Scott was a slave who lived in Missouri, then was taken for two years to live in Wisconsin (a free state), then back to Missouri. • Scott sued in Federal Court for his freedom on the grounds that once on free soil he was free. • Headed by Chief Justice Roger Taney, the pro-southern Court went well beyond the scope of the case in its decision. • Congress had no authority to regulate the private property (slaves) of any citizen without due process of law. • The Missouri Compromise was ruled unconstitutional, no w there were no limits on where slavery could or could not exist. • African Americans were not citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue their masters for freedom. • The South saw a great victory in the Dred Scott decision and hoped to capitalize on it and push slavery further west.

24. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • In what ways did Legislation, Court Cases, and acts of violence contribute to the steady move toward Civil War? • Bleeding Kansas: • In 1854 Kansas was granted the right to determine the slavery question by vote. • The majority of Kansas’s population was anti-slavery farmers, so obviously Kansas would vote to become a free territory. • When “border ruffians” from Missouri (a pro-slavery) state began appearing in Kansas the vote came into question. In response organizations like the New England Emigrant Society began sending anti-slavery voters to Kansas. Before long there were more voters than actual residents of Kansas. • Two governments were soon formed in Kansas. • The pro-slavery government formed in Lecompton, Kansas • The anti-slavery government formed in Topeka, Kansas • Hostilities soon ensued • Shortly after the two governments were formed, pro-slavery forced attacked and massacred citizens in the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Kansas (the Sack of Lawrence). • In response to the Sack of Lawrence, John Brown organized a massacre of his own at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas • Together with other events this became a mini-Civil War in Kansas. • In 1856 President Buchanan (the ultimate Shultz) accepted the Lecompton Constitution and put Kansas up as a slave state. • Stephen Douglas united with Congressional Republicans and fought for and won Kansas’s admission as a free state. • The Violence in Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas” and should have warned the nation of what a Civil War would look like.

26. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • In what ways did Legislation, Court Cases, and acts of violence contribute to the steady move toward Civil War? • The Caning of Charles Sumner • Senator Charles Sumner made a harsh speech, “The Crime Against Kansas”, in which Sumner made highly critical, personal, and accusatory remarks about South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler. • Butler’s nephew Congressman Preston Brooks defended his Uncle (who had been absent during the speech) by walking into the Senate and pummeling Sumner with a cane. • Brooks argued that dueling was too good for Sumner, caning was more fitting a dog. • Brooks was censured by the Congress and Sumner was put out of work for three years. • It was not uncommon for Senators and Representatives to begin showing up in the Capitol Building armed.

28. Unit 5.2: Events that demonstrated the breakdown of compromise. • In what ways did Legislation, Court Cases, and acts of violence contribute to the steady move toward Civil War? • John Brown’s (of Pottawatomie Creek) Raid on Harper’s Ferry: • Brown was convinced that the evil Planter-Slave Owner Class in the South could be compelled to end slavery only through bloodshed. • In an attempt to initiate a slave rebellion, Brown resurfaced in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. • Harper’s Ferry was home to a Federal arsenal that Brown hoped to use to arm his slave revolt. • Brown was met there by U.S. Army forces led by Colonel Robert E. Lee • Lee was a rising star in the U.S. Army and would later be Lincoln’s first choice to lead the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War. • Brown’s hope that slaves would flock to him and initiate a rebellion was crushed. • Brown was captured, convicted of Treason against the state of Virginia, and hung for his crimes. • From the gallows, Brown made the famous statement that “the crimes of this guilty land could be purged only through blood” and was considered a martyr for the cause by many northern abolitionists. • The South became increasingly suspicious of northern efforts to cause and contribute to violent slave revolts.

30. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • How did the Election of Abraham Lincoln initiate the Civil War? • What were the strengths and weaknesses of each side entering the War? • What military “turning points” led to the culmination of the Civil War? • In what ways did Grant’s policy of Total War and Sherman’s “March to the Sea” influence the Election of 1864 and help bring the war to an end?

31. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • How did the Election of Abraham Lincoln initiate the Civil War? • The Candidates: • Republican Party: Abraham Lincoln – Contain Slavery to the Southeast. • Northern Democrat Party: Stephen Douglas – Popular Sovereignty should decide the Slavery question. • Southern Democrat Party: John Breckinridge – opposed the containment of slavery. • Constitutional Union Party: John Bell – Preserve the Union; position on slavery was ambiguous. • Lincoln won the election with only 39% of the popular vote and did not appear on many Southern ballots. • South Carolina and six other “Deep South” states seceded immediately upon Lincoln’s election. Others waited to see if Lincoln would use force against South Carolina when he took office in March. • During the “Lame-Duck” period Captain Do-Nothing James Buchanan did nothing about the secessionitis gripping the South.

33. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • What were the strengths and weaknesses of each side entering the War? • The Confederacy • Strengths • Better Generals (Lee and Jackson); many of the West Point grads went with the Confederacy. • Their President, Jefferson Davis, had been the Secretary of War. • Cotton, a profitable commodity, could potentially lure foreign assistance • Weaknesses • Small Population • New and weak central government • Economy was underdeveloped, lacked industry, and depended on foreign powers for manufactured and commercial products. • Lacked a powerful navy • The Union • Strengths • Large Population • More factories, railroads, telegraph lines, food production; did not depend on foreign assistance • Strong and effective political leadership • Although not powerful by European standards, a much more powerful navy than the Confederacy • Weaknesses • A population that was not totally committed to “Lincoln’s War” • Copperheads (Northern Politicians who sympathized with the Confederacy and undermined Lincoln. • Less experienced Generals, although this would change by the end of the war.

34. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • What military “turning points” led to the culmination of the Civil War? • Getting Started • Hostilities commenced on April 12, 1861 when South Carolina artillery batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter. • By not reinforcing Fort Sumter, Lincoln allowed the Confederacy to open hostilities giving him authority to seized greater Executive Powers in the name of suppressing rebellion. • Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion and the remaining Confederate States (North Carolina being the last) seceded from the Union in protest. • In what became known as the Trent Affair, an U.S. warship stopped a British ship carrying two Confederate Diplomats and arrested the two men. The British protested (maybe they forgot the Chesapeake Incident) and Lincoln released the men fearing the British may enter the war. • Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus and arrested hundreds of Confederate sympathizers in an effort to prevent the secession of Maryland. • Possibly most important, Lincoln was able to prevent the secession of Maryland and three other “Border States” (slave states that could have increased the Confederate population by 50%)

36. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • What military “turning points” led to the culmination of the Civil War? • Early Stages of the War: • General Winfield Scott (Mexican War) developed the Union’s strategy for retaking the Confederacy. It featured the capture of Richmond, conquest of the Mississippi River Valley, and a Naval Blockade of Southern ports. It became known as the Anaconda Plan. • The Confederacy’s strategy was based primarily on waging a defensive war (although surviving a long war was unrealistic) and luring assistance from Great Britain (which had recently abolished slavery). • The first major battle of the Civil War was the Battle of First Bull Run, which put on full display how unprepared both sides were for this conflict. • Although it appeared the Union was on the brink of victory, a counterattack led by General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson sent the Union Army into a panicked retreat back to Washington DC. • Some historians argue that if the Confederates had taken advantage of the situation and marched on the Capitol, they may have won the war in 1861. • That assumes the Confederate Army was prepared enough to siege Washington DC.

38. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • What military “turning points” led to the culmination of the Civil War? • The Confederacy’s first invasion of the North: • The brilliance of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was put on display during the Seven Days War (the Peninsula Campaign). • Confederate victory at the Battle of Second Bull Run prompted Lee to launch an invasion of the North to put pressure on Washington DC and attempt to strong-arm a political settlement to the rebellion. At least, he hoped it would encourage the British to recognize the Confederacy and join the war. • Lee’s Army was intercepted at Antietam Creek, defeated, and forced to retreat back into Virginia. • The Battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest days of the Civil War. • Lincoln was furious that his commander did not pursue Lee’s Army into Virginia. • Lincoln used the “victory” (it was really a draw) at Antietam to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which shifted the focus of the war from preserving the Union to abolishing slavery. • This encouraged slaves to run away from the plantations, tying up valuable Confederate resources. • This made possible the enlistment of African American soldiers in the Union Army (400,000). • This destroyed any Confederate hopes that Britain would enter the war.

40. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • What military “turning points” led to the culmination of the Civil War? • Lee’s Second Invasion of the North: • Robert E. Lee’s brilliant victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville (split his force in the face of larger Union adversaries and won anyway), inspired his second invasion of the North. • Lee’s invading Army (against orders) engaged Union Cavalry in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863. • 50,000 casualties were suffered by the two armies at this horrific battle. • Lee ordered the infamous “Pickett’s Charge” on the final day of Gettysburg and much of the Confederate Army was destroyed. • Lincoln would later make his “Gettysburg Address” in memorial of the battle and his words gave purpose to the war, redefined the Union , and stated that slavery was the “unfinished business” these men had died for. • When combined with the Union victory at Vicksburg (giving the Union Army control of the Mississippi River Valley) Gettysburg becomes the “Turning Point” of the Civil War. The Confederate Army would never fully recover and the end of the War was at least conceivable at this point.

42. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • In what ways did Grant’s policy of Total War and Sherman’s “March to the Sea” influence the Election of 1864 and help bring the war to an end? • Grant takes command: • Grant had been placed in command of the Union Army in the west successfully sieging Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson. Grant’s conquest of the Northern Mississippi River was completed at the horrific Battle of Shiloh. • Grant’s push into the State of Mississippi was complimented by the capture of the city of New Orleans by the U.S. Navy commanded by David Farragut. • Grant completed his conquest of the Mississippi River Valley on July 4, 1863 when he finally completed his siege of Vicksburg (the same day that Lee was defeated at Gettysburg). • In early 1864, Lincoln named Ulysses S. Grant commander of all Union Armies.

43. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • In what ways did Grant’s policy of Total War and Sherman’s “March to the Sea” influence the Election of 1864 and help bring the war to an end? • Grant launches a “war of attrition”. • Grant’s strategy revolved around the concept of “Total War”. He would not worry about strategic targets, simply hounding the weakened Army of Northern Virginia till it could no longer exist as a viable fighting force. • The Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor all demonstrated that Grant (“The Butcher”) was willing to suffer horrific casualties in order to reduce the Confederate Army and force them into a defensive perimeter around Richmond. • Further South, Grant authorized General William T. Sherman to make his infamous march to Atlanta, which led to the “March to the Sea” ending with the burning of Columbia, South Carolina the Capitol of the state and seat of secession. • Sherman’s forces burned cotton fields, barns, homes, anything the Confederate Army could use (military or civilian) to survive. • Sherman’s forces burned Atlanta, Georgia • Sherman’s path of destruction broke the will of many Southerners to fight on and helped bring a swift end to the war.

45. Unit 5.3: Military “turning points” that led to the end of the Civil War • In what ways did Grant’s policy of Total War and Sherman’s “March to the Sea” influence the Election of 1864 and help bring the war to an end? • The Election of 1864 and the end of the war: • The fall of Atlanta and the support of federal troops through absentee ballots helped Lincoln win reelection in 1864 facing stiff opposition from General George McClellan and the Democrat Party. • On April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House ending the Civil War. • Ulysses S. Grant tried to set the tone for Reconstruction by allowing the Confederates to leave Appomattox Court House with their weapons and their horses believing the war in earnest was over. • Five days after Lee’s surrender Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. The loss of Lincoln and the outrage over his murder doomed the nation to a vicious period of Radical Reconstruction.

48. Unit 5.4: The Legacy of the American Civil War. • In what ways was the Civil War crucial to the development of the United States and the Federal System in general? • What were some of the costs of war? • How did the “Federal Union” continue business during the Civil War? • What was Lincoln’s approach to Reconstruction as Confederate States were reconquered?

49. Unit 5.4: The Legacy of the American Civil War. • In what ways was the Civil War crucial to the development of the United States and the Federal System in general? • The War was a catalyst in the industrialization of the United States and industrial capitalist class became dominant in American society. • The Federal government was deemed paramount in relation to the states. • The War forever ended the institution of slavery (13th Amendment).

50. Unit 5.4: The Legacy of the American Civil War. • What were some of the costs of war? • The Civil War cost roughly $7 Billion in 1860 dollars ($76 Billion in today’s money). • 618,000 dead in combat • Immense property damage • The Southern economy was in ruins • Northern “carpetbaggers” came south to buy land cheap and flip the real estate for profit. • Though the war was over and slavery ended, sectional differences still remained to haunt the Reconstruction process.