The American Civil War

The American Civil War Jan 2011 C. Corning

Civil War • Definition • What other Civil Wars have you studied? Common Characteristics?

Characteristics of a Civil War • An organized military action – 1,000 battle deaths/year and 5% of deaths inflicted by the weaker party. • At least two factions within a single country/nation-state – one of which is the national government – which are divided over religious, ideological, political, economic and/or social issues. • The war occurs in the country in which the opposing factions originate and the primary leadership of each faction is from that country.

Why Study the American Civil War? • The Civil War remains the deadliest and most destructive of all America’s wars. • The first modern war on the continent (and maybe the world). • Only conflict in U.S. history fought entirely on the nation’s soil. • Strengthened the power of the Federal Government. • Forever destroyed the institution of slavery in the U.S.

Causes of the American Civil War • Economic and social differences between the North and the South. • States versus federal rights. • The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents. • Growth of the Abolition Movement. • The election of Abraham Lincoln.

Causes • Economic and social differences between the North and the South: • The southern economy became a one crop economy, depending on cotton and therefore on slavery. • On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. In fact, the northern industries were purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. • This disparity between the two set up a major difference in economic attitudes.

Causes • States versus federal rights. • Many States Rights proponents felt that the U.S. Constitution ignored the rights of states to continue to act independently. • They felt that the states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. This resulted in the idea of nullification, whereby the states would have the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. • The federal government denied states this right. However, proponents such as John C. Calhoun fought vehemently for nullification. When nullification would not work and states felt that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession.

Causes • The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents. • Missouri Compromise passed in 1820 made a rule that prohibited slavery in states from the former Louisiana Purchase the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes north except in Missouri. • Wilmot Provision in 1846 which would ban slavery in the new lands. However, this was shot down to much debate. • The Compromise of 1850 was created by Henry Clay and others to deal with the balance between slave and free states, northern and southern interests. Many of these states were formed in territory won in the Mexican-American War (1846 – 1848). • Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It created two new territories that would allow the states to use popular sovereignty to determine whether they would be free or slave.

Causes • Growth of the Abolition Movement. • Increasingly, the northerners became more polarized against slavery. Sympathies began to grow for abolitionists and against slavery and slaveholders. • Major events included: • the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, • The Dred Scott Case • John Brown's Raid • Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act that held individuals responsible for harboring fugitive slaves even if they were located in non-slave states.

Causes • The election of Abraham Lincoln • When Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina issued its "Declaration of the Causes of Secession." They believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of Northern States’ interests. • Before Lincoln was even president, seven states had seceded from the Union: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

The Birth of the Republican Party • Question: Why do new political parties form? • By the end of the 1850s the nation’s political landscape had shifted. New concerns – increase in immigration, Whig party split over the issue of slavery and a weak Democratic party. (Review pg 320) • Nativism – Know Nothing Party • Free-Soil Party – no more extension of slavery (however not a party of abolitionism). • Discontented Whigs formed the Republican party (sound familiar? Ie the Tea Party?).

Events Leading up to Secession • Slavery begins to dominate most political discussions • Dred Scott Decision (1857) – Roger Taney’s Majority Opinion “Constitutional Rights Do Not Extend to Blacks” • He was the Chief Justice – blacks cannot be citizens • Lincoln-Douglas Debates – 1858 Illinois Senate Race • Douglas (D) supported popular sovereignty (believed that slavery would die out) • Lincoln (R) – slavery was immoral, fear that it would spread to new territories • Harpers Ferry (VA) – John Brown Oct 1859 – “slave uprising”

Lincoln’s Election • 1860 Presidential Election – three candidates: Lincoln (R), Douglas (D) and Breckinridge (D) • Lincoln won but with less than half of popular vote – not a strong “mandate” – no electoral votes from the South • The South felt that they had no voice in national politics • South Carolina seceded from the Union on Dec 20, 1860, followed by Mississippi and Florida in Jan 1861 • Later Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas • Feb 1861 – delegates from these states met – formed the Confederate States of America (The Confederacy) • Constitution similar – but “protected and recognized” slavery • Jefferson Davis - President

The Beginning • After the seven southern states seceded and formed the Confederacy, soldiers began to take over federal buildings in their states – government buildings and military installations. • Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor – Confederates demanded surrender, Lincoln only sent food, Confederates attack April 12, 1861. • Lincoln responded by calling for 75,000 troops • April 17th Virginia seceded (unwilling to fight against other southern states) and brought ironworks and factories to the Confederate side. • By May Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina secede • Western counties of Virginia secede from VA and become West Virginia (1863 statehood – special exception) • Four remaining slave states: Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri remain in the Union.

Military History • Northern and Southern Resources – page 339 – unevenly matched (although it could be argued at the beginning of the war that the South had better military leadership!) • Strategy: both sides thought it would be a quick war • Union pursued what became known as the Anaconda Plan – three prong strategy: • Navy Blockade Southern ports • Union riverboats and armies move down Mississippi Rv – why? • Union armies capture the Confederate capital – Richmond, VA • Confederacy – mainly defensive strategy

Battles • How to read a military history map – the “key” is crucial! • Pages 340, 358, 361, 363, • First Battle of Bull Run – July 21, 1861 – about 25 miles south of Union capital and 100 miles north of the Confederate capital. • Lasted most of the day, Union winning in the morning but the Confederate rallying in the afternoon, led by Stonewall Jackson • Lincoln responded to the Union lost by calling up 1 million men for a three year enlistment and appointed George McClellan as commander of Union Army (aka Army of the Potomac).

Battles in the West • Feb 1862, the Union army led by Ulysses S. Grant invaded western Tennessee - within 2 weeks captured Ft. Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. • March 1862, Grant camped his army near a Tennessee church named Shiloh, close to the Mississippi border. • April - Confederate soldiers surprised the Union army and inflicted significant casualties before the Union army could re-group and force Confederate forces to retreat. • Both sides became aware of the need for defensive measures while “in camp”, bloody engagement and failure of Confederates to hold onto Ohio-Kentucky frontier. • April – Union takes hold of New Orleans – why significant?

Battle for the Seas • March 1862, the ironclads theMonitor (Union) and the Merrimack (Confederate) fought a duel at sea. • Ironclad ships could splinter wooden ships, withstand cannon fire and resist burning. • The Merrimack attached three Union ships, the Monitor responded the attack and in the end the battle was a draw. • The Confederate submarine CSS Hunley (named for one of its financiers, Horace Lawson Hunley) was intended for attacking the North's ships, which were blockading the South's seaports. The sub was extremely hazardous to operate, and had no air supply other than what was contained inside the main compartment. February 17, 1864, it sank the USS Housatonic off Charleston Harbor.

The War for the Capitals • The third prong of the Union strategy was to capture the Confederate capital. Problem: Gen McClellan was slow to act and did not move against Richmond until the spring of 1862. • McClellan moves South and into the armies of Robert E. Lee – Seven Days’ Battles (June 25 – July 1, 1862). McClellan moved away from Richmond and headed towards the sea. • Lee captured the advantage of momentum and moved against the Washington D.C. On August 29 and 30, his troops won a big victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run. A few days later Lee takes his army across the Potomac River into Maryland. • McClellan ordered his army to intercept and the two armies fought at Antietam on Sept 17th – bloodiest single day battle in US history. • Union victory but Lee is able to retreat and Lincoln fires McClellan.

The Politics of War • At the beginning of the war, the Southern states expected Britain to support them – why? • However Britain pursues a policy of neutrality – India and wheat. • The abolition movement pressured Lincoln to resolve the question of slavery • Although Lincoln did not agree with slavery, he felt that the federal gov’t did not have the power to abolish it where it already existed. • “My … object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy Slavery.” • Just as Union soldiers could confiscate Confederate supplies, Lincoln also authorized the army to emancipate slaves. • Since England support abolitionism, this was also a diplomatic move. • gg

Emancipation Proclamation 1863 • Excerpt on page 346 – the proclamation only applied to those slaves within States that were in a state of rebellion. • It did NOT free any slaves immediately because it only applied to those slaves in Confederate areas, outside Union control. • Did not apply to those areas of the south under Union military control nor to slave states who did not secede. • Reactions: turned the fight into a moral struggle and allowed free blacks to enlist in the Union army. ( Blacks already were used in the Confederate army as “labor”.) • Democrats concerned that it would antagonize the South • Confederacy saw this as confirmation of their fears about federal gov’t. • Now there was no opportunity for compromise to end the war.

Problems Associated with Civil Wars • How to deal with dissenters? • Neither side is homogenous – there were Confederate sympathizers in the North and the same in the South. How did each gov’t handle their critics? • Lincoln often suspended habeas corpus – suspected Confed. sympathizers were arrested and held without trial; he also sent federal troops against civilian populations and seized telegram offices. • What was the constitutionality of his actions? • Jefferson Davis also had to suspended many civil liberties. • Lincoln’s actions set a precedent for the expansion of Presidential power in a time of war. (WWII, Vietnams, Iraqi War)

Problems Associated with Civil Wars • How to Find Soldiers for Your Army? • Volunteers – initially usually a good number but usually not enough to staff a full military fighting force • Conscription – the draft that forces certain members of the population to serve in the Army • Union – men 20 – 45 years old– passed in 1863; however 92% of Union forces were volunteer • Draft riots in New York – immigrants – not our war • Breakdown of social stablility • Confederate – men 18 – 35 years old (later 17 – 50) passed in 1862, “rich man’s war but poor man’s fight” - ??

Other Wartime Issues • African-American Soldiers • Slave Resistance in the Confederacy • Inflation and Shortages in the South • Northern Economic Growth • Health and Sanitation issues – disease, Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton (trained nurses) • Prisoners of War – Andersonville, prisoner exchange, treatment of Black Union soldiers

Battle of Antietam • Article’s Thesis: • Impact of the Battle on the rest of the war: • Legacy of the Civil War:

Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg • Battle of Gettysburg (Penn.) – July 1863 – three day battle. Lee, Jackson, A.P. Hill, James Longstreet and Jeb Stuart vs. George Meade and David Gregg (map pg 361) • Result: Both sides suffer massive casualties (close to 30%), Lee forced to retreat south (never to penetrate North again) • Nov 1863 – Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – “Four score and seven years…” (page 361) • Vicksburg Campaign (Miss) – April to July 1863 – Grant set up a seige, by July the Confederate commander surrendered and the Confederacy was cut in two.

Civil War 1863- 1865 • Confederacy is weak – low on food, supplies, guns and ammunition – holding on long enough for an armistice, rather than a surrender. • Deteriorating civilian morale, some planters continue to grow cash crops to sell North, increasing desertions, discord within the Confed. gov’t, growth of peace movements • March, 1864 – Grant becomes the commander of all Union armies and appoints William Sherman as commander of the western division. • Both focused on total war, with the goal of destroying the South’s will to fight/support the war

Beginning of the End • Grant occupies Lee in Virginia while Sherman focused on Georgia, the last strong hold of the Confederacy (pg 363) • Grant was willing to suffer high casualties in order to force Lee into surrender – “The Butcher” • Sherman’s March – Fall of 1864 – he abandon’s his supply line and marches his army through Georgia, living off the land and creating a wide path of destruction culminating in the burning of Atlanta in November. • Then the Army turned north to help Grant, 25,000 former slaves following, greater destruction in South Carolina • 1864 Presidential election – pg 364

Surrender at Appomattox • Sherman approaching Richmond from the South, Grant and Sheridan from the West • Grant wins against Lee at Petersburg, President Davis and his cabinet abandon Richmond and set it on fire • Lee and Grant met to arrange a Confederate surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House • At Lincoln’s request, the terms were generous: Lee’s soldiers were paroled and sent home with rations. • The war was over.

Legacy of the War • Political Changes • Economic Changes • Social Changes • Assassination of Pres. Lincoln – April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth (Southern sympathizer) killed him in the Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. – Andrew Johnson becomes President

Restoration • Reconstruction – the period during which the United States began to rebuild after the Civil War, 1865 – 1877. • Lincolns Reconstruction Plan – wanted a lenient plan, to make it as quick and painless as possible, 10% plan to reinstate a new state gov’t and gain representation in Congress • Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia first states • Radical Republicans disagreed with the plan and wanted to punish the former slave holders, and give former slaves full citizenship and the right to vote • Pass Wade-Davis Bill – Congress, not the President, responsible of the reconstruction – Lincoln pulled a “pocket veto”. • Johnson intended to deal harshly with the Confederate leaders

Johnston’s Plan • The remaining Confederate states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas) could be readmitted to the Union if: • Each state withdrew its secession • Swear allegiance to the Union • Annul Confederate war debts • Ratify the 13th Amendment • Johnson wanted to prevent high-ranking Confederates and wealthy Southern landowners from taking the oath for voting privileges. • Radicals Republicans were upset because Johnson failed to address the needs of former slaves: land, voting rights and protection under the law. But the white Southerners were relieved.

The Southern Response • The remaining Confederate states quickly agreed to Johnson’s terms. All the states (except for Texas) held conventions to draw up new state constitutions, set up new state governments and elect new representatives to Congress. • Congress in Dec 1865 refused to seat the Southern Congressmen • The moderate Republicans enlarged the Freedmen’s Bureau in Feb 1866 to assist former slaves • April 1866 the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which gave African-Americans citizenship and forbade discriminatory laws (black codes). • Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and Civil Rights Act.

Congressional Reconstruction • Congress is unhappy with the President’s plan and the radical and moderate Republicans worked together to shift the power over the Reconstruction program to the Congress. • 14th Amendment in 1866 – passage in 1868 (all Southern states except for Tennessee reject it). • Reconstruction Act of 1867 – did not recognize any State Gov’ts formed under Lincoln or Johnson’s plan (WHAT??) except Tenn because it had ratified the 14th Amendment • The act divided the other 10 former Confederate States into 5 military districts, each headed by a Union General. The voters – white and African-American men – would elect delegates to conventions to draft new state constitutions and elect representatives to Congress (sound familiar?) • States had to ratify the 14th Amendment and ensure the African-American men could vote in order to be readmitted to the Union.

Reconstruction Terms • 15th Amendment • Public Works Program • Scalawags • Carpetbaggers • Black migration – to southern cities • Segregation • 40 Acres and Mule • Restoration of Plantation System, Sharecropping and Tenant Farming

Collapse of Reconstruction • White Southerners were divided about the reaction to the role of African-Americans in government. Most Southerners wanted to move on and restore political, economic and social stability however a minority of Southerners were very unhappy and used violence against African-Americans • Ku Klux Klan (KKK) – started as a social club for Confederate soldiers, started in Tennessee in 1866, by 1868 in every southern state. • The KKK used both the threats of physical violence and economic pressure to prevent the African-Americans from making progress • By May 1872, the Amnesty Act was passed which allowed former Confederate leaders to hold federal and state offices – most of whom would vote Democratic.

The Pendulum Swings the Other Way • The Republicans suffer a serious of political scandals which eventually divide the Republican party • The Panic of 1873 – what was the effect on the Republican party? • Supreme Court began to undo some of the more radical social and political changes made by the Radical Republicans. • Northern voters began to grow weary of the problems in the South and of the Reconstruction process • Redemption Process (1869 – 1875) – Democrats regaining control of Southern state governments. Federal Troops removed – “home rule”

Legacy of Reconstruction • Was the Reconstruction process a success or a failure? (pg 400) • Legacy? Short-term? Long-term? (pgs 400 – 401)

The American Civil War