The North and the South: Slavery and Divisions in America

2. Anglophone Studies I Week 7 NotesNov. 13, 2018. Chapter 11 (The North and the South) and Chapter 12 (the Civil War) from An Illustrated History of the USA

3. Chapter 11: North and South -7.2 million people in the U.S. in 1810. Of those, 1.2 million were black, and slaves -many of the founding fathers were landowners in southern states that held slaves, even if it made some of them-like Washington and Jefferson-uncomfortable-but how to solve the question of cultivating tobacco, rice, cotton, without slaves? -farms in the north were smaller, climate cooler, slaves not needed-some opposed slavery for moral and religious reasons-called abolitionists-folks who wanted slavery ended (abolished) by law. By early 19th century, northern states had passed laws abolishing slavery, but also convinced Congress in 1808 to pass law making it illegal for new slaves to be brought to the States from Africa

4. -fierce arguments by the 1820’s between northern and southern politicians about whether slavery should be allowed in new territories being settled in the West-argument focused on Missouri (part of Louisiana purchase)-eventually led to compromise-allowed there and Arkansas, but banned in the west and north of Missouri-known as the MISSOURI COMPROMISE -early 1830’s argument over import duties-northern states in favor because protected their young industries against foreign manufactured goods-southern opposed because relied on them for necessities and luxuries (this would raise the price)

5. -John C. Calhoun-southern political leader-claimed state had right to disobey any federal law if the state believed it would harm its interests-became known as the states’ rights doctrine -Senator Daniel Webster (Massachusetts) opposed states’ rights doctrine-stated that the power to decide if federal authorities acting rightly or wrongly belonged to the Supreme Court, not the individual states-if states were to disobey federal govt., it would become a ‘mere rope of sand’-believed it was a serious threat to U.S. unity

6. -in 1846, U.S. divided Oregon Territory with Britain-1848 took vast areas of the Southwest from Mexico-again, new land acquisitions raised question of the Missouri compromise

7. -1850 another compromise-California admitted as free state, while those in Utah and New Mexico given the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery-Congress passed a new Fugitive Slave Act to make it easier for southerners to recapture slaves who escaped from masters to free states-slave owners offered rewards, ‘bounties,’ for runaway slaves to be returned, which created bounty hunters, who made their living hunting down fugitive slaves to collect rewards-they could now search free states for escaped slaves-this Act made many northerners angry-some northern judges refused to enforce it-others provided food, money, hiding places-some mapped out routes and helped move runaway slaves at night, with the final stop being Canada-called the Underground Railroad-those providing money for this were called ‘stockholders,’ the guides were ‘conductors,’ the hiding places were ‘depots,’ all words related to ordinary railroads

8. -many conductors were former slaves themselves, if caught they could be enslaved again, or killed.

9. -Senator Stephen Douglas persuaded Congress to end the Missouri Compromise in 1854. West of Missouri was Kansas, Congress voted to let its people decide if they wanted slavery there-a race started to control Kansas-people from both sides started to pour in, pro-slavery raiders burned a town called Lawrence and killed some people, John Brown in reply led a raid to kill some supporters of slavery-because of all this fighting, Americans began to call the situation, ‘bleeding Kansas’ -because of all this trouble, Congress delayed its admission to the U.S., as neither side won the struggle to control Kansas.

10. -1858, a slave named Dred Scott had been taken by his owner to live in a free state-he asked the Supreme Court to declare this made him legally free-Court refused-said black slaves had no rights as American citizens-added that Congress had gone beyond its constitutional powers in claiming the right to prohibit slavery in the western territories-the Dred Scott Case decision caused waves-opponents to slavery were horrified, slave owners happy-it appeared that the Supreme Court was saying that free states had no right to forbid slavery within their boundaries, and that slave owners could make slaves work anywhere-a few years earlier, opponents to slavery had formed a new political group called the Republican Party

11. -there was a series of public debates between Senator Stephen Douglas and a Republican incumbent named Abraham Lincoln-this was in Illinois-Lincoln said spread of slavery must be stopped, willing to accept it in states where it already existed, but that’s that-famous quote ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand’-lost to Douglas for seat in Congress-but his stand against slavery impressed people-in 1860 chosen as Republican candidate for U.S. presidency

12. -meanwhile, John Brown who fought in bleeding Kansas tried to start a slave rebellion in Virginia-attacked an army weapons store in Harpers Ferry-failed-captured, tried for treason, hanged-northerners saw him as a martyr against slavery-southerners saw it as a sign that the North was preparing to use force to end slavery in the South-they threatened to break away from the U.S. if Lincoln became president, to ‘secede’-all southern states majority voted against Lincoln, in the north he was supported and won-a few weeks later, Dec. 1860, South Carolina voted to secede from the U.S., 10 more southern states followed-these 11 called themselves the Confederate States of America, aka the Confederacy, in Feb. 1861-the Civil War was about to begin

13. -Eli Whitney and the cotton gin-short for engine-back in 1793 a young schoolteacher visited friends in Georgia, main crop was cotton, which was sent to mills in England to be processed but had to remove the seeds beforehand, which was a painstaking job done by hand-this allowed for a huge increase in amount of cotton that could be grown-by 1820 the output was 8,000 times higher than in 1791-achieved by bringing in more slaves as well-slavery referred to by southern states as their ‘peculiar institution’

14. -William Lloyd Garrison-a Boston writer who wanted slavery ended immediately and without compromises. Jan. 1, 1831, produced first issue of The Liberator, a newspaper dedicated to ending slavery.

15. -Harriet Tubman-most famous ‘conductor’-born 1821 in Maryland, escaped 1849 to Philadelphia, joined Underground Railroad, could not read or write, over ten years made 19 trips into slave states, led more than 300 to freedom-took them to New York, Philly, other northern cities, when Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850, continued to Canada-worked during the Civil War as a nurse, cook, laundress with the Union armies, moved to Auburn, NY after the Civil War where she helped people by using the profits from her autobiography, was a living legend by the time she died in 1913

16. Chapter 12: The Civil War -Lincoln took oath as Prez of U.S. March 4, 1861, less than a month after the founding of the Confederacy-he appealed to the southern states to stay in the Union in his inauguration speech-promised not to interfere with slavery in any of them, but warned he would not allow them to break up the U.S. by seceding-southern states ignored his appeal-April 12, Confederate guns fired on Ft. Sumter, fortress in harbor of Charleston, SC, which was occupied by U.S. troops

17. -Lincoln called for 75K men to fight to save the Union-Jefferson Davis, newly elected prez of the Confederate States, made similar appeal-volunteers rushed forward in the thousands on both sides -this decision sometimes split families-Lincoln’s 3 brothers-in-law died fighting for the South-two brothers became generals on opposite sides

18. -first months of war, Union warships blockaded ports of the South to prevent them from selling cotton abroad and obtaining foreign supplies -north was stronger than south in both numbers and material goods-North had 23 million, South had 9 million, of which 3.5 million were slaves-north grew more food crops, had 5x the manufacturing capacity, most of the country’s weapon factories-was able to maintain its soldiers with more weapons, clothing, food

19. -problem: only way for North to win the war would be to invade the South and occupy it-the South did not-they did not need to conquer the north to win independence, just to hold out until the North grew tired of fighting-many southerners believed this was doable-many of the best officers were southerners, good at organizing-grown up on farms, expert riders, marksmen, plus since nearly all the fighting took place in the South, the Confederacy had home advantage, and fought probably with more spirit to defend what was theirs

20. -Southerners denied they were fighting to preserve slavery-majority were poor farmers who owned no slaves-said they were fighting for their independence from the North, just as their grandfathers had done against the British almost 100 years earlier

21. -war mostly took place in Virginia and other east coast states, and in the Mississippi valley-Union armies suffered lots of defeats in Virginia during the 1st year of the war-tried to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital-it was a place where many rivers cut through the roads, and had skillful leaders, such as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. These early defeats discouraged northern supporters for a while-the flood of volunteers dried up-but its forces in the Mississippi valley had more success-New Orleans was captured in April 1862-the South’s largest city-by spring 1863, Union armies closing in on Vicksburg in Mississippi, an important Confederate stronghold-after a 6-week siege, Vicksburg surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant-this was a huge blow to the south-Union now controlled the whole length of the Mississippi, which split the Confederacy in two-a western Confederate state like Texas could not send any more men or supplies to the east

22. -but in 1863, many northerners were tired of war, sickened by heavy cost in lives and money, General Lee-Confederate commander, believed if he could win a decisive victory on northern soil, popular opinion might force the Union to make peace -last week of June 1863, Lee marched into Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, biggest battle ever fought in the U.S., 50K men killed or wounded in 3 days, on the 4th, Lee broke off and retreated into the South, and the Confederate army would never recover from that defeat -by 1864, Confederacy running out of almost everything, men, equipment, food, money. November 1864, Union army led by General Sherman began to march through Georgia, destroying everything in their path-tore up railroad tracks, burned crops, buildings, drove off cattle, occupied Savannah on Dec. 22, splitting the Confederacy east to west this time, then turned north, marched through N and S Carolina, made way for Richmond

23. -Richmond was already in danger because of General Grant-by March 1865, Grant had had almost encircled, on April 2nd Lee forced to abandon it to save army from being trapped, headed south, hoped to fight from safety of mountains, Grant followed, Union soldiers blocked Lee, he was trapped, April 9, 1865 surrendered at Appomattox -Grant treated defeated Confederate soldiers generously-they gave up weapons, promised never to fight the U.S. again, he let them go home, told them to keep their horses for the ploughing

24. -Civil War gave final answers to two questions that had divided the U.S. ever since it became an independent nation-1. Put an end to slavery-in 1865 it was abolished everywhere by the 13th amendment. 2. Finally decided that the U.S. was one nation, whose parts could not be divided -bitter memories left of the war-caused terrible destruction-southern cities and farms in ruins-more Americans died in this war than in any other, before or since-dead totaled 635k by the end

25. -Emancipation Proclamation-Prez Lincoln realized North would win war only if he could arose more enthusiasm for its cause (summer of 1862)=on September 22nd, issued Eman. Proc. To this end-declared from Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves were to be made free but only if they lived in areas that were a part of the Confederacy-this proclamation changed the purpose of the war-it changed from a struggle to preserve the union to also include the abolishment of slavery-not everyone impressed by this action at the time-Lord Palmerston of Great Britain said that all he had done was to abolish slavery where he did not have the power to do so while protecting it where he had the power to destroy it-true, but afterward everyone knew it was just a matter of time before slavery ended everywhere

26. -the Gettysburg Address-a few months after the battle, on Nov. 19, 1863, Lincoln traveled there to dedicate a part of the battlefield as a national war cemetery-gave speech starting ‘fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’ –his speech became even more famous than the battle-in later years came to be seen as a moving expression of faith in the basic principles of democratic democracy

27. Week 7 Anglophone Studies I USA Audiovisual Resources Cold Mountain Lincoln Django Unchained