Causes of the Civil War Expansion Regional differences, states rights Slavery, but most northerners were not big abolitionists Era of Reform Fugitive Slave Law Uncle Tom’s Cabin Unfair advantage Immigrants in North USA = “home of the free” Republican party

Why did Southerners defend slavery? Economic ruin “American Dream” States rights Cultural “elite” want to keep their privileges

How did the war start? Missouri Compromise Turner’s Revolt Annexation of Texas / Mexican War Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Act Uncle Tom’s Cabin Kansas Nebraska Act Dred Scott Brown’s Raid Republican Party Lincoln’s Election “A house divided against itself cannot stand”

Secession Seen as a right in the south Buchanan said he wouldn’t stop it Lincoln said he wouldn’t allow it Fort Sumter Virginia

President Buchanan: State of the Union December 3,1860 Throughout the year since our last meeting the country has been eminently prosperous in all its material interests. The general health has been excellent, our harvests have been abundant, and plenty smiles throughout the land. Why is it, then, that discontent now so extensively prevails, and the Union of the States, which is the source of all these blessings, is threatened with destruction? The long-continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery in the Southern States has at length produced its natural effects. The different sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other, and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, when hostile geographical parties have been formed. The immediate peril arises not so much from these causes as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile insurrections. Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and children before the morning.

We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the 23d day of May, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved. South Carolina Articles of Secession December 20,1860

Jefferson Davis – Farewell address in US Senate January 1861 I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the State of Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people, in convention assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. Under these circumstances, of course, my functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear in the Senate to announce that fact to my associates, and I will say but very little more. The occasion does not invite me to go into argument; and my physical condition would not permit me to do so, if it were otherwise; and yet it seems to become me to say something on the part of the State I here represent on an occasion as solemn as this. A great man who now reposes with his fathers, and who has often been arraigned for want of fealty to the Union, advocated the doctrine of nullification because it preserved the Union. It was because of his deep- seated attachment to the Union—his determination to find some remedy for existing ills short of a severance of the ties which bound South Carolina to the other States—that Mr. Calhoun advocated the doctrine of nullification, which he proclaimed to be peaceful, to be within the limits of State power, not to disturb the Union, but only to be a means of bringing the agent before the tribunal of the States for their judgement.

Diary of Mary Chestnut – Charleston SC November 8, December 27, 1860 CHARLESTON, S. C., November 8, Yesterday on the train, just before we reached Fernandina, a woman called out: "That settles the hash." Tanny touched me on the shoulder and said: "Lincoln's elected." "How do you know?" "The man over there has a telegram." The excitement was very great. Everybody was talking at the same time. One, a little more moved than the others, stood up and said despondently: "The die is cast; no more vain regrets; sad forebodings are useless; the stake is life or death." "Did you ever!" was the prevailing exclamation, and some one cried out: "Now that the black radical Republicans have the power I suppose they will Brown 1 us all. " No doubt of it.1 I have always kept a journal after a fashion of my own, with dates and a line of poetry or prose, mere quotations, which I understood and no one else, and I have kept letters and extracts from the papers. From to-day forward I will tell the story in my own way. I now wish I had a chronicle of the two delightful and eventful years that have just passed. Those delights have fled and one's breath is taken away to think what events have since crowded in. Like the woman's record in her journal, we have had "earthquakes, as usual" - daily shocks.

Diary of Mary Chestnut – Charleston SC November 8, December 27, 1860 December 27th. - Mrs. Gidiere came in quietly from her marketing to-day, and in her neat, incisive manner exploded this bombshell:. "Major Anderson has moved into Fort Sumter, while Governor Pickens slept serenely." The row is fast and furious now. State after State is taking its forts and fortresses. They say if we had been left out in the cold alone, we might have sulked a while, but back we would have had to go, and would merely have fretted and fumed and quarreled among ourselves. We needed a little wholesome neglect. Anderson has blocked that game, but now our sister States have joined us, and we are strong. I give the condensed essence of the table-talk: "Anderson has united the cotton States. Now for Virginia!" "Anderson has opened the ball." Those who want a row are in high glee. Those who dread it are glum and thoughtful enough. A letter from Susan Rutledge: "Captain Humphrey folded the United States Army flag just before dinnertime. Ours was run up in its place. You know the Arsenal is in sight. What is the next move? I pray God to guide us. We stand in need of wise counsel; something more than courage. The talk is: 'Fort Sumter must be taken; and it is one of the strongest forts.' How in the name of sense are they to manage? I shudder to think of rash moves."

Fort Sumter – April 1861

Strengths and Weaknesses Population North 21 million South 9 million Factories North 110,000 South 20,000 Bank Deposits North $207millionSouth $47million Miles of Railroad Track North 22,000South 9,000

So if the North had all the advantages, why did the war take so long?

What advantage did South have? Army officers Defensive war Support of England

To GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT Commander-in-Chief, United States Army Arlington, Washington City P.O. April 20, 1861 General: Since my interview with you on the 18th instant I have felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the Army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I request you will recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at once, but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted all the best years of my life & all the ability I possessed. During the whole of that time, more than 30 years, I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors, & the most cordial friendship from my companions. To no one Genl have I been as much indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness & consideration, & it has always been my ardent desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry with me to the grave the most grateful recollections of your kind consideration, & your name & fame will always be dear to me. Save in the defence of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the continuance of your happiness & prosperity & believe me most truly yours R. E. LEE

Key People Lincoln McClellan Burnside Hooker Grant Sherman Johnson Davis Lee Jackson Stuart Longstreet Boothe

How Bad Was It? Technology 1812 era tactics with 1860s technology Canister Shells Rifles Revolvers

Key Events List 1 st Battle of Bull Run Strategies Blockade, Mississippi, Attrition Peninsula Campaign Shiloh Antietam Emancipation Proclamation Fredericksburg Gettysburg Vicksburg March to the Sea Appomattox Lincoln’s Assasination

1 st Battle of Bull Run Political Pressure for fight Union Army disorganized / untrained March to Manassas Washington Society goes as spectators Initial advance repulsed, –Jackson arrives –Secondary advance smashed –Free for all retreat Myth of quick war smashed Trains / casualties String of Rebel Victories follows

Early part of the war Lincoln’s general problems – “the slows” Anaconda Plan Peninsula Campaign Antietam Fredericksburg Emancipation

Abraham Lincoln – State of the Union December 1861 A disloyal portion of the American people have during the whole year been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect abroad, and one party, if not both, is sure sooner or later to invoke foreign intervention. Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although measures adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious to those adopting them. The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered the ruin of our country in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked abroad have received less patronage and encouragement than they probably expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have seemed to assume, that foreign nations in this case, discarding all moral, social, and treaty obligations, would act solely and selfishly for the most speedy restoration of commerce, including especially the acquisition of cotton, those nations appear as yet not to have seen their way to their object more directly or clearly through the destruction than through the preservation of the Union. If we could dare to believe that foreign nations are actuated by no higher principle than this, I am quite sure a sound argument could be made to show them that they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion than by giving encouragement to it.

Emancipation Proclamation January 1863 Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-In-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for supressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit: (followed by a naming of the states) And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

Thomas Nast Cartoon of the Emancipation Proclamation

“Writing the Emancipation Proclamation” – AJ Volck, Baltimore 1862

About that Emancipation Proclamation… Above all it is a war-time measure Questionable legality Does not apply to border states Questionable enforcibility in Confederate States Allows for confiscation / contraband Weakens non-military workforce of south International implications Shows transition – willingness to destroy the south in order to keep it

Gettysburg July 1863 Lee’s Second Invasion Junction Point Shoes Not an ideal point for Lee to fight 3 days / 3 attacks Culminates in Pickett’s Charge Lee’s army smashed, no longer able to launch offensive strikes Numerical advantage becomes plain Vicksburg is nearly simultaneous

Vicksburg – July 1863 Controls Mississippi Traffic Thought to be impenetrable Grant’s assaults and seige Splits Confederacy Moves Grant to forefront

Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address 1863 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

William T. Sherman – Letter to town leaders of Atlanta September 1864 Gentlemen: I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a petition to revoke my orders removing all of the inhabitants from Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your statements of the distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my orders, because they were not designed to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. … You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. … You might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride. … I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds of thousands of women and children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry and with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi, we fed thousands upon thousands of the families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. … Now that war comes home to you, you feel very different. You deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you sent carloads of soldiers and ammunition, and molded shells and shot, to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, to desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people who only asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance. …

Politics and the Confederacy Davis –Longtime senator, cabinet member –West Pointer “Revolutionary” Parallels States Rights as limiting factor Foreign Aid? Tax / Diplomatic Machinery

Lincoln as a Leader Lincoln and the War Lincoln – little formal education / training Lincoln was a minority president Very little Washington experience Has to gain the trust of his cabinet Strength was logic, get to the point

Politics during the War for Union Presidential Power –Jacksonian –Taxes and Rise of Federal Institutions Habeus Corpus –Bill of Rights largely suspended –Significant curtailments to free speech, press –Why not in the south? Draft –1 st –Rich can pay or send a surrogate –NYC Draft Riots

International Politics Europe favors a divided North America European Industrialists and Cotton British Protection of CSA ships –Neutral Ports –$ and weapons –Refuse to challenge the blockade –Politics of emancipation in Britain

Politics at the end of the war Lincoln’s 2 nd Innagural Lincoln wants to forgive the South and patch the country up as quickly as possible Before end of war he is making plans for how to bring Confederates back in Voting Rights? –For ex – confederates? –For African Americans?

Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address March 1865 “On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. …….. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. ….. The prayers of both could not be answered. ….. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

Lincoln’s Death Ford’s Theater, Booth, “sic semper tyranus,” conspiracy 1 st President to be assasinated Timing Ascension of Andrew Johnson –Democrat –Slaveowner –Will be impeached

Civil War by the Numbers 3 Million + Men fought 389,000 Union (224,000 disease) 289,000 Confederacy (164,000 disease) Total Population of about 30 million Male Population of about 15 million.6 million dead out of 15 million males = About 1 of every 30 American males died Journalism of the Civil War –Photography –Telegraphs

The South Impact on Civilians Had Lincoln survived… Plantation system destroyed Industry destroyed Rise of Banditry Struggle over Representation / Suffrage Push West African American Suffrage and eventual backlash

Industrial Growth Use of Telecoms / RRs spurs expansion 1870s – 1880s American business starts to become Big Business, multi-state corporations Post War Westward Push leads to increase End of slavery leads to Homestead-ism

Power of Federal Government Unbreakable union Executive vs. Legislative Power Struggle Precedents Paper Money Draft Suspension of Rights

End of Slavery Freedmen’s Bureau 13,14,15 Amdendments Black Congressmen, Senators Black Codes Sharecropping Jim Crow Laws Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

Ulysses Grant - Report to President Johnson on conditions in the south December 1865 I am satisfied that the mass of thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in good faith. … I was pleased to learn from the leading men whom I met that they not only accepted the decision arrived at as final but, now that the smoke of battle has cleared away and time has been given for reflection, that this decision has been a fortunate one for the whole country, they receiving like benefits from it with those who opposed them in the field and in council. I did not meet anyone, either those holding places under the government or citizens of the Southern states, who think it practicable to withdraw the military from the South at present. The white and the black mutually require the protection of the general governments. The presence of black troops, lately slaves, demoralizes labor, both by their advice and by furnishing in their camps a resort for the freedmen for long distances around. White troops generally excite no opposition, and therefore a small number of them can maintain order in a given district. … It is not the thinking men who would use violence toward any class of troops sent among them by the general government, but the ignorant in some places might; and the late slave seems to be imbued with the idea that the property of his late master should, by right, belong to him, or at least should have no protection from the colored soldier. My observations lead me to the conclusion that the citizens of the Southern states are anxious to return to self-government within the Union as soon as possible; that while reconstructing they want and require protection from the government; that they are in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required by the government, not humiliating to them as citizens, and that if such a course were pointed out they would pursue it in good faith. I did not give the operations of the Freedmen’s Bureau that attention I would have done if more time had been at my disposal. Conversations on the subject, however, with officers connected with the bureau lead me to think that in some of the states its affairs have not been conducted with good judgment or economy, and that the belief widely spread among the freedmen of the Southern states that the lands of their former owners will, at least in part, be divided among them has come from the agents of this bureau. This belief is seriously interfering with the willingness of the freedmen to make contracts for the coming year.