1. The student will analyze the impact of the Civil War and reconstruction of Georgia

2. SS8H6a: The student will explain the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War; include slavery, states’ rights, nullification, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850 and the Georgia Platform, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scot case, election of 1860, the debate over secession in Georgia, and the role of Alexander Stephens.

3. States’ Rights and the Doctrine of Nullification Many southerners were angry at the federal government prior to the Civil War. They believed the government was intruding more one states’ rights. States’ rights- the authority states have to govern what goes on inside their own borders. Many southerners believed they could ignore federal laws because they violated the Constitution. This view was known as the doctrine of nullification. South Carolina invoked the doctrine of nullification in 1832 and threatened to secede over tariffs. President Jackson got so mad at South Carolina he threatened to hang Senator John C. Calhoun from the nearest tree. They finally Compromised.

4. The Missouri Compromise In the 1800’s, slavery continued to be a heated issue. The North relied mostly on factories, manufacturing and business rather than agriculture. As a result, friction continued to build between those in North who wanted to end slavery and those in South who wanted to protect it. Many Northern states started abolishing slavery in the 1800’s. In 1820 Congress approved the Missouri Compromise to please both who opposed slavery and who favored it. This agreement gave Missouri the right to own slaves and Maine a free state. It also stated that all new states north of a certain point would be free, and all states south of that would allow slavery.

5. Compromise of 1850 As the country gained new territories the issue of slavery only continued to cause division. Once again, an important compromise helped settle this issue temporarily ( The Compromise Of 1850) This compromise admitted California to the Union as a free state while allowing the rest of western territories to decide the issue by popular sovereignty (vote). This also established the Fugitive Slave Law which required North states to return run away slaves to the south. Many northerners were assisting slaves in running and ignored the law.

6. Georgia Platform Radical supporters of states’ rights opposed the Compromise of 1850. They advocated resistance even if it meant secession. Meanwhile “Unionists” (southerners who wanted the south to remain part of Union) supported the Compromise. Two Georgia congressmen who played key roles in securing support for the Compromise of 1850 were Robert Toombs and Alexander Stephens. The two men returned from Congress to Georgia to gather supporters for the Compromise.

7. The state called a special convention where it voted to accept the Compromise and remain part of Union. It also issued the Georgia Platform which stated although the state accepted the Compromise of 1850, it would not hesitate to resist any effort by Congress to outlaw slavery in the new territories.

8. The Kansas – Nebraska Act Kansas and Nebraska were originally free territories. Congress changed this when it passed the Kansas – Nebraska Act in 1854. The new law stated they could vote on the issue to have slaved or not. This cancelled the Missouri Compromise and led to a Civil War in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces. The fighting became so violent that the territory became known as “Bleeding Kansas”. Kansas became a free state in 1861.

9. Dred Scott Another event sparking anger was the Dred Scott case that went before the Supreme Court in 1857. Case involved slave named Dred Scott who sued for his freedom after his master died. Court ruled that Scott had no right to sue since he was not a citizen. This made people wanting to outlaw slavery furious because this meant that slave owners could keep their slaves in any state. Southerners were pleased with ruling.

10. The Election of 1860 and Southern Secession In 1854 a number of Free Soilers, anti-slavery Democrats and Whigs (these were political parties that existed at the time) united and formed the Republican Party. Although the party had a lot of abolitionists, it officially only sought to restrict slavery in new states and territories, not outlaw it where it already existed. In 1860 the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for president of the United States. Lincoln won the election and southerners became concerned.

11. They did not trust Lincoln to only limit slavery they thought he would end it. As a result, South Carolina decided to secede from the Union in December 1860. By February, six other states including Georgia seceded as well. The southern states set up a new government and called themselves the Confederate States of America.

12. Georgias Decision to Secede Georgia was up in arms over the election of Lincoln. They split into two groups: Radical secessionists- wanted to leave Union right away Cooperationists- wanted organized plan before seceding. Governor Joseph E. Brown called a legislative session to determine if the state would have convention to vote on secession. At the convention Georgians elected to leave the Union and on January 19. 1861 the state officially seceded.

13. Alexander Stephens He played a key role both in Georgia’s debate over secession and the new government in the South. He was a lawyer and served on the United States Congress form 1843-1859. He was sickly and never weighed over 100 pounds, still some northern politicians called him “the strongest man of the south”. He was elected Vice President of the Confederacy and served throughout the war.

14. SS8H6b The student will state the importance of key event of the Civil War: include Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Union blockade of Georgia’s coast, Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s march to the Sea, and Andersonville.

15. The War Begins Once they seceded, the southern states set up their own system of government and was called the _______ The Confederates elected former Mississippi senator, Jefferson Davis the be their president. Who was the vice president?_________ They made Montgomery, Alabama their first capital.

16. Fort Sumter In April, 1861, Union troops located at Fort Sumter, South Carolina were running low on supplies. Lincoln sent word to the governor of South Carolina that he was sending ships with food for the soldiers but no weapons. South Carolina would not tolerate Union troops so close to home. On April 12, Confederate forces opened fire. The South’s attack forced the Union troops to leave the fort. And this gave Lincoln the support he needed. The northerners felt like they were attacked and supported Lincoln to war.

17. Union Blockade Many felt the war between north and south would not last long. North thought they would crush the south when the south felt they were fighting for their homeland. When the Confederate forces defeated Union troops at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, it became clear the war would not be over quickly. Lincoln adopted Union General Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan: It called for a naval blockade of the southern coast. They hoped this would cause the south to run out of supplies and surrender.

18. Georgia and the Union Blockade Georgia greatly depended on its coastal ports, the blockade had a large impact on the state. After Union forces established a base off the coast of South Carolina at Hilton Head Island, President Jefferson Davis sent General Robert E. Lee to Savannah to take charge of defending the Georgia and Florida coasts. Lee could do little to stop blockade.

19. The Battle of Antietam Robert E. Lee quickly proved that he was a great military leader. He consistently defeated the Union when he was always outnumbered. In Sept. 1862 he made a bold move and decided to invade the North. The plan almost worked. Union soldiers found a copy of Lee’s plans for the invasion wrapped around some cigars in an abandoned Confederate camp. The Union was waiting on Lee at Antietam Creek in Maryland. The battle of Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle of the war and stopped the Confederate invasion. This also gave Lincoln a much needed victory.

20. The Emancipation Proclamation With the Battle of Antietam won Lincoln had enough support to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation was a executive order that freed the slaves in the Confederate states. It did not free slaves in slave states loyal to the Union because President Lincoln could not afford to lose these states’ support. Lincoln’s proclamation made it clear that the war was now a fight for freedom as well as for the Union. Many African-Americans enlisted in the army and fought bravely knowing they were fighting for their peoples freedom.

21. Gettysburg Lee did not give up on his plans to invade the North. In 1863, he tried again This time the main battle occurred when the two armies met by accident outside the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The three day battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the entire war. More than 51,000 soldiers died on the battlefield. Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens attempted to win safe passage to Washington to meet with Lincoln and discuss terms of peace. Lincoln refused to allow Stephens through the Union lines.

22. All the south could do after Gettysburg was hold on until the North got tired of fighting Lincoln eventually gave command of his army to the “no nonsense” warrior named Ulysses S. Grand. His tactics resulted in the deaths of thousands of his own men, Grant eventually crushed the southern resistance and forced Lee’s final surrender in April 1865.

23. Chickamauga

24. SS8H6 c The student will analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia and other southern states, emphasizing Freedmen’s Bureau; sharecropping and tenant farming; Reconstruction plans, 13 th, 14 th and 15 th amendments to the Constitution; Henry McNeal, Turner and black legislators; and the Ku Klux Klan.

25. Reconstruction Once the war was over, the federal government had to decide what to do about the states that seceded. Lincoln wanted to rebuild rather than punish the South. Lincoln never got the chance to see the nation healed. An actor, John Wilkes Booth assassinated him while he attended the Ford’s Theatre in April 14, 1862. Andrew Johnson became the 17 th President and took on the burden of reuniting the country.

26. Radical Republicans The process of rebuilding the South was known as Reconstruction. Johnson was a southern Democrat who did very little to guarantee the rights of freed slaves. A group of leaders in Congress who opposed Johnson were called the Radical Republicans. They thought the South should be punished for starting the war and that Civil Rights of freed slaves should be protected. The conflict between Congress and Johnson became so heated that Johnson was eventually impeached by Congress.

27. The Freemen’s Bureau In 1865, Congress created the Freemen’s Bureau in order to help freed slaves. It was the first federal relief agency in U.S. history. The Freemen’s Bureau provided clothes, medical attention, food, education and land to African – Americans coming out of slavery. It ended I 1869 from lack of support.

28. Federal Legislators Prior to Lincoln’s death the 13 th amendment to the Constitution ended Slavery throughout the country. Many states still refused to count blacks as citizens. In 1866, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act to guarantee citizenship rights to African-Americans. The 14 th amendment granted citizenship to African- Americans and gave them rights protected by the Bill of Rights. In 1870, the 15 th amendment guaranteed that no citizen could be denied the right to vote because of the color of their skin in state and national elections. (women could still not vote).

29. Sharecropping and Tenant Farming African-Americans were happy to see slavery end, they still had to adjust to a new way of life. In most cases they had no money, no land, and no property of their own. In order to survive many in the South and Georgia turned to sharecropping and tenant farming. Sharecroppers agreed to farm a portion of a white land owners land in return for housing and a share of the crop. Some land owners were dishonest and cheated the black tenants. This became somewhat like slavery for some African – Americans. Tenant farming, on the other hand was when a family rented a portion of land and owned the crops they grew.

30. Henry McNeal Turner In 1878, thirty-two African-Americans were elected to the state house and senate in Georgia. One of these black legislators was Henry McNeal Turner. Turner was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was doubtful about blacks and whites living at peace fully together after slavery. He urged the blacks in the south that were mistreated to move back to Africa.

31. Ku Klux Klan Democrats successfully plotted and expelled 28 African-American representatives from the Georgia legislature not long after their election. Some groups used violence to frighten African- Americans and keep them from exercising their Civil Rights. One of the most infamous group was the Ku Klux Klan. Klansmen would dress up in white sheets and hooded masks and terrorize blacks and whites who tried to help them.