Civil War IB History Paper 3

Cotton Gin

Invented by Eli Whitney; made cotton more profitable, so the Cotton Belt and slavery were extended

Slave Codes

State laws limiting slave's rights; e.g. no weapons or leaving plantations

Nat Turner's Rebellion

This man led a slave revolt, killing around 60 whites; only major slave revolt in Antebellum times

John Brown

Violent abolitionist who led the raid on Harpers Ferry and participated in fighting for Bleeding Kansas

Harpers Ferry

Failed raid led by John Brown to capture an arsenal and spark a slave revolt; terrified the South

Tariff of Abominations

Tax used to protect northern goods from foreign competition; angered the South (who had to pay higher prices) and led to the Nullification Crisis

Tariff of Abominations; Nullification; John C. Calhoun ; Compromise Tariff (Calhoun and Clay lower from 60% to 20%)

Terms regarding event in 1832 over state's rights and slavery causing sectionalism tension and the resolution

Nullification

South Carolina is led by Calhoun to claim they may nullify unconstitutional government acts

Initiated by the Tariff of Abominations; based on the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

John Calhoun

South Carolina pro-slavery politician; promoter of nullification

Calhoun Address

This speech defended slavery and attacked northern aggression

Compromise Tariff

Deal b/t Clay and Calhoun, lowered tariffs from 60% to 20% and SC would stop nullification

Sectionalism

Pride in one's region (North or South); N had industry, immigrants, was urban; S was agrarian with cotton dependence, some investment in railroads

American Colonization Society

Wanted to return slaves to Africa, very few did

Supporters: James Madison, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster

William Lloyd Garrison

Immediate abolitionist; journalist in The Liberator

American Anti-Slave Society (AAS)

Organization promoting immediate abolition by distributing literature and petitioning Congress

Grimke sisters (Sarah and Angelina)

AAS speakers from South Carolina, sisters from a slave holding family

Theodore Dwight Weld

One of the most effective AAS agents, involved in NY training schools for abolitionists

Frederick Douglass

Escaped slave; most famous African American of his time; powerful speaker and writer for abolition through peaceful measures

Second Great Awakening

1830s religious movement against sin including slavery; preachers included Charles Finney

Arguments for slavery

Must be someone to do menial tasks; Paternalistic system; Religion condones slavery; Needed for the economy; Necessary evil; Racism

Slave Power Conspiracy

Northern term for the perceived threat of southern slaveholder dominance in the government and the continuous expansion of slavery

Missouri Compromise of 1820

MO slave state; Maine free state; no slavery above 36-30' latitude in Louisiana Purchase

Texas Annexation

Americans settle in Texas; Mexico bans slavery and further immigration; Texas declares independence; war; annexed into USA

Manifest Destiny

Belief that America has the right to expand "from sea to shining sea"; Religious connotation (duty from God)

Mexican-American War

President Polk provoked an attack with a border patrol; Congress declared war

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty ending Mexican-American War; Mexico ceded California and New Mexico to the USA for $15M

The Wilmot Proviso

Proposal for no slavery in territory captured from Mexican-American War (not passed by Senate)

The Calhoun Doctrine

Statement by Calhoun that Congress does not have the power to restrict the right to property (i.e. slaves); meant Southerners could take slaves anywhere

Free Soil Party

Created in 1848 election; nominated Martin Van Buren; against the expansion of slavery

Zachary Taylor

Mexican-American War hero; Winner of 1848 election from the Whig party (no solid views on slavery)

California Gold Rush

Discovery of a precious mineral here increased Western expansion so this state asked for statehood

Compromise of 1850

CA entered as a free state; UT and NM -- no decision; Slave trade was banned in DC; Stronger Fugitive Slave Act (failed initially, passed as separate measures)

Fugitive Slave Act

Law requiring men to help catch escaped slaves and return slaves even if they had been freed for years; applied to North

Henry Clay

Creator of the Compromise of 1850; believed slavery would die naturally

Nashville Convention

9 (of 15) slave states gathered but were not eager for secession and therefore accomplished little; response to Wilmot Proviso

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Book by Harriet Beecher Stowe raising awareness of the brutality of slavery; built anti-slavery support in the North

Gadsden Purchase

Territory purchased from Mexico to build railway in the south to the Pacific (transcontinental)

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Created the Northwest Territory and rules for admitting new states into the Union; banned slavery north of the Ohio River

President Pierce's Foreign Policy

Wanted Cuba; tried to overthrow and later buy it; N afraid it was a way to expand slavery

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Made by Douglas; Replaced MO Compromise with popular sovereignty; NE into KS and NE; N called it a slave power conspiracy

Know Nothing (American) Party

Nativist party; lost N support after KS-NE Act

Republican Party

Party against slave power and expansion of slavery

Events leading to Bleeding Kansas

People from MO crossed border to vote for slavery (became slave state); free-state settlers made Topeka Gov't (banned blacks; labor competition)

Bleeding Kansas

Pro-slavery mob sacked Lawrence (a town); John Brown killed pro-slavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek

Bleeding (Charles) Sumner

N Senator gave harsh speech attacking S politicians, was beaten by Brooks with a cane; Brooks resigned but got reelected by the S anyway

1856 Election

Fremont (Rep) vs Buchanan (Dem, winner); fear that a Rep victory would make S secede

Dred Scott v. Sandford

A slave taken to a free state sued for his freedom; denied by S. Court; N horrified because slaves could be taken to free states without consequences

Panic of 1857

Economic depression; unemployment in N; wanted tariffs but denied

Kansas in the late 1850s

Gov'r Geary replaced by Walker; Walker overturned results from pro-slavery cheating; ended up with free state constitution after Lecompton was rejected

Lecompton Constitution

Pro-slave constitution in KS; Walker called it a sham but Buchanan recognized it anyway; Rejected by Congress

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

For IL Senate in 1858; issues were race, slavery and its expansion, Lincoln said slavery was morally wrong

Freeport Doctrine

Douglas said that voters in a territory could exclude slavery by not making protective laws for slaveholders; alienated the South

1860 Elections

Lincoln (Rep, wouldn't interfere with existing slavery) vs Douglas (N Dem) vs Breckenridge (S Dem) vs Bell (Constitutional Union); Lincoln won w/o Southern states

Fire-Eaters

Southern extremists that advocated secession; most people thought they were crazy until 1860 or so

Secession

Many S states, starting with SC, left the union after holding conventions, still some cooperationists

Cooperationists

People in S against secession because it was too soon or because they were unionist

Crittenden Compromise

Last attempt to prevent secession

Would extend 36-30 Line to the Pacific and not interfere with existing slavery. Rejected by Republicans

Virginia Peace Convention

Tried to bring seceded states back, but no Confederates attended it. Similar plan as Crittenden Compromise

Fort Sumter

Manned fort in SC, S attacked it before N could resupply it, marked start of the war

Causes of War (historiography)

Progressive (1920s): Plantation agriculture vs industry capitalism

Revisionist (1940s): Extremists (fire eaters and abolitionists) made conflict while weak politicians didn't do enough to prevent it

Current: slavery, economic and racial superiority, nationalism after it starts

Lincoln: Slavery

Davis: states rights (to secede)

Progressive (1920s)

Plantation agriculture vs industry capitalism caused Civil War

Revisionist (1940s)

Extremists (fire eaters and abolitionists) made conflict while weak politicians didn't do enough to prevent it

Current view of cause of Civil War

Slavery, economic and racial superiority caused war

Nationalism began after it started

Popular sovereignty

The people vote on an issue (i.e. legality of slavery)

Stephen Douglas

Patron of the Compromise of 1850 when it was passed

Famously debated Lincoln

Northern Democrat that alienated the South with his Freeport Doctrine

Ostend Manifesto

USA attempt to buy Cuba created by ministers to Britain, France and Spain; leaked and denounced by N as Slave Power Conspiracy

Jefferson Davis

Confederate president; states rights advocate

Alexander Stephens

Confederate VP

Union advantages

Population, industry/resources, navy, railway, slavery discontent

Confederate advantages

Size, defending, geography (rivers), morale (military), COTTON, slaves do work

Confederate mistakes

States rights -- hurt ability to wage war (taxation, conscription)

inflation

Impressment Act; Taxation-in-Kind Act

Confederate law allowing the government to take goods (from farmers for TIK) to supply the army

Ordinance Bureau

Group led by Josiah Gorgas to raise war materials for Confeds

Confederate Socialism

S attempt to control the economy, encourage industrialism and food crops (instead of only cotton)

encouraged blockade runners to bring materials to help war effort

Army of the Potomac

Union army

Habeas corpus

Lincoln suspended this, allowing the arrest of "rebels" without trial

New York City draft riots

Democratic governor Seymour began opposition to the Conscription Act; mobs blamed blacks causing lynchings and burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum

Robert E. Lee

successful Confed. chief military adviser, led Army of North Virginia; offensive minded

Anaconda Plan

Union plan made by Winfield Scott to implement a naval blockade and control the MS River; Surround Conf.

Battle of Antietam

Bloodiest single day battle, lack of Conf victory convinced Britain to stay neutral

Battle of Gettysburg

Final Conf attempt to invade the N (goal of weakening Union morale); Conf forced to retreat after 3 days; showed that Lee was not invincible; Address by Lincoln

General Ulysses S. Grant

Capable Union general (and later US President) that led the Union Army to victory

William T. Sherman

Union general; scorched earth tactic; march to Atlanta; close to total war (debatable)

Emancipation Proclamation

Speech by Lincoln after the Battle of Antietam freeing all slaves of states who do not return to the Union before 1863

Made to initiate the end of slavery after the war and appease abolitionists and Britain

Shows a change in Lincoln's public policy from a war of unity to one of morality

Didn't actually free any slaves

Gettysburg Address

Lincoln's speech at a cemetery honoring the dead and spurring on the Union cause

Appomattox Court House

Location of Lee's surrender to Grant

Lord Palmerston

British PM during Civil War; wishes to stay completely out of war

Russell

Britain Foreign Secretary during Civil War; suggests mediation (though mediation recognizes Confeds. and may lead to war with Union)

Britain (sympathies and policies)

Union sympathy: investments in N, oppose slavery, not wish to fight abroad after Crimean War

Confed sympathy: cotton, right to leave Union, N has slaves

Policy: neutral, recognize Union blockade and not Confed sovereignty

Crimean War

War Rs. lost to Fr. and Brt.; Brt. not want to involve in conflict overseas, Rs. help Union in Brt. help Confeds

Trent affair

Confederate commissioners James Mason and John Slidell on British ship; arrested by Union Captain Wilkes; Britain forces Lincoln to release them

France

Emperor Napoleon III wants to help Confed but not without Britain

Russia

Would support Union against Britain and France (after loss in Crimea)

Confederate foreign policy

S tries to get foreign help (especially from Britain), but British neutrality encourages worldwide neutrality

Confiscation Act

Law by N allowing property used for "insurrection" to be seized (slaves); revision pronounces slaves of rebels freed

Benjamin Butler

First to propose slaves as contraband of war

Thirteenth Amendment

Banned slavery in the USA

Ten Percent Plan

Lincoln's Reconstruction plan readmitting states to the Union after a small portion of the electorate (white Southerners) took an oath of allegiance to the Union and created a government accepting abolition;

Rejected by Congress

Wade-Davis Bill

Radical Republican plan to readmit states to the Union after half of the electorate took an "ironclad oath", banned Confederate leaders and voluntary soldiers form politics; vetoed by Lincoln

John Wilkes Booth

Assassinated Lincoln