Chapter 13-14

Manifest Destiny

• idea that America had the divine right to expand coast to coast

• John L. O’Sullivan: coined term, strong supporter

• others wanted to spread to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands

• Henry Clay and others feared expansion would reopen the issue of slavery

Americans in Texas

• early 1820s: Mexican gov started encouraging American emigration to Texas - offered cheap land + 4-year exemption from taxes

• thousands of Americans moved to Texas, especially from the cotton South w/ slaves

• most settlers buy land through American intermediaries

  • Stephen f. Austin

  • Sam Houston

Tensions between the US and Mexico

• ties of immigrants to US + fact that slavery was illegal + catholicism being the main religion in Mexico caused friction

• Austin led the “Peace Party” wanting to reach a peaceful settlement that would give Texas more autonomy

• Houston led the “War Party” who wanted to fight for independence

Texas’ Fight For Independence

• 1836: American settlers declared independence from Mexico (war party)

  • adopted constitution legalizing slavery

• Santa Anna led a large army into Texas - crushed people defending the Alamo/disorganized rebel effort

Battle of San Jacinto

• Houston recruited americans to join the rebel army w/ promise of land grants

• Santa Anna gave Texas independence (not recognized by the mexican gov)

Hope of Annexation

• Sam Houston’s first action as pres of Texas was to send a delegation to washington to offer to join the union

• Jackson opposed it cus he believed it would cause conflict w/ Mexico + revive issue of slavery

• annexation of texas becomes central issue in election of 1844

Oregon

• 1843: “Oregon Fever” : thousands went to Willamette Valley looking for fertile soil and mild climate

• both US and Britain claimed sovereignty in Oregon country

  • area mostly settled by fur traders

• new settlers urged gov to take possession of area

Life on the trail

• many died of disease and accidental gunshot wounds

• Oregon Trail: across great plains + through south pass of the rocky mountains to oregon or California (most popular)

• natives served as guides

California

• California trail trekked by Donner Party

• mostly leather traders who intermarried with Californios to access market with ranchers

Election of 1844

• Henry Clay (Whig): american system + begrudgingly supported annexation of Texas

• James K. Polk (Democrat): pro-annexation combined with expansion in Oregon

  • Oregon conventions led to a 54-40 campaign

• Polk won

Polk’s policy of expansion

• John Tyler passed annexation of Texas through congress on his way out in 1845

• Texas became a state in December - polk eyed further expansion into Mexico

• Attempted to solve Oregon question by offering a US-Canada borer at the 49th parallel to Britain - at first they refused by agreed b/c of threat of war

  • Polk hastened the passage of this proposal to not have to deal with 2 conflicts at the same time

Tensions with Mexico

• Mexico broke diplomatic relations w/ washington after annexation of Texas in 1845

• Polk committed to acquiring both New Mexico and California

• “dispute” between boundary of Texas and Mexico

Pre-War offer

• polk sent John Slidell to try to buy acceptance of Rio Grande border + CA and New Mexico from Mexico for $50 Million - Mexico rejected the offer

The Bear Flag Revolution

• rebellion in CA

• John C. Fremont: leader of explorer party

• Thomas O. Larkin: encouraged Mexican residents of Monterey to declare independence

• Stephen W. Kearny: captured Santa Fe then join the rebellion - completed conquest of California

Outbreak of War

• Polk ordered Taylor’s army to cross the Nueces River to occupy the disputed Rio Grande territory in order to provoke the Mexican army into attack

• Mexicans allegedly attacked Americans

• “American blood has been spilled on American soil”

• many Americans believed that polk had orchestrated the conflict in order to add new slave states

• May 1846: congress declared war on Mexico

Siege of Mexico City

• General Winfield Scott sieged Mexican capital

• new government took power and was willing to negotiate a peace treaty

The Peace Treaty

• Nicholas Trist negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• ceded New Mexico and California to the US + acknowledged Rio Grande as Texas’ boundary

• US had to assume financial claims of new citizens to Mexican government + Pay $15 million

• Manifest Destiny = Complete

Wilmot Proviso

• introduced by David Wilmot as a provision to Polk’s appropriation bill during the Mexican war

• would ban slavery from any territory acquired from Mexico

• shot down

Election of 1848

• Lewis Cass (Democrat): believed in squatter/popular sovereignty

• Zachary Taylor (Whig)

• Van Buren (free soil party)

Different opinions on issue of slavery in new territories

• Some (including Polk) favored extending the Missouri compromise

• others wanted issue to be voted on by popular sovereignty of each state

Free Soil Ideology

• against expansion of slavery

• sometimes cause of morality but mostly because it took away opportunities from farmers

• widespread support from northerners

• supported by Frederick Douglas as best shot as stopping expansion of slavery

• supported by northerners and republicans (free labor)

California Gold Rush

• 1848: James Marshall found Gold at Sutter’s Mill

• thousands of people flocked to CA - left everything behind (forty-niners)

• Brought some of the first Chinese immigrants to the western us

  • provided labor for rail and miner companies

• opened up opportunities for merchants (i.e. Levi Strauss)

Attempt to Admit new states

• Taylor urged new territories to become states; he believed statehood would solve the issue of slavery (cause they could each choose)

• CA adopted a constitution that prohibited slavery - and asked to be admitted as a free state in 1849

• southerners blocked it because they didn’t want a new free state adding power to the north

  • wouldn’t allow unless the government guaranteed the future of slavery

• Calhoun warned of secession: said government didn’t have constitutional authority to regulate slavery

Compromise of 1850

• Henry Clay proposed the bill

• CA would be admitted as a free state

• creation of Utah and New Mexico territories in ex-Mexican land w/ popular sovereignty on slavery

• abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia

• new fugitive slave law

• initially defeated by Congress when introduced as a single bill but then passed by Stephen A. Douglas as many independent pieces of legislation

Fire-Eaters

• southerners met at a convention after passage of Compromise agreeing to support secession if congress abolished slavery or prevented the expansion

• people who supported secession called fire-eaters

Opposition to Fugitive Slave Act

• Northerners opposed the provision of the compromise of 1850 that enforced the fugitive slave act/ created slave catchers

• states passed laws banning deportation of fugitive slaves

• mobs against slave catchers

• ignored compromise

Slave Power Conspiracy

• belief by northerners that southerners were conspiring to expand slavery

• Ostend Manifesto: attempt by pierce to buy/seize cuba from spain - thought it was a ploy to bring a slave state to the US

• Southerns blocked all new states (Hawaii and Canada) that were anti-slavery

The Gadsden Purchase

• came as a result for a want of a southern route for railroads

• negotiated by James Gadsden and organized by Jefferson Davis

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• proposed by Stephen A. Douglas

• organizing new territory into Nebraska and Kansas

• the status of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty

• act divided and destroyed the whig party

• anti-nebraska democrats and whigs formed the republican party in 1854

Kansas Election

• migrants flocked to kansas and nebraska

• many pro-slavery people from other states flocked in for the election electing a pro-slavery legislature which legalized slavery

• free-staters elected delegates to a constitutional convention and excluded slavery - chose their own governor and petitioned for statehood

• pro-slavery people sacked and burned Lawrence the town which they were using as a center

Potawatomie Massacres

• reaction to the sacking of Lawrence

• John Brown murdered pro-slavery settlers

• more violence ensued: “Bleeding Kansas”

Pro-slavery argument

• new intellectual defense of slavery

• “slavery is a benevolent good”

• believed southern way of life was better than the North’s greed and corruption

  • thought slaves were better off than northerns factory workers

• believed slaves were unable to take of themselves

Election of 1856

• Buchannan (democrat - not associated w/ bleeding kansas)

• John C. Fremont (Republican)

• Millard Fillmore (American Party)

• Buchannan won

Dred Scott Decision

• Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857)

• scott: petitioned for freedom after lving in a free state

• Roger Taney’s decision: african americas are not citizens so they can’t bring cases to federal court, they are property thus federal gov can’t control slaveholder’s right to their slaves as per the 5th amendment

• declared the Missouri compromise unconstitutional cus federal gov cannot deprive people of their slave property - only state constitutions can

Kansas Constitution Deadlock

• pro-slavery forces won control of convention cus pro-slavery people flooded election from other states + gerrymandering + free-state residents refusing to participate

• drew constitution legalizing slavery: Lecompton Constitution - didn’t allow to give voters chance to reject it

• election of new anti-slavery majority caused the constitution to be submitted to voters - rejected

• delayed admission to the union

Lincoln v. Douglas (Senator for Illinois)

• US senate election in Illinois: Stephen A. Douglas vs. Abraham Lincoln

• Lincoln - Douglas Debates : make him a national figure

  • supported free labor

  • wanted to stop expansion

  • “House Divided” speech: divison would be fall of country

• Douglas: free port doctrine: popular sovereignty where residents can just vote to change the constitution whenever

• Lincoln lost election but gain popularity

Harper Ferry Raid

• John Brown planned to seize a mountain fortress in Virginia to create a slave insurrection

• raided US arsenal at Harper’s Ferry

• tried for treason and sentenced to death

• inspired fear of north propagated insurrection in south

Election of Lincoln

• democratic party split between southerns (pro-slavery) and westerns (popular sovereighnty)

• northern democrats voted republican

• democrats can’t decide on candidate: finally agreed on Stephen Douglas

  • southern democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge

  • conservative ex-whigs nominated John Bell

• Republican tried to broaden appeals: endorsed traditional whig measures (high tariffs, internal improvements, railroad), popular sovereignty/free soil

  • chose Abraham lincoln as candidate - won

• election of lincoln seen as a sign that southerners no longer had a place in the union - 7 states leave before he even takes office

Withdrawal of the South

• S. Carolina seceded first

  • a special convention voted unanimously to leave the union

• “fire-eaters” in the deep south soon followed

• Reps of seceded states met in Alabama and formed a new nation: The Confederate States of America

  • adopted new constitution

  • Jefferson Davis: President

• “The Cornerstone” speech by Alexander Stephens (VP) shows that slavery was the immediate cause of secession

Conflict at Fort Sumter (Under Buchannan)

• confederate states seized the federal property within their boundaries

• tried to seize Fort Sumter

• Buchanan sent unarmed merchant ships to give supplies to the Fort: shot back by Confederate guns (first shots between north and South)

Buchannan’s Reaction

• declared secession illegal but denied federal gov’s authority to use force to bring the states back into the union

Crittenden Compromise

• secessionist fervor less intense in upper south: willing to compromise

• called for constitutional amendments:

  • guarantee permanent existence of slavery in states where it already existed

  • reimplement the fugitive slave act

  • allow slavery in District of Columbia

  • reestablish the Missouri Compromise Line and extend it to the west coast

Lincoln’s reaction once he took office

• deemed secession an insurrection

• took up policy of aggressive military strategy and unconditional surrender

The Beginning of the War: Fort Sumter

• confederate forces bombarded fort Sumter in order to force Major Robert Anderson to surrender the fort

• April 12-13, 1861

• Anderson surrendered after two days straight of bombarding

• civil war had begun

Reaction to fall of Fort Sumter

• Lincoln mobilized the north

• remaining slave states forced to take sides:

  • Virginia, Arkansas, N. Carolina, and Tennessee seceded

  • Missouri, Deleware, Maryland, and Kentucky stayed in the Union

Advantages of the South

• fighting defensive war

  • only needed a stalemate to guarantee independence

• on their own territory

• strong zeal for war vs. division in the north

• better military leaders

• still had substantial industrial capacity (modern riles and muskets)

• funded by “king cotton” traded with Britain (whose recognized them as a belligerent power)

Battle of Bull Run

• July 1841

• General Irwin McDowell were routed by confederate troops near Manassas Creek

• Lincoln replaced McDoweel w/ George B. McClellan: enlisted 1 million men in the Army of the Potomac”

Fighting Toward Richmond

• McClellan launched an attack towards Richmond Virginia in 1862 - too slow

• Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched attack outside Richmond: heavy casualties

Washington Threatened

• washington threatened by confederates under “Stonewall” Jackson

• confederates won small engagements

The Second Battle of Bull Run

• Jackson and Lee routed a union army

• aug 1862

Battle at Antietam Creek

• Sep 17, 1862

• bloodiest single day in US military history

• Jackson save Lee’s troops from Defeat

Lincoln replacing his commanders

• replaced Mcclellan w/ Ambrose E. Burnside who later resigned and was replaced by Joseph “fighting joe” hooker

Homestead Act of 1862

• permitted citizens to claim 160 acres of public land after living on it for 5 years

• in order to encourage immigration (more people to enlist)

Northern Economic Policy

• increased tariffs: led to domestic industry boom

• investment in transcontinental railroad: Union Pacific Railroad Company and Central Pacific

• National Bank Acts of 1863-1864: new national banking system, uniform bank note

• financed the war by levying taxes, issuing paper currency (“green back”) and borrowing

• Legal Tender Act of 1862

• sold bonds to ordinary citizens

• first income tax

Confederate Economic Policy

• built and operated shipyards, armories, foundries, and textile mills (some industrialization)

• commandeered food and raw materials

• requisitioned slaves to work on forts

• payed for stuff with unbacked paper money - create rly high inflation

Raising the Union Armies

• Militia Act of 1862: enrollment quota for states

• Enrollment Act of 1863: northerners could hire replacement

• “total war” on both sides

• enlistment declined as casualties increased and nationalism decreased

• widespread opposition to national draft among laborers, immigrants, and peace democrats

  • violence/protest against draft and African American by people who blamed them for the war

Confederate Draft

• had a lot of loopholes

  • 1 exempt white man for each 20 slaves

  • can hire substitute

• some southerners refused

  • confederate government lacked power to compel them - fear of central government made their constitution rly weak

Lincoln’s aggressive policy on dissenters

• widesperead opposition to war

• Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus and extended martial law to civilians who discourage enlistment or resisted the draft

• propaganda: photographs of fighting organized by Matthew Brady - increased nationalistic support of war (see sacrifice)

Battle of Shiloh

• general ulysses s. grant

• 24,000 casualties (bloodiest battle up until that point)

The First Confiscation Act

• seizure of all property used to support rebellion

• including slaves

Laws passed in 1862

• slavery abolished in Washington D.C

• 2nd confiscation act: slaves of people aiding an supporting insurrection freed

• passed wilmot proviso

Change of War aims

• as war continued, much of north accepted emancipation as a central war aim

• pushed by Frederick Douglas

Emancipation Proclamation

• January 1, 1863

• declared forever free slaves in all areas of the confederacy ultimatum to stop fighting

• slaves freed by union army (freedmen’s village)

African Americans and The Union cause

• black enlistment increased rapidly after Emancipation Proclamation

• organized into segregated fighting units

• 54th Massachusetts Infantry

  • 2nd battle of fort wagner (most died)

• high black mortality rates cause of unsanitary conditions - paid less than white soldiers

women, nursing, and the war

• women took on new labor roles

• Healthcare during the war:

  • the union army medical bureau

  • US sanitary commission, mobilized many women to field hospitals, Dorothea Dix

• More people died of disease than anything else (especially in the south)

technology of battle

• repeating weapons

• trenches

• railroads

• telgraph

• submarines (CSS Hundley)

• ironclad (changed naval warfare forever)

The confederate government

• constitution: similar to US except recognized sovereignty of the individual state + made abolition of slavery practically impossible

• provisional pres: Jefferson Davis

• Vice Pres: Alexander H. Stephens

• issue of centralization vs. states’ power in the south

  • by end of war, confederate gov was highly centralized caused internal division

Money and Manpower for the south

• no national revenue system

• borrow + sale of bonds unsuccesful

• gov payed for war w/ paper money - caused disastrous inflation

• enacted conscription act: opposed by poor

• man power shortage throughout the war

  • got so bad they proposed arming slaves

Economic and Social effects of the war

• devastating effect on southern economy

• cut off south from northern markets

• naval blockade (part of Scott’s Great Snake)

• women filled roles left by men

• gender imbalance after war led to more unmarried women who got jobs

Ulysses S. Grant

• first general Lincoln actually trusted

• they agreed to focus on enemy armies and resources rather than territory - total war

• Grant is the architect of the total war strategy

• willing to accept heavy casualties to gain military advantage

• ordered Philip Sheridan to destroy everything they passed (war on civilians)

Battle at Vicksburg

• July 1863

• led by Grant

• confeds surrendered to the Union army

• Union seized Mississippi River and this split the confederacy + cut off foreign trade

Battle of Gettysbyrg

• Jul 1863

• Turning point of the war

• most lethal battle of the Civil War

• led by Mead

• repelled Lee’s forces - a lot of casualties

• confederate defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg ended prospects of winning foreign recognition and acquiring weapons from britain

election of 1864

• republicans + war democrats created the Union party - nominated Lincoln for another term + Andrew Johnson (War Democrat) as his VP

• democrats nominated George B. McClellan: denounced war, promised immediate armistice

• northern victories (capture of Atlanta Georgia) rejuvenated Northern morale - Lincoln won

The end of the war

• 1865: congress approves + states ratified the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery in all parts of the US

• symbolic end to war when lee surrendered to grant at Appomattox Court House, confederate army + gov dissolved

General William T. Sherman

• used Grant’s destroy everything strategy

• forced the surrender of atlanta: leads to Lincoln’s win in election of 1864

• destroyed everything in his “swath to the sea”

• sherman lands: gave land to slaves

• civilian policy causes mass desertion in confederate forces

The Gettysburg Address

• speech by lincoln honoring sacrifice

• change war goals: freedom for all