civil war & reconstruction

4 border states

4 border states

missouri, kentucky, maryland, delaware

• 4 slaveholding states that didn’t leave the union

north advantages of war

military: better manu. of weapons, nearly 5x population of south, immigrant pop, CONTROLS NAVY

economic: banking, manu., railroad, farmland

political: centralized govt. → makes them believe it will be easy to get to VA

south advantages of war

military: better generals, extended coastline (harder to blockade)

economic: attempts cotton diplo w/ B → successful @ first, BUT not for long → confed. prints own $; must deal w/ inflation

political: southern sense of community rises so hold out until north gives up

HOWEVER: states rights is bad for war

fort sumter

event: union sends provisions (NOT weapons), but confed sees this as aggressive → union has fort sumter so confeds shoot it up and seize

significance: preserves union bc w/o, north wouldn’t be incentivized to fight

AL’s response to fort sumter

1. AL denounced succession

2. authorizes war funding

3. SUSPENDS HABEUS CORPUS (w/o cong. approval)

4. calls for 75k army + sets up sea blockade

anaconda plan

AL’s plan to starve the south w/ blockade of supplies + cutting off access to mississippi river (wrapping around region and constricting

1. gathers 1/2 mil army

2. income tax to fund

   1. first time printing greenbacks ($)

1st bull run/ manassas junction

stonewall jackson is general officer

→ complete disaster for unions + creates sense or rebel invincibility for south

trent affair

significance: only time B ever close to entering war

event: confed sends diplo to B (must sneak past union bloc.) → US shoots B. ship Trent bc confeds are in ship

→ to avoid war, AL finds loophole + agrees to give starving B extra wheat and corn harvest → B must align w/ north now

peninsula campaign

gives george mcclellan name “tardy” george

→ after 1st BR, GM tries to go down peninsula, BUT takes too long to move down and ruins chances of secretly moving in

Lee’s right-hand men

Jackson and Longstreet

monitor vs. merrimac

naval battle

event: confed sinks 2 unions ships w/ css va so uss monitor hits css virgina

→ aimless fighting leads to moral vistory for both sides

confed: sunk 2 union ships

union: still has blockades + Hampton road access

significance: switch from wooden boats to ironclads

shiloh

greatest loss of life until this point (24k killed)

→ stalemate w/o benefit → opens people’s eyes to horrors of war

new orleans seized

union leader Farragut seizes NO

→ tanks southern econ./cut off cotton exports → inflation rises like CRAY

seizes NO/ union leader

David Farragut

second bull run

pope currently commands union army → gets cocky w/ power

→ lee takes advantage of uncertainty in leadership of union + loss @ 1BR to fight

leads to UNION DISASTER

president of confederacy

Jefferson Davis

homestead act

free land to accelerate settlement of western territory

morrill tariff act

raises tariffs (fund war)

morrill land grant act

fed. gives states land grants to promote businesses, innovation, agriculture (fund schools for eng. & agri.)

pacific railroad act

first fed. paid for railway (states righters are not there to argue)

legal tender bill

produces greenbacks

federal conscription act

army draft → leads to controversy and riots all over north

post 2BR confed. shift in strategy

Defensive against north/morally respectful →offense/invasion targeted

They want to try and bring the war to northern territory bc the southern econ/farming land is struggling so much

move war to MD → Lee thinks MD will join since slave state, BUT this fails

lead up to antietam

Lee thinks that MD pressure will cause cong. to end war, but is mistaken

→ Lee sends out letter w/ plans but union intercepts so union now has advantage

antietam

mcclellan vs. lee → 22k die in one day (single bloodiest day in US history)

→ tactically a draw → union taking terrible losses @ this time so AL uses this morale booster to issue emancipation proclamation

emancipation proclamation

• Post Antietam: on Jan 1 1862: all slaves in south/confederacy are set free

  • Does Not actually free any slaves bc south j doesnt let them go but it creates a cause for the war

  • Kees border states w union and gives them their state rights (they can keep slaves still)

  • Kills at shot at compromise with the North And South

  • 25% of slave population runs away to union protection

→ final nail in the coffin for B. relations w/ confed bc B has already banned slavery so to preserve reputation can no longer support confed if the war is about slavery

photographer who takes pictures of antietam battle scene

matthew brady

public’s response to brady’s photos

for the first time, public sees full truth → no longer willing to tolerate bad generals who make mistakes/ too slow (mcclellan)

confiscation acts

AL must maintain border support + anti= north

1. if slaves are caught by union, would be freed

2. using war powers → if any slave of confed is seen (while U passes thru), would be freed

ALSO, eman. pro. only applied to confed states (AL trying to entice TN back in)

AL’s next options after Mcclellan failure at antietam

Ambrose Burnside

fredericksburg

went from slow/methodical to reckless bc Burnside doesn’t want to be like Mcclellan → HOWEVER, so many deaths getting up hill where confeds are

failure of cotton diplo

1. 3 years pre-war cotton exports were so high there is a surplus in Britain

   1. By the time they run out emancipation has passed and they can’t join war

2. North had a surplus of crops during B agricultural loss

   1. North exported excess grains to B, which is more important to them than cotton, so B cannot side w/ south or they lose grain they need to survive

AL’s war powers INCREASE

• Lincoln grows the army w/out cong approval

• Blockades seaports

• Suspends habeas corpus (ex parte merryman)

• Frees southern slaves

• Supervised border state voting (army overseas)

chancellorsville

turning point for union: southern econ in shambles → Lee outnumbered by U → Jackson and Lee split up to distract U

→ last major victory for confed, esp. bc Jackson dies here so Lee loses most creative general

gettysburg

50k killed on confeds, drastically worse for confeds → Lee realizes he can no longer play defense only

gettysburg address

only AL could regain the attention of the bored/tired audience → his extreme brevity left audience speechless + made stories of America accessible to all

vicksburg

last confed. control of mississippi river → U gains entirely and cuts confed access to TX, LA, AS

→ B cancels orders on ironclads for south/stops helping south bc doesn’t want to be associated with clearly losing side → marks end goal of anaconda plan

strategy used @ wilderness campaign

meat-grinder warefare by grant

wilderness campaign

grant realizes that U can continue to supply soldiers while confed has much smaller population so uses meat-grinder tactic and goes to any extent to get rid of Lee’s forces by the mass

election of 1864

main issue: sherman’s march

AL not really liked going into election (handling of war, wishy-washy decision making, draft controversy)

→ many nominated from repub. party HOWEVER, all opponents drop out → but this challenge still shows weakness of repubs

→ andrew johnson is vp to entice TN back in

→ new half party (copperheads) choose mcclellan, but ends up going against what he said he stood for so doesn’t win

strategy used @ march to sea

total war by sherman

sherman’s march to sea

• Sherman leads a march through the South with 100K soldiers

• His idea is “Total War” and a rampage through the south to decrease their moral and hope

  • Complete mass destruction, burning of homes, tore up railroads, loosted/destroyed supplies

AL’s 2nd inaugural speech

• Very conciliatory nature, empathetic and dignified, wishes to preserve nation now that war is over

• Grant follows his lead during the surrender

  • Willing to whole-heartedly accept confed back

surrender @ appomattox

• Ends war after 4 years

• Grant writes Lee a letter saying surrender and Lee agrees

• Lee thinks he will be imprisoned but Grant (on behalf of Lincoln) is forgiving

  • Confederacy and South are left alone so long as they never do this again

  • let southern soldiers keep personal weapons and horses and the gave South food for like 25,000 men (double rations)

    • Compare the state of south v north post war, south is starving and north is giving away food like it's nothing…)

• Shows that Grant didn't see the south as enemies, he wants to move forwards w union

• After grants graciousness, Lee never let anyone talk shit about him in his presence after this

• Lee becomes highly decorates, South weeps w him

• Grant choses Chamberlain to accept southern surrender

AL’s assassination

5 days after surrender, John Wilkes Booth, confed sympathizer, shoots and kills Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, and Sewerd is injured elsewhere at the same time

→ after N amiability, N erupts!

death @ this time will be a loss for the south bc N is hesitant to be as generous from now on

→ AL becomes idolized by all; his supremacy was in his moral character

Lincoln’s 10% Plan/Proclamation of Amnesty

gives full pardon to most who took oath to the union + accepted 13th A

→ after 10% acceptance and ratification, states must rewrite state constitution in order to return to union

→ relative generosity is to convince confeds to return under lenient terms

wade davis bill

radical republican counter proposition to 10% plan → 50% of state must take oath + only non-confeds can vote for new constitution

BUT AL kills this with pocket veto

commissioner of freedman’s bureau who created 3000+ institutions for education (including first HBIs)

general oliver o. howard

freedman’s bureau

• Congress creates “welfare agency” for southern aid + for slaves w/ nothing post freedom

• At first they could resettle blacks in seized southern land, but since Linc wants to pardon them the land is then both people’s (future conflict from this)

why is andrew johnson like a man without a party?

Andrew Johnson  was a “Southerner who did not understand the North, a Tennessean who earned the distrust of the South, a Democrat who had never been accepted by the Republicans, a president who had never been elected to the office” (The American Pageant).  He will become “the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time

who said 40 acres and a mule?

sherman → to allot land to freed families

13th amendment

makes slavery illegal

4 main parties entering reconstruction

1. radical republicans

2. moderate republicans

3. peace democrats (COPPERHEADS)

   1. (ex-)confederates

radical repub beliefs

Want full civil/political rights for blacks + compensation

leading radical repubs

Thaddeus Stevens, Ben Wade, Charles Sumner (caning of sumner)

moderate repub beliefs

more concerned w/ econ benefits of white man → emulating FREE-SOIL PARTY

andrew johnson’s backstory/reasons for doing what he did during reconstruction

• Johnson came from rock bottom → slave owner; hated old money plantation owners bc he was left out of that group (hes new money)

• TN southerner, democrat, inexperienced, no real big office position before etc.

  • He only gets VP bc he was only southerner left in congress and Lincoln needed him to attract TN back in

    • Except he's a white supremacists who clashes with radical republicans/his party

johnson’s plan for reconstruction

• Blanket pardon except for southern leaders/planter elite

• They could petition president for personal pardon

  • You'd think he wouldn't bc he hates those elite, but in reality he hands them out like candy bc he goes crazy w power

• Called for special state conventions and southern states had to reverse/condemn succession

• By Dec 1865 all southerners ready to comply w 13thA, BUT the pardon allows them to take positions in office again and control southern reconstruction

black codes

• A series of laws/codes in south that were very similar to slavery/post or during war but not technically/legally:

• Some of them included:

1. Blacks cannot hold meeting without a white present

2. No travel w/out a permit

3. Cannot bear arms

4. Contract labor system (blacks sign to work on plantations again and are hunted if they break contract, sounds an awful lot like slavery??)

5. No voting

6. No economic independence

• Realize that now in the south they have more reps in cong. bc slaves are a whole person not ⅗ (so population is huge now)

• More control

whitewashed rebels

southern leaders who showed up in congress because they realized they would have more power now the slaves continued as a whole person, the Republicans were very frustrated with them because they wanted to rebuild the Union not recreate on the terms of the southerners, that would make the Civil War a waste

civil rights act of 1866

would have given Blacks citizenship/equality and overturn Dred Scott, BUT johnson vetos

switch from pres recon to cong recon

cong overrides johnson’s veto of CRA ‘66 → first time major legislation had passed w/o pres approval

joint house committee ‘66

held in order to create an amendment so that CRA ‘66 can override dred scott precedent

• Congress holds a meeting in June 1866 and assert that it has rights to control the process of readmitting southern states

• Terms:

  • Rejoined states cannot hold office

  • Congress, not president, determines re-entry

14th amendment

full citizenship

1. disallows states rights from denying due process

2. applies equal protection clause to states (required to protect ALL citizens)

• Johnson furious, south rejects it

  • EXCEPT for Tennessee who ratifies and rejoins union

congressional election of 1866

key issue: 14th A

→ very important for either side to win bc cong has the most power atp

Johnson/Black codes vs Congress/Radical Republicans

• Johnson goes all white supremacists and fights for white rights

• The Republicans “wave the bloody shirt”: look at all the blood bc of the south, they can't win they caused all this

• Republicans win VETO-PROOF majority and Congressional Reconstruction increases, BUT they need to stay together to control reconstruction (black voting might split party)

first reconstruction act

1. March 1867, Confederacy splits into 5 districts (2 per state) w a general in charge of each

• Enforces martial law and 14th A black rights in south

  • Black voting increase, disenfranchisement of confederate soldiers/leaders

• Increases requirements to join union (must ratify 13th and 14th A)

→ Problem is who participates in writing these constitutions, many states just don't ratify and let the army come

second reconstruction act

Puts union army in charge of letting blacks vote

→ Except that the southerners j stop voting and say without our #s there is no quorum to pass anything

third reconstruction act

you only need a majority of those who vote to pass the A, no quorum needed

tenure of office act

• prohibits the president from removing federal official/military officer without senate approval

  • proactive way to stop Johnson from working around 14th A by simply removing secretary of war (Stanton)

johnson’s impeachment

Johnson removes Stanton, disregarding tenure of office act so the House impeaches him

• By 1 vote senate finds him not guilty tho and don't impeach him; bc they dont think this is valid for removal as it is political reason not smt he did morally wrong/treason or smt

election of 1868

• Republicans: Ulysses S. Grant v Dems: Horatio Seymour

→ Grant wins by 300k pop votes (bc blacks can vote!!!)

→ opens even moderates eyes that they need black support to win elections, so they switch to pro-equality

→ Black voting is no longer a reason for the republican split!

15th amendment

no voting discrimination/restrictions

→ election of ‘68 is the impetus for this passage

southern initial post war climate

• Struggling economically, politically, socially)

• A need for crops in the ground increases bc they are starving

• Former slaves rly want land (“40 acres and a mule” - sherman) and they get it, BUT the pardon to plantation owners gives the land back to the whites

  • Freedmen end up back on farms (80%) and cant purchase the land back + whites can't afford any other labor

sharecropping

• Freedmen paid for land by promising ½ of their crops to the property owners (overall no money)

  • Everyone starts planting cotton again and price of it falls

• The system never allows black people to move up economically, and long term creates econ stalemate in south in general

• Only 5% of freedmen became financially independent

Black southern republican senators

due to union army enforcement, Blanche Bruce and Hiram Revels were voted into office

carpetbaggers

northerners who came to the south post war to invest and join republicans

scalawags

white southern republicans who were former whigs and hated by organized south/dems

founder of kkk

nathan bedford forrest

northern initial post war climate

• Full steam ahead, thriving compared to south

• 2nd industrial revolution, econ boosts, modernization etc.

  • Republican policies that contributed to this:

    • Federally funded rail

    • Income tax

    • Giving land away (homesteads)

• BUT, workers wages do not keep pace with inflation so pay attention to the widening gap between the richest and the poorest

credit mobilier affair

• Union Pacific railroad company stockholders set up a dummy company called Credit Mobilier that would charge the govt and Union pacific 2x-3x the amount of rail tracks and say they were building a national railroad

• In reality they never actually built the railroads and the stockholders could just pocket the difference and give some of the money to Congressmen

• Inflated construction costs + siphoned funds and citizen tax money

tweed ring (nyc)

dems operating + bilking ny workers for over $250 mil → there was no avenue people could turn to bc dems controlled everything

who first brought attention to tweed ring?

comic writer thomas nast made fun of it as writing/comics was the only ave. untouched

who took down the tweed ring

samuel tilden takes down ring and becomes famous → this fame drives his presidential campaign in ‘76

whiskey ring

tax agents + whiskey companies colluded together → no one tells bc both sides benefit

final rupture of republicanparty

rather than the black vote, which most believed would be the fracturing factor to the party, the scandals and grant’s stance on panic of 1873 are actually what taint the grant admin image and break up the party

election of 1872

horace greely (liberal republicans + dems) vs. grant (wave the bloody shirt again)

horace greely and liberal republican beliefs

A group of repubs split with grant to reform the govt

Merit > social connections to get govt jobs → Civil Service Exam

End railroad subsidies

Withdraw all union troops from south

Decrease tax

panic of 1873

Inflation bc of rail/land speculation

Except this time we hv paper money! So we call for more money (cheaper values grow)

→ HOWEVER, inflation helps/cheaper values help common people/farmers pay off debt

greenback labor party

want to stop relying on gold standard backing dollars

→ makes money value more flexible → so they can print more $ and create inflation to pay off debts

grant’s stance on panic of 1873

Money Question: stable or unstable money supply?

→ Grant sides w bankers/hard money and refuses change which gives advantage to Dems bc they can whine about how he is not supporting the little man or how he wants us to be in debt etc etc

amnesty act of 1872

Removes the last restrictions on confederacy except for the top elite generals → southers dems retake control

black rights post amnesty act ‘72

• Union troops begin leaving the South as states ratify 13, 14, 15 Amendments → Democrats “redeem”/take over the govt again

• Black voting suppressed even though legal

• KKK intimidation prevents it: burnt homes, crosses, floggings/lynchings, robberies etc

  • Created a mindset among all that it is ok to treat Black people like this (discrimination became normalized)

  • Congress tried to stop KKK w force acts, elections etc, but damage was done alr

  • Moderate republicans lose will to fight for black rights

supreme court’s overall role in recon

Decisions largely undermine black rights protected by congress (bc confeds/dems still have majority bc life terms)

ex parte merryman (1861)

Lincoln could not suspend habeas corpus bc that is Congress’s power/need approval under Article 1 (he did it pre war to allow arrest of suspects of confederacy)

Cummings v Missouri // Ex Parte Garland (1867)

court declares the loyalty oaths required of south to re-enter union unconstitutional bc:

1. Violates prohibitions of bill of attainder (punishment/sentence without a trial)

2. Violates ex post facto ( (if u commit crime before it is illegal ur good)

Slaughter House Cases (1873)

gave a monopoly to one slaughterhouse in Louisiana to help deal with sanitary problems, disease etc., and other slaughterhouses challenged it in court

significance of slaughter house cases

• Gave states control over their citizens lives and limited the protection of the fourteenth amendment by claiming it only applies to those rights specifically mentioned in the constitution

• **It took an umbrella protection for blacks and shrunk it

→ opened door for jim crow laws and segregation

Civil Rights Act of 1875

equal accommodations, desegregate public schools, desegregate public spaces etc.

→ HOWEVER, this receives widespread resistance and ultimately does NOT pass

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

congress cannot legislate against racial discrimination practiced by citizen (guts civil rights act)

Plessy v Ferguson

“separate but equal” does not violate Constitution

→ Blacks can be legally equal just separated in society (segregation)