Civil War and Reconstruction

The Election of 1860 and Secession

Abraham Lincoln (Republican) won the Election of 1860 with 39% of the popular vote.
Southern states seceded following Lincoln's election, forming the Confederate States of America.
Jefferson Davis was elected as their President.
Lincoln's priority was to preserve the Union, even if it meant war.
Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, marking the start of the Civil War.
West Virginia broke off from Virginia and was loyal to the union.

Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri were border states with divided loyalties.
Maryland was kept in the Union through federal intervention, including the suspension of habeas corpus.
Delaware narrowly voted to stay in the Union.
Kentucky initially declared neutrality.
Missouri's legislature voted to stay in the Union.
The presence of US armed forces and Lincoln's decisive actions were key to keeping these states in the Union.

The Civil War was fought in the east and west of the Appalachian Mountains, and at sea.
The North blockaded Southern ports to stop Confederate trade, known as the Anaconda Plan.

North: Ulysses S. Grant (Union general and later President).
South: Robert E. Lee (Confederate Army commander).
Northern strategy: defend when necessary, attack when possible.
Southern strategy: concentrate forces on the eastern front and march them into Northern territory.
The Anaconda Plan worked better in the Western Theatre.
Scorched Earth Definition: a military strategy of destroying resources that could be used by an opposing force.
Generals Sheridan and Sherman employed this strategy.

North: Lincoln was commander-in-chief; aimed to wear down the South by occupying land and controlling the economy.
South: Jefferson Davis was president and commander-in-chief; Lee favored direct battle.
In 1864, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant as commander of the Union forces.
Generals for both sides were educated at West Point military war college.

North: Larger population, industrial base, powerful Navy, extensive railway network, superior war finance.
South: Cotton industry wealth, excellent generals, motivated troops, most of the fighting took place in the south.

Britain was a key foreign influence due to its industrial power and market for cotton.
Morrill Tariff 1862 increased tariffs on all imports from around 14% to around 26%.
Britain remained neutral but both Britain and France offered to mediate in 1862.
Russia sent fleets to New York and San Francisco as a warning against intervention.

Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and replaced by Andrew Johnson.

Conscription was introduced by both the South and the North.
Lincoln suspended habeas corpus.
Military Commissions were created.
Davis argued that the needs of war meant limiting civil liberties.
The 1863 Impressment Act gave Confederate armies the power to seize what they needed in terms of supplies.
The 1863 Tax-In-Kind Act enabled state officials to collect 10% of certain crops to help in the war effort.
The Aliens Enemies Act of 1861 – required all Southerners to declare themselves to be Confederacy citizens or leave or face arrest.
The Sequestration Act of 1861 – allowed the seizure of the property of absentee Unionists.

Social and political divisions existed within the Confederacy.
The Southern economy was based on agriculture but suffered due to naval blockades and inflation.

Johnson was impeached but not removed from office. Reasons:
A show of Radical strength might have had an effect on the 1868 elections.
Johnson would be humiliated
Congress could devote its time to finishing the job in the South, with a cooperative president not disrupting the role of the military governors.
In the absence of a vice president, Senator Wade would assume the presidency.

Freedmen faced unemployment and homelessness.
Sharecropping became a common economic model.
The Southern Homestead Act of 1866’s promise: available land in the South would be redistributed to those who needed it – mostly freedmen, although some white farmers benefited too.

Black Codes: Discriminatory state laws were passed to restrict the progress of African Americans.
Ku Klux Klan: A violent organization used to intimidate African Americans.

Accomplishments:
Force Acts of 1870-71
Opposition to violent anti-black groups (KKK).
Failures:
Freedmen’s Bureau was allowed to lapse in 1872
Amnesty Act 1872
1875 Civil Rights Act, which Grant did not enforce.
Refusal to send troops to prevent the Red Shirts from barring African American participation in elections in Mississippi in 1875.

Redeemer governments replaced Radical Reconstruction governments.
The Election Compromise of 1877: Hayes (Republican) vs Tilden (Democrat).
Federal troops were withdrawn from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction.