Civil War and Reconstruction

1800-1876

As the nation began to expand westward, slavery could no longer be ignored. Many in the nation were willing to wait it out as long as it remained in the southern states.

-Civil war was 4 years long. Between the North and the South

  • Causes of the Civil War

    • Social-Economic differences between North and South

      • South: economy was dependent on King Cotton and salve labor. Northern criticism seen as an attack on Southern way of life

      • North: economy more industrial than agricultural, based on free labor. Modernity and progress, no future for feudal Southern society

    • States rights vs federal authority

      • South: Doctrine of nullification; states could nullify federal laws

      • North: rejected nullification, constitution made federal government supreme

    • Expansion of slavery

      • South: cotton exhausted soil of the old south, expansion was key to the south’s survival. New slave states admitted (Texas, Missouri, Kansas)

      • North: if slavery expanded westward, would it ever go away? No more slave states in the Union, California admitted as a free state in 1850

  • Geographic and economic factors contributed to the growth of slavery

    • southern economy was unique since they were dependent on slave labor for cotton production

    • creation of Cotton South led to sectionalism (loyalty to a certain region of the country rather than the country as a whole)

  • The expansion of slavery was a political issue prior to the 1850s

    • Missouri Compromise of 1820 limited the spread of slavery

    • Annexation of Texas in 1837 added potential new slave territory for the south

    • Mexican war 1848 was criticized as a proslavery expansionist war

  • The failure of the politics of compromise led to war

    • Compromise of 1850 failed to hold the nation together, California was admitted as a free state, fugitive slave law was passed.

      • fugitive slave law → required that slaves must be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state

    • 1850s, slavery and sectionalism threatened the Union

    • Failure of the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 → bloodshed over expansion of slavery, raised the issue of popular sovereignty

      • idea that government is authorized by the citizens and influenced by what they want

    • Dred Scott decision did not solve the slavery question, slaves were not citizens and could not sue

      • Upheld slavery in the United states and denied legality of slaves being citizens

    • Election in 1860 of Lincoln made secession inevitable

      • slave states were a separate entity in the US

    • Confederate states of America were formed (13 southern states)

  • Civil War threatened the union 1861-1865

    • North and South prepared for war

      • North → superior in manpower, firepower, and economic resources

      • South → superior in leadership and territory

    • Union strategy of isolating the south proved successful

      • Union blockade economically strangled the south

      • defeat at Gettysburg 1863 ended the southern chances for foreign recognition

      • economic and military weaknesses as well as a devastated south led to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865. Official end of the civil war

  • Reconstruction attempts to reunite the nation 1865-1876

    • after the civil war, economic, political, social, and military reconstruction of the south was necessary

    • President and congress differed in their ideas of reconstructing the south

      • presidential plan emphasized tolerance for the defeated south

      • congressional (radical) plan emphasized use of military force in treating the south like a conquered territory

    • Reconstruction was under radical control from 1866-1876; for 10 years

      • 14 and 15th amendments were passed (equal rights to freedmen and rights to vote for freedmen)

      • civil rights bill was passed (all people born in the US were citizens)

      • military rule supported radical reconstruction

      • President Johnson was impeached for opposing radical reconstruction

      • Presidential Plan Abraham Lincoln/Andrew Johnson

        • amnesty plan—southerners were pardoned

        • confederate states must ratify the 13th amendment, nullify state secession ordinances

        • south must deny the truth of all debts owed by the union to the confederate states

        • provisional governors to protect rights of freedmen

      • Congressional Reconstruction Plan Thaddeus Stevens/Charles Sumner

        • punish the south

        • south divided into five military districts

        • states must ratify the 14th amendment

        • state constitutions include a guarantee of full suffrage to freedmen

        • 15th amendment

    • Disputed election of 1876 ended radical reconstruction with the election of Hayes

      • social justice for black people received a setback

      • national commitment to equal opportunity was delayed 100 years

      • Jim crow laws and black codes restricted black rights

        • Jim Crow → racial segregation

        • Black codes → restricted black people from owning property, conducting business, buy and lease land, and move freely though public spaces