PAPER 2 CIVIL WAR

Reconstruction

Aims and Outcomes of Reconstruction

  • Reintegrating Southern states into the USA

    • The Ten Per Cent Plan:

      • States could be readmitted if 10% of the electorate took an oath of future loyalty to the USA.

      • They had to support all acts of Congress regarding slavery.

      • They had to allow some African-Americans to vote.

      • Louisiana applied under this plan, but Congress refused to admit it.

    • Wade-Davis Bill 1864:

      • Passed by Congress to impose strict conditions on Southern states wishing to rejoin the USA.

      • Lincoln vetoed this bill, believing it would prolong the war.

      • This led to a divide between President Lincoln and Congress on how to handle the Southern states.

The 13th Amendment

  • Introduced by Lincoln: Following his re-election in December 1864.

  • Full emancipation: Slavery banned across the entire USA.

  • Accepted by Congress: January 1865. (Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865).

  • Became law: December 1865.

Andrew Johnson

  • President: Became president after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865.

  • Black Codes:

    • Passed by Southern states to minimize the impact of the abolition of slavery.

    • Kept African-Americans as second-class citizens.

  • Congress:

    • Introduced bills to give greater rights (including citizenship) to African Americans.

    • Johnson vetoed these bills, knowing they would make reintegration of Southern states more difficult.

  • Civil Rights Act 1866: Congress overturned Johnson's veto and passed the Act.

The 14th Amendment

  • Citizenship: Gave US citizenship to people born in the USA or naturalized.

  • Radical Reconstruction:

    • Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and 1868 imposed martial law on Southern states.

    • All states were required to approve the 14th Amendment.

  • Election of Grant as president 1868: Grant favored the hard-line approach taken by Congress.

  • New state governments:

    • Often corrupt and inefficient.

    • Most officials were Northerners (carpetbaggers), assisted by renegade Southern whites (scalawags).

The 15th Amendment

  • Introduced: 1869.

  • Aim: To ensure African-Americans in both the North and South could vote.

  • By 1870: All Southern states had been readmitted to the federal government.

The 1876 Presidential Election

  • Misfired election: The defeated candidate got more votes than the winner.

  • Samuel Tilden: Democrat; won the popular vote.

  • Rutherford B. Hayes: Won the crucial Electoral College vote.

  • Claims of fraud: The outcome was so close that both candidates accused the other of fraud.

The Compromise of 1877

  • Secret deal: Between largely Northern-based Republicans and the Democratic Party of the South.

    • If Republicans could have the presidency, Democrats could control Southern states (federal troops and carpetbaggers would leave).

  • Republican priorities:

    • No longer controlled Congress.

    • Conditions of African-Americans were no longer important.

    • They faced economic problems following the depression of 1873.

How Successful was Reconstruction?

African-Americans

  • Effects of emancipation: Freed slaves had no land and no education, trapping them in poverty.

  • Sharecroppers: Working as tenant farmers - hard labor for little reward.

  • Entrenched racism:

    • Ku Klux Klan used lynchings and beatings to prevent African Americans from voting.

    • White League formed.

  • Racial segregation: Persisted in many parts of the South (e.g., Jim Crow Laws in the 1890s).

  • African-American middle class: Small numbers gained money and established schools and public buildings.

Economic and Political Changes

  • The South: Remained economically depressed with considerable poverty.

  • Power of the federal government: Had grown, although states' rights and identity remained strong.

  • Failure to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments: Government unwilling to tackle this issue.

  • Dominance of the North: The North continued to dominate the presidency and Supreme Court.

  • Industrial growth: The USA embarked on a period of unprecedented economic growth.

Loss of Civil Liberties in the North

  • Merryman Case:

    • John Merryman was a Southern sympathizer who tried to stop US troops from getting to Virginia.

    • He was arrested without trial.

    • Habeas corpus was suspended; thousands were detained without trial.

  • Vallandigham Case:

    • Vallandigham was a leader of the Copperheads, Northern Democrats who opposed the war and wanted an early peace with the South.

    • He was arrested for making speeches sympathetic to the South.

    • The Chicago Times was closed down for supporting him.

  • Milligan Case: Milligan was sentenced to death by a military court for undermining the North's war effort but was later pardoned.

Loss of Civil Liberties in the South

  • Suspension of habeas corpus: People could be tried by military court.

  • Individual states: Opposed giving the military too much power.

  • Current example from today: Homeland Security

The Emancipation Proclamation

  • August 1862: Horace Greeley (editor of the New York Tribune) issued an open letter advocating the end of slavery.

  • September 1862: Lincoln's Proclamation stated that slavery could continue in all states that returned to the Union by January 1, 1863, after which the Union would free all slaves in enemy states. This was an ultimatum the South refused.

  • Lincoln's aim: To weaken the South's war effort; Britain might also support the North if it came out against slavery.

  • Slaves: Many tried to undermine the South's war effort; others joined the Northern army.

Life in the Confederate States

  • Effects of war: The North attacked civilian targets.

  • Economic problems:

    • Naval blockade prevented exports of cotton to Britain.

    • Basic foodstuffs were in short supply.

    • The introduction of a 10% tax on farm products hit poor farmers.

  • Social divisions: Wealthy Southerners could avoid conscription, leading to class resentment.

  • Political divisions: Many white Southerners did not support the Confederacy; many joined the Northern army.

  • Slaves: Many took part in strikes, which weakened the Confederacy; some worked as informers for attacking Union forces; many joined the Northern army.

Democratic Politics

  • Midterm elections 1862: Democrats won more seats in the House of Representatives; Republicans kept the majority only by allying with other parties (e.g., War Democrats).

  • 1864 election: Lincoln was re-elected president despite divisions in the Republican Party over the conduct of the war.

Four Years of Civil War

  • South: Did not need to force the North to surrender; they had unity; a belief in moral superiority; support from local people; political leadership of Jefferson Davis; military leadership of Robert E. Lee; and support from Britain (needing cotton).

Military Strategies of the South

  • Offensive-defensive: Attacking the North in some areas, withdrawing into the South in others.

  • Interior communication lines: Telegraph, railways, etc., used to pass messages and bring in soldiers.

  • 1862-63 offensive: Lee concentrated forces on the eastern front and entered Northern territory; lived off Northern food (not taking food from people in the South); Northern victories at Antietam and Gettysburg.

  • After Gettysburg: The South was forced onto the defensive.

Military Strategies of the North

  • Military leaders: Winfield Scott; replaced in 1861 by General George McClellan, replaced by Grant by the end of the war

  • The Anaconda Plan ('Scott's Great Snake'):

    • Aimed to surround the South.

    • Troops created a barrier in the north, naval blockade of the east and west.

    • Intended to gain control of the Mississippi to split the South in two.

  • Strategies of Grant and Sherman: Infantry raids into enemy territory to destroy civilian property, supply lines, and railways.

  • Grant's eastern front offensive:

    • Led to battles between Lee and Grant.

    • Trench warfare around Petersburg.

    • High casualty rates.

  • December 1864: Sherman took Savannah and Atlanta, cutting the South in two; Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.

Troops

  • Volunteers: Initially, armies were formed of volunteers.

  • Conscription by the South: Introduced by the South in April 1862; unpopular; draft-dodging.

  • Conscription by the North: Introduced in March 1863; unpopular; the rich could pay for exemption.

Railways

  • Moving troops: Enabled troops to be moved quickly and efficiently

    • e.g., the North's victory at Chattanooga (1863) and the South's victory at Bull Run (1861) were possible due to the effective movement of troops.

  • Supplies: Enabled supplies to get to troops and helped get wounded off battlefields.

  • Targets: Both sides tried to disrupt opponents by destroying railway lines.

Causes of the Civil War - Long Term

  • Sectionalism: The North and South grew divided.

  • Slavery

  • Westward expansion of the US

  • States' Rights

Causes of the Civil War - Short Term

  • Election of Lincoln 1860

  • Secession: Starting with SC in December 1860.

  • Fort Sumter, SC: First shots fired by the South in April 1861.

Advantages - North

  • Money: $$$

  • Population: North - 22 million, South - 9 million (with 3 million enslaved).

  • Industrial economy: Produce weapons and supply army.

Advantages - South

  • Better military leaders

  • Home court advantage: Defensive.

  • Unified in hatred of the North

Slavery

  • 1861 Border states in the Union show Lincoln's reluctance to end slavery (at first)

  • 1863 Emancipation Proclamation: Ends slavery in the Southern (not border) states.

  • 1865 - Lincoln pushes through the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery in ALL states

Turning Point - Lincoln knows the SOUTH has LOST but must convince THEM

  • Gettysburg, PA - 1863 last offensive of the South into the North

  • Vicksburg, MS - 1863 split the Confederacy in half cutting off LA and TX

Total War

  • Definition: Unrestricted war including civilian targets

  • Battle of Atlanta (July 1864): Sherman gives Lincoln a victory to win the 2nd Election 1864

  • March to the Sea: Sherman continues total war from Atlanta to the Atlantic.

  • Surrender: Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865

Consequences

  • The Union is preserved: We are now one country again - even though to the North, the Confederacy didn't exist because it was illegal, meaning the country was not legally divided.

  • Slavery is abolished in the whole country with the 13th amendment: They will become citizens during Reconstruction.

  • The federal government gains power over states and is now premier although states still hold some powers - voting, education, law enforcement

Now What

  • Reconstruction:

    • How to bring the South back into the Union slave-free.

    • Freed slaves - freedmen - role and treatment.

Sides of the War: North

  1. Abraham Lincoln

  2. Washington, DC

  3. General Grant

  4. Offensive War

  5. 24 states

  6. Strong Naval Tradition - Warships and all but one shipyard in the Union

  7. Strong industrial economy. 80% of all factories in north 90% of clothing and iron produced in North

  8. Almost all firearm and gunpowder factories were in the North

  9. Most Railroads were in the north for industry

  10. Large banks with reserves to loan government money were in place

  11. Politically divided - war not fought on their soil - more distance from the actual war

Sides of the War: South

  1. Jefferson Davis

  2. Richmond, VA

  3. General Lee

  4. Defensive War

  5. 11 states (13 later with KY,MO)

  6. Strong Military tradition - large number of trained officers, all but one military college in South

  7. Strong agricultural economy home to very little industry. Their role was to ship raw materials north

  8. Only one factory that produced cannons existed at the beginning of the war

  9. Had only ½ the railroads of the North

  10. Small banks with little reserve because agricultural runs on credit until crop is in

  11. Politically united – war fought in their back yards

Battles

  • Bull Run I

    • Year: 1861

    • Victor: Confederates

    • Significance: Showed that the war would be a long one

  • Forts Henry and Donelson

    • Year: 1862

    • Victor: Union

    • Significance: First southern capital fell (Nashville)

  • New Orleans

    • Year: 1862

    • Victor: Union

    • Significance: Captured largest city and center of cotton trade

  • Shiloh

    • Year: 1862

    • Victor: Union

    • Significance: High union casualties but cut Southern Rail lines in half