Comprehensive Study Guide for Chapter 14: The American Civil War

Senator James Henry Hammond and the Mudsill Theory

• Date: 03/04/1858.

• Context: Democratic Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina addressed the Senate shortly after Kansas was admitted as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution.

• Rhetorical Objective: Hammond aimed to extol the power of the South while excoriating Northern senators for creating a rift over slavery. He portrayed the South as a potential world-ruling empire via its geographical position and cotton production.

• Cotton is King: Hammond famously declared, "Cotton is king," an assertion used to justify the necessity of enslaved labor for production.

• The Mudsill Theory Defined:

  • Verbatim Definition: Hammond stated: "In all social systems, there must be a class to do the menial duties to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring a low order of intellect and little skill. Its requisites are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement. It constitutes the very mudsill of society and of political government, and you might as well attempt to build a house in the air as to build either the one or the other except on this mudsill."

  • Application to Race: Hammond explicitly identified the enslaved population as a race "adapted to that purpose," claiming they were inferior but qualified in "temper and vigor and docility" to stand the climate and serve the upper class.

  • Societal Justification: The theory posits that a lower class is a biological and social necessity to maintain an upper class capable of civilization and refinement.

Lincoln’s ‐House Divided‐ and the Election of 1860

• House Divided Speech: Delivered by Abraham Lincoln on June 16, 1858, at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois.

  • Key Assertion: ‐A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.‐

  • Prediction: Lincoln did not expect the Union to be dissolved or fall but predicted it would cease to be divided, becoming either entirely slave-holding or entirely free.

• The Democratic Party Split:

  • Convention Location: Charleston, South Carolina.

  • Stephen A. Douglas: Lead candidate; platform of non-interference but opposed to the extension of slavery into new territories.

  • John D. Breckenridge: Nominated by Southern Democrats; from Kentucky (current VP to Buchanan). He supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, state rights, and the Dred Scott decision, being an enslaver himself.

• The Republican Party Convention:

  • Location: Chicago, Illinois.

  • William Seward: The initial lead candidate from New York (later negotiated the purchase of Alaska in 1867). He was deemed too radical on the spread of slavery.

  • Abraham Lincoln: Nominated as a more moderate choice, running on an anti-slavery extension and pro-business platform.

• Election Results: Lincoln won the entire Upper North, California, and Oregon, securing the presidency.

The Path to Secession and the Confederacy

• James Buchanan’s Response: In his State of the Union speech (12/03/1860), Buchanan blamed the North for sectional hostility. He declared secession illegal but claimed the federal government had no power to stop it.

• Chronology of Secession:

  • South Carolina: 12/20/1860; hosted a meeting in Charleston to endorse an ordinance of secession.

  • Followers (by 02/01/1861): Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. All cited the issue of slavery as the primary reason for departure.

• The Confederate States of America (CSA):

  • Provisional Constitution: Adopted 02/07/1861.

  • President: Jefferson Davis (Mississippi); former Mexican-American War soldier and Secretary of War.

  • Vice President: Alexander Stephens (Georgia).

  • Capital: Montgomery, Alabama.

  • Foundational Principle: The defense of slavery, including state-level determination over ownership of enslaved people.

The Outbreak of Hostilities and Lincoln’s Inauguration

• Contested Forts: Most federal properties were seized peacefully, with two exceptions: Fort Pickens (Pensacola, Florida) and Fort Sumter (Charleston, South Carolina).

• The Star of the West Incident: 01/09/1861. Buchanan sent this steamer with reinforcements to Fort Sumter; Confederate forces fired upon it, driving it away. Buchanan took no further action.

• Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address: 03/04/1861.

  • Stance on Slavery: Promised not to interfere with the institution where it already existed, citing no legal right or inclination to do so.

  • Stance on Secession: Stated no state could lawfully leave the Union.

  • Appeal for Unity: ‐We are not enemies but friends… though passion may have been strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.‐

• The Battle of Fort Sumter:

  • Date: 04/12/1861.

  • Key Figures: U.S. Navy Commander Robert Anderson.

  • Conflict: Jefferson Davis ordered a bombardment after Anderson refused to surrender. After 30 hours, Anderson ran out of ammunition and surrendered.

• Expansion of the Confederacy: Following Lincoln's call for volunteers, four more states joined the CSA: Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. The capital was moved to Richmond, Virginia.

• The Border States: Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware remained in the Union despite being slave states. Maryland was critical due to its proximity to Washington, D.C.

Civil War Statistics and Military Tactics

• Death Toll Comparison:

  • Revolutionary War: approximately $30,000$ deaths.

  • Civil War: approximately $750,000$ deaths.

• Napoleonic Tactics: Generals (mostly West Point graduates and Mexican-American War veterans) employed Napoleonic strategies of massed battles of destruction.

• Technological Advancements:

  • Rifling: Made weapons and cannons more accurate with longer range.

  • Interchangeable Parts: Facilitated easier repair and replacement of weapons.

  • Transportation: Improved roads and railroads allowed for rapid movement of troops.

• The First Battle of Bull Run: 07/21/1861.

  • Commanders: Brigadier General Irving McDowell (Union) vs. Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard (Confederacy).

  • Audience: Civilians brought picnic baskets to watch the battle.

  • Outcome: Both sides had approximately $18,000$ inexperienced men. Approximately $800$ died, $2,600$ were wounded, and $1,230$ went missing. It was a Confederate victory that disproved the expectation of a quick war.

Strategic Resources and Global Diplomacy

• Union Advantages:

  • Population: $22,000,000$ people across 23 states.

  • Industry: Produced $97\%$ of firearms and $96\%$ of railroad equipment.

  • Resources: Most banking/financial assets, mechanics, shipping firms, and significantly more railroad tracks.

• Confederate Advantages:

  • Population: $9,000,000$ (including $4,000,000$ enslaved people).

  • Defense: Fighting on home turf (though this caused massive destruction of crops and infrastructure).

  • Leadership: More experienced initial military leaders.

• The Anaconda Plan: Conceived by General Winfield Scott.

  1. Defend Washington, D.C. and pressure Montgomery/Richmond.

  2. Blockade the entire Southern coastline to stop cotton exports and supply imports.

  3. Cut the South in two by controlling the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers.

• King Cotton Diplomacy: The CSA attempted to blackmail Britain and France into support by withholding cotton shipments. This failed because those nations found other suppliers and refused to support slavery unless the War became explicitly about abolition.

Political Factions in the North

• Radical Republicans: Based in New England; demanded the war result in the total abolition of slavery and equal rights for freedmen.

• Moderate Republicans: Supported fighting to preserve the Union and stopping the extension of slavery, but many were indifferent or racist regarding the welfare of enslaved people.

• Copperheads (Northern Democrats): Strongest in Southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. They favored a negotiated settlement with the South. Many had Southern roots and prioritized agriculture over industry.

Key Military Campaigns and Legal Milestones

• The Confederate Draft: The first draft in American history.

  • Terms: Men aged 18 to 35 for 3 years.

  • Exemptions: Those owning $20$ or more enslaved people; hiring a substitute for $300$ dollars (equivalent to a yearly wage).

• Battle of Shiloh: Victory for the Confederacy in Mississippi; approximately $24,000$ total casualties.

• The Battle of Antietam: 09/17/1862.

  • Significance: The bloodiest single day in the Civil War. Lee's invasion of the North (Western Maryland) failed.

  • Casualties: $13,000$ dead; $15,000$ wounded.

  • Political Impact: Revived Northern morale and dashed Southern hopes for foreign intervention.

• Emancipation Proclamation: Effective 01/01/1863.

  • Scope: Freed enslaved people specifically in rebel states (AR, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA).

  • Exclusions: Border states and specific parishes/counties (like West Virginia) to avoid turning loyal slaveholders against the Union.

• Vicksburg: Grant starved the city into surrender on 07/04/1863, securing the Mississippi River.

• Gettysburg: 06/30/1863 – 07/03/1863.

  • Pickett’s Charge: A near-suicide mission involving approximately $12,500$ troops crossing a mile-wide field. $10,000$ died.

  • Result: A decisive Union victory coinciding with the fall of Vicksburg.

The Gettysburg Address

Delivered by Lincoln on 11/19/1863.

• Verbatim Text: ‐Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation may live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate ‐ we cannot consecrate ‐ we cannot hallow this ground. Brave men living and dead who struggle here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note no longer remember what we say here, and it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work, which they who fought here have thus so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from those honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that those dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.‐

Total War and the End of the Conflict

• Sherman’s March to the Sea: General William Tecumseh Sherman led $62,000$ troops across Georgia.

  • Tactics: Total war; raiding and burning property, pulling up railroad lines (‐Sherman neckties‐).

  • Impact: Destroyed over $100,000,000$ dollars in property and freed $40,000$ enslaved people who joined the Union army.

• The Election of 1864:

  • Vice President: Andrew Johnson (Tennessee), picked to appeal to border state voters and Northern Democrats.

  • Inauguration Quote: ‐With malice towards none and with charity for all.‐

• The Surrender at Appomattox: 04/09/1865 (Palm Sunday).

  • Location: The McLean House (ironically nearby the first battle site at Bull Run).

  • Terms: Lenient; soldiers would not be prosecuted if they didn't take up arms; officers kept horses and sidearms.

• Assassination: John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln on 04/14/1865, just five days after Lee's surrender.

• Historical Footnote: Marcellus French (Alamo Rangers) was the dispatch carrier for terms between Grant and Lee on the morning of 04/08/1865.