Period 5: Emancipation

Abolitionism

  • cross-over support between first-wave feminists and abolitionists

    • Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Susan b. Anthony, William Lloyd Garrison, Grimke sisters

  • early abolitionists are Quakers, but 2nd Great Awakening sees abolitionism spreading to other Christian denominations

  • earliest abolition group is American Colonization Society

    • advocates for migration of free black Americans “back” to Africa

    • 1821 establishment of colony in West Africa

      • today Liberia

  • many abolitionists appalled by “return to Africa” idea

    • 1831 William Lloyd Garrison establishes The Liberator, the premiere abolitionist newspaper

  • abolition is a moral cause for Garrison → 1833 establishes American Anti-Slavery Society (purpose is immediate emancipation)

    • 250,000 members

  • escaped slave Frederick Douglass = prominent speaker on abolition circuit

    • publishes autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave in 1845

    • 1847 establishes North Star, an abolitionist newspaper

    • disagrees with Garrison’s assertion that the Constitution is pro-slavery

      • argues it can become an anti-slavery document

  • involvement of Grimke sisters is crucial because they’re abolitionists in spite of their upbringing on a wealthy SC plantation

    • connection with white abolitionists (relatable!) makes them popular

    • become concerned with their moral character

  • 1829 David Walker published An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World

    • black unity, self-improvement, taking action against slavery

    • born to free black family in NC but has enslaved relatives

    • fight for slavery may get violent; get used to it

  • Walker’s ideas scare slaveholders because they see it as a call for rebellion

    • fears justified in 1831 when slave/preacher Nat Turner of VA leads 70+ failed rebellion that kills 60 whites

      • more slave patrols, anti-literacy laws, black churches require white supervision, restricted movement of blacks in south → free blacks migrate north

Terror In The West

  • debate over slavery heaets up following Mex-Amer War as US borders grow

  • Free Soil Party formed in response to Democrats’ refusal to endorse Wilmot Proviso

    • bill that would have banned slavery in Mexican Cession

    • they don’t want slavery to follow them as they move westward

    • abolitionists who argue that the spread of slavery threatens economic prospects for white laborers settling in West

  • Clay introduces Compromise of 1850

    1. CA admitted as free state

    2. slave trade in DC will end but not slavery itself

    3. Fugitive Slave Law coerces states to enforce Constitution’s fugitive slave clause

      • just enforces the clause in the constitution

    4. territories of Utah and New Mexico given popular sovereignty

      • a new state/territory may allow or ban slavery

  • calms tensions, but flare again in 1854 when IL senator Stephen Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Act passes

    • act repeals Missouri Compromise by extending popular sovereignty into all territories

Civil War

  • SC first to secede in December 1860

    • MS, AL,  FL, GA, LA, and TX secede in January 1861

  • delegates from the seceded states meet in Montgomery, AL, and form the Confederacy in February (Confederate States of America aka CSA)

    • constitution same as Union’s except for slavery explicitly protected

    • MS senator Jefferson Davis elected president

  • VA, TN, AR, and NC join CSA by May

  • border states of MO, KY, MD, and DE remain slave-holding and in Union

  • WV created and admitted to Union as residents are largely anti-slavery

  • Fort Sumter (April 1861)

    • one of the last Union-controlled forts in CSA, and the Rebells demand surrender

    • actually starts the war

  • Lincoln doesnt’t want to be directly responsible for starting war → sends food instead of reinforcements

    • “inaction” forces Davis’ hand, hwo orders the fort bombarded

    • shells Fort Sumter for two days before the Union surrenders

    • no casualties

  • CSA celebrates and northerners rally → 75,000 volunteer for duty

  • Norht recognizes the only way to win is to invade → Anaconda Plan

    1. establish a blockade of Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico

    2. secure control of Mississippi River and split CSA in half (Confederate food comes from TX)

    3. capture Confederate capital of Richmond, VA

  • Lincoln uses Antietem to issue Emancipaiton Proclamation

    • Purpose: free slaves in CSA, confirms war is about slavery, invites black recruits

    • Consequences: Europe remains neutral and path towards 13th Amendment

  • the capture of Atlanta in mid-1864 boosts Lincoln’s reelection campaign

    • with the Union now decisively winning the war, Lincoln wins in a landslide

  • Appomattox Courthouse (April 9, 1865)

    • March to the Sea complete → Grants orders Sherman to join him in VA to wear down Lee

    • after more Rebel defeats, Davis and CSA flees Richmond

    • in VA, Lee arranges to meet Grant at Appomattox Courthouse to officially surrender

    • by June, all CSA resistance collapses → Juneteenth (June 19) seen as the true end of slavery, as the Union reaches TX

Reconstruction Begins

  • 1863 = Lincoln plans for CSA’s integration back into Union

    • favors leniency

    • 10% plan = allows seceded states to form new govs once 10% of residents pledge allegiance to US & pardons all Rebels except Confederate generals and officials

  • Radical Republicans think 10% plan is too forgiving

    • want to punish South and restructure it by offering all black citizenship and suffrage

  • Lincoln’s assassination in mid-April 1865 changes trajectory of Reconstruction

    • VP Andrew Johnson, Democrat, becomes POTUS

  • Johnson is former TN governor and senator who was opposed to secession

    • Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction = readmission into Union means seceded states must pledge allegiance to US adn retify 13th Amendment

    • Johnson favors weak fed gov and believes he doesn’t have authority ot tell Southerner states how to to rebuild

    • also a supreme racist

    • vetoes Freedman’s Bureau in 1866 (Radical Republicans override all of his vetoes)

  • Freedman’s Bureau 1866 = assists freedmen and poor whites by distributing clothing and food, establishing schools, hospitals, teachers centers, and job training

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866 = grants freedmen citizenship and forbids state governments from enacting black codes (legal discrimination)

    • completely disregarded by Johnson → becomes part of 14th Amendment basically

  • Reconstruction Act of 1867 = South remains under military occupation until former Confederate states ratify 14th Amendment

  • despite congressional overrides, Johnson is in charge of executing law, and he won’t (like Andrew Jackson)

    • enraged by his inaction, HOR’s Radical Republicans impeach Johnson in 1868 for failing ot execute law

    • Senate acquits him and he remains in office

  • Republican Ulysses S. Grant wins 1868 election (Johnson impeachment ruins reputation)

Reconstruction Collapses

  • Slaughterhouse cases signal end of Reconstruction as Northerners feel fed gov won’t eforce racial equality

  • Radical Republicans lose Congress → Freedman’s Bureau not renewed & 1872 Amnesty Act reinstates suffrage to 150k former Rebels, most voting Democratic

  • South reverts to being solidly Democratic

    • “redemption” to return to power

    • “Redeemers” establish black codes and disenfranchise blakc voters for nearly a century (until Voting Rights Act 1965)

  • election of 1876 is a Democrat win

    • support Southern sympathizer Samuel Tilden

      • wins popular vote

    • Republicans, muddied by Grant administration’s corruption, run Rutherford B. Hayes

      • wins electoral college

  • 20 electoral votes disputed → Congress decides election

    • Democrats agree to a Hayes presidency if demands are met

      • Compromise of 1877

        • military occupation of South ends

        • railroad connecting South to west coast is built

        • money for continued infrastructure granted

        • Hayes’ cabinet must include Southern Democrats