Civil War Review - Paper 3

Slavery In Antebellum America

The Three Souths

• Border South: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, & Missouri

  • Tobacco was main crop

  • Unionists

  • 17% of population were enslaved

  • 22% of white families were enslavers

• Middle South – Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas

  • Mix of Border South & Lower South

  • Unionists

  • Enslaved 30% of population

  • 36% of whites were enslavers

• Lower South – South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas

  • “Cotton belt”/”Black belt”

  • “King Cotton”

  • Plantations prevalent – cotton, but also sugar, rice & indigo

  • Secessionists

  • Enslaved 47% of population

  • 43% white families were enslavers

The “Peculiar Institution”

• Planter “Aristocracy”

  • Ruled politically & economically

  • Least democratic region

• Plantation system

  • Risky, one-crop economy

  • Repelled large-scale European immigration

• Plantation slavery

  • By 1860 nearly 4 million people enslaved

  • Natural production

  • Wealth & brutality

Enslaved Culture

• West African culture

• Family ties

  • “Fictive kin”

• Oral traditions

  • Literacy illegal

  • Br’er rabbit

• Religion

  • Call and response

  • Blended religion

  • “Exodus”

Music

• Rhythmic complexity

  • Drums & “patting juba”

  • Banjo

• Call & response from Islam & other West African traditions

• Influenced most genres of American music

  • Country, Folk, Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Soul, Funk, Hip Hop

Burdens of Slavery

• Deprived dignity

  • Physical & psychological treatment

  • Convinced many that they were inferior

• Denied education

• Resistance

  • Sabotage

  • Escape

Enslaved Revolts

• Stono Rebellion, 1739

• Gabriel Prosser, 1800

• Denmark Vessey, 1822

  • Largest planned revolt, but never materialized

  • Vessey & others publicly hanged

• Nat Turner, 1831

  • Most significant & largest of 19th century

  • 60 Virginians killed

  • Anxiety led to harsh laws & paranoia

The White Majority

• By 1860, 75% owned no slaves at all

  • “white trash”, “hillbillies”, “crackers”, etc.

  • Resented dominance of “slavocracy”, but supported – why?

• Mountain whites

  • Hated wealthy planters and slaves

  • Unionists

Free African Americans

• By 1860, roughly 500,000

  • Bought freedom working after hours or born free

  • Owned property, even in the South

  • Prohibited from certain occupations, testifying in court, or entering certain states

  • Racial prejudice and segregation with no suffrage

  • Philadelphia

  • African Methodist Episcopal Church

Abolitionism

• American Colonization Society (1817)

  • Re-colonization to Liberia on West African Coast

  • Appealed to Northerners like Lincoln – why?

• Radical Abolitionism

  • Immediate end to slavery with no compensation for planters

  • William Lloyd Garrison – The Liberator

  • American Anti-Slavery Society

    • Angelina and Sarah Grimke

• Sojourner Truth

• Elijah Lovejoy

  • Abolitionist martyr & printer

• Frederick Douglass

• Underground Railroad

  • Chain of antislavery homes

• Harriet Tubman

  • Led 19 expeditions to Canada, rescuing 300 slaves

Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War

Manifest Destiny, 1844, & Texas

• Manifest Destiny origins

  • God ordained the spread – Winthropy ideas

  • Indian removal was first step

• James K. Polk (D) vs. Henry Clay (W)

  • Successful one-termer

  • “Young hickory” - Jacksonian

• Republic of Texas – 9 years

  • Precarious, and illegitimate?

  • Independence, 1836; Annexed 1845

Oregon

• Claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain & U.S.

• Oregon Trail

  • 2,000 miles

  • By 1846, 5,000 U.S. settlers there

  • 49th parallel & Oregon Treaty (1846)

Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

• Polk tried to buy California

  • Texas’ annexation & end of diplomacy

  • Boundary dispute – Nueces or Rio Grande?

• War

  • Gen. Zachary Taylor sent to Texas Jan. 1846

  • Congress declares war May 13

  • “Conscience Whigs” – Abe Lincoln’s spot resolution

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau

Sectionalism to the Civil War

The Mexican Cession

• Wilmot Proviso (1848)

  • Proposed law to forbid slavery in Mexican Cession

  • Brought slavery to forefront of politics

• “Popular Sovereignty”

  • Sovereign people of a territory should decide for themselves

  • Introduced by Lewis Cass

• Election of 1848

  • Zachary Taylor (W) vs. Lewis Cass (D) vs. Martin Van Buren (Free-Soil party)

  • California & Gold

The Compromise of 1850

• Henry Clay comes a compromisin’!

  • John C. Calhoun

  • Daniel Webster

  • William H. Seward

The Gadsden Purchase (1853)

• Transcontinental railroad to connect east and west coasts

  • Built in North or the South?

• Mesilla Valley purchased

  • Southern New Mexico & Arizona

  • $10 million

  • U.S. borders cemented

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Portrayed the evils of slavery by focusing on the splitting of families and physical abuse

  • Inspired by Fugitive Slave Law

  • And God?

• Best seller in U.S., Britain, and France

• More social impact than any other novel in U.S. History

  • Lincoln

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• Most important short-term cause of the Civil War

• Stephen Douglas to split Nebraska Territory in two

  • Kansas a slave state?

• Popular Sovereignty!!!!!

• But, isn’t that above the 36°30’?

• Passage caused Northern shock & wrecked Compromises of 1820 & 1850

• Birth of Republican Party

  • Ole Abe comes out of retirement

“Bleeding Kansas”

• New England Emigrant Aid Company

• Southerners flood in too!

• Free-Soilers attacked by proslavery gang

• Charles Sumner caned (May 22, 1856)

  • Condemnation of pro-slave southerners

  • Preston Brooks (S.C. at it again) beat him… literally.

• John Brown & the Pottawatomie Massacre (May 1856)

• Kansas eventually joins in 1861 as free state after Lecompton Constitution failed

  • Democratic Party shattered

Dred Scott – March 6, 1857

• Sued for freedom after living in free state for five years

• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney: Dred Scott was a black slave, not a citizen

  • No grounds to sue in federal court

  • Extension that no blacks were citizens

• Slaves were private property (5th Amendment)

• Missouri Compromise declared unconstitutional

• Further split Democratic Party

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

• Senate race in Illinois

  • Abraham Lincoln (R) vs. Stephen Douglas (D)

  • “A house divided against itself cannot stand….”

• Anti-slavery vs. popular sovereignty

• “Freeport Doctrine”

  • Douglas argued no matter Supreme Court decision, states could vote down slavery

Harper’s Ferry (Oct. 1859)

• John Brown

  • Invade South and create slave rebellion

• Seized arsenal

  • 7 killed, 10 wounded

  • Slaves did not rise up

  • Brown eventually surrenders to Capt. Robert E. Lee

• Brown became martyr

• Southern reactions

  • Anti-slavery conspiracy in North

  • Organized militias

  • Immediate cause of disunion

Election of 1860

• Split Democratic Party – Stephen Douglas & John C. Breckinridge

• Constitutional Union Party – John Bell

• Republicans – Abraham Lincoln

  • Non-extension of slavery

  • Protective tariff

  • No loss of immigrant rights

  • Pacific railroad

  • Internal improvements in West

• Southerners: Lincoln’s election would split the Union

Secession

• South Carolina unanimously votes to secede Dec. 1860

  • Six in six weeks: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, & Texas

  • Four more by April 1861: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, & Tennessee

• Confederate States of America

  • Jefferson Davis

  • President Buchanan did little to prevent secession

Reasons & Last Attempt

• Reasons

  • Political balance for North

  • Hated Republican party & Northern abolitionism

  • Believed it would be unopposed

  • Wanted to end dependence on North

  • Believed they had moral high ground

• Crittenden amendments

  • Designed to appease the South

  • Slavery prohibited north of 36°30’, but protected federally south of that line

  • Popular sovereignty for future states

  • Rejected by Lincoln

Politics and Economics During the Civil War

President Abraham Lincoln

• First Inaugural Address

  • Preserve Union – to “hold, occupy, and possess” Federal property in the South

• Cabinet divided

  • William H. Seward – Sec. of State

  • Edwin M. Stanton – Sec. of War

• An able & savvy leader

  • Presided over feuding cabinet & fracturing nation

Attack on Fort Sumter (Apr. 12, 1861)

• Charleston Harbor

• Running low on supplies

  • General P.G.T. Beauregard

• Lincoln’s choices: surrender or provoke war?

• Attack resulted in Northern fight for the Union via executive orders

  • Apr. 15 – 75,000 militiamen

  • Apr. 19 – Blockade of Southern seaports

  • May 3 – Call for 3-year volunteers

• VA, AR, TN, & NC secede

The Border Slave States

• Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, & West Virginia (1863)

• Crucial to Union

  • 300,000 soldiers

  • Contained over 50% of South’s white population

• Lincoln used martial law in Maryland

• Political calculations to keep them with the Union

  • Purpose of war - preserve Union, not end slavery

Confederacy

• Confederate Assets

  • Defensive war strategy

  • “Superior” moral cause

  • Superb military officers

    • Robert E. Lee

    • Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson

  • Strong cavalry & infantrymen

• Confederate Weaknesses

  • Lack of industry & short supplies

  • Fewer railroads or foreign help

Political Weakness in the Confederacy

• Fatal flaw in constitution

  • Could not deny future secession

• Jefferson Davis

  • Many question strong central government

  • At odds with Congress

  • Lacked political savvy

Union

• Larger population

  • 22 million to 9 million

• Wealthier

• More railroad & means to repair them

• Control of the Atlantic

• “Union Forever”

• Better logistical planning

European Diplomacy

• Aristocracies supported Confederates. Why?

  • Sold supplies to Confederacy

• King Cotton fails the South

  • Oversupply of cotton in Britain

  • Northern shipments of stockpiled cotton

• Trent Affair (1861)

  • Union ship captures Confederate diplomats from British ship

• C.S.S. Alabama

Raising Armies

• First federal conscription law, 1863

  • Unfair & disliked

  • New York Draft Riot,1863

• Confederate conscription in April 1862

• African American soldiers

  • 180,000 served in Union armies

    • Initially rejected

• Confederacy conscripted at end of war

• Native Americans on both sides

Northern Revenues

• First income tax paid for 2/3 of war’s cost

• Morrill Tariff Act of 1861

  • Protective tariff = Republican Party for next 70 years

• U.S. Treasury bonds

• National Banking System (1863)

  • Established “Greenbacks”

    • Supported by gold; valued on nation’s credit

  • First national bank since 1832

    • Lasted until Federal Reserve of 1913

Southern Finances

• Custom duties cut off by Union blockade

• Large amount of bonds

• Increase in taxes

  • Detested by many Southerners

• Confederacy paper money

  • Biggest source of revenue

  • Runaway inflation

Northern War-Time Prosperity

• First millionaire class in U.S. – beginning of the “Gilded Age”

  • Petroleum industry born in PA in 1859

• Homestead Act of 1862

  • Free land in the west – 20,000 by 1865

• Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

  • Foundation of state college system

• Pacific Railway Act (1862)

  • Northern states to California

  • Completed 1869

Lincoln & Civil Liberties

• Bending of Constitution

  • Lincoln: “I gotta save the Union!”

  • Congress complacent

• Presidential overstep

  • Blockade (Anaconda Plan)

  • Increased army & navy size

  • Extended volunteer service to 3 years

  • Advanced $2 million to 3 private citizens

Presidential Overstep Cont.

• Suspended writ of habeas corpus

  • 864 held with no trial for 9 months

  • Law can be bent in time of war

• Arranged for Union Army to oversee voting in Border South

• Suspension of the press

• Bill outlawing slavery signed – against Dred Scott

• Jefferson Davis lacked privilege

First “Modern” War

• Civilians targets of armies

• Mobilization of resources

• Massive armies

• Modern technology & logistics

  • Minnie ball

  • Ironclads

  • Railroad

The Furnace of Civil War

The First Big Battle and the Blockade

• Battle of Bull Run

  • July 21, 1861

  • Stonewall Jackson

  • George B. McClellan

• Anaconda Plan

  • Initially ineffective

  • Respected by Britain

War in the Eastern Theater 1862

• Peninsula Campaign

• Lincoln removes McClellan from command

  • Challenger in 1864 election

Antietam

• Lee invades Maryland

• Stalemate

  • Considered turning point in the war

  • Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

• Jan. 1, 1863

• Only applied to “areas in rebellion”

• Unconstitutional via Dred Scott

  • 13th Amendment (1865)

Turning Point Battles

• Gettysburg

• Vicksburg

• Sherman’s March to the Sea

Election of 1864

• Copperheads

• Union Party

• Democratic Party

• Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

End of the War

• Grant’s strategy

  • Capture of Richmond

• Appomattox Court House

  • Lee’s surrender

• Lincoln’s assassination

Reconstruction

1864–1865

• Lincoln’s 10% plan

1865

• 13th Amendment

1865–1866

• Presidential Reconstruction – Johnson’s plan

1866–1867

• Congressional plan – 10% plan with 14th Amendment

1867–1877

• Military Reconstruction (Congress): 14th Amendment + black male suffrage that was later established by 15th Amendment

1877

• Compromise of 1877: ends Reconstruction

Questions about Reconstruction

• Attempt to achieve national reunification/reconciliation and to improve status of former slaves (freedmen)
  What was it?

• How to rebuild the South after its destruction?

• What would be condition of African Americans in the South?

• How would the South be reintegrated?

• Who would control the process?

Four main questions:

Rebuilding the South

• Major cities destroyed

• Economically in ruins

  • Banks, factories, transportation system

• Agriculture

  • Livestock gone

  • lack of production

• Planter aristocrats devastated

African Americans

• 13th Amendment (Dec. 1865)

  • Slavery abolished

  • Loophole?

• Freedmen’s Bureau (1865–1872)

• “carpetbaggers” (Mr. Perkins) & “Scalawags”

  • Help ex-slaves to survive

• Education

• “40 acres and a mule”

  • Dangerous work

Presidential Reconstruction

Lincoln’s “10 percent” Reconstruction Plan

• 10% of CSA voters pledge allegiance to U.S. & obey emancipation

• Create new state gov’t

• Rejected by Congressional Republicans – too lenient

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

• 50% allegiance w/ stronger emancipation safeguards

• Constitutional convention for new gov’t

• “State suicide theory”

• “conquered provinces”

• Vetoed by Lincoln

Republican Factions

• Majority moderates

  • Agreed with Lincoln on immediate reintegration

  • On Congress’ terms, though

• Minority radicals

  • Uproot South’s social structure

  • Punish planters

  • Black protection before state restoration

Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction

• Champion of poor whites

  • Overtly racist Tennessean

• 1865 plan

  • repeal secession ordinances and ratify 13th Amendment

  • All recognized by Dec. 1865 by Executive

  • Amnesty if pledged Union loyalty

    • Pardons for planters & former-CSA leaders
      Results

• Former CSA leaders in high office

• Violence against Freedmen via KKK

Black Codes

• Guarantee stable labor supply

  • Penalties for “jumpers”

  • “Vagrancy” outlawed

• Restore antebellum race relations

  • No juries or testifying against whites

  • Sometimes forbidden to rent or own land

  • Suffrage restricted

Congressional Reconstruction

• Refused entry to Southern Democrats

• Fear of political supremacy

• Limit to economic agenda

• Congressional representation

• Elections

Republicans furious at Johnson

• Response to Johnson

• Granted freedmen citizenship

• Vetoed by Johnson, but overturned

Civil Rights Bill of 1866

14th Amendment (June 1866)

• Dred Scott

• Provisions

  • Civil Rights & citizenship to African Americans

  • Reduced representation in Congress if voting rights denied

  • Disqualified former Confederates from gov’t office

1866 Congressional Elections

• Republicans won 2/3 majority (“supermajority”)

  • Ushered in Military Reconstruction

  • Radical Republicans (gained ground)

    • Charles Sumner (Senate) and Thaddeus Stevens (House)

    • Implement drastic social and economic change in South

  • Moderate Republicans

    • Keep southern states from infringing on citizens’ rights rather than direct federal intervention

Military Reconstruction (1867)

• Disenfranchisement of former Confederate leaders

• Ratification of 14th Amendment

• Full suffrage guaranteed for African Americans

• Confederacy divided into 5 military districts

• Congress sees full protection of rights as state responsibility

• Did not grant land or education to freedmen

Johnson’s Impeachment

• Tenure of Office Act (1867)

  • Removal of senate-approved appointees require Senate approval

  • Keep Sec. of War Edwin Stanton in office

  • Provoke Johnson to break law… which he did in early 1868 by firing Stanton

• House votes 126 to 47 to impeach

  • Only president until Bill Clinton in 1998

  • Senate refused to remove him by one vote

15th Amendment (1870) & The Force Acts

• Suffrage for black males

• Strengthen Republican votes

• 17 African American men elected from South to Congress, 1870–1880s

  • Thousands elected locally and State

• Loopholes

  • No protections for holding office

  • Voter suppression: poll taxes, literacy tests, gerrymandering, intimidation, etc.

• Force Acts of 1870 & 1871

  • Federal protection from KKK violence

“Worse Than Slavery” ~ Thomas Nast (1874)

The Rise of the Solid South

• The “Solid South”

  • “Redeemer” Democrats & white supremacist control

  • Increased ignoring of 14th and 15th Amendments

  • Ex-Planters successful on local levels

• “The Lost Cause” philosophy

  • Southern chivalry & Pro-Confederate patriotism

• 1874 mid-term election – Dems control Congress

End of Reconstruction

• Inconclusive election

• Rutherford Hayes (R) elected president

• Troops removed from SC, FL, and LA

Compromise of 1877

• Executive subservient to Congress

• Property rights for women guaranteed

• Public schools and public works

• Democratic South & rise of Jim Crow

Results of Reconstruction

• Wholesale Disenfranchisement, 1890–1960s

• National segregation via Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• Sharecropping & lynching