Chapter 14 notes

I. Introduction

• Question: What was the human cost of the American Civil War?

  • Answer: The conflict resulted in approximately $750,000$ deaths, making it the deadliest war in United States history.

• Question: How did the North's objectives change during the war?

  • Answer: Initially, the goal was to preserve the Union, but it transformed into a struggle to eradicate the institution of slavery.

II. The Election of 1860 and Secession

• Question: Why did the Democratic Party split during the $1860$ convention?

  • Answer: The party divided over slavery policy; Northern Democrats supported Stephen Douglas (popular sovereignty), while Southerners wanted a pro-slavery candidate.

• Question: What was the Republican strategy for winning the presidency?

  • Answer: They sought a candidate who could carry all free states; they chose Abraham Lincoln because he was relatively unknown and likable.

• Question: What were the results of the $1860$ election?

  • Answer: Lincoln won with $180$ electoral votes and less than $40\%$ of the popular vote. He was excluded from the ballot in most future Confederate states.

• Question: Which state was the first to secede and why?

  • Answer: South Carolina seceded on December $20$, $1860$, following Lincoln's election, which they perceived as a threat to slavery.

• Question: What did Alexander Stephens say was the "cornerstone" of the Confederacy?

  • Answer: He stated it rested on the "great truth" that the Black man is not equal to the white man and that slavery is his natural condition.

• Question: What was the purpose of Crittenden’s Compromise?

  • Answer: To provide Constitutional amendments guaranteeing slavery and interstate slave trade to prevent secession; it was ultimately voted down.

III. A War for Union 1861–1863

• Question: What incident marked the official beginning of the Civil War?

  • Answer: The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April $12$, $1861$, and the subsequent surrender of Major Robert Anderson.

• Question: What was the "Anaconda Plan"?

  • Answer: A Union strategy to strangle the Confederacy using a naval blockade of coastal ports and control of inland waterways.

• Question: Why were the Border States (DE, MD, MO, KY) vital to Lincoln?

  • Answer: They provided critical resources and geographic advantages; Lincoln famously stated that losing Kentucky was equivalent to losing the "whole game."

• Question: Who were the "contrabands" in the Union army?

  • Answer: Formerly enslaved people who escaped to Union lines; they were classified as "contraband of war" to justify their seizure from the enemy.

• Question: What did the First Battle of Bull Run reveal about the war?

  • Answer: The Confederate victory proved that the conflict would be long, costly, and not easily resolved.

• Question: What significant economic acts did the Republican Congress pass during the war?

  • Answer: The Homestead Act, the Land-Grant College Act (Morrill Act), and the Pacific Railroad Act.

• Question: What was the significance of the Battle of Shiloh?

  • Answer: Occurring in April $1862$, it resulted in over $23,000$ casualties, a number exceeding the total casualties of all previous American wars combined.

IV. War for Emancipation 1863–1865

• Question: What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

  • Answer: Effective January $1$, $1863$, it freed enslaved people only in areas currently under Confederate control, shifting the war's purpose to emancipation.

• Question: How many Black soldiers served in the Union army (USCT)?

  • Answer: Over $180,000$ men, comprising approximately $10\%$ of the Union army by the end of the war.

• Question: What challenges did Black soldiers face compared to white soldiers?

  • Answer: They endured lower pay, rampant discrimination, and the threat of being sold into slavery or murdered if captured by the Confederacy.

• Question: What were the turning points of July $1863$?

  • Answer: The Battle of Gettysburg (ending Lee's northern incursion) and the Fall of Vicksburg (giving the Union control of the Mississippi River).

• Question: What caused the New York City Draft Riots in July $1863$?

  • Answer: Working-class anger over the enrollment act, specifically the provision allowing the wealthy to pay $300$ for a substitute, and racial fears of job competition.

• Question: What was the leading cause of death for Civil War soldiers?

  • Answer: Disease (tuberculosis, typhoid, measles) caused over half of all casualties due to poor sanitation and lack of immunities.

• Question: How was medical surgery handled for limb wounds?

  • Answer: Amputation was the primary treatment; it was typically performed with anesthesia (chloroform or ether) and required the patient's consent.

• Question: What roles did women play in the war effort?

  • Answer: They served as nurses (e.g., Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton), spies (e.g., Rose Greenhow, Elizabeth Van Lew), and organized sanitary fairs to raise funds.

• Question: What was the outcome of the Election of $1864$?

  • Answer: Abraham Lincoln defeated George McClellan, bolstered by the military success of William Sherman's capture of Atlanta.

• Question: What was Sherman's "March to the Sea"?

  • Answer: A "hard war" campaign through Georgia and South Carolina intended to destroy infrastructure and demoralize the Southern population.

V. Conclusion

• Question: When and where did the major Confederate military operations end?

  • Answer: On April $9$, $1865$, when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.

• Question: What was the purpose of the Thirteenth Amendment?

  • Answer: To ensure the permanent and legal end of slavery throughout the entire United States.

• Question: What challenges remained after the war's conclusion?

  • Answer: Determining how to rebuild the South, integrating recently freed people into society, and addressing persistent racial violence and economic inequality.