Unit 5 1844-1877

Manifest Destiny 

• Widely held belief in the United States in 19th Century that US Should control the North American continent

• Resulted in territorial expansion in the 19th C.  

• Expansion of slavery led to the war 

Annexation of Texas -  1845 

• In 1820s Mexico invited Americans to settle in Texas 

• Mexican government eventually outlawed slavery and stopped immigration from US

• Texas revolts from Mexico -  declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836

• Jackson and Van Buren avoid annexation to prevent galvanizing Whig opposition 

• Polk elected in 1844 and is very pro-annexation (Manifest Destiny) and Texas is annexed in 1845

• Big believer of manifest destiny

Mexican American War 1846-1848

• Rising Tensions with Mexico

  • Polk was an expansionist

  • Wanted US to control California 

  • Feared the British would move on California 

  • Texans claimed that border of Texas was actually Rio Grande

• Polk offers to buy CA for $25million in 1845 

  • Offer rejected by Mexico 

• Polk provokes war with Mexico

  • Sends troops into disputed territory between Nueces River and Rio Grande

  • US Troops are attacked → cause for war

End of Mexican American War 

• Mexicans are defeated by American forces

  • Few Mexicans north of Rio Grande

  • US forces battle disease, tens of thousands died 

  • Able to battle their way to Mexico City in 1847 

• War concluded with Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

  • Rio Grande established as border for Texas

  • Texas recognized as part of United States

  • Territory north of Rio Grande would go to US for $15 million 

• Significance: Led to heated controversies over whether to allow slavery in the newly acquired territories 

  • courts and national leaders made a variety of attempts to resolve the issue of slavery in the territories, including the Compromise of 1850

• Migrants from Europe and Asia continued to arrive, mainly from Ireland and Germany, often settling in ethnic communities (preserved languages and customs)

  • anti-Catholic nativist movement 

The Civil War 

Lincoln Elected in 1860 

• 7 states immediately seceded in response to the election of Lincoln 

  • Believed that Republican control would be hostile to slavery 

• Lincoln was personally agaisnt slavery, but publicly was not against slavery 

• Lincoln was a moderate, he wanted to stop expansion 

• Southern states saw that they would have less power, began to succeed 

• South Carolina secedes first Dec. 1860, argued North is hostile to slavery 

• Lost Cause Myth - Civil War was about state rights, not slavery 

Lincoln Takes Office 

• Seven seceding states form Confederate States of America (CSA)

  • Jefferson Davis (MS) elected president

  • Modiefid government, modeled on american and british government 

  • Constitution modeled on US, guaranteed slavery in states and future territory

  • Wanted to expand into latin America 

• Lincoln takes office in 1861

  • 8 slave states still in Union 

  • rejected state right of secession 

  • Stated intention to leave slavery alone

• Lincoln determined NOT to start war

• Wanted to keep upper south in Union 

• Wanted the border states 

Crittenden Compromise - 1860 

• In an attempt to preserve Union, John Crittenden (KY) proposes changes to the Constitution 

  • Unamendable amendments guaranteeing slavery where it existed

  • Extend Missouri compromise line to Pacific Ocean

• Seceding states rejected plan 

• States in upper south thought it could avoid war

• Lincoln rejected the idea

Fort Sumter - 1861, Start of Civil War 

• Fort Sumter - Charleston, South Carolina 

• Island in the middle of the bay  

  • Lincoln informed governor of SC that he would resupply fort

  • Jefferson Davis ordered the fort to be bombarded 

  • Lincoln could say that the confederacy had started the war 

  • Union Commander defending the fort surrenders after 34 hours

    • Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops...and the war came

  • People thought that the war would onlay last a few weeks 

How did the Union Win the War? 

• Union leadership (eventually) and strategy led to battle victories 

  • General Grant 

  • Destruction of Southern infrastructure 

  • Anaconda Plan 

• North had greater resources  

  • Factories 

  • Railroads

  • People

The First Modern War 

• Railroads used to transport goods → became strategic objectives

• Rifles replaced muskets, more accurate and deadly 

• Ironclad ships made first appearance in battle

• Telegraph used to coordinate armies

• 620,000 deaths, equivalent to 6 million today

Strategic Objectives 

• North (the Anaconda Plan)

  • Destroy armies of South 

  • Prevent Confederacy’s resupply from abroad

  • Split Confederacy at MS river; Anaconda Plan

    • Occupy southern territory and capture capital 

  • Destroy slavery 

• South 

  • Fight a defensive war 

  • Gain recognition from European powers

  • Exhaust the North, force political opposition to end war

  • Limited invasion of the North 

Major Battles 

Bull Run - 1861

• First major battle of Civil War 

• Congressmen and others came to watch from Washington 

• Confederacy Wins 

• Union realizes war will be long 

• Confederate States of America (CSA) → thought it was over

Peninsula Campaign - 1862

• George McClellan (Union) takes over Army of Potomac (AOP)

• Overly cautious, believed he was outnumbered, disparaged Lincoln

• Objective was to capture Richmond, VA → CSA Capital 

• Confederates drove McClellan back from Richmond. 

• Antietam - 1862

  • Robert E. Lee (CSA)  attempts moved into border state Maryland

  • McClellan repels Lee who fled South but fails to pursue Lee’s army

    • Some argue if he did, the war could have ended then

  • Antietam is significant because: 

    • Britain and France do not recognize CSA

    • Enables Lincoln to issue Emancipation Proclamation 

    • Bloodiest battle in US Military history (in terms of Americans killed) 

Emancipation Proclomation 

• January 1st, 1863  

• Now the war is redefined as a war against slavery, not just to preserve the union  

• now African-Americans could join Union war effort

• Only freed slaves in the Confederacy, so most slaves were not freed from it initially 

• Why did Lincoln issue it? 

  • Runaway slaves began flooding Union Camps and Washington D.C. “Contrabands” became a part of the war and forced Lincoln and others to consider the slavery issue  

  • Hoped emancipated slaves would fight for union 

  • Radical Republicans pushing for it for moral reasons 

  • War is now a war against slavery. Thought this would discourage anti-slavery Britain from allying with Confederacy 

Major Battles 

• Gettysburg - 1863

• Largest battle in western hemisphere to this point

• Lee attacks Union’s entrenched position but lost, ends Confederate offensives in North

• Vicksburg - 1863 

  • Grant defeated force in Mississippi, able to control valley

  • Fully divided Confederacy 

    • Major blow to Confederate morale 

  • Leads to Grants appointment as General of the Army of the Potomac 

End of the Civil War

Changes in the North 

Expansion of Federal Power 

• Lincoln claimed broad wartime powers as Commander-in-Chief

• Suspended writ of habeas corpus, imprisoned people w/o charges

War Stimulated Economy of the North 

• Factories/mills worked to supply Union Army

• Mines and iron-works expanded production

• Machinery and immigration allowed agricultural production to continue to grow

North passes new laws w/o opposition from the South 

• Homestead Act, 1863 - 160 Acres of free public land in the West 

• Morrill Land Grant College Act 1862  - established agricultural and mechanical colleges w/federal assistance 

• Fed. Gov’t chartered Union Pacific and Central Pacific in 1862 to build transcontinental railroad  

Economic Changes in the North 

• War is expensive! Needed new financial system to pay for it

• Tariffs continued to increase beginning with Morrill Tariff in 1861

  • protected industry/generated revenue

  • Additional domestic taxes placed on production and consumption 

• Borrowed by selling $2 billion in Bonds → created huge national debt

• Congress established system of nationally chartered banks that could issue currency

  • Printed paper money that were legal tender guaranteed by fed gov’t → “greenbacks” 

  • State banks’ currency taxed out of existence 

    • Expanded power and size of federal government 

Northern Political Divisions 

Support for the War not unanimous 

• Draft law created tensions, people could buy out or substitute 

• Inflation hurt workers, rebirth of labor movement, strikes

• Racist reactions to prospect of freeing African Americans 

  • Draft riots in NYC in 1863

  • Irish immigrants assaulted draft offices, mansions, factories

  • 100 people killed

• Democratic Party Split

  • “War Democrats” → supported war but not emancipation or draft 

  • “Copperheads” → Favored immediate peace with the South 

• Lincoln Challenged in 1864 by Fremont and McClellan 

  • Sherman captured Atlanta and guaranteed Lincoln victory 

The South 

Economic Challenges

• Tried to ban cotton export to force intervention 

• Took control of railroads, built some manufacturing 

• Blockade by North created widespread shortages

• War ruined farms, railroads, roads

• Printed currency that became worthless

• Women lead bread riots in 1863 to secure food 

Social Challenges

• Many southerners resented the draft

• Large slaveholders exempt 

  • Alienated small farmers who felt they were fighting on behalf of the rich

• Non-slaveholders resented fight and deserted Confederate Army 

• Women’s support for the war sharply declined as casualties mounted 

End of the War 

1864/65

• Gen. Grant takes control of Army of Potomac

• Incurred heavy losses against Lee, knew he could replace them 

• Eventually defeated Lee’s army and captured Richmond in 1865

• Gen. Sherman left Atlanta and destroyed a wide swath of Georgia, railroads, farms, businesses in his March to the Sea → Total War

• Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House  in April 9, 1865 → others followed and surrender 

War Causes Major Shifts in American Culture and Policy

• Northern capitalism defeated slave aristocracy 

• Hastened conversion of US into industrial giant

• Slavery was defeated 

• Increased power of Federal Government 

• The struggle over how to integrate African Americans into US would define US for the next decade/century 

Reconstruction

Introduction to Reconstruction

• Period following the Civil War, from 1865 to 1877.

• It aimed to reintegrate Southern states into the Union and redefine African American rights.

• Key amendments during this time were the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

  • 13th=abolishing slavery 

  • 14th=birthright citizenship

  • 15th=Voting rights for African-American men

• Altered relationships between the states and the federal government and led to debates over new definitions of citizenship, particularly regarding the rights of African Americans, women, and other minorities

Reconstruction Overview 

• Opened up political opportunities and other leadership roles to former slaves 

  • 2,000 African-Americans held public office in the South during Reconstruction 

• Freedmen’s bureau 

  • Federal Agency that aimed to protect legal rights of former slaves and assist with their education, jobs, health care, and landowning 

• Ideas of the role of government changed

  • In 1787, freedom=weak federal gov. (to avoid abuse of individual rights) 

  • During Reconstruction freedom=strong federal gov (to protect minority rights) 

• Legislation enacted to protect African-Americans 

  • Amendments

  • Civil Rights Bill of 1866

  • Reconstruction Act 

Amendments 

• 13th Amendment (1865) 

  • Abolished slavery 

• 14th Amendment (1868) 

  • Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

  • Provided equal protection under the law, aiming to protect the rights of former slaves. 

    • This clause is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution 

      • Decisions on Brown v Board of Education (1954), Loving v Virginia (1967), Roe v Wade (1973), and Obergefell v Hodges (2015) all based on this clause 

  • The amendment was a response to Black Codes that restricted African American freedoms.

    • Black Codes: Denied Blacks rights to testify against white, serve on juries, and arrested blacks if they weren’t employed (vagrancy laws) 

• 13th Amendment (1865) 

  • Abolished slavery 

• 14th Amendment (1868) 

  • Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

  • Provided equal protection under the law, aiming to protect the rights of former slaves. 

    • This clause is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution 

      • Decisions on Brown v Board of Education (1954), Loving v Virginia (1967), Roe v Wade (1973), and Obergefell v Hodges (2015) all based on this clause 

  • The amendment was a response to Black Codes that restricted African American freedoms.

    • Black Codes: Denied Blacks rights to testify against white, serve on juries, and arrested blacks if they weren’t employed (vagrancy laws) 

Andrew Johnson’s Response to Congressional Reconstruction  

• Andrew Johnson: sympathetic to South/not a fan of Reconstruction

  • Many Confederate elites pardoned

  • Anyone who gave loyalty oath could rejoin (except elites) 

  • White rule restored to South 

  • Black codes allowed

• Vetoed Civil Rights Bill/Freedmen's Bureau

  • Congress passed over Presidential Veto- created antipathy btwn Prez and Radical Republicans

• Congress Passes Tenure of Office Act - 1867

  • Limits ability of President to remove cabinet official while Congress out of session 

  • Overrode veto to pass it 

  • Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War b/c he supported Radical Reconstruction military plan

  • Congress tried him for impeachment for violating Tenure of Office Act

  • Avoids impeachment by one vote...Ulysses S. Grant elected the following year

Decline of Reconstruction 

• The white South resisted with vicious vehemence

  • KKK 

• After a decade of bitter, violent, and costly struggle in Reconstruction…

  • Republicans lost heart - always ambivalent about black autonomy and eager to maintain their partisan power. Became distracted when an economic depression hit in 1873  

  • Northern Democrats, opposing Reconstruction from the outset, hastened and celebrated its passing 

• Bargain of 1877 

  • Election of 1876 ends in a near tie and is decided in Congress

  • Compromise made between Republicans and Democrats: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes is elected president/Democrats promise to recognize rights of African-Americans. In exchange, Hayes troops from the South and promises to not intervene in local affairs 

    • Democrats obviously did not keep their end of the bargain re: African-American rights