Download The Civil War - McEachern High School

1861-1865
Great Emancipator or White
Supremacist?

“I have no purpose to introduce political and social
equality between the white and black races. There is
a physical difference between the two, which, in my
judgment, will probably forever forbid their living
together upon equal footing of perfect equality;
inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must
be a difference, I…am in favor of the race which I
belong having the superior position. I have never
said anything to the contrary.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Taking Sides

The Confederate States of America
1. Most Southerners believed that the Republican victory
posed an unacceptable threat to a way of life based upon
slave labor. They assumed that the Western territories
would become free states increasing the
political imbalance
in the Senate
between free and
slave states.
2. Led by South
Carolina, seven
states in the Deep
South seceded
before Lincoln took
office.
Taking Sides
3. The firing upon Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call for troops forced the states in the
Upper South to take sides. It is important to note that slaves were scarce and
Union support was strong in eastern Tennessee, western Virginia, and western
North Carolina. Nonetheless, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas all
seceded.
4. The Confederate Congress meeting in Montgomery welcomed these states and
moved its capital to Richmond, Virginia. The noted Civil War historian Bruce Catton
underscored the significance of this move when he wrote that “American history
has known few events more momentous than the secession of Virginia, which
turned what started out to be a simple suppression of a rebellion into a four-year
cataclysm.”
Taking Sides

The Border States
4. Delaware,
Maryland, Kentucky,
and Missouri were
all slaveholding
Border States that
remained in the Union.
5. Kentucky provided especially important industrial
and agricultural resources that proved vital to the
Union. Lincoln recognized Kentucky’s strategic
importance when he declared, “I hope to have God
on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
The Balance of Power
1. Northern advantages
 The North enjoyed a significant population advantage. In
1861, the 23 states in the Union had a population of about 22
million. In contrast, the 11 Confederate states had just 9
million people, about one-third of whom were slaves.
 The North enjoyed an enormous advantage in industrial
capacity. The Union produced over 90 percent of the nation’s
manufactured goods. The Union had far more wagons, ships,
and miles of railroad track than the Confederacy.
 The North enjoyed a significant advantage
in presidential leadership. Lincoln proved
to be an inspiring leader and forceful
commander-in-chief. He successfully held
the Republican Party together despite its
internal conflicts.
The Balance of Power
2. Northern disadvantages
 When the war began, the north lacked an able
group of military commanders. Lincoln had to
frequently replace generals as he searched for
commanders who could rival those of the South.
 When the war began, the North did not enjoy a
consensus on its war aims. While Lincoln’s
announced goal was to preserve the Union,
abolitionists argued that the Union should also
fight to abolish slavery. Most northern
Democrats supported a war to save the Union, a
vocal group of “Copperheads” called for peace
by negotiation even if it risked the Union.
The Balance of Power
3. Southern advantages
 The South enjoyed the advantage of fighting a
defensive war on its own familiar territory. The South
needed only to hold back the invading Union armies
and wait for the North to tire of fighting a prolonged
and costly war.
 The South enjoyed the advantage of a strong
military tradition that produced an exceptional group
of experienced commanders.
 The South enjoyed the initial advantage of believing
that Great Britain would aid the Confederacy
because its textile industry would grind to a halt
without Southern cotton. However, this advantage
proved to be illusory when “King Cotton diplomacy”
failed.
The Balance of Power
4. Southern disadvantages
 The disparity (inequality) in population,
industrial capacity, and railroad mileage
meant that the South could not sustain
a prolonged war.
 Jefferson Davis proved to be an
ineffective political and military leader.
He frequently quarreled with his
Cabinet and failed to implement a
consistent military strategy.
 The Confederacy was founded on the
principle of preserving states’ rights.
But a strong central government is
needed to conduct an efficient war
effort. Independent-minded
Confederate governors often frustrated
the Davis government’s attempts to
raise the money and troops it needed to
fight the war.
Key Civil War Battles
1 Antietam/Sharpsburg
 Lee and his battle-tested troops crossed
the Potomac River into Maryland. Lee’s
objectives included seizing the vital rail
center at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
isolating Washington from the rest of the
North and convincing Britain and France
to recognize the Confederacy.
 The two armies fought the bloodiest oneday battle of the war. The battle ended
in a narrow Union victory forcing Lee to
withdraw back across the Potomac into
Virginia
Key Civil War Battles
 The Union
victory at
Antietam
persuaded
Great Britain
and France to
remain neutral.
 The Union
victory at
Antietam
enabled Lincoln
to issue the
Emancipation
Proclamation.
Key Civil War Battles
2. Vicksburg
 Led by General Ulysses S. Grant, the
Union forces captured Vicksburg
following a long siege.
The fall of Vicksburg gave
the Union control of the
Mississippi River thus
splitting the Confederacy
in half.
Key Civil War Battles
3. Sherman’s March to the Sea
 Sherman captured Atlanta in September
1864. His victory helped boost Lincoln’s
sagging popularity thus enabling the
President to defeat the Democratic
candidate General McClellan in the
November election.
 Sherman burned Atlanta on November 15,
1864. He then began his famous “March
to the Sea.” Determined to wage a total
war on the people of Georgia, Sherman’s
army promptly made the Georgians “feel
the hard hand of
war.”
His soldiers burned homes,
ruined crops, killed animals, and
destroyed railroad tracks as they left
a path of destruction 60 miles wide..
Key Congressional Actions

The Republican Congress
1. During the 1840s and 1850s, Southern
congressmen consistently blocked tariff,
railroad, banking, and land policies favored by
the North and West.
2. The secession of the Southern states
enabled the Republicans to dominate
Congress. They promptly passed a series of
landmark acts with far-reaching social and
economic consequences.
Key Congressional Actions
3. The Homestead Act,
1862
 Under the terms a settler
twenty-one years old or
older could acquire a free
tract of 160 acres of
surveyed public land.
Title to the land went to
the settler after five years
of continuous residence.
 The Homestead Act
opened the Great Plains
to settlers. By 1935, 1.6
million homesteaders
received 270 million
acres of federal lands.
Key Congressional Actions
4. The Morrill Land Grant Act, 1862
 public lands be donated to the states
for the purpose of providing colleges
to train students in agriculture and
mechanical arts.
 Land-grant colleges played an
important role in promoting
agriculture, engineering, and
veterinary medicine.
Key Congressional Actions
5. The First Transcontinental Railroad, 1862
 Prior to the Civil War, Southern congressmen strongly supported a
transcontinental railroad that would link New Orleans with Los
Angeles.
 Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Congress approved a
transcontinental route connecting Omaha, Nebraska with Sacramento,
California. The government provided the Central Pacific and Union
Pacific companies with generous loans and extensive land grants.
Key Congressional Actions
6. The National Banking Act of 1863
 Banking policies had been a source of
contention since the formation of the First
National Bank in 1791. The rising cost of
financing the Civil War highlighted the urgent
need for a national currency and orderly banking
system.
 The National Banking Act of 1863 established a
national banking system to provide a uniform
national currency. No additional important
changes were made in the nation’s banking
system until the Federal Reserve Act was
passed in 1913.
African Americans and the Civil War

Contraband
1. The Civil War disrupted
plantation life throughout the
South. Soon thousands of
escaped slaves sought refuge
behind Union lines.
2. Contraband was the official
term given to fugitive slaves who
sought protection behind Union
lines. The First Confiscation Act
authorized Union troops to seize
all property, including slaves,
used on behalf of the
Confederacy.
African Americas and the Civil War
3. The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation on New Year’s Day, 1863. The
proclamation declared that all slaves in the
areas “wherein the people…are this day in
rebellion…are, and hence forward shall be
free.”
 It is important to understand that the
Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves
living in states that had rebelled against the
Union. It did not free slaves in Border States
such as Kentucky and Missouri. Slavery was
not legally and completely abolished until the
enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment in
1865.
 The Emancipation Proclamation strengthened
the Union’s moral cause. The Civil War was
now widened into a crusade against slavery.
 With slavery doomed, public opinion in Britain
and France swung decisively behind the Union
cause. The Emancipation Proclamation thus
ended any chance that the European powers
would support the Confederacy.
African Americans and the Civil War

Black soldiers
 The Emancipation Proclamation permitted
blacks to join the federal army. Frederick
Douglass urged blacks to rally to the Union
cause. “The iron gate of our prison,” he told
them, “stands half open.”
 Approximately 180,000 African Americans
served in the Union army. Although black
soldiers fought with a great valor, they were paid
less than white soldiers of equal rank. More
than 38,000 black soldiers lost their lives during
the Civil War.
 54th Massachusetts; the movie Glory