Download SECESSION AND THE CIVIL WAR


Essential Question:
 What factors led to the
outbreak of the Civil War &
contributed to Confederate
successes from 1861 to 1863?
Secession & the
Outbreak of the Civil
War
Secession


The failed Crittenden
inCompromise
the South
in 1860
Lincoln’s election led to secession by 7
states in the Deep South but that did
not necessarily
mean “civil
war”
Fort Sumter,
South
Carolina
Two things had to happen first:


One last failed attempt to reconcile the
North & South
The North had to use its military to
protect the Union
Upper South
didthe
notU.S.
view
Some The
Northerners
thought
Lincoln’s
election
a death
sentence
would
be better
off as
if the
South
& did not
secede immediately
was allowed
to peacefully
secede
SC seceded on
The entire Deep South Dec 20,1860
seceded by Feb 1861
“Lame duck” Buchanan took no action
to stop the South from seceding
The Decision to Secede
What is the “United States”?

The Southern decision to secede was based on
old arguments:
Individuals
the right
to own
property
 The
USA was ahave
“compact
between
states,”
not
(slaves)
& have
to have their
a national
gov’t
“abovethe
theright
states”
propertystates
returned
Slavefreely
Law)
 Therefore,
could (Fugitive
leave the Union
& peacefully
 States’ rights must be protected as a
guarantee of liberty
Southerners had threatened secession during a
Congressional debate over slavery in 1790, the
Missouri Crisis of 1820, the Nullification Crisis
of 1832, & the crisis over California in 1850
The CSA constitution
resembled the of
U.S.,
but
Secession
& the Formation
the
with 4 key
changes:
(1) it the
protected
states’
On
Feb
4,
1861,
Confederate
Confederate
States
of
America
rights,
(2) guaranteed
slavery,
(3)
referenced
States of America were formed
God, & (4) prohibited protective tariffs
Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis
was elected CSA president
The Deep South Secedes

Moderate Republicans proposed the
Crittenden Compromise to lure the South
back into the Union:


offered to extend the Missouri Compromise
Allow
for
peaceful
separation…OR…
line to the Pacific
to preserveamendment
the Unionto
promisedfight
a Constitutional
protect slavery
Both Lincoln & Davis rejected the
compromise
leaving
North with 2
Lincoln
rejected
it the
The
South
rejected
it
choices…he was
because

committed to free soil
because they had
created a new nation
Fort Sumter, South Carolina
In April 1861, a skirmish at Fort Sumter, SC
led to the 1st shots fired of the Civil War
The attack
ralliedof
& unified
the North for war
Effects
Fort Sumter
Civil War was not technically
between slave states & free states
(the “border states” of MO, KY,
DE, MD did not secede)
Many pro-slavery border states (Arkansas,
TN, NC, & VA) viewed Fort Sumter as an act
of aggression by the North & joined the CSA
Adjusting to
Total War
Northern Advantages


At the outbreak of the Civil War, the North
had lots of advantages:
 Larger population for troops
 Greater industrial capacity
 Huge edge in RR transportation
Problem for the North:
 Had to invade the South to win
 Difficult to maintain enthusiasm &
support for war over time
Resources of the Union and the
Confederacy, 1861
Southern Advantages
Although outnumbered & less
industrial, South had advantages:
 President Davis knew that they did
not have to “win” the war; the
South only
hadCotton”
to drag out the fight
“King
diplomacy
& make the
North quit
 Had the best military leaders
 England
&“Stonewall”
France appearedJ.E.B.
more
Robert
E
the SouthStuart
Lee willing to support
Jackson

Winfield
Scott’s
Anaconda
Plan
Southern
strategy
was an
“offensive
defense”:
Take
the
CSA
capital
drag control
out the war
& strategically
attack
the
Take
of the
at
Richmond
North toRiver
destroy Northern morale
Mississippi
Ulysses
Grant in the
West
Divide the West
from South
Blockade the
Southern coast
George
McClellan
was in
charge of
Army of the
Potomac
Political Leadership During the Civil War

Lincoln expanded his
powers:



declared martial law
imprisoned
“subversives”
briefly closed down a
few newspapers

Davis was less
effective:



concerned mainly
with military duties
neglected the
economy
obstructed by state
governors who
resisted conscription
The Diplomatic Struggle

From 1861 to 1862, the South used
“cotton diplomacy” to get England &
France to aid them:



Napoleon III favored the South but wanted
England to do so 1st
England offered “belligerent” status to the
CSA; but otherwise chose a hands-off policy
By 1863, “King Cotton” diplomacy failed
because Egyptian & Indian cotton filled the
European demand
Fighting the Civil War
From 1861-1863, the South consistently
beat the North due to poor Union leadership
& the Southern defensive strategy
The
Civil
War
1st battle was Bull Run (Manassas, VA) on
The
U.S.
&
CSA
forces
fought
to
a
July
21,
1861;
“On
to
Richmond”
campaign
draw
at
Antietam
in
Sept
1862—the
was
repulsed
by
“Stonewall”
Jackson
single bloodiest day of the Civil War
Women took gov’t jobs as bookkeepers,
clerks &
secretaries;
of women
Fighting
War”
Cone-shaped
bullets “Total
&A number
as spies
(Rose
Greenhow,
CSA)
grooved
riflesthe
also
Theserved
Civilbarrel
War
was
world’s
1st “total
Massive frontal assaults and massed
war”
in
which
the
entire
economy
was
Repeating
rifles
&
formations with as many as 100,000 soldiers
devoted
to winning:
the Gatling
gun
North & South drafted soldiers
Shrapnel, booby traps,
 North & South employed female workers to
& land mines
meet supply demands
 New weapons, old tactics, & sheer numbers of
troops in battle led to massive casualties

Women’s most prominent role were as nurses
on the battlefield: distributing medical
supplies, organizing hospitals, & offering
comfort to wounded or dying soldiers
Battle of the Ironclads (1862):
CSS Virginia vs. USS Monitor
Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia was built
using the remains of the USS Merrimack
USS Monitor was a revolutionary design:
rotating turret & low profile
Casualties of the Civil War

Essential Question:
 What
factors helped the North turn
the tide of the Civil War in 1863
that inevitably led to a Union
victory in 1865?
The draft was unpopular among Southern
Mobilizing
the Home
Fronts
governors
& Northern,
antiwar “Copperheads”

Both the North & South faced problems
supporting the war:


Both sides began running out of troops; in
1862, the North & South began conscription
(draft)
Funding the war was difficult; both sides
printed paper money (greenbacks) to
accommodate spending needs; led to runaway
inflation (9,000% in the South)
The Coming of Emancipation


At the beginning of the war, the North was
fighting to preserve the Union, not to
abolish slavery
By mid-1862, many Northerners called for
immediate emancipation



Congress refused a gradual plan
Many thought immediate freedom for slaves
would lure England & France into alliance
Southern victories pressured the North to
“strike back”
"My paramount object in this struggle
is to save the Union, and is not
either to save or to destroy slavery. If
I could save the Union without
freeing any slave I would do it, and if
I could save it by freeing all the
slaves I would do it; and if I could
save it by freeing some and leaving
others alone I would also do that."
—Abraham Lincoln, 1862
The Emancipation Proclamation

Union “success” at Antietam led Lincoln to
issue the Emancipation Proclamation on
January 1, 1863:




Lincoln freed all slaves in Confederate
territories
This did not free a single slave but it gave the
North a new reason fight the Civil War
Inspired slaves to flee North
Pushed for the 13th Amendment
Passed after the Civil War
ended
Emancipation in 1863
The border states could keep their slaves
(until 13th amendment passed in 1865)
The Tide Turns in 1863

By early
1863,
the
North
&
South
both
New York City Draft Riot
faced morale problems:


South—economic & diplomatic collapse,
runaway slaves, & many yeomen refused to
fight
North—consistent losses against Lee, draft
riots in NYC, anti-war “Copperheads” played
on war failures & racial anxieties
Fight to the Finish

But by 1863, the war began to turn in
favor of the North:


Northern supremacy in industry & manpower
began to take its toll on the exhausted South
The North began enlisting blacks into the
Union army; 200,000 fought as soldiers &
many others served as labor in the Northern
war effort
Grant
began
a siege
on Richmond
and…
Due
to
Grant’s
success
in
the
west,
In Lincoln
July 1863,
General
Grant
took
Vicksburg
made
Grant
supreme
commander
& of
gained
control
of
the
Mississippi
River
Union army in 1864; Grant devised a
strategy to invade the South on all fronts
The
Civil
War
Lee ledSherman
an attackbegan
into the
William
hisNorth,
lostsea”
at Gettysburg;
1st
“march but
to the
(Atlanta to North’s
Savannah)
real victoryofinmilitary
the eastvalue
& destroyed everything
Now
we
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But,
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—that
The
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we
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Gettysburg Address
great civil war, testing
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we can
dedicated
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resolve
note
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remember
whether
that nation,
or any
Four
score
and seven
we
great
can
task
not
remaining
consecrate,
what
shall
we
not
say
have
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but
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it
nation
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and
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years ago our
we
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can
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met
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shall
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isbattlefor
forth
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of that
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dedicate
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that
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do this.
Election of 1864

Meanwhile, Lincoln faced a tough reelection in 1864 against General George
McClellan:


War failures were a key issue
Radical Republicans considered dropping
Lincoln from the ticket
But, when Atlanta fell during Sherman’s
“March to the Sea,” Lincoln regained
support
and was address,
overwhelmingly
In his
2nd inaugural
Lincolnreelected
promised

a Reconstruction Plan for the Union with
“malice towards none & charity for all”
Union Gains in the Civil War by
1865
In April 1865, Grant faced off
with Lee outside Richmond;
Lee was cut off from the South
On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered
to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse,
ending the fighting of Civil War
The Death of Lincoln

Northern celebration was short lived; On April
14, 1865, Lincoln was shot by pro-Southerner
John Wilkes Booth
Effects of the War
Effects of the War

Social changes:




618,000 troops were dead
Women in both the North & South were
forced to take on more non-domestic roles
13th Amendment ended slavery
Nativism decreased as many immigrants
fought in Civil War
Ended the Southern argument over
Effects
of
the
War
nullification & states’ rights
 Political changes:
 The Civil War established that the
national gov’t is supreme over the
states
 With no Southern opposition,
Republicans passed new laws:
Homestead Act (1862), Morrill Act
(1862), a protective tariff, land
grants to RR companies, & a
national banking system
Conclusions

The turning point of the war: 1863
 The Civil War began as a conflict “to
preserve the Union,” but by 1863 it became
a war for human liberty (Emancipation
Proclamation was issued)
 The South dominated the early campaigns
of the war due, but by 1863 (Gettysburg)
the weight of Northern industry &
population wore down the South