Download Chapter 4/Section 1

Chapter 4/Section 1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
Key Idea
The increased tension and violence between North and South over slavery
leads the nation to the brink of war.
North and South increasingly disagreed over slavery.
 When California applied for statehood as a free state, Southerners were angry
because much of the state was south of the Missouri Compromise line of 36° 30’.
 The Compromise of 1850 in an attempt to satisfy both North and South.
 It included the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed harsh steps to be
taken against runaway slaves.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
showed slavery’s evils and led to Southern resentment.
Slavery in the territories became an issue again in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of
1854.
 Senator Stephen Douglas supported popular sovereignty which would allow
the people in Nebraska and Kansas territories to decide whether they wanted
slavery.

Proslavery and antislavery forces fought for possession of Bleeding Kansas.
In the Dred Scott case in 1857, the Supreme Court defined slaves as property,
protected by the Constitution.
 Being on free territory did not make a slave free and slaves were not
considered citizens.
In a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln became known for his
anti-slavery stance.
In the 1860 election, Lincoln won the presidency.
 Convinced they had lost their political voice, seven Southern states seceded—
and formed the Confederate States of America.
Chapter 4/Section 2
The Civil War Begins
Key Idea
The Civil War becomes a long, deadly conflict. The war brings about
important political, social, and economic changes.
The Civil War began in April 1861, when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, South
Carolina.
 Lincoln’s goal was to restore the Union.
The North’s Advantages: more people, more factories, and more railroad tracks, and
could grow more food.
The South's advantages: the demand for cotton, excellent generals, and soldiers
eager to defend their way of life
The Northern Strategy
 1 – Blockade the South
 2 – Split the Confederacy in two
 3 – Take over the Confederate capitol of Richmond
Conduct of the Civil War
 1861—the first battle is a Confederate victory at Bull Run.
 1862—The battle of Antietam is the bloodiest battle in American history.
 1863—Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in
Confederate states.
 Both sides began to draft or conscript civilians into the army. Leading to riots in
some cities.
Chapter 4/Section 3
The North Takes Charge
Key Idea
The South surrenders, but the Civil War has an enduring effect on the nation.
South and North fought decisive battles in 1863 and 1864.

The Confederates lost a three-day battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
 At a ceremony to remember those killed, Lincoln delivered the
Gettysburg Address.

The Union captured Vicksburg, gaining control of the Mississippi River—the
turning point of the war.
 Southern morale dropped.

General William Tecumseh Sherman and his troops invaded Georgia, destroying
property as they advanced—the March to the Sea.

In April 1865, the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox.
The Civil War changed the United States.
 The federal government was larger and stronger.
 The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.
President Lincoln never got to implement his plans for rebuilding the nation.
 Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth five days after the war ended.
Chapter 4/Section 4
Reconstruction and Its Effects
Key Idea
Rebuilding the nation after war results in many changes in the South.
Reconstruction— the period of rebuilding the nation after the war.


Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln as president.
 Some Republicans thought he was too lenient on the South.
The Radical Republicans wanted to punish the south.
The fight with Johnson led Congress to impeach the president.
Congress did have some important items pass,
 they created the Freedmen’s Bureau to help former slaves.
 They also passed the 14th Amendment, which made African Americans
citizens.
The 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote.
Former slaves worked hard to establish new lives.
 Many won election to political office, including Hiram Revels.
Many whites resisted the idea that blacks should be treated equally.


Plantation owners created a system called sharecropping that allowed them to
control the land and the labor of African Americans.
Some whites formed the Ku Klux Klan—a secret group that terrorized blacks across
the South.
In 1877, troops were removed from the South and Reconstruction was over.