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The Civil War
The Civil War (1861-1865) put constitutional
government to it most important test as the debate over
the power of the federal government versus state’s rights
reached a climax. The survival of the United States as
one nation was at risk and the nation’s ability to bring to
reality the ideals of liberty, equality, and justice
depended on the outcome of the war.
Growing tensions over politics, economy, and slavery
led to the Southern attempts to secede from the Union.
Causes of the Civil War:
1) Sectional debate over tariffs, extension of slavery in the
territories, and the nature of the Union (states’ rights).
2) Northern abolitionists v. southern defenders of slavery.
3) U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case.
4) Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
5) A history of failed compromises over the expansion of slavery
in the territories.
6) President Lincoln’s call for federal troops in 1861 after
southern states began secession.
The secession of southern states triggered a long and costly
war that concluded with Northern victory, a restoration of the
Union, and emancipation of the slaves.
The Southerners’ believed that the states had freely joined the
Union and they should freely be able to leave.
Major events of the Civil War:
The Election of Lincoln: 1860 was followed by the secession
of several southern states that feared that Lincoln would try to
abolish slavery.
Confederate forces opened fire at Fort
Sumter, South Carolina, in April of
1861. These were the first shots of the
Civil War!
The First Battle of Bull Run (also known as the First Battle of Manassas) was fought on
July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia. It was the first major land battle of the American
Civil War. After the South’s unexpected victory, it proved that the South was capable and
the war was more brutal than people anticipated.
The Battle of Antietam is where General Lee advanced into
Maryland in September of 1862 and was defeated by General
McClellan’s forces; McClellan missed a chance to crush the
Confederate Army; Lee lost a third of his troops.
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in September of 1862
after the Battle of Antietam. Emancipation is freeing slaves.
1) It discouraged any interference of foreign countries.
2) Enslaved people in area controlled by the Confederacy
(rebelling states) were freed.
3) It made the destruction of slavery a Northern war aim.
4) The Emancipation Proclamation allowed for the enlistment of
African American soldiers.
The Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863 was the deadliest battle
of the war. With the loss of so many troops, General Lee knew that
the Confederate Army would never again have the strength to
invade the North. After this, Lee began his retreat which would
eventually lead to the end of the Civil War. This 3 day conflict is
still the bloodiest battle in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the
location of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
The Battle of Vicksburg: The Confederate surrender following
the siege at Vicksburg is sometimes considered, when combined
with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg the previous day,
the turning point of the war. It also cut off communication with
Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department for the
remainder of the war and effectively split the South in half.
Appomattox Courthouse: This marked the collapse of the
Confederacy. It is where General Lee signed his surrender. This
occurred on April 9, 1865.
Lives Civil War Soldiers, and Women during the Civil War
Common Soldiers: For common soldiers, warfare was brutal and camp life
was lonely and boring. Many soldiers returned home wounded or crippled.
Warfare often involved hand-to-hand combat. In many cases, war time
diaries and letters home would record this harsh reality. Due to poor
sanitation and the medical technology of the time period, more soldiers
would die from disease or wounds rather than on the battlefield. Getting shot
in a particular limb would often mean the removal of that limb!
After the war, especially in the South, soldiers returned home to find homes
destroyed and poverty.
While the men were away fighting, women managed homes and families with
scarce resources. Many faced poverty and hunger. Many women assumed
new roles in agriculture, nursing, and in war industries.
Key Leaders of the Civil War and Their Roles:
Abraham Lincoln: President during the Civil War and insisted that the Union should stay
together by force if necessary.
Lincoln believed in preserving the Union as a nation of the people, by
the people, and for the people.
Lincoln believed that the Civil War was fought to fulfill the promise
of the Declaration of Independence and was a “Second American
Revolution.”
He described a different vision for the United States from the one that
had prevailed from the beginning of the Republic to the Civil War.
In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln described the Civil War as a
struggle to preserve the Union and that America was one nation, not a collection sovereign
(independent) states.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address said the United States was one nation, not a federation of
independent states.
Frederick Douglass: Former slave and abolitionist who urged Lincoln to
recruit former slaves to fight in the Union Army.
After the Civil War, Frederick Douglass became the leading spokesman
for African Americans in the nation. He encouraged federal government
actions to protect the rights of the freedmen in the South.
He supported full equality for African Americans and advocated for the
passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments.
Frederick Douglass served as an ambassador to Haiti (1889-1891) and in the civil service.
Jefferson Davis: He was a U.S. Senator in Mississippi. He became
President of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis appointed
Robert E. Lee to be General of the Army of Northern Virginia.
After the Civil War, both Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant urged
reconciliation between the North and the South.
Ulysses Grant: Union military commander who won
victories over the South after several Union
commanders had failed.
After the Civil War, he urged Radical Republicans not to be harsh with
former Confederates and opposed retribution directed to the defeated
South. He was elected President and served during most of the
Reconstruction Era. He advocated the rights for the Freedmen (freed
slaves).
Robert E. Lee: Confederate general who opposed secession, but didn’t
believe that the Union should be held together by force. He urged
southerners to accept defeat and unite as Americans when some wanted to
fight on after Appomattox.
After the Civil War, he served as President of Washington College (Now
called Washington & Lee University). He emphasized the importance of
education to the nation’s future.
Reconstruction
Reconstruction was the time period after the Civil War to 1877 when the Southern states
were under military occupation. Martial law is when the military rules during a time of
conflict.
The war and Reconstruction resulted in Southern resentment toward the North and Southern
African Americans and ultimately led to political, economic, and social control of the South
by whites. The economic and political gains of former slaves were temporary.
The assassination of Lincoln a few days after Lee’s surrender enabled the Radical
Republicans to influence the Reconstruction process.
Political effects of the war and Reconstruction
Lincoln believed that since secession was illegal,
Confederate governments in the South were
illegitimate and the states had never really left the
Union. Reconstruction was a matter of quickly
restoring legitimate state governments that were
loyal to the Union in the South. The federal
government should not punish the South and act with
“Malice towards none, with charity, to bind up the
nation’s wounds.”
Radical Republicans wanted to be more punitive towards the former Confederate states; the
states were not allowed back into the Union immediately and were placed under the military
occupation.
Radical Republicans believed in aggressively guaranteeing voting and other civil rights to
African Americans. They clashed with President Andrew Johnson over the issue of civil
rights for freed slaves and impeached him. Impeachment is a vote to hold a trial for high
crimes and misdemeanors.
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are commonly referred to as the Civil War
Amendments.
- 13th Amendment: Slavery was abolished permanently in the United States.
- 14th Amendment: States were prohibited from denying equal rights under
the law and to any American.
- 15th Amendment: Voting rights were guaranteed regardless of “race,
color, or previous condition of servitude” (former slaves).
Although slavery ended, African Americans did not achieve full equality during the next 100
years. The “Jim Crow Era” is a long period in which African Americans in the South were
denied the full rights of American citizenship though segregation laws. The Black Codes
were laws which restricted the freedom of the Freedmen (freed slaves) after the Civil War.
The End of Reconstruction
The Reconstruction period ended following the
extremely close presidential election of 1876.
In return for support in the Electoral College
vote from Southern Democrats, the Republicans
agreed to end the military occupation of the
South. Known as the Compromise of 1877, this
enabled former Confederates who controlled
the Democratic Party to regain power. It
opened the door to the “Jim Crow Era” and
began a long period in which African Americans in the South were denied the full rights of
American citizenship.
Economic and Social Impact of the War and Reconstruction
The southern states were left embittered and devastated after the war.
Farms, railroads, and factories had been destroyed throughout the South; Richmond and
Atlanta lay in ruins. The South would remain in a backyard agriculturebased economy and the poorest section of the nation for many decades
afterward.
The North and the Midwest emerged with strong and growing industrial
economies, laying the foundation for the sweeping industrialization of the
nation in the next half-century and the emergence of the U.S. as a global
economic power by the beginning of the 20th Century.
During the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 in which
the government would help pay for a transcontinental railroad that would connect the East
and West coasts. In 1869, the Union Pacific Railroad Company worked westward to meet
the Central Pacific Railroad that worked eastward from California at Promontory Point, Utah.
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad soon after the
war ended intensified the westward movement of settlers into the
states between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean.