Download Chapter 9 Teacher Summary - Roadmap to Last Best Hope

Chapter 9
FREEDOM’S
FIERY TRIAL
(1860-1863)
Presidential Terms
James Buchanan (1857-1861)
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Chapter Summary
A
fter years of discussing secession as a theory, Lincoln’s election in 1860 led the South to
begin making the dissolution of the Union a reality. South Carolina led the way by
seceding in December of 1860, with six other states in the Deep South following suit by
the time of Lincoln’s inauguration in March of 1861. Bennett makes clear that Lincoln was
actually a moderate on the issue of slavery, assuring the South that he would not interfere with
the institution where it existed and would enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. It is important for
students to see the contrast between Lincoln and the abolitionists of the North. Classes can also
discuss the constitutional role of a president to execute the nation’s laws – even laws he finds
offensive.
Students should analyze why the South seceded, if indeed Lincoln and the Republicans offered
no real threat to their institutions. Bennett’s account offers numerous quotes from southern
leaders that should give students a clue. They make clear that the South was extremely fearful of
slavery being labeled a “sin,” as it was progressively coming to be seen in the North. This
growing perception, they believed, would ultimately incite slaves to rebel. Their entire system
rested on the premise that God ordained slavery as part of the natural societal order.
Over the years, some have argued that the Civil War was not actually fought over slavery,
sometimes citing other factors such as “states’ rights” or diverging economic systems. Bennett
includes the voices of several southerners who make such an argument ring hollow. Georgia’s
Henry Benning pointed clearly to the protection of slavery as the reason to secede and, more
significantly, Confederacy Vice President Alexander Stephens’s “Cornerstone Speech” clearly
shows slavery and racism to be the foundation of the Confederate States of America. Students
will likely find his words stunning.
The military phase of the conflict began at Fort Sumter, and Lincoln’s resolute, though failed,
effort to keep that fort in federal
hands led the final four states of the
Upper South to secede. One of the
key points students may glean from
this section is that just as all
northerners were not abolitionists, all
southerners did not support
secession. The story of Texas
governor Sam Houston dramatically
illustrates this, as does the mention
that Major Robert Anderson,
defender of Fort Sumter, came from
Photo 1: Fort Sumter after being surrendered to Confederate
a Kentucky slaveholding family.
Forces (National Archives)
Even Robert E. Lee is shown by
Bennett to be torn on the question of secession and the author points out that large sections of
several southern states were strongly unionist (the non-slaveholding mountainous regions of
eastern Tennessee and western Virginia in particular).
The war had begun and Bennett points out that while Americans had fought together for liberty
in the Revolution, now they fought each other over the meaning of liberty. What factors led
people in the North and South to have such different visions of liberty? Are there examples in
our own day where Americans differ on the meaning of liberty?
As the war began, Lincoln was desperate for the Union to hold the slave states bordering the
North. As Bennett points out, his actions in Maryland, particularly the suspension of habeas
corpus, are still debated by scholars today. Bennett points out that the Constitution allows such a
suspension in times of rebellion, citing Article 1, Section 9. Teachers might have students read
this section and will note that Article 1 deals with the legislative branch, seemingly backing up
Roger Taney’s point in Ex Parte Merryman. But must we give a president leeway during such a
crisis? Is it necessary for the greater good? Are there limits? Lincoln certainly focused on the
big issue – his sworn duty to preserve the Union (and not let the South “depart in peace” as
Horace Greeley recommended). This even meant countermanding Frémont’s order to
emancipate slaves in Missouri. Lincoln could not afford to alienate slaveholders there who
remained loyal.
The Trent Affair gets far more treatment by Bennett than is seen in most textbooks. It helps
students understand key foreign policy issues that took place during the war. The North’s
“Anaconda Policy” attempted to cut off trade between the South and Europe, thus starving the
rebellion. This especially risked alienating England, a key trading partner of the South.
Throughout the war, the South hoped for diplomatic recognition and aid from England, and
assumed that England’s need for “King Cotton” in their textile mills would bring such
recognition. The Trent Affair brought England close to war with the North, but in the end, the
South greatly miscalculated in anticipating English support. Key Union victories (such as
Antietam), Lincoln’s diplomacy, and the English hatred of slavery kept them out of the war.
Bennett’s account of the first two years of the war shows the debate
in the North between advocates of a “hard war” (Republicans in
Congress) who favored
punishing the South and
“I decided that slavery must die that
freeing the slaves and key
the nation might live.”
generals (such as
Abraham Lincoln
McClellan) who favored a
“soft war” approach and
opposed an “abolition
war.” From the humiliating loss at the First Battle of Bull Run,
Lincoln struggled to find a general who would aggressively put down
the South’s rebellion. Students will follow Lincoln’s firing of
successive generals and if they read closely, will note the successes
of General Grant in the West. Grant, of course, will ultimately be the
general Lincoln finds to win the war.
This chapter details military clashes such as Antietam,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Shiloh. The numbers killed
Photo 2: General George
McClellan, Commander of and wounded were staggering in comparison to previous conflicts
the Army of the Potomac
and, as Bennett points out, family members often split and appeared
(National Archives)
on opposite sides of the battlefield. Bennett’s note that the nation
suffered more military casualties at Shiloh in two days than the
nation had suffered in its entire existence should help students understand the tragedy involved.
Students might also view the photographs of Matthew Brady to better visualize the carnage.
Finally, Lee’s quote when surveying the slaughter at Fredericksburg (“It is well that war is so
terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it”) should elicit discussion about the degree to which
our culture and cultures in the past have viewed war as a “glorious” exercise.
Teachers can help students gain insight into Lincoln’s evolution toward becoming the “Great
Emancipator” through Bennett’s account of the road toward the Emancipation Proclamation.
Students might be surprised to read about Lincoln’s comments to the “free men of color” he
invited to the White House in 1862. They can also discuss Lincoln’s advocacy of gradual,
compensated emancipation in the Border States and then his support of “colonization.” Were
those ideas viable? Why was Frederick Douglass so adamantly opposed to such plans?
Eventually, Lincoln would come to the conclusion that Douglass was right.
In the midst of this debate, Lincoln wrote his famous letter to editor Horace Greeley, making it
clear that his sole object was to save the Union, not to end slavery. Only if such an action helped
save the Union would he pursue it. Bennett includes a key portion of this letter, making this
point clear. However, students would also benefit from reading the last sentence of that letter,
not included in the book. Lincoln wrote: “I have here stated my purpose according to my view
of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men
everywhere could be free.” They can discuss what this says about the tension Lincoln felt
between his desires and his perceived duty.
After the North survived Antietam, Bennett quotes Lincoln as saying that “I
decided that slavery must die that the nation might live.” Students will see that
it took devastating bloodshed for Lincoln to reach this point. After that point,
only the liberation of slaves could justify such suffering.
Students will gain a better understanding of the Emancipation Proclamation
though Bennett’s description of the measure. Students should analyze why
when it was issued in its preliminary form in 1862, it was not popular in the
North. Then when issued officially on January 1, 1863, students can discuss
which slaves were actually immediately freed (of course the answer is none).
They should once again note Lincoln’s careful attempt to act in a constitutional
manner. He could only free slaves as a war measure (note the words “military
necessity” in the document), and thus could not free slaves in the Border States still loyal or even
in Southern states then under Union control. But it did give the war a dramatic new purpose, as
the Union army became, in Bennett’s words, “an army of liberation.” It also swung key nations
such as England and France toward the Union side. It was indeed a time of “Jubilee” – students
might find it worthwhile to research the Old Testament definition of Jubilee to better understand
why this word had such meaning at the time.
Of course Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy reacted to Lincoln’s action with horror. In fact,
part of the “military necessity” of Lincoln’s action was the hope that slaves in the South might be
inspired to leave their plantations and free themselves, thus causing chaos and labor shortages.
This indeed happened. Southerners were further terrified that the proclamation would lead to
bloody slave revolts – their fear for generations. This did not occur.
The chapter ends with the North beginning to put blacks in uniform, a dramatic step many had
thought impossible early in the war. As this was taking place, General Robert E. Lee moved his
Confederate army northward. The war was moving toward a critical moment and the future of
the Union hung in the balance.