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Tanzid Sakib
Mr. Kann
Period 2
APUSH
Crash Course 20: Civil War Part I:
● estimates are between 680 thousand and 8 hundred thousand total casualties, deadlier for
Americans than the American Revolution, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam combined.
● 1861-1865
○ Lincoln President
○ The Union, or more colloquially, the North, fought against the forces of the Confederate
States of America, or the South. Sometimes people call the Union "the blue" and the
Confederates "the grey”
● not all the states that held slaves were part of the Confederacy. The border states of Kentucky,
Missouri, Delaware, and Maryland allowed slavery and never left the United States.
● All of these border states were critical to the Union. Maryland was north of the nation's capital and
Washington D.C. Kentucky controlled the Ohio River.
○ Missouri was the gateway to the west. Delaware actually wasn't that important.
● The Civil War was about slavery.
○ The Confederate government passed the first conscription act in American history,
implemented national taxes, created a national currency, and had a government
bureaucracy of about seven thousand people, more than the federal bureaucracy in
Washington D.C.
● the Union won the war, which, in a sense, is unsurprising because they had massive advantages.
For starters, they had many more people: approximately 22 million as compared to 9 million in the
south, of whom 3.5 million were slaves and therefore unlikely to be sympathetic to the southern
cause.
○
Also, the North manufactured more than 90% of all goods in America.
○ Its factories turned out 17 times more textiles than the South, 30 times more shoes and
boots, 13 times more iron and 32 times more firearms.
○ Plus, at the outbreak of the war, the North had 20,000 miles of railroad compared with the
South's 10,000.
● This made it easier for the union to move its army, which over the course of the war enlisted more
than 2,000,000 men compared with 900,000 for the Confederacy.
○ Even Northern agriculture was more productive, taking greater advantage of mechanization
than Southern farmers did.
○ Really the only advantage the South had was better military leaders, like most of the
tactically famous generals of the Civil War -- Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart,
etc. -- were Southerners
● The Confederacy had to create a nation from scratch and build national unity among people who
were committed to the autonomy of their individual home states.
○ And then there was the issue of overcoming class conflicts, especially when the ruling class
was often exempted from actually fighting in the war.
○ But when you put aside all that nation-building stuff and just focus on the actual fighting of
the war, the question of the Union's inevitable win becomes much trickier.
○ Some have argued that all the Confederacy really needed to do was outlast the Northern
efforts to bring them back into the Union, like Washington had to do against the British.
○
And the idea was that this war of attrition would eventually wear down Northern resolve,
but there were two problems with this theory.
● First, the North had such superiority in its resources that it would take a long time to wear down.
Secondly, fighting a war of attrition would be costly to the South as well, and their resources would
be depleted long before the North's.
● Grant was different from previous Union generals in that he was willing to sustain enormous
casualties in pursuit of his goal to wear down the South.
○
Because of this, Grant was often branded a butcher, like, he was willing to weather
incredible losses including the 52,000 men - 41% of his army – who were injured or killed at
the battles of The Wilderness and Cold Harbor.
○ But his grim determination, not just to defeat, but to destroy his opponent, is what made
Grant one of the first truly modern generals, and also the most successful leader the Union
found.
● So, Grant's brutal strategy, coupled with the vast superiority in Northern resources, suggests that
the outcome of the Civil War really was inevitable, but it also points to some of the reasons to be
cautious about that conclusion.
● First off, it took three years before the Union actually fully adopted Grant's strategy. And between
1861 and 1864 it was possible that Southern victories would eventually force the Union to give in.
● the Union lost a lot of battles in the first two years , largely due to ineffective general-ing, and
nothing saps a nation's motivation for war like losing.
○ Now, some argue that the North had superior motivation to prosecute the war because they
had God on their side and they were against slavery, but that's also pretty problematic.
○ I mean for many men who joined the Federal Army, a war to end slavery had very little
appeal, especially poor enlistees who might be afraid that newly freed slaves would
compete with them for jobs.
○ Also, while we are correct in considering slavery unjust, southerners who took up arms for
the Confederacy saw themselves as engaged in a fight for their own freedom, rather than a
fight to protect slavery.
● July 1863 saw two of the most important Union victories in the whole war. In the Western Theater,
General Grant laid siege to and captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, thus giving the Federals control of
the Lower Mississippi River.
○ by then the North already had New Orleans, which made it pretty much impossible for the
Confederates to ship cotton, or anything else, along the Mississippi River.
○ After that, Grant was able to turn his attention to the east, with the aforementioned
hammering of the enemy and their resources.
○ More famously, especially in the eastern part of the United States, the first three days of
July 1863 saw the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
○ This was General Lee's furthest major offensive in the North, and had he won the battle, it
is likely that panic would have set in in places like Philadelphia and maybe even New York.
○ Actually, panic did overcome New York in draft riots that killed more than 100 people and
only ended after troops from Gettysburg were called in.
○ but they shifted the tide of the war in favor of the North, although, not enough to bring the
war to a quick end. Confederate forces would never again threaten a Northern city.
● August 1864 saw another turning point that really spelled the doom of the Confederacy, and that
was when Union General Sherman took Atlanta.
● Atlanta was a railroad hub and manufacturing center, but its capture was more significant politically
than militarily because it happened close to the election of 1864.
○ that American election was really the last time that the Confederate states of America could
have won the Civil War.
○ It's easy to forget this, but Lincoln actually had to run for reelection during the Civil War, and
by the summer of 1864 the war was pretty unpopular and it looked like Lincoln might lose.
○ The capture of Atlanta changed public opinion about Lincoln, and it meant that his
Democratic opponent and former top general George McClellan didn't stand a chance of
winning, which was really significant for the war because Lincoln was committed to ending it
with a Union victory
Crash Course #22: Reconstruction and 1876:
● Ending of Civil War
○ The US had to reintegrate the formerly slave population and formerly rebellious population
back into the country
○ Andrew Johnson​ is now president
■ Lincoln was assassinated
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Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1867)
○ Johnson appointed governors to call state conventions to make all new white governments
■ Looked like the old Confederate governments that were replaced
○ Johnson ordered all land be returned to its former owners
■ South remained largely agriculture
■ In the end we ended with sharecropping
● Sharecropping: owner allows you land but you have to give a portion of the
product made on the land to the owner
○ Republicans in Congress weren’t happy that the new South (sharecropping) was starting to
look like what it was like before the Civil War
■ Took the lead in reconstruction after 1867
Southern Farm (1866)
○ Sharecropping replaced slavery in many places in the South
○ Plantation owners got a steady workforce
■ Couldn’t leave because they didn’t have many opportunities to save money
○ By 1860s poor white farmers were using sharecropping as well
■ By the great depression most sharecroppers were white
● Tied workers to land they didn’t own
Radical Republicans thought the war had been fought for equal rights
○ Wanted to see the national government’s power expand
○ Thaddeus Stevens wanted to take away land from southern planters and give it to former
slaves
○ Civil Rights Bill
■ Radical Republicans passed this bill
■ People born in the US are citizens
■ Established nation wide equality before the law regardless of race
■ Andrew Johnson vetoed the law
● Protecting African-Americans
■ Congress overrode the veto (first time) making the bill a law
Congress amended the Constitution with the 14th Amendment
○ Defines citizenship
○ Guarantees equal protection
○ Extends the rights in the bill of rights to all of the states
The Reconstruction Act (1867)
○ Divided the South into five military districts
○ Required each state to create a new government
■ Including black men
Election of 1868
○ Won by Ulysses S. Grant
■ Republican and former Union general
15th Amendment
○ Prohibited states from denying men the right to vote based on race
■ Not gender
○ Many states refused to follow this law
■ Former slaves began to emphasize their rights by doing what they were allowed to
do based off of what the government said that they could do
Reconstruction ended because of the cost
○ ○ Schools and road repair cost money
■ Meant more taxes
■ Made Republican governments very unpopular b/c everyone hates taxes
○ Many whites didn’t like that African Americans were getting rights
■ Thought that the best way to turn things back to the way things were was through
violence
■
Violence towards African Americans in the South increased because of political
motivation after 1867
■ The KKK was founded in 1866
● Terrorist group targeting Republicans
○ White and black
○ Female and male
○ Beating them to intimidate them from voting
○ Massacre at Colfax, Louisiana where hundreds of former slaves
were murdered
■ Many African Americans were scared to vote so they didn’t vote which caused
white Southerners to return to office in Washington
● They called themselves the redeemers because they claimed to have
redeemed the South from Northern Republican corruption and black rule
● In 1873 the US fell into another great economic depression
○ Northerners didn’t want to fight for the rights of black people in the South because it was
hard as well as expensive
● By 1876, the supporters of the Reconstruction didn’t support anymore
● The election of 1876
○ Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden
○ Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes ○ Rutherford B. Hayes won the election of
1876
Crash Course #23 - The Industrial Economy:
● Civil War improved the finance system
○ by forcing the introduction of a national currency
○ And it spurred industrialization
■ by giving massive contracts to arms and clothing manufacturers
○ Also boosted the telegraph
■ which improved communication
○ and gave birth to the Transcontinental Railway by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862
■ which increased efficiency and productivity
● The Constitution and its Commerce Clause made the U.S. a single area of commerce
● in 1880, for the first time, a majority of the workforce worked in non-farming jobs
○ By 1890, two-thirds of Americans worked for wages, rather than farming or owning their
own businesses
○ By 1913, the United States produced one-third of the world's total industrial output
● Railroads were one of the keys to America's 19th century industrial success
○ increased commerce and integrated the American market
■ which allowed national brands to emerge
● like Ivory Soap and A&P grocery stores
○ but railroads changed and improved our economy in less obvious ways
■ they gave us time zones
●
which were created by the major railroad companies to make shipping and
passenger transport more standard
■ Railroads were also the first modern corporations
● Prices did drop, due to industrial competition, which raised the standard of living for the average
American worker ○ immigrant workers (job insecurity) meant depressions which hit the working poor
Part 2: The crop-lien system (412):
● The postwar years were a period of remarkable economic process for African Americans
○ Prewar blacks hand earned about 22 percent share of profits of the plantation system
○ Blacks rose 46 percent between 1857-1879
○
○
More income
Result of black profit share increasing, greater return on labor
■ Worked fewer hours
■ Adult men worked shorter days
● Gains of blacks and poor whites overshadowed by ravages​ (damages) of crop-lien system ​(credit
system that became widely used by cotton farmers in the United States in South)
○ After war few credit institutions such as banks returned, new credit system centered on
local country stores
●
Farmers did not have steady cash flow
○ relied on credit to buy what they needed
○ W.o competition, stores charged incredibly high interest rates
■ Had to give lien (claim) on crops as collateral​ (secure repayment of a loan) - bad
years trapped them in debt cycle
● Effects included:
○ leading some blacks who had gained land to lose it as they became indebted
○ Small farmers became dependent on nearly all cash crops (only possibility to escape debt)
○ Lack of diversity led to decline in agricultural economy
The African-American Family in Freedom (413):
● One of the most striking features of the black response Reconstruction was the effort to build or
rebuild family structures
○ reason why many immediately left plantations was to seek relatives and family
○ Blacks resisted from staying in small cabins and instead spread widely across the
countryside - enjoy privacy
● Women began performing more domestic work & child caring
○ less field labor
○ Middle class notions of domesticity were often difficult to sustain in the impoverished
circumstances
○ By the end of Reconstruction, half of the black women over the age of sixteen were working
for wages
● Poverty & economic necessity​ led many black women to do income-producing activity for wages,
similar to slave activities: domestic servants, laundry, or helping in field
The Southern States “Redeemed” (416):
● 1872 - nearly all Southern whites regained suffrage
○ worked as majority to overthrow Republicans
■
In areas of black majority whites used intimidations and violence (Ku Klux Klan,
ect.)
● to prevent blacks from political activity
● KKK​ led by former Confed Gen Nathan Forrest ​- most effective organization
○ Worked to advance interest of those who would gain from white supremacy (mainly planter
class​ and Democratic party)
■ Most of all economic pressure used
● They worked to increase the interests of those with the most to gain from a
restoration of White Supremacy
The Ku Klux Klan Acts (416):
● Republicans tried to stop white oppression
● The Enforcement Acts prohibited the states from discriminating against voters on the basis of race
○ First time federal government hand ever claimed the power to prosecute crimes by
individuals under federal law
■ Were able to restrict blacks from voting and rights
○ New laws authorized president to use military to protect civil rights and to suspended the
right of habeas corpus when violations of the rights seemed particularly egregious
■ Hundreds of suspected klan members were arrested
● Grant​ used law in 1871 for “lawless” counties in SC
● The enforcement Acts were seldom used as severely as they were in South Carolina
○ Were effective in the effort by blacks and Northern Whites
● 1872- Klan violence against blacks was in decline throughout the region
Waning Northern Commitment (pg 417):
● Enforcement Acts peak of Republican enforcement of Reconstruction
● Southern ​blacks ​were losing the support of many of their former backers in the North
○ After 1870 - adoption of 15th Amendment
■ many in North felt blacks should take care of themselves
● Support for Liberal Democrats​ grew, some moved into Democratic Party
● Panic of 1873 ​- undermined support for Reconstruction
○ North industrialists explained poverty and instability through “Social Darwinism” (where
those who suffered did so bc of own weakness)
■ Viewed poor blacks in this light
■ Favored little govt intervention to help
■ Depleted​ treasury led ppl to want to spend little on freedmen
● In Congressional elections of 1874 - Dems won majority in House for first time since 1861
○ Grant used army to maintain Repub control in SC, FL, LA - republican
The Compromise of 1877 (417):
● 1876 elections - Republicans sought new candidate to distance from corruption and attract Liberals
back
○ Rep chose Rutherford B Hayes
○ Dems chose Sam Tilden
● Tilden won popular vote but dispute over 20 electoral votes from 3 states
○ Tilden - one vote shy of electoral vote majority
○ Hayes needed all 20 votes to win
■ Congress created special electoral commission to judge disputed votes
● chose to give all votes to Hayes—won election
● Resolution result of compromises between Republicans w. southern Democrats
○ Hayes would withdraw last fed troops​ from South if Democrats abandoned filibuster of bill​
(debate over a proposed piece of legislation is extended, allowing one or more members to
delay or entirely prevent a vote on the proposal)
● “Compromise of 1877”​ - also involved more financial aid for railroads and internal improvements in
South​ in order to help Dems grow business and industrialize
○ withdraw troops to rid South of last Repub state govts
The Legacies of Reconstruction (pg 420):
● Reconstruction​ made contribution in helping former slaves
○ but was a failure because failed to resolve issue of race
○ created bitterness that solution not attempted for another century
○ ppl directing it
■ unwillingness to infringe on rights of states and individuals
The “Redeemers” (pg 421):
● Every Southern state government had been “redeemed” by white democrats
○ Many White Southerners rejoiced at the restoration of what they liked to call “home rule.”
○ South fell under the control of a known variously as the “Redeemers”
● Dem govts lowered taxes, reduced services (as well as public education)
● 1870s - dissenters​ (people who disagree) protesting service cuts and Redeemer govt commitment
to pay off pre-war and Reconstruction debts
○ VA Readjuster movement
Industrialization and the “New South” (pg 421):
● Leaders in post-Reconstruction south wanted to develop industrial economy, “New
South” of industry, progress, and thrift
○ New South helped Southern industry expand dramatically
● New South included growth of textile manufacturing​ bc of water power, cheap labor, low taxes
○ Tobacco-processing industry​ also grew (incl. James Duke’s American Tobacco Company)
○ Iron & steel industry grew as well
Railroad development​ increased dramatically
○ 1886 - greater integration with rest of country when changed its width
● Growth of South only regained what it had done before war
○ average income in the South significantly lower than in North
● Manufacturing growth required industrial labor force
○ Most were women
■ wages much lower than in North
■ Mill towns restricted by company w. labor unions suppressed, credit through
company
● but led to sense of community
Tenants and Sharecroppers (pg 424):
● South still primarily agrarian
○ 1870s-1880s: growth of tenantry and debt peonage​ (employer compels a worker to pay off
a debt with work), reliance on cash crops
○ Crop-lien system resulted in many losing land
■ majority of people in South became tenant farmers
● “Sharecropping” system ​- where farmers promised large share of crop for land, tools, little money
● Subsistence farming​ (farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families)
gave way to only growth of cash crops
○ ○ increased poverty
● “fence laws”​ (prevented ppl from raising livestock) led to decline in living self-sufficiently
○ ○ Backcountry & blacks affected populist protests to follow in 1880s-1890s
African Americans and the New South (pg 425):
● Some blacks attracted to New South ideals of progress & self improvement
○ entered middle class by becoming professionals, owning land or business
● This small rising group of blacks believed education vital to future of race
○ supported going to black colleges for success
● Spokesman for this idea was Booker T Washington​ (founder of Tuskegee Institute)
○ believed blacks should attend school and learn skills in agricultural or trade
■ win respect of white population by adopting middle class standards of dress
■ His “Atlanta Compromise”​ sought to forgo political rights, concentrate on
self-improvement and economic gains to earn recognition
The Birth of Jim Crow (pg 427):
● Little white southerners accepted racial equality
○ Even before all court decisions white southerners were working to strengthen white
supremacy and to separate races to the greatest extent possible
■ In some states, disfranchisement​ started as soon as Reconstruction ended
● In order to disenfranchise blacks males the southerners had to find ways to
evade the fifteenth amendment
● Court validated separation of races
○ Plessy v Ferguson (1896)​ - ruled separate accommodations did not deprive blacks of equal
rights if accommodations were equal
○ Cumming v County Board of Education (1899) ​- laws for separate schools valid even if no
comparable school for blacks existed
● White policies shifted from subordination to segregation
○ black voting rights had been used by Bourbons to keep their control of Dem party
■ but when poor white farmers saw this they sought to disenfranchise blacks
● Got around 15th Amdt through “poll tax”/property requirement or
“literacy”/understanding test
● Jim Crow Laws​ segregated almost every area of southern life
○ 1890s - increased violence (lynchings​) to inhibit black movement for equal rights
○ An anti-lynching movement​ emerged led by Ida B. Wells ​to pass national law enabling fed
got to punish those responsible for lynchings
● White supremacy diluted class animosities between poor whites and Bourbon oligarchs
●
○
Economic issues played secondary role to race
■ distracting people from social inequalities that affected blacks and whites