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Compromise of 1850
The new territories gained from Mexico caused
new political problems in the United States.
Southerners wanted slavery to expand into the
new territories, but people in the North did not
want it to expand. Texas also claimed that it
owned part of New Mexico, including Santa Fe
even though the people living there did not
consider themselves Texan.
Compromise of 1850
The U.S. Congress came up with a solution called the
Compromise of 1850. The State of California would join
the U.S. As a free (non-slave) state. Voters from the other
states in the Mexican Cession would get to vote on if they
wanted to have slaves or not.
To settle the issue of Texas' border with New Mexico, part
of the Compromise of 1850 gave Texas $10 million to use
to pay off their debt. This part of the Compromise was
called the Pearce Plan.
Compromise of 1850
In 1852, Franklin Pierce became President of the United
States. The next year, he made a deal with Mexico to buy
a section of land in what is now southern Arizona and
New Mexico. He had James Gadsen, the U.S.
Ambassador to Mexico, carry out the deal. This would
become known as the Gadsen purchase and the
government planned to use it to create a railroad to the
Pacific Ocean.
Reasons for Secession
Slavery-Slavery was an important part of the
Southern economy. It had been banned in most
parts of the North and the Republican Party
wanted to limit slavery. The South was worried it
would be banned.
Tariffs-The Federal government placed an export
tariff on cotton and an import tax on
manufactured goods from Europe. The South
did not have many factories so it only meant that
things would cost more for Southerners.
Reasons for Secession
Sectionalism-Differences in lifestyle and economy
(industry vs agriculture) and division based on
the issues led people in the North and South to
focus on what would benefit their state and not
the country as a whole
States’ Rights-Southerners thought the Federal
government should not interfere with their states
and they shouldn’t have to follow laws made by
the Federal government that they did not agree
with.
Texas Secession
Southern leaders argued that the states joined the United
States voluntarily and could secede (leave) if they felt
their rights were threatened. When Abraham Lincoln
was elected President, Southerners thought their way
of life was in danger. Six states chose to secede before
Texas did.
Texan leaders wanted Sam Houston (now the governor)
to call a convention to discuss leaving. Houston,
however, wanted to be part of the U.S. and did not
want Texas involved in another war.
Texas Secession
Without Houston, the supporters of secession held the meeting
anyway. They wrote the Ordinance of Secession, a document
that said the U.S. government was interfering with Texan
interests and that Texas was leaving. They also sent delegates
to the new Confederate government to join the other Southern
states that seceded.
The states that seceded formed the Confederate States of
America, a government that gave more power to the states and
protected slavery in their Constitution. Jefferson Davis, from
Mississippi, was elected President of the CSA.
Sam Houston, who would not declare loyalty to the Confederacy,
was removed from office as Governor of Texas in April of 1861.
The Home Front
Once the war started, the Union (North) Navy
blockaded Confederate ports and made getting
supplies from Britain and France almost
impossible. Most of the goods used in the South
before the war were made in the North, so
clothing, including uniforms, now had to be
made by hand by Southern women. Along with
making clothing, women had to do many of the
jobs that the men had done now that they were
off fighting the war.
The Home Front
Along with clothing shortages, the blockade meant
a shortage in paper, coffee, and tea. There was
also a lack of enough medicine, especially
because most of what medicines the South did
have went to supplying the Confederate Army.
Plantations had to stop planting cotton and
switch to wheat and corn to try to feed both the
soldiers fighting the war and the civilians back
home. There was not enough and many people
in the South were malnourished.
Conscription and Unionists
To get enough soldiers for the Confederate Army, Jefferson Davis
ordered all men from 18 to 35 to serve in the army. Around
70,000 Texans fought for the CSA, most as cavalry soldiers
because Texans were used to working on horseback.
Some Texans supported the USA instead, and about 2,000
Unionists from Texas fought for the Union army. Some Tejanos
also fought for the Union because they were still upset at how
Texans treated them. Some Unionists were arrested for not
joining the Confederate Army and others were killed by vigilante
groups.
Texans in the Civil War
One of the most well known Texan units of the war was Hood’s Texas
Brigade, an infantry unit that was with Robert E. Lee’s army in
Northern Virginia for most of the war. It was commanded by John
Bell Hood, the man Fort Hood is named after. They were regarded
as one of the best infantry units in the Confederate Army. The unit
did suffer very high casualties, starting the war with 3,500 soldiers
and ending it with around 600 even with reinforcements during the
war.
Another famous Texas unit was Terry’s Texas Rangers, which was a
cavalry unit. Each soldier provided his own firearms, a Bowie knife,
saddle, bridle, and blanket. Horses were provided for the soldiers.
The unit fought throughout the war in Tennessee and Georgia.
Battles in Texas
The Union’s plan to win the war involved invading Virginia (to take the
capital), capturing the Mississippi River (to split the rest of the South
off from Louisiana and Texas), and blockading the Confederate coast
(to cut off supplies by sea). Texans tried to defend the coast against
Union Navy attack, but Galveston was still weakly defended. Union
forces captured it in 1862 and losing Galveston made it even harder
for Confederates in Texas to be supplied. John B Magruder, the
commander of all Confederate forces in Texas, attacked the port on
January 1, 1863 using steam ships that were armored using cotton
bales to give their crews and the landing soldiers cover from Union
bullets.
The Confederate forces retook the city and Galveston was in
Confederate hands for the rest of the war.
Battles in Texas
In 1863, Union forces hoped to gain access to Texas by capturing
Sabine Pass, where the Sabine River flows into the Gulf of
Mexico. This would allow Union soldiers to attack the rest of
Texas. Sabine Pass was defended by Fort Griffin, built by
Confederate forces.
The Union assault there, which began on September 8, 1863,
included 4,000 soldiers and four gunboats. The soldiers were
supposed to land there then capture Beaumont and Houston.
During the assault, the Confederate guns at Fort Griffin opened
fire on the Union gunboats. Several Union ships were damaged
and the Confederates captured about 350 Union soldiers. The
Northern force retreated.
The War in the rest of the Country
April 12, 1861- Confederates fire on Fort Sumter, war starts
July 21, 1861- First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), first major battle
and huge Confederate victory
March 8, 1862- Confederate ironclad ship “Merrimac” sinks two
Union wooden ships and fights Northern ironclad “Monitor”
September 17, 1862- Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), deadliest
day in entire US military history
January 1, 1863- Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation,
freeing slaves in Confederate states
July1-3, 1863- Battle of Gettysburg, Union victory
April 9, 1865- General Robert E Lee surrenders his Army of
Northern Virginia, essentially ending the war.
Battle of Palmito Ranch
After Lee had surrendered, some Confederate
units were determined to keep fighting. On May
13, 1865 Union and Confederate armies fought
near Palmito Ranch in South Texas. Neither side
could gain a victory until the Confederate
cavalry arrived. Northern forces surrendered
and then informed the Confederate Soldiers that
the war had ended. A few days later, the
Confederate Governor of Texas told the CSA
forces to surrender.
Juneteenth
With the technology of the day limiting the speed
of communication, enslaved people in Texas did
not find out about the Emancipation
Proclamation until June 19th, 1865. This day is
now referred to as “Juneteenth” and is
celebrated in Texas and throughout the rest of
the South as a holiday marking the end of
slavery in the United States.
Effects of the War on Texas
Raising large armies and the end of the plantation
system meant Texas was in severe debt and the
economy had changed.
Several thousand Texans died in the fighting, leaving
families without fathers, husbands, and sons.
Northern armies occupied Texas and the rest of the
South to impose Reconstruction, the process of
bringing the South back into the country. Many Texans
resented this.
Freedom for All
After the war, the Thirteenth Amendment was
ratified. This Amendment to the Constitution
banned all slavery in the United States and
therefore freed everyone who was a slave.
The Fourteenth Amendment gave all former
slaves American citizenship, and the Fifteenth
Amendment gave all males, regardless of race,
the right to vote.
Reaction to Reconstruction
Texans and Southerners as a whole deeply resented
Carpetbaggers (People from the North who came to profit off of
Reconstruction) and Scalawags (Southerners who supported
Reconstruction). Many Southerners also did not support freed
slaves getting voting rights. The Ku Klux Klan, commonly called
the KKK, formed in Tennessee in 1866 and spread to Texas in
1868. The Klan attacked Freedmen, workers of the Freedmen’s
Bureau, Carpetbaggers, and Scalawags while wearing white
hoods to conceal their identity. Most Klan violence in Texas
happened in Northeast Texas, where people were beaten, shot,
and murdered and homes, schools, and crops were burned.