Download CHAPTER 15 Secession and The Civil War SUMMARY

CHAPTER 15: Secession and The Civil War
SUMMARY
As Lincoln pointed out, the War was a test of whether the American people, or any people,
could govern themselves.
I. THE STORM GATHERS
Secession did not necessarily mean war. There was one last attempt to reconcile North and South,
and there was much doubt about how firmly the federal government should respond to secession.
A. The Deep South Secedes
South Carolina seceded on December 20.1860, and by February 1861, six more states, all in the
Deep South, had joined South Carolina in forming the Confederate Slates of America.
Significantly, the new Confederate government was headed by men who were moderates and who
had not led the secession movement. Significant, too, is the fact that the Confederate constitution
resembled the U.S. Constitution. The South did tint secede in order to create a slaveholders' utopia;
the South dreamed of restoring the Union as it had been before the rise of the Republican Party,
and even though the Confederate constitution protected slavery. It was hoped that some or all of
the northern states would join the Confederacy.
B. The Failure of Compromise
There was a last-minute effort to save the Union. In Congress, support grew for a plan put
forward by Senator John Crittenden, the essence of which was to settle the problem of slavery in
the territories by extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific. Lincoln rejected this
plan because he did not think it would end secession, and because he viewed it as a repudiation
of the principles on which lie had been elected.
C. And the War Came
President Buchanan had made no attempt to coerce the South back into the Union, and many
Northerners wanted to let the South "go in peace." Most Northerners, however, wanted forceful
action to preserve the Union.
When Lincoln took office, he discovered that he roust either quickly resupply the federal
garrison in Fort. Sunder, South Carolina, or surrender it. He opted for resupply and informed
the governor of South Carolina of that decision. Before the supplies could arrive, South
Carolina forces opened fire on Fort Sumter on April 12 and captured it. Lincoln called
out the northern state militias to suppress the insurrection in the South. Lincoln's actions
united the South. Virginia now seceded followed by the rest of the upper South. Only four
Slave states remained in the Union: Delaware, Maryland. Kentucky and Missouri. In the North,
the general public responded eagerly to what they expected would he a short war.
Although it had been the issue of slavery that led to secession, people at the time defined the war in
terms of whether or not the Union was indissoluble.
II. ADJUSTING TO TOTAL WAR
Because the North could restore the Union only by destroying the southern will to resist, the
Civil War became a "total war."
A. Prospects. Plans and Expectations
Both sides had advantages that gave them hope of victory. The South adopted a defensive strategy,
thereby requiring the North to fight in an unfamiliar and hostile terrain. Lincoln took advantage
of the North's greater resources in men and material so that a two-front strategy could be
adopted. He sent troops to capture Richmond, Virginia, capital of the Confederacy, and sent
troops to seize control of the Mississippi River. In addition, he ordered the navy to blockade
southern ports.
B. Mobilizing the Home Front
Both North and South put volunteers into the field in the lint year of the war, but both sides
finally had to resort to conscription in the summer of 1862. The North had an easier time
financing the war through taxes, bonds, and paper money, and private industry kept the Union
armies generally well supplied. The Confederate government lacking an industrial base,
succeeded in setting up government arsenals that kept the Confederate armies supplied, but the
Confederacy found it difficult to finance the war effort, and the South suffered runaway inflation.
A more serious problem was that the Confederacy could not create an adequate transportation
system to carry food to its cities and armies.
C. Political Leadership: Northern Success and Southern Failure
Lincoln was a far more effective chief executive than Jefferson Davis. Lincoln greatly expanded
his wartime powers by declaring martial law and rounding up about ten thousand "subversives,"
who were imprisoned without trial. At the same time, northern newspaper and politicians
were free to attack Lincoln, which ensured that the Republican Party rallied around him.
Jefferson Davis, on the other hand, concerned himself mainly with his military duties and
showed little interest in civilian morale and economic problems. Because there was no political
organization loyal to him, Davis had little influence with stale governments, which sometimes
impeded the war effort.
D. Early Campaigns and Battles
In the first year of the war, the North achieved total naval supremacy and cleared Confederate
troops from West Virginia, Kentucky, and much of Tennessee. New Orleans was taken, but the
drive to take control of the Mississippi stalled at the Battle of Shiloh. In the east, the Union
tried several times to take Richmond, but all efforts failed. When Robert E. Lee invaded
Maryland, he was stopped at Antitam.
E. The Diplomatic Struggle
The South failed to gain recognition of its independence from any foreign nation. England did
extend belligerent rights to the Confederacy, but wanted proof that the South could win
independence on the battlefield before risking a war with the United States. France would
recognize the Confederacy only if England did. "King Cotton" turned out to play virtually no
role in determining the foreign policy of the European powers.
111. FIGHT TO THE FINISH
After 1863, the war went steadily against the South, but southern resistance continued, and the
North had to adopt more radical measures in order to win, including emancipation of the slaves.
A. The Coming of Emancipation
In the first year of the war, the North fought to save the Union and opposed making the struggle
one for the freedom of blacks. But as the dream of quick victory faded, pressure built to do
something to hurt the South. When the Union army prevailed at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation (Sepember 22, 1862), giving the South one hundred days to
surrender if it wished to preserve slavery. On January 1. 1863, the proclamation went into effect in
those areas still in rebellion. The proclamation encouraged African Americans to flee in even
larger numbers to the Union lines, thereby robbing thousands of laborers from the Confederate
war effort.
B. African American and the War
Almost two hundred thousand African Americans served in the Union army, and mans others
were used as laborers in the northern war effort. Their contribution encouraged Lincoln to
push further for their rights. He organized governments in conquered southern states that
abolished slavery and persuaded Maryland and Missouri to do likewise. Finally. Lincoln and
the Republicans passed the Thirteenth Amendment through Congress on January 31, 1865.
C. The Tide Turns
By 1863, both sides were war-weary. The southern economy was in a shambles, and desertions had
become a major problem. In the North, the Democrats increasingly attacked Lincoln's handling
of the war and his emancipation of the slaves. When the federal government had to resort to
outright conscription, riots broke out. In New York City, it was necessary to use army
troops to restore order.
On the battlefield, the Union advance bad stopped. Ulysses Grant seemed begged down before
Vicksburg, and another advance on Richmond ended with complete defeat at Chancellorsville.
During the summer, the tide of battle turned. Lee invaded the North and lost the crucial
Battle of Gettysburg. At exactly the same time, he Union army took Vicksburg and, with it,
control of the Mississippi.
U. Last Stages of the Conflict
Following his victory at Vicksburg, Grant became general in chief of the Union army and
invaded the South on all fronts. William Sherman led the western armies through Georgia,
Grant forced Lee slowly back toward Richmond. unable to defeat or out maneuver Lee, Grant
settled into along siege at Richmond and Petersburg.
For a while Lincoln feared that the apparent stalemate before Richmond would result in his defeat
in the election of 1864, but Sherman's capture of Atlanta revived northern morale, and Lincoln
beat Democratic candidate General George B. McClelland an overwhelming majority.
In the winter of 1864 and the early spring of 1865, Union forces were victorious everywhere.
Lee surrendered his army on April 9. Five days later. John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln,
but the Union had been saved.
F. Effects of the War
The war profoundly changed the United States. The death of 618,000 men left many women
bereft of husbands and either encouraged or forced them to seek roles other than those of wife
and mother. Four million African Americans were free, but not yet equal, ndustrial workers
suffered from wartime inflation, but hoped that the Republican party would take op their cause.
The war gave the federal government predominance over the states, even though the states
continued to have primary responsibility for most functions of government. In the realm of
economic policy, the Republican party had enacted measures to encourage business, and the federal
government would continue to play an activist role in the economy
Must of all, the war organised the American people. An individualistic society of
small producers had begun the transformation toward a modern, bureaucratic state,
a development celebrated by intellectuals like Ralph Walled Emerson, who had once
espoused the autonomy of the individual.
IV. CONCLUSION: AN ORGANIZATIONAL REVOLUTION
The most pervasive change in northern society engendered by the war was an
organizational revolution out of which many of the huge corporations that colored
the postwar period were horn. Philanthropy was also affected by this revolution. The
must notable example being the creation of the Sanitary Commission early in the
war. In general, the war encouraged a shift away from traditional individualism toward social
discipline and collective action. In many ways, the Union's ability to organize.
mobilize, and modernize won the war.
Chapter 11 Review Questions HOMEWORK
Identify these terms or names, your answers must be HAND-WRITTEN, turn in one for
HW, keep another for study.
1. Explain why Lincoln was so effective as the Union's wartime leader.
2. Trace the development of southern secession Porn Lincoln's elation through the secession of the South
to join the Confederacy.
3. Evaluate the Republican decision to reject the Crittenden compromise plan.
4. Describe the development of the North’s resolve to fight, if necessary, to defeat secession.
5. Analyze the opposing strategies of the Civil War.
6. Define the concept of "total war" then explain its effect on the effect on the efforts of the North and the
South to mobilize their horn front, fur the war effort.
7. Continue and contrast the leadership or the Union and Confederate presidents.
8. Describe the relative success of the Union and Confederate armies: in the early campaigns in the eastern
theater of the War.
9. Describe the relative success of the Union and Confederate armies, in the western theater of the war.
10. Explain why 'King Cotton Diplomacy" failed
11. Trace and explain Lincoln’s gradual movement toward the emancipation of the shoes.
12. Describe the role played by African-American troops in the Union armed force during the Civil War.
13. List and describe the principal social and economic changes that accompanied the Civil War.