Download Chapter 4 Notes

“The Union in Peril”
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Very different cultures, economies,
geography and climate
South dependent on slavery; plantation
economy
North more industry; less dependent on
slavery
Battle over the spread of slavery
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Henry Clay
California statehood and New Mexico territory
disputed
Most of California south of 36-30
California entered as free state; new, more
effective Fugitive Slave law enacted
Popular Sovereignty allowed in New Mexico
and Utah territories
Crisis passed temporarily
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Alleged fugitive slaves not entitled to trial by
jury
Anyone caught helping fugitives fined $1000
and imprisonment up to 6 months
Many Northerners outraged!
See Abolitionist Movement Video-History
Channel
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Attempt to escape slavery
System of escape routes
Harriet Tubman-more than a dozen trips to
South; helped many escape to freedom
1852
 Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
 Historic fiction based on her
observations
 Expressed her lifetime hatred of
slavery
 Book stirred Northern abolitionists
 Southerners criticized the book;
thought it was an attack against them
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North of 36-30 line
1854-Stephen Douglas proposed bill that
would allow “people” to decide for or against
slavery
Kansas-Nebraska Act-1854 passed allowing
popular sovereignty
Pro-slavery and Anti-slavery clashes began
“Bleeding Kansas”
Repealed Missouri Compromise
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1857
Supreme Court ruled that slaves are property,
protected by the Constitution
Being in a free state did not make a slave free
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Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner
severely beaten by Southern Congressman
Preston Brooks
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Not pro-African-Americans
Objected to slaves competing with white
laborers
Many against slavery, but were not
abolitionists
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Formed in 1854
Opposed Kansas-Nebraska Act
Wanted to contain slavery
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1858
Stephen Douglas (Dem) vs. Abraham Lincoln
(Rep) for Illinois Senate seat
Lincoln drew attention with attacks on slavery
Douglas won election, but did not defend
slavery enough; lost support in South
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Raid led by abolitionist, John Brown
Financial backing from Northern abolitionists
Band of 21 men, black and white
Stormed federal arsenal in VA.
Wanted to start a slave uprising
Troops put down rebellion
Brown tried and put to death
See “John Brown’s Raid” video-History
Channel
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Lincoln (Rep) wanted to contain slavery
Did not want to interfere with Southern slaves
Viewed as enemy to South
Lincoln won with no electoral votes from the
South; not on many ballots there
States’ rights vs. federal government
control
 Lincoln’s victory convinced the South
that slavery would be taken away
 Dec. 1860, South Carolina seceded
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◦ Followed by Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida
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Formed in February, 1861
Montgomery, Alabama
Richmond, Virginia would be Southern
capital
Drew up Constitution much like U.S.’s, but
mentioned slavery would be “protected and
recognized” in new territories
President-Jefferson Davis
Fort Sumter, South Carolina
 Southern fort in Union hands
 April 12, 1861 shots first fired by
Confederates
 No deaths
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Union:
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More resources
More people
More industrialized
More extensive
railroad system
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Confederacy:
◦ “King Cotton”
◦ First-rate generals
◦ Highly motivated
soldiers
Union had to conquer South to win
 South was fighting defensively
 Three-Part Plan
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◦ Union Navy would blockade Southern
ports
◦ Union riverboats and armies move down
Mississippi River and split Confederacy in
two
◦ Union armies capture Confederate capital,
Richmond, Virginia
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Ulysses S. Grant
commanded Union
forces
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Robert E. Lee
commanded
Confederate forces
A33 in Textbook
Lincoln disliked slavery
 Did not think federal government had
power to abolish slavery where it
already existed
 January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued
Emancipation Proclamation-freed
slaves behind Confederate lines
 Gave war a moral purpose
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Most soldiers lived in very unsanitary
conditions-body lice, dysentery, and
diarrhea were common
Red Cross-started by Clara Barton after Civil
War
◦ Thousands of women were nurses during the war
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1863-battles began well for South, but by
July, 1863, the tide turned for the North
Gettysburg-most decisive battle of Civil War
◦ Union victory
◦ 3-day battle
◦ 23,000 Union deaths/wounded, 28,000
Confederate deaths/wounded
◦ Casualties more than 30 percent
◦ Northerners proved that General Lee was not
invincible
November, 1863
 Cemetery for victims was dedicated
 Lincoln spoke for little more than two
minutes
 His speech re-made America
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◦ From “the United States are…. To “the
United States is”
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Defeats at Vicksburg and Gettysburg
cost the South much of their remaining
resources; they were already low on
supplies
◦ Many Confederates began deserting
◦ General Grant’s plan was to destroy Lee’s
army in Virginia while General Sherman
raided Georgia
◦ Most of Atlanta was burned!
◦ See Video-”Sherman Closes in on Savannah”-
History Channel
April 9, 1865
 Lee and Grant met at Appomattox
Court House, Virginia
 Grant ordered by Lincoln to agree to
generous terms
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360,000 Union soldiers and 260,000
Confederate soldiers died
First modern war-rifle, minie ball, hand
grenades, land mines and iron-clad ships
13th Amendment frees slaves in all of U.S.
Northern economy thrives
Southern landscape and economy
devastated
1865-1877
 Process of determining how to bring
Confederate states back into the
Union
 Rebuilding infrastructure of the South
 How to help former slaves transition
into society
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Very lenient toward the South
Wanted to restore the Union
Known as 10 percent plan: if 10 percent of
voters from 1860 election in each state
would swear allegiance to the Union, that
state would be readmitted
Pardons for all Confederates, except highranking officials
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Lincoln’s VP and successor after his death
Restoration plan
Much like Lincoln’s
Said “white men alone should manage the
South”
Wanted to try to take voting privileges away
from wealthy Southern landowners
Ended up pardoning more than 13,000
Confederates
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Lincoln’s plan angered a minority of
Republicans
Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner
Wanted to destroy political power of former
slaveholders
Wanted African-Americans to have full
citizenship and right to vote
Wade-Davis Bill-would demand a majority in
each Confederate state to swear allegiance to
the Union for re-admittance
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Split the South into 5 military districts
Military sent South to enforce federal
laws and keep order
Insisted that each state hold a
convention to write new state
constitutions
Must grant African-Americans right to
vote
Ratification of 14th Amendment required
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Established to help “freedmen”-former
slaves and poor whites with education,
food, shelter, jobs, and medical needs
Freedmen’s Bureau was short-lived;
eventually funding was cut off
Johnson vetoed Freedmen’s Bureau Act of
1866
Most teachers were whites from the North
◦ 95% of former slaves illiterate
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Gave African-American citizenship and
forbade states from passing Jim Crow Laws or
Black Codes
◦ laws that severely restricted African-Americans’
lives
◦ Led to segregation
◦ CRA of 1866 vetoed by President Johnson
◦ Freedmen’s Bureau Act and CRA of 1866 vetoes
overridden by Congress
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1868-added to the Constitution
Established that anyone born or naturalized
in the United States was a citizen
Nullified Dred Scott decision
Provided “due process”
Passed as a basis for Civil Rights Act of 1866
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Johnson made life difficult for Radical
Republicans
Blocked much of Reconstruction plans
Wanted evidence to impeach him
He violated Tenure of Office Act by firing
Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton in 1867
Stanton had been approved by the Senate,
but Johnson had not asked their permission
before firing him
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House impeached Johnson
Trial held, but he escaped removal from
office by one vote shy of 2/3’s needed to
remove him
Economy devastated
 Value of land plummeted
 Many small farms ruined
 Federal taxes increased to try to pay
for public works programs to rebuild
South
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Scalawags-Southerners who joined the
Republican Party-many were small farmers
Carpetbaggers-negative term used for
Northerners that went South after the war
◦ Misconception was they carried all belongings in
small traveling bags made of carpet
◦ Many thought they came to take advantage of the
South
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Many African-Americans could not own their
own land
Many became sharecroppers-landowner
divided land and assigned each head of
household a few acres, provided, seed, tools,
etc. to work land
Able to keep a small “share” of the crop, gave
rest to landowner
◦ No possibility of land ownership
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Tenant farming-”croppers” who save a little
money, might be able to rent land for cash
and keep their harvest
Rent to own system almost never worked!
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Ku Klux Klan
Vigilante group
Wanted to destroy Republican party, throw
out Reconstruction governments, aid
planters, prevent African-Americans from
voting
Terrorized and killed as many as 20,000 men,
women and children
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Founded by Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1866Tennesssee
Enforcement Acts of 1870-1871 tried to
restrict KKK violence
“WASP”
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Panic of 1873-stole attention
Supreme Court began to undo some
changes Radicals had made
African-Americans still denied rights
Election of 1876-Dem. Samuel Tilden vs.
Rep. Rutherford B. Hayes
◦ Tilden won popular vote, but not enough
electoral votes
◦ Compromise of 1877-Hayes named president, as
long as federal troops left the South
◦ Reconstruction ends