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Super Quiz Digest 2007-2008
Intro
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July of 1861, was the beginning of the tension. Eleven states had officially declared their
independence from the United States of America.
 South Carolina responded to the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency by calling for
widespread secession.
 In April the first shots were fired when secessionists bombarded the Union fortress of Fort Sumpter
in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
 Neither side was ready to fight when they met at Bull Run Creek near manassas, Virginia.
 Nearly 61,000 men clashed that day. 5000 people were killed, injured, or captured.
 The next year, the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg was the location of the largest battle
ever fought on North American Soil.
 A total of 620,000 Americans died as a consequence of the Civil War.
 The federal government itself changed, as three critical amendments to the U.S. Constitution
resulted from it.
 The assassination of Abraham Lincoln dealt great harm to the prospects of a peaceful
reconciliation.
 The war was left unresolved thus, making the African Americans unequal.
The Road to War
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Slave labor in the old world was an economic institution.
The South profited from slavery, but proved willing to jettison the institution. By 1827, nearly all
African Americans were free.
 William Lloyd Garrison declared slavery a national sin that demanded immediate expiration.
 The critical issue was the expansion of the nation. The westward growth that fueled the national
expansion created political tensions between the North and the South.
 The disagreements started after the United States’ victory in the Mexican-American War of 184648.
 Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas started the issue of Kansas and Nebraska should be a slave state
or not. Antislavery Northerners ralied against the “Kansas-Nebraska Act as a revocation of the
Missouri Compromise of 1820.
 The situation of “Bleeding Kansas” became a national crisis. Violence spread even to the halls of
Congress. Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner.
 Dredd Scott was also a victim. Roger Taney ruled against Scott.
 Robert E. Lee caught the abolitionist John Brown which attacked Harper’s Ferry. John Brown
predicted that this situation will only be resolved by blood.
The Presidential Election of 1860
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The Democratic party split into a Northern faction that nominated Stephen Douglas and a Southern
faction led by Kentucky Senator John C. Breckinridge.
The Republican Party, recoiling from its 1856 defeat, nominated Abraham Lincoln. The Whigs
nominated John Bell.
Several states of the Deep South held conventions to debate the possibility of seceding from the
Union.
South Carolina declared its independence in December of 1860, and in early 1861 Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed.
Lincoln addressed this in his inaugural address. He declared, “We are not enemies, but friends”.
The Crisis at Fort Sumpter
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Federal property was in the process of being transferred into the hands of the seceded states.
Two prominent forts – Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida, and Fort Sumpter in Charleston, South
Carolina.
 Lincoln shipped weapons to Fort Sumpter in case something happens. On April 12, 1861,
Charlestonians began an artillery bombardment on the fort, thus making the beginning of hostilities.
 Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion.
 Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded, joining the ranks of the Confederate
States of America.
The Conflict takes Shape
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Neither the Union nor the Confederacy was prepared for war. The Union lost Virginia’s Robert E.
Lee, who declined Lincoln’s offer to lead the Union armies.
Super Quiz Resource Guide pg: 9-14
 The Union had to drag the Confederacy back by force on their own land.
 The US had 2.5 times as many free people, ten times as many industrial workers and twice as
many railroads, 11 times as many manufacturing establishments, over 10 times as much banking
capital, almost 10 times as great a value in annual production.
 Summer of 1861, the Union invaded Virginia and caused part of it to secede into West Virginia,
which was admitted into the Union on June 20, 1863.
 Union and Confederate forces were careful around Kentucky, a neutral state, but Confed General
Leonidas Polk invaded the state as a counter to Illinois, Kentucky raised a Union flag in response.
 Missouri also started neutral, but the Union seized its militia and took it over.
 Summer of 1861 Union had 21 states, 4 were slave, and Confed had 11 states.
 Though no southern state voted for him, Lincoln won, which prompted South Carolina to secede on
December 20th, 1860.
 Lincoln wrote Alexander Stephens in 1860, that slavery was their only difference.
 Before the South seceded the North was in no position to abolish slavery. It lacked the numbers to
successfully ratify an amendment against it.
 The southern states did not trust Lincoln, partly due to his debates with Douglas.
 The Compromises of 1820 and 1850 by Clay were only temporary solutions.
 Some suggest that the North fought the South for economic reasons, such as the large amount of
Southern exports and access of the Mississippi River.
 At first northerners were not anti slavery but writings from William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick
Douglas, and Harriet Beecher Stowe changed things.
 Many argue that the cause of the war was state’s rights, due in part to South Carolina seceding in
reaction to a tariff and Jefferson Davis’ claims.
 Hugh Brogan argues that the state’s rights defense was mainly to protect slavery.
 Though the South supported states rights, The Dred Scott Decision which limited states rights by
claiming slavery could not be stopped anywhere was supported by the South.
 The South worried they would become a minority group and affirmed their own fears by leaving.
 The north began developing conspiracy theories about the South due to the “Gag Rule” enforced
by Congress, the fact that the South tried to aquire Nicaragua and Cuba and President Buchanan’s
southern sympathies.
 Southerner’s had their own conspiracy theory of a “Black Republican” plot to destroy slavery, due
in part to Harper’s Ferry, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the Nat Turner Revolt.
 Michael Holt argued that the cause of the civil war was the absolving of the whig-democrat party
system.
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Harper’s Ferry was claimed to be “the meteor of war” by Hermen Melville.
Harper’s Ferry resulted in the reorganization of the southern militia.
Stephen Douglas’ support of the Kansas-Nebraska act raised problems in the North and South,
such as “Bleeding Kansas”, the demise of the Whig Party, and the Rise of the Republican Party.
 Some people believe John Brown to be a crazy fanatic, others the only sane person in the nation.
The only thing they can agree on is his importance in the beginning of the war and emancipation.
 After his death, people looked down upon his actions, except for abolitionists.
 Mainly during the 1960s during the black nationalist vogue, he was praised by people like Malcom
X and H. Rap Brown as only white man worthy of respect.
 Though Reynold’s say’s outright that Brown’s fighting in Kansas were acts of terrorism and war
crimes, but doesn’t denounce the man and talks about his good qualities and claims him to be right
in his ideals.
I. The Legacy of John Brown
The man
John Brown was an anti-slavery “terrorist”
He was violent to both his family and to his enemies
None of his endeavors achieved its ultimate goal
In fact, his attack on Harpers Ferry in October 1859 backfired
His failure there indirectly led to the Civil War
However, his glorification by the abolitionist movement did NOT contribute
to the conflict
Surprisingly, Brown only advanced the abolitionist cause through the failure of
his plan
But in every other way, Brown damaged the mainstream anti-slavery movement
Brown thought that the mainstream anti-slavery movement was a fraud hostile to liberty
Two interpretations of Brown’s importance
Two camps have opposing opinions on Brown’s legacy
They only agree on Brown’s bizarre importance
The first camp is hostile toward Brown
Members of this group depict him as fanatical and insane
They also portray him as the crazy abolitionist who caused an “unnecessary” war
The second camp is amicable toward Brown
Adherents to this view cite Brown’s hatred of slavery as proof of his sanity
Brown was the only white abolitionist leader willing to risk his life by fighting alongside
African-Americans
In doing so, he essentially initiated the Civil War
Brown differentiated himself from moderates such as Lincoln
Whereas Lincoln’s only interest at the outbreak of the war was to maintain the
Union (according to scholars in this group), Brown fought for both emancipation
and racial equality
W.E.B. Du Bois celebrated Brown as “the man who of all Americans has perhaps
come nearest to touching the real souls of black folk” and concluded by saying that
“John Brown was right”
David S. Reynolds wrote a “cultural biography” of Brown, much of which followed
the evolution of this line of thought
Who first idealized Brown?
Until recently, the idealization of Brown was largely limited to African-Americans
Directly after Harpers Ferry, white abolitionists fiercely championed John Brown, but this
view did not last for long
In the period following Reconstruction and the establishment of Jim Crow,16 many black
leaders and writers glorified Brown
Although Frederick Douglass had declined Brown’s offer to join him in the assault on
Harpers Ferry, the former said in 1881 that Brown was “our noblest American hero”
Oswald Garrison Villard’s biography of Brown published in 1910 censured
Brown’s violence and political aspirations
Villard was William Lloyd Garrison’s grandson, a staunch liberal, and a co-founder
(along with DuBois) of the NAACP
Eugene V. Debs and Mother Jones were exceptions to this viewpoint
Brown’s revival
During the optimistic early days of the civil rights movement, Brown’s memory was, for
the most part, set aside
However, the angrier movements of the 1960s revived Brown’s legacy
Leaders like Malcolm X and H. Rap Brown hailed him as the only white American
worthy of respect
Stephen Oates wrote a biography of Brown called To Purge This Land With
Blood
The terrorist Weather Underground movement invoked Brown in slogans such as
“John Brown, Live Like Him/Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!”
Brown’s reputation has changed with the times, often peaking in times of political crisis
when America seemed corrupt and racist
During these times, Brown represents purity, valor, and sacrifice to many
Brown and race
Although Reynolds attempts to depict Brown as an exemplary personage, his judgments
are evenly tempered
He refers to Brown’s bloody assaults in Kansas during 1856 as acts of “terrorism” and as
“war crimes”
However, he weighs these negative qualities against what he believes to be Brown’s
positive qualities He asserts that Brown was not insane and that he was the least racist of all the
whiteabolitionists
Brown was most comfortable immersing himself in “black culture”
“Jim Crow” refers to the series of laws that limited the rights of African-Americans after the Civil War.
Enrichment fact: “NAACP” stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and
is an African-American civil rights group.
Enrichment fact: Eugene V. Debs was a radical labor union leader in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Enrichment fact: Mother Jones was another labor union leader most prominent in the 19th century. Of
course, as you will soon learn, Lincoln was not exactly a model of “color blindness.” – Patrick Brown’s
prediction that only blood could wash away slavery proved correct, as did his
criticisms of American political and moral corruption
Clearly, Reynolds as well as Douglass believed that Brown was right
Brown as an historical figure
Reynolds argues that Brown was an important figure in American history
This assertion caught the attention of reviewers of his book from ranging from Kirkus
Reviews to The Atlantic Monthly
According to the reviewers, Reynolds wrote a “timely” account of “America’s
premier iconoclast”
One critic stated that John Brown “made Lincoln possible” and created “the atmosphere
of panic and paranoia…that produced secession”
Another critic asserted that John Brown was “a serious legatee of the English and
American revolutions who anticipated the Emancipation Proclamation and all that has
ensued from it,” not a homicidal maniac
Reynolds presents Brown as “the first mover” of the conflict
His book’s long subtitle backs up this claim
Reynolds’ case raises serious qualms about his claims
Brown did not abolish slavery: Lincoln, the Union Army, and the writers of the 13th
Amendment abolished slavery
Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry did not cause South Carolina’s secession: Lincoln’s
election to the presidency did that
Brown did not create the civil rights movement any more than the thousands of other
civil rightists did
Although Reynolds uses abolitionists quotes to back up his admiration of Brown, they are
metaphorical, not historical
Clearly, Reynolds’ claims are not backed up effectively
II. Brown’s Beginnings
The beginning of the abolitionist movement23
Brown was not a typical abolitionist radical
Abolitionism began among Northern blacks who rallied against slavery
They met in various church societies and denounced the African Colonization
movement
The African Colonization movement wanted to move blacks back to Africa
They also protested the racism prevalent in the free areas of the Union
These Northern blacks eventually spurred the white abolitionists into action in the 1830s
The white abolition movement was led by William Lloyd Garrison
In 1833, Garrison helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society, which also
helped lead the charge against slavery
The white anti-slavery radicals were often called “immediatists”
They agitated for the immediate purging of slavery
Unlike Brown, they often utilized the Christian principles revived by the Second
Great Awakening
 Plenty radicals refused to join John Brown’s operation, no matter how much they praised him in
later years.
 David Reynolds’s book states Brown was a purveyor of curdled and destructive idealism
 John Brown lives on as an American terrorist to his victim and his own cause.
 Interpreters of the American experience argued something special about the American experience
set Americans apart from mankind.
 The idea of southern Exceptionism flourished
 Southerners believe they “possessed a separate and unique identity” and does not belong to
American Experience.
 The Enduring South; The Everlasting South; The Idea of the South: these books argue the south is
still different
 The Southerner as American; Epitaph for Dixie; Southerners and Other Americans: these books
insist that Southern differences are wrongly historical.
 When of how south joined mainstream:
 Civil rights revolution, 1950s
 Bulldozer revolution, 1950s
 Camber of congress Babbittry, 1920s
 New South crusade, 1880s.
 John William De Forest: We will do well to study this particular people (the southerners)… soon
lose it peculiarities.
 George Tindall: Vanishing South… stayed the most prolonged disappearing acts since the fall of
Rome.
 Some historians quarrel that the south’s separate entity never existed
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Other historian suggests: South was threatened by North which caused the secession
No picture of the Old south can encompass the complexity of the antebellum reality.
Grandy McWhiney: North and South in 1861 is one of the great myths of American History.
Grandy McWhiney: We submit a single figure to show similarities between North and
South…600,000 civil war graves.
C. Vann Woodwand: South remains more American than anything else.
Many antebellum Americans certainly thought that North and South had evolved separate societies
South could no longer tolerate association the North
Many opinions were not universal in the South
Civil war was not all about slavery but free society
Charles Colcock Jones Jr.: in this country have arisen two races [i.e. Northerners and Southerners]
Free labor ideology became the dominant political force in the North by 1860
William H. Seward: Slavery undermined intelligence, vigor, and energy in both blacks and whites.
Seward’s most famous speech: Struggle between free labor and slavery in North and South was
an irresponsible conflict between two opposing forces.
U.S. therefore became two nations
Lincoln: America must and will… become either entirely a slave holding nation, or entirely a free
labor nation
In 1860 Lincoln’s party claimed majority of the votes in the North.
South believed survival of their civilization would only come in a separation.
Edward Pessen insisted that the North and South were more alike than we believed.
 Wealth distributed in unequal fashion in both sections
 Voting requirements the same
David Potter insisted North and South were alike in:
 Same language
 Same religion
 Same law
 Same political system
North and South spoke same language, but used it to revite each other
North defied Fugitive Slave Law, which was supported by the South.
Religious communities split because of difference in political opinion
Potter concluded that the principle characteristic of the South was the persistence of “folk culture”
North had a more urban region than the South
Southern agriculture remained labor-intensive, while the North became capital- intensive.
States east and west of the Appalachians were different as North and South, but made no trouble
in separation
West was urbanizing and industrializing more of the North than South
As North and South grew apart, East and West came together
West made most of the capital for the North
Railroad Boom of 1850s tied the Northeast and Northwest and made the trade grow to the East
west.
When crisis of Union came, West joined East instead of the South.
Southern’s lack resulted in their money to invest in crops and slaves instead of manufacturing
1780s Thomas Jefferson praised farmers and warned against industrial classes.
South’s white population was more homogeneous than North’s
Reinforced kinship marriages more strongly in the south than the North
During middle decades two times as many whites left South for North and vise versa.
Slavery was the most crucial geographic difference between North and South.
 90% of U.S. blacks lived in the South
 North was commited to white supremacy as the South
 South was more likely to carry weapons than Northerners were.
 Enforcement of violence resulted from the need to control a large slave population.
 Popularity of military companies in the North.
 South only had 30% of white population.
 More than 3/5 of the volunteer soldiers in the Mexican War came from slave states
 Slave states still had half the North’s proportion of white children in public school.
 Illiterate white people were 3 times greater in the South than North.
 Southern whites viewed abolitionism as a threat to their existence.
Super Quiz Resource Guide pg: 27-32
 Wooward suggests in his essays “The Irony of Southern History” and “The Search for Southern
Identity” in the 1950s, that the south experienced poverty, failure, defeat, and had doubt in
progress from such problems, much like the rest of the world, and unlike the North.
 At first the North and South were very similar but varied more the longer the war raged, with
northerners accepting change and southerners resisting it.
 As the North grew industrially the South stayed similar to most other countries.
 Secessionists protested in 1861 that they were seceding to preserve traditional rights and values,
and to resist revolution.
 Civil war is marked as turning point for industrial revolution.
The Early War (First Bull Run-Antietam)
1. First Bull Run:
 In summer of 1861 Lincoln sought a decisive battle to subdue a rebellion in the East by taking
control of the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia.
 Gen McDowell’s (North) and Gen Beauregard’s (South) forces met at Bull Run Creek on July 21st.
Observers sat almost within range of confederate cannons.
 Union forces pushed back the Confederates until 12,000 Confederate reinforcements arrived from
Harper’s Ferry. Union’s retreated.
 4,700 casualties and no real advantage for either side gave the Union realization that this would
not be an easy war and the confederates a boost of confidence.
 The south was a massive chunk of land and the North decided the best way to defeat it was to
blockade Southern seaports, attack Richmond, and divide the south across it’s waterways. This
was called the Anaconda plan.
 In February 1862 Gen Grant in the west attacked Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, conquering both
and effectively splitting the South in two.
 April 6, 1862 55000 confederates under Gen Johnston and Gen Beauregard launched an assault
on unexpecting Union lines under Gen Grant at Shiloh.
 The next day 15000 troops led by Gen Buell joined Grant and together they forced Beauregard’s
troops (Johnston had been wounded) to retreat.
 Gen McClellan prepared his troops for assault on Richmond, moving them to Fort Monroe on the
Virginia coast by ferry. The Confederates used one of the first iron-clad gunboats, the Virginia,
against the Unions iron-clad Monitor.
 Though McClellan’s forces eventually reached 121,500 troops, his conquest was stalled by the fact
that he always overestimated his opponents, and made no decisive action. Confederate Gen
Magruder kept McClellan busy with only 13,000 troops. At Williamsburg Union victory but no follow
up.
 By late May McClellan reached the outskirts of Richmond with 105,000 men against the South’s
60,000 men but was stopped by Gen Johnston and was forced to retreat by Gen Lee during the
Seven Days Battles to the James River where Lincoln recalled the army to Washington.
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Stonewall Jackson’s spring 1862 campaign in Shenandoa Valley, Virginia. Stonewall with 16,000
troops kept Generals Banks, McDowell, and Fremont, with 60,000 total troops, from joining with
McClellan’s attack of Richmond.
2nd battle of Bull Run, Union Gen Pope fought Stonewall at Manassas till Longstreet provided
Confederate reinforcements and South won.
The war changed from a war to preserve the Union to a war to abolish slavery.
Slaves were a valuable labor source in the South and weakened the South by running away and
trying to resist slavery.
Gen Butler, commander of Fortress Monroe took slaves for the Union war effort.
Even before the Emancipation Proclamation slaves were being emancipated. Gen Fremont
proclaimed all slaves in Missouri were free and Gen Hunter did the same for Georgia, Florida, and
South Carolina. Congress passed Confiscation Acts that authorized seizure of all confederate
property, including slaves, and declared all slaves behind union lines as free.
Antiwar Northerners were enraged by such proclamations and acts.
After the Fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln suspeneded the Writ of Habeas Corpus to keep secessionists
in Maryland from impeding Federal troops.
The Arrest of John Merryman, a prominent secessionist from Baltimore, led to a legal opinion from
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney known as Ex Parte Merryman. He ruled that Lincoln had overstepped
his boundaries but Lincoln ignored it. He also issued the lead opinion in Dread Scott Decision.
Lincoln had much resistance from Peace Democrats, Butternuts, and Copperheads, most of whom
followed Clement Vallandigham, an Ohio Democrat who argued the Southern states were legally
allowed to leave peacefully.
R. M. Johnston’s Bull Run: Its Strategy and Tactics (1913) and William C. Davis’s Battle at Bull
Run (1977) are both important books on the First Bull Run.
The two books do not mention the social and political actions behind the war.
33-38
May 1861: Brigadier-General Irvin B. McDowell was appointed to command the newly
formed Army of the Potomac.
Hugh Brogan “Americans are not schooled to the long haul; they expect everything to
happen quickly.
In 1861 both war Democrats, whose views on slavery were cautious (believing that
Congress had no right to interfere with property rights in the states), and the more radical
Republicans (who demanded its abolition), were impatient to see an early and decisive
victory.
Conservatives wanted to see an immediate end to the rebellion as a sign of no change to
property rights or race relations in Southern states.
Before 1860 the south had a fastness of Democratic Party; it’s dominance of the
presidency could not be restored until Southern electoral votes could be counted in its
column.
The Radical Republicans demanded an immediate over throw of secession as a prelude to
the destruction of the Southern plantocracy.
McDowell drew up a respectable plan to advance overland towards Richmond, outflanked
the left of any Confederate forces he might meet, and advance on the city.
McDowell was able but inexperienced, overworked, and lacked a group pf able staff
officers to help him.
General P.G.T. Beauregard-Confederate commander- and General Johnston were hardly
the two modest men in the confederate army.
Beauregard welcomed Johnston’s troops, but not Johnston.
He was jealous and suspicious of Johnston as a rival.
Beauregard had concentrated his forces in the centre and on the right along Bull Run and
neglected his left, but he was persuaded to move his forces to the left.
Even though by late afternoon, the battle had not gone badly for McDowell, his plan was
too complex for his untrained and raw army.
Because he lacked a good staff, McDowell lacked a good staff, he attended other people’s
work, and coordination was lacking.
Discipline broke down.
The crisis of the battle was reached shortly after 3 p.m.
The Confederate army had turned 90 degrees to face McDowell’s outflanking force.
Colonel Oliver O. Howard’s brigade was severely mauled in an attack on Henry Hill and
was driven back in confusion. It was symptomatic of the amateurish deployment on both
sides that the success of McDowell’s assault rested on one brigade.
Some parts of this turned into a rout which swept up a number of important political
personages who had come out to watch the crushing of the impertinent rebels.
Thus ended the campaign of Bull Run, in which so much hope was had been invested.
The main feature of this campaign was the complete lack of preparation on both sides for
sustained military operations.
If McDowell had waited until he was properly prepared and trained before attacking the
Confederates, the he would have lost 10,000 of his best men once their terms of enlistment
had expired.
In July 1861 Pres.Lincoln called for a further 400,000 volunteers, again for 3 years. These
troops were undisciplined and poorly trained.
At the Battle of Bull Run, on the Southern side, the secessionist fire-eater, Edmund Ruffin,
was disgusted to find that there were as many soldiers retiring on the field of Bull Run, as
there were advancing.
Ruffian’s Comments contradicted a widely held view that the South was better equipped in
every way to wage ware tan the North; indeed that the south had its own military tradition.
The only evidence that secession had been carefully nursed was found in a novel
published in 1836 by Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, The Partisan leader.
7-22-61 McClellan(MC) goes to wash. becomes general of Army of Potomac. he was 34 @ the time
From then on, he always assumed the enemy had tons more troops than they had. he never engaged an
enemy numbering less than “100k”
When Winfield Scott disagreed with him, MC had him fired and took his place as head of the army=11-1-61
1816 August-MC thought the Confeds. could field 100k men. November he thought 150k. in 1862 during the
peninsula campaign, they had 100k when he was near Yorktown then 200k when he got to Richmond.
Basically he thought the Confeds. were a lot better than him, in # of troops, time it took to move then,
morale, basically everything was worst case scenario
MC was a conservative democrat, believed the war would end soon, and slavery would dissolve soon
afterwards through a gradual process
One myth about him is that he was a “naïve victim of political manipulation” which the article states he was
not
He was very straight forward w/ his enemies, he told Charles Sumner(an abolitionist) that he wasn’t fighting
to end slavery or to help the Republican party
Towards the army he was very affectionate. he called it, “his army” and he basically paraded army, showing
himself off to his troops. They soon started calling him “Little Mac” (why, idk the article didn’t say, ask THE
FRITH, he knows everything)
By the summer of 63’ he had been driven from the gates of Richmond in the 7 days battle. He claimed Lee
had superior numbers and that if it were not for his brilliant “flanking maneuver” aka retreat, the casualties
would have been too much for the North to bear.
During the battles he had lost all nerve to fight, often retreating and never being present himself. he always
had lower officers direct it for him.
After the Second battle of bull run, the army and people had lost confidence in MC. Unfortunately Lincoln let
MC remain general.
Soon afterwards in his Maryland campaign, he lead his army with disastrous results. He failed to push and
take several opportunities to destroy Lee’s much lesser force and during Antietam, he barely managed to
survive.
General Grant, in an essay later, explained away MC’s greater faults by rationalizations, but the author of
this articles disagrees and says that MC was a poor commander who failed to commit his troops and without
him, the war could have ended much sooner. He claimed that he gave the North, “An Army sized inferiority
complex.”
The two generals that followed him, Burnsides and Hooker, had equally disastrous results in battle because
they were chosen for their popularity, not their battle experience or skill.
After MC was sacked, he decided to run for president but failed because around election time, the North
won a few decisive victories (Something MC never did).
In the election Lincoln had 55% of the vote and 78% of the soldier vote, which was expected to go to MC
EXCEPTS FROM “MY GOD, ARE WE FREE?”
the author states that contary popular belief, lincoln’s emancipation did not free the slaves, instead the
slaves freed themselves by refusing to work during much of the war.
BUT slaves were willing to work for themselves, many ran away and started work (for pay) in major cities,
even in the South. Few whites complained because there was a huge labor shortage due to the war.
Despite their efforts, blacks were not elevated in society. This was because the whites viewed them as
inferior in order to raise their our superiority, so admitting that blacks were equal would not only elevate
blacks, but also lower whites.
In order to stop the widespread “revolt” of their slaves, whites increased punishment for running away and
for not obeying orders.
At the beginning of the war when Lincoln said that he would not free slaves, many blacks tried to prove
themselves by attempting to join the Confederate army. Of course none succeed except a small group of
militia in New Orleans, because whites thought the idea stupid, and silly.
Digest pgs. 45-50
To Keep Them Down
Slave holders sensed rise of violence among slaves and were scared for themselves.
State assembly responded by making laws that slaves had to travel with a pass, and canceled exemptions
from patrol duty.
August, 62- C.E Howell of Jackson County, Mississippi, told his governor no more slaves could be spared.
Slaves started to fight back, when punished rebelled even more.
Slave overseers afraid of uprising.
May 61- Alabama planter urged families to stay home and save families.
Georgia’s Albany Patriot complained that blacks would come to together, exhibit their weapons, and devise
their secret destructive plans, even if they were against the law.
Early summer 61- rebellion hysteria swept across South’s plantation belt.
Spread because of a slave, Israel, found away from his plantation without a pass.
Israel made them believe that all slaves all over the country were about to break out.
Two suspected insurrection leaders were arrested.
Mid summer insurrection mania died down, but slaveholders’ fear of rebellion were still there.
Gone To the Yankees
Escaping slaves gave information on Confederate troop strength and more.
62- Robert Smalls and a few other black crew escaped on a boat to Union lines; he escaped so easily
because he was a skilled sailor and knew all the signals.
61- At least 15 thousand slaves had escaped to Federals.
64- When Sherman’s army moved through Georgia, there were 17,000 trailing blacks behind.
December 3, 64- with Confederates following them, the Union left 500 refugees for the Confederates who
were following them to be shot down (not on purpose).
Sexual assault of black woman was most under reported crime of Civil War.
5% of all Union courts-martial’s showed over 30 trials for rape.
Raping an African American woman was barely a crime.
Union also abused slaves for amusement.
“We are Oppressed Everywhere in this Slavery-Cursed Land.”
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Harriet Tubman dumped in baggage car and held there for the whole bus ride when refused to get
up from her seat.
Some states put laws so that blacks couldn’t live there.
July 62- Irishmen mob attacked blacks on Cincinnati docks for working there.
When blacks called police- no response
Blacks still lacked rights (voting).
Even if blacks graduated top in class, still turned down jobs because of their color.
“Shedding the First Blood”
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Blacks were glad to fight in war, volunteered.
Some reasons were- citizenship, full rights, weapons, and going back south where family might still
be.
Nicholas Biddle- first black to shed blood for the Union, April 18, 61 (while marching).
Lincoln didn’t think blacks could make good soldiers.
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Crittenden-Johnson resolution- assured nation that war was being fought to defend and maintain
the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union.
Northern Upper classes wanted war for easy access to Cotton States.
Slaves that came to Union line sent back because Lincoln was fighting a white man’s war and did
not want slaves to be part of war.
“No Free State Wants Them.”
May 61- General Benjamin Butler did not turn back slaves that came to Union line, called them contraband
of war. Sent to help wit fortifications.
This passed the First Confiscation Act.
August 30- General John C. Fremont issued the wars first true emancipation proclamation, freeing all
slaves held by pro-Confederates in Missouri.
Lincoln canceled this and fired Fremont.
April 62- General David Hunter freed all blacks in his area and created first black regiment.
Lincoln canceled this and fired him also.
If slavery not abolished, North full of escaped fugitives.
Fugitives dying by hundreds and thousands because of lack of food.
General Dix asked for temporary asylum and employment for refugees.
Governor Andrew clearly said “No free state wants them.”
62- Lincoln forced to pass Militia Act- black enlistment under white officers.
Second Confiscation Act
This act freed all slaves owned by pro- Confederate slaveholders.
Lincoln afraid that forced emancipation might make Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland drop out of Union.
Basically, Lincoln wanted to stop slavery but was afraid of what might happen
Section 3: The War Intensifies (From Antietam to Gettysburg) Pages: 51-56
Campaign Fall 1861-Winter 1861
 By the late summer of 1862, Union troops had been driven back from within five miles of
the Confederate capital of Richmond.
 Robert E. Lee commanded the most successful of those armies. With an eye toward
London and Paris, Lee marched his troops into Maryland.
 A slaveholding state that had remained in the Union, Maryland boasted a large population
of Confederate sympathizers.
 Rebel troops under Generals E. Kirby Smith and Braxton Bragg set out from Knoxville,
Tennessee, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, respectively. Entering Kentucky, these
commanders, like Lee, believed that the residents of the state would rally to their cause.
And like Lee, they were disappointed. Still, Smith and Bragg got as far as Frankfort,
Kentucky, gobbling up union garrisons along the way and threatening Louisville and
Southern Ohio.
 The overly cautious soldier, however, did not make contact until October. By then, back
east, Lee’s forces had already slipped back into Virginia. So Lincoln reluctantly placed
General George B. McClellan back in command of the exhausted and stunned Federal
troops around Washington, D.C.
 Lee had daringly split his army, assigning one part, under General Thomas J. “Stonewall”
Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry-a Federal armory and outpost with a garrison of 10,000
Union soldiers.
 On September 13, Union soldiers made a spectacular discovery. Going over an old
Confederate campsite, they found a copy of Lee’s orders detailing the position of the
Army of Northern Virginia’s scattered commands. This stroke of good luck, however was
wasted on McClellan. While recognizing the importance of the orders, The Union
Commander was lethargic in setting his men in pursuit.
 September 15, Lee pulled his commands together at the town of Sharpsburg. There, on
the banks of Antietam Creek (east of town), the Confederates would make their stand.
 Despite overwhelming numbers, McClellan was unable to break the rebel line.
 Union forces counted 12,000 casualties and the Confederates 10,000. McClellan had
poorly managed his troops, sending them in piecemeal fashion, while Lee had expertly
shifted his units to meet new threats.
 Antietam, therefore, was a tactical stalemate, but McClellan could claim a strategic victory
after the Confederate Withdrawal.
Politics, Slavery, and Diplomacy
 In the Union government, abolitionists derived Lincoln for standing in the way of
emancipation, while conservative politicians accused him of being too revolutionary in his
actions.
 Antislavery campaigners recognized Lincoln’s predicament and proposed that
emancipation be done under the guise of military necessity. The abolition of slavery, they
argued, would weaken the Confederate war effort and serve to bring a swift resolution of
the war.
 They also passed “two confiscation” acts in 1861 and 1862. The first one allowed Federal
troops to seize property that was being used to militarily aid the Confederacy. The
second went further, emancipating slaves who belonged to rebel Southerners.
 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to take place January 1, 1863 this declared
free all enslaved blacks who were still in states rebelling against the Federal government.
In this regard, the Emancipation Proclamation freed no blacks outright.
 Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation converted a war for Union into a war for
freedom.
 The most critical international crisis came in November, 1861. A U.S. Naval vessel
stopped the British ship Trent. Onboard, federal sailors discovered two Confederate
commissioners-James Mason and John Slidell-on their way to Europe. The captain of the
U.S. ship, Charles Wilkes, arrested the two men and took them back to the United States.
Campaign Winter 1862-Spring 1863
 With the midterm elections behind him, Lincoln removed the troublesome McClellan, a
popular Democrat, from command.
 The job of leading the Army fell to Ambrose E. Burnside, known for his mutton-chop
whiskers.
 By December 13, when Burnside’s troops had finally crossed the Rappahannock and
were hurling themselves at the rebel works, the defensive lines were well protected.
Unable to alter his plans, Burnside cost the Union army over 12,000 men, killed,
wounded, or captured.
 Grant set out to take the city with a two-pronged advance in November 1862. He would
lead an army overland toward Vicksburg while his friend, General William Tecumseh
Sherman, led an attack form the river.
 Sherman attacked the Confederates at Chickasaw Bluffs on December 29. Repulsed,
he returned to Tennessee.
 Burnside was replaced by Joseph Hooker. Hooker divided his Army of the Potomac,
leaving one part to menace Fredericksburg while the other one swung wide around
Lee’s flank.
 Lee sent part of his army to face Hooker, lead by Stonewall Jackson. On Hooker’s
route to Fredericksburg, the Army of Potomac had to pass through the Wilderness. At
Chancellorville, sending a powerful force to hit Hooker on the exposed Union right flank,
the Confederates sent Yankee troops running. As the attack bogged down and night
fell, Jackson was accidentally shot by friendly fire. Hooker lost his appetite for battle
and withdrew on May 6.
 The Federals sustained 17,000 deaths while Confederates only 13,000. Among those
was Stonewall Jackson.
The Maryland Campaign in Perspective
 Maryland remained firmly in the Union; Republicans breathed a bit more easily
about coming Northern elections.
 The Confederate army had cleared Federals form northern Virginia, captured
Harpers Ferry and its garrison, provisioned itself from western Maryland, and
maintained a position near the south bank of the Potomac after its withdrawal.
 The Lost Cause, published in 1866, Edward A. Pollard suggested that the
campaign had “few parallels in history for active operations and brilliant results.”
 South Carolinian Alexander Cheves Haskell praised the fighting qualities of the
Confederates at Antietam, but stressed that huge numbers of their comrades had
abandoned the army.
 George G. Meade, who as commander of the Army of the Potomac would repel a
second Confederate raid nine months hence, pronounced Lee’s Maryland
adventure “the most lamentable failure.”
Digest Pg. 57-62
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Robert Goldthwaite Carter considered Antietam a partial victory.
Antietam made a good start on the business of finishing Lee, but McClellan’s inactivity on
September 18 allowed the Confederate to retreat.
 Lincoln prodded and implored McClellan to move, until finally, Lincoln Removed Little Mac from
command.
Lee’s movement north represented 3 goals:
 an effort to take the war out of Virginia, gather food and fodder
 Threaten Washington from the west.
 Prevent another Union incursion south of the Potomac before the onset of winter.
 Ambrose Burnside unusual winter campaign ended ignominiously for the Union at Fredericksburg
in mid-December.
 The captures at Harpers Ferry constituted a bonus that Lee did not envision at the outset.
 After the fighting on South Mountain, Harpers Ferry had fallen.
 Lee erred badly in choosing to give battle at Sharpsburg—it was, thought his “greatest military
blunder.”
 Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet all had high heroics in the south.
 If Lee’s gravest error was in striving to do too much with a limited force, McClellan’s was in asking
too little of a powerful one.
 McClellan lacked the fortitude to let his loyal soldiers seek complete victory.
 McClellan’s love for his men, caused him to doubt their abilities to defeat Lee’s veterans.
 The army of the Potomac possessed the requisite elements to deliver a fatal blow.
 Destruction of Lee’s army would have crippled the southern morale and may have ended the war.
 Whitelaw Reid, Republican correspondent who’s quoted “We indeed took no steps backward at
Antietam Creek, but we took very few forward.”
 For Northerners, Antietam signaled a special turning point in the war.
 Photographers reached the battlefield before the dead had been buried—a first in American
History.
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October 1862, Mathew Brady’s New York gallery placed on exhibit a series of views entitled “The
Dead at Antietam.”
 Those who saw the pictures now their understanding included images of the twisted bodies of
North Carolinians and Louisianans, of dead horses and broken equipment, and a blasted
landscape.
 Lee’s raid into Maryland was a profound failure.
 September 22, 1862, when Lincoln told his cabinet that he would issue a preliminary proclamation
of emancipation.
 Should the states in rebellion refuse to return to the Union by January 1, 1863, said president, their
chattels “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
 The south reacted with violent scorn, pointing out that Lincoln was freeing slaves only where he
lacked the power to do so.
 United States open the way for nearly two hundred thousand black men to fight in Federal armies.
 With the proclamation the struggle became a total war for Union and freedom.
 Neither Lee’s withdrawal from Maryland nor did the proclamation guarantee that Europe would stay
out of the war, but the two persuaded them to wait until military developments favored the
Confederates.
 Emancipation Proclamation made possible by Lee’s retreat—did provoke angry reaction that
helped the Democrats.
 The Republicans managed to gain five seats in the Senate and retain control of the House.
 Maryland campaign, its centerpiece was surging maelstrom of Antietam, which was the bloodiest
battle.
 The war after Antietam would demand a decisive resolution on the battlefield, and that the
Confederacy could not achieve.
My Whole Soul Is in It
 Lincoln had asked the legislature to pass a joint resolution providing federal aid to any state willing
to adopt a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery.
 Second Confiscation Act emancipated all slaves of persons engaged in rebellion, regardless of
involvement in military affairs.
 The bill provided no workable means of enforcement and no procedure to determine whether the
owner of a slave crossing Union lines was actually engaged in insurrection, but it passed.
 If the rebels lost their slaves, the slaves would then be free to join the Union forces.
 The North could be considered a military necessity, a legitimate exercise of the president’s
constitutional powers.
 Thus the constitutional protection of slavery could and would be overridden by the constitutionally
sanctioned war powers of the president.
 January 1, 1863 date on which all slaves within states still in rebellion against the Union would be
declared free, although didn’t include border states.
 3.5 million black people who had lived enslaved for generations were promised freedom.
 Caleb Smith and Blair both members of Lincoln’s cabinet were not in favor of the proclamation
others accepted it.
Super Quiz Resource Guide Digest
Chase:
o Had greatly promoted abolitionism, but recoiled
o Later thought abolitionism a great danger-would lead to universal emancipation.
o Recommended:
-Allowing Generals organize & arm slaves (Army better control of emancipation)
-Directing Commanders of Departments to proclaim emancipation with Districts
o Considered proclamation better than nothing at all (Support)
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Saw hopes for presidency vanish in 1856 & 1860
Strongest claim to beat Lincoln (1864 Nominations)-frustrated Radical Republicans by Lincoln’s
slowness on slavery issue
Seward:
o Worried proclamation might provoke racial war in South, disturb cotton, and England & France
intervene for own economic interests
o Sensitive to threat of European intervention
o Failed to grasp: Union committed to emancipation, Europe would not support South
o Little faith in efficacy of proclamations on paper without Union army enforcement
o Preference: Confiscate rebel property as fast as territory was captured
o Underestimated Proclamation’s power to unleash North’s moral fervor & keep Republican Party
united
o Had no thought of actually opposing the proclamation
o Loyal to Lincoln, only demurred on timing
Emancipation Proclamation:
o Antietam Union victory- Lincoln reveals decision to issue Emancipation Proclamation
o Were repeated warnings that proclamation would have bad consequences for Union
o Final proclamation’s new provision: First time authorization of recruitment of blacks into armed
forces
o Proclamation stated all persons held as slaves within states and parts of states in rebellion shall be
free
o First hour of reception for proclamation reserved for Washington officials, then opened to general
public
o Receptions held at homes of cabinet members- Chase, Stanton (most elaborate)
o Lincoln felt certain he was doing right in signing proclamation-millions rejoiced
o Nationwide abolition would wait until ratification of 13th Amendment (December 1865)
o Emancipation Proclamation placed slavery “under its (government) ban”
Lost Opportunity of Gettysburg:
o Spring 1863: War had grown in intensity & brutality
o Lincoln believed if Army of the Potomac could deliver death blow to Confederate Army, end of Civil
War in sight
o Lincoln angry with McClellan’s (Union Commander) recalcitrance
o Edward Bates (conservative attorney general of President) urged Lincoln to assert himself
forcefully as commander in chief
o McClellan & Lincoln had opposite views of military function within republic
-McClellan believed military should be left to generals to command
-Lincoln believed military fell under authority of President & Congress
o Lincoln injected himself more fully into military affairs than predecessors
o Lincoln had a broad & nationalist construction of Constitution (Charter of Liberties)
o Realized Constitution could enshrine individual rights & sanction great executive powers
o September 1862-Lincoln issues preliminary draft of Emancipation Proclamation & rids Army of
Potomac of McClellan
o War transformed from limited war to total war & from war for Union into freedom war
o McClellan replaced with Burnside
o Lincoln sought generals who would communicate with him along a two-way street
o Burnside threw lives of soldiers away at Fredericksburg
o Hooker lost in contest of wills with Lee around Chancellorsville
o Lincoln offered Couch & Reynolds positions as Generals of Potomac Army–both denied
o Hooker proposed attacking rear of Lee’s army near Fredericksburg
o Hooker wished to take Confederate capital (Richmond) & capture Lee
o Lincoln wished for Hooker to take Lee’s Army (Lincoln losing faith in Hooker)
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Hooker asked to be relieved of command when permission was denied to subsume Federal
garrison at Harpers Ferry
Meade ordered to replace Hooker (June 28)
Meade wins victory at Gettysburg
Lincoln disappointed when realizes Meade’s goal is only to “drive invader from our soil.”
Vicksburg surrenders to Grant
Lincoln sent order to destroy Lee’s army-if this could be done, rebellion would be over
PLACEHOLDER 69-74
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Causes of Confederate defeat – controversy
Debate began in 1866 when Edward Pollard wrote The Lost Cause
Pollard blamed Jefferson Davis
1960- Why the North Won the Civil War
1986- Why the South Lost the Civil War (coauthored by 4 historians)
Frank Owsley- State Rights in the Confederacy
Paul Escott- After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Southern Nationalism
Grady McWhiney & Perry D. Jamieson- Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern
Heritage
No definitive answer possible
Internal interpretations- focus on Confederacy
External interpretations – focus on both Union and Confederacy
Most historians view Gettysburg as fault of Confederate generals
George Pickett views North as cause
Confederate reason- North more numbers- weapons & people
Union reason- God with strongest battalions
South questioned Northern numbers as test to their intelligence
Past societies have overcome greater odds than one in Civil War
Confederate- strategically defensive war
South wanted war to be long so Union would just give up
For north to win, they had to conquer vast stretches of Southern territory, cripple Southern
resources, and destroy fighting power
Another theory of South’s lose is internal conflict
Flaws to internal conflict: negative efforts on Confederate war effort exaggerated and individual
states helped in war effort
If north lost- theory of internal conflict applies ( divisions on conscription, taxes, suspension of
habeas corpus, martial law)
Nonslaveholding whites (2/3 South population) & slaves – left from war effort
Desertion of the army seriously weakened Southern war effort (most at end due to sense of lose)
2/5 of southern pop. Black and slave (blacks provided most labor force)
¾ white military age of south joined (north – ½)
American revolution compares to Civil war (Americans won, south not)
Guerrilla warfare behind Union lines in pro-South regions larger than vice-versa
Union draft riots worse than confederate bread riots
“lack of will” thesis ( South no strong sense of nationalism)
Southern flag similar to northern, south great seal – George Washington, money/ postage stamps
– Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, & others)
Confederate nationalism - American nationalism purified of malign Yankee domination
South more at stake – property, country, freedom
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Some southerners felt guilty of slavery, but others thought it positive good
Religious doubts another source of defeat
Most lost will due to armies destroyed/captured, railroads wrecked, factories/cities burned, ports
seized, countryside occupied, & crops wasted
Loss of will to carry on, not initial lack of will
Authors of Why the South lost said Confederacy succumbed to internal rather than external causes
Many people argue North had superior leadership
Super Quiz Guide Pg. 81-86
 The Confederacy benefited from better generalship in the first half of the war.
 In 1864, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan had emerged to top commands. They felt the concept of
“total war” was nesscary to win the war.
 Lee, Jackson, and Forrest were also talented in limited theaters. The Confederacy mostly focused
on the Virginia theater.
 The North was superior in management of military supply and logistics.
 In 1862, the North formed a group of officials, including Meigs and Fox, to organize the Northern
economy.
 The Confederacy was inferior to the Union in terms of organization and administration. The
Confereacy had a very unorganized economy.
 Lincoln was a better commander in chieff than Davis. Many historians agreed upon this including
Southerners. They thought Lincoln to be a great asset and a major factor in victory.
 Lincoln was much more successful than Davis in communication, politics, and teamwork. He was
flexible and humorous compared to Davis’ rigidness and seriousness.
 Although the North had superior leadership and the South didn’t, there were times where it was
vice versa. The North suffered bad leaders like McClellan, Pope, Burnside, and Hooker.
 The North was more business-oriented than the South. The Confederacy could only boast a few
brilliant successes in this area of leadership.
 The Southern officials were able to do so much with so little. Their efforts kept them in the war for a
long time.
 Lincoln made mistakes as a war leader. He went through a half-dozen failures with the eastern
theater before finding the right general.
 Jefferson Davis might have gone down in history as the greatest leader of a war of independnce.
He was the architect of a new nation and refered to as the George Washington of the Southern
Confederacy.
 Sherman’s capture of Atlanta and Sheridan’s victoires over Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley
were main events of the war.
 In July, Horace Greeley had written to Lincoln pleading with him to open peace with the
Confederation.
 The transformation of Northern will illustrates the point made earlier that the will of both the
Northern and Southern people was primarily a result of military victory rather than a cause of it.
 There was nothing inevitable about Northern victory in the Civil War. It is the element of
contingency that is missing from the generalization about the cause of Confederate defeat, whether
such generalizations focus on external or internal factors.
 A major turning point in the war came in the summer of 1863. Before then, during the months
between Union defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, a time that also witnessed Union
failures in the western theater, Northern morale dropped to its lowest point in the war—except
perhaps during August 1864.
 Predictions in July 1863 of the Confederacy’s imminent collapse turned out to be premature. More
twists and turns marked the road to end of the war.
 To understand why the South lost in the end, we must turn from large generalizations that imply
inevitability and study instead the contingency that hung over each military compaign, each battle,
each election, each decision during the war.
 Lincoln cherished the Union and was a strong supporter of democracy.
 The Civil War had been long and hard which lowered the status of principles and elevated the
central principles in dispute.
 The pressure of the Civil War altered American values, elevating majority rule and equality at the
expense of individual liberty and the rule of law.
 The country underwent a profound cultural and legal shift with consequences for contemporary
America.
 Lincoln staunchly defended law, liberty and the Constitution, but he moved into questionable
territory with all three when he suspended individual liberties, shutting down anti-war and antiadministration newspapers and jailing dissidents.
 Most important, he suspended habeas corpus, clothing himself with more power than any other
individual in America before or since.
 Habeas corpus makes the force at the disposal of the chief executive subject to regulation by the
courts.
 If Lincoln did not constitutionally have the power to suspend habeas corpus, then by doing so, he
fundamentally altered the freedom of American citizens.
 The issue was addressed head on May 26, 1861, in Baltimore, with the case of the treasonous
John Merryman, a lieutenant in a group pledged to armed resistance against the government.
 Merryman petitioned the court for habeas corpus after being seized in his bed at two in the morning
and confined in Fort McHenry. Roger Taney ordered the general to produce Merryman so that the
court could judge whether he had been legally imprisoned. The general refused.
 In the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, together called the “Civil War Amendments,” made
Lincoln’s cultural change into to law. The amendments abolished slavery and made black
Americans citizens.
 Lincoln was an icon who empowered whatever political faction that can wield his support.
 Lincoln was the first president elected as a Republican.
 Lincoln did not speak directly to modern issues because the citizens of America made suspicions
about his motivations to command his support on contemporary political issues.
 Lincoln elevated equality bacause the events of the war compelled him to do so.
 As the issuse of slavery came to be prominent in the years leading to the Civil War, Southern
thinkers attacked the Declaration of Independence for its proposition of equality.
 War’s tendency to make the principles in dispute central to the warring parties explains Lincoln’s
other fundamental change, the elevation of majority rule at the expense of liberty and law.
 The South fought against majority rule by refusing to abide by the national majority’s will. As with
equality, people elevated majority rule when they justifed the war.
 Neither the north or south were completely unified
 4 million slaves identified with Union cause
 Erosion of the will to fight greatly contributed to the CSA defeat
 Civil War greatly altered the landscape of Southern life forever
 Most of the white southerners lived in the upcountry, not on plantations
 Most owned few or no slaves at all
 A distinctive subculture formed in the mountainous regions of the south
 Disloyalty set in
 Virginia’s western region seceded from the state and joined the Union
 In East Tennessee, pro-Confederates were the minority
 Andrew Johnson was the only senator from a seceding state to remain at his post in Washington
DC
 Tennessee voters elected 3 unionists to represent them in Congress
 William B. Carter proposed a plan to cut off East Tennessee from the Confederacy
 Carter’s plan failed. Many of the Tennesseans in the region left and joined the Union army
 Yeomen refused to help the Confederacy fight the war because they believed the rich plantation
owners were not doing their part to help the cause
 Winston county in northern Alabama voted to secede from the Confederacy
 Georgia’s Rabun County was also against secession from the Union
 Secret Union organizations flourished in the Ozark mountains of northern Arkansas
 The disintegration of slavery in the early part of the war hurt the confederate cause
 Slaves took advantage of the shortage of young white men and stopped working on large scales
 When the Union began cutting into the south, slaves flocked by the thousands to the federal lines
 Even in the deep south, conflict undermined the south’s peculiar institution
 Reports of insubordinate behavior multiplied throughout the south
 Alexander Stephens, VP of the Confederacy, affirmed that slavery was the cornerstone of the CSA
 Planters began to resist the call for cotton and food from the front lines, increasing tension between
them and the yeomen
 Due to the shortages, the subsistence farmers in the mountains were in poverty
 Many planters also engaged in trade with the Yankees to avoid losing money
 The impressment, or confiscation, of oxen and horses hurt the poor farmers even more for they no
longer had the means to plow their fields or transport their goods
 The problem was further exasperated by the rampant inflation in the South
 Poverty overtook thousands of upcountry families, especially those with men in the army
 Food riots broke out in Virginia and North Carolina
 Many yeomen became convinced that the war was “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”
 Confederacy enacted the first conscription laws in American history
 dissatisfaction turned to outright resistance of Confederate authority in large areas of the southern
upcountry
 beginning in 1863, desertion became a huge problem for the Confederate army
 more than 100,000 men deserted by the end of the war
 most of the deserters were poor non-slaveholders who’s work was indispensable to the survival of
their families
 John A. Campell, the South’s assistant secretary of war, wrote “the condition of things in the
mountain districts menace the existence of the Confederacy as fatally as…the armies of the United
States”
 Disaffection became endemic in Jones County, Mississippi
 Newton Knight, a pro-union subsistence famrer, organized a group of farmers to “fight for their
rights”
 This irregular force managed to win a battle against a Confederate cavalry unit
 In western and central North Carolina, the Heroes of America, numbering in the tens of thousands,
was formed
 They established an “underground railroad” to enable unionists to escape to federal lines
 Fighting erupted between pro-unionists and pro-confederates in the south. Crops were laid to
waste, homes destroyed
 President Davis declared martial law and suspended habeas corpus
 Unionists saw their land seized and were taken prisoner on trumped up charges
 Supporters of the Union in the south were left with deep scars
 A pro-slaver before the war, William G. Brownlow was a southern preacher and newspaper editor.
 After secession, he turned his pen against the confederacy and was sent north and his paper shut
down
 He returns to Knoxville, Tennessee, two years later after Gen. Burnside occupied the city, a firm
believer in emancipation and against pro-confederate southerners
The Election of 1864
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The President faced a split party.
Many supporters were angered by the number of casualties and lack of progress on the battlefield.
That summer, Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune declared, “Mr. Lincoln is already beaten.
He cannot be elected. And we must have another ticket to save us from utter overthrow.”
 Before the Republicans came up with a presidential nominee for the 1864 election, Lincoln had
already been back on the ballot.
 For his running mate, Lincoln chose war Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.
 Lincoln also picked a Southerner as a sign of war reconciliation with war-weary Confederates.
 The Republicans who were part of the National Union party in the election also supported Lincoln’s
war measures and demanded total surrender from the Confederacy.
 The Democratic chose George B. McClellan – an outspoken critic of the Emancipation
Proclamation.
 McClellan had been adored by his Army of Potomac.
 Democrats opposed the violation of state rights and civilian civil rights violations and demanded the
end of the war.
 The vicious accusations flew that Republicans wanted interracial sexual relations and the
“Copperhead” Democrats were traitors who would support the Confederates.
 On November 8, Lincoln received 55% of the popular vote and 212 electoral votes compared to
McClellan’s 21 votes.
Critical Campaigns
 Military success and defeats translated into political capital and eventually electoral victory
 To oppose the Confederate Robert E. Lee, Lincoln promoted the Union’s most successful
commander, Ulysses Grant to the position of general-in-chief.
 Lincoln was hoping for more of Grant’s western victories in Virginia.
 In May, Grant crossed the Rapidan River to threaten Richmond and catch Lee in a pitched battle.
 Lee prevented Grant from gaining such advantages so he launched a pre-emptive attack before
Grant could reach Richmond.
 By May 7, Grant had 17,000 casualties and Lee had 11,000; but rather than accepting defeat –
Grant and the Potomac Army continued south, which they have never done after a defeat.
 When the Union troops heard that they were going to march, they cheered, which frustrated
Grant’s plan of secrecy.
 May 12, at Spotsylvania Court House, the Union troops hurled themselves at the “mule shoe” in the
middle of a rainstorm.
Freedman’s Bureau: Digest
 Some half-hearted steps were taken by the government to put the freedmen and abandoned
estates under the supervision of the Treasury officials (i.e. laws of 1863 and 1864)
 The government was inefficient— even though it leased land and employed many Negroes, it left a
lot of control in hands of army
 March 1864- House passed a bill establishing a Bureau for Freedmen in the War Department
 1865- “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands” created. The U.S. government was
assuming charge of emancipated blacks as ward of nation.
 On May 12, 1865, Major General Oliver O. Howard was appointed as commissioner of the new
Bureau. He saw a lot of corruption.
 Bureau faced two major difficulties:
1. The idea that establishing former slaves on the land of their masters was not realistic
because there was not enough land to go around
2. It was hard to find officials that would dutifully work on the necessary social reforms
 After a year’s work, the above-mentioned problems were still unresolved, but there were also some
successes:
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1. The Bureau relieved physical suffering
2. Transported 7,000 fugitives from congested centers back to the farm
3. Inaugurated the crusade of the New England schoolma’am
Act of 1866 extended existence of Bureau to July 1868
Bureau, essentially, became a full-fledged government: made laws, executed
them, laid and collected taxes, maintained and used military force, etc.
Greater distance grew between black and white South
In 1868, 900 Bureau officials from Washington to Texas ruled on these main
issues:
1. Relief of physical suffering
2. Overseeing of the beginnings of free labor
3. The buying and selling of land
4. The establishment of schools
5. The paying of bounties
6. The administration of justice
7. The financing of all these activities
There was the difficult question of labor: 30,000 black men were transported from the refuges and
relief stations back to the farms
Bureau’s vision of land-owning often led to disappointments
Greatest success of Freedmen’s Bureau lay in the planting of free schools among Negroes
Opposition to Negro education was bitter in the South:
“An educated Negro is a dangerous Negro…”
$750,000 of the $6,000,000 expended in five years for educational work came from the freedmen
themselves
Along with education, buying land, and various other enterprises, the ex-slave was handling free
capital
Chief source of money came from Negro soldiers in the army who received pay
Even though Congress put the whole matter of paying Negro soldiers into the hands of the
Freemen’s Bureau, fraud was still very common
Least successful part of Bureau’s work: The Judicial functions
Bureau courts became centers simply for punishing whites
Regular civil courts became solely institutions for perpetuating slavery of blacks
Almost every law passed by legislature seemed to attempt to reduce Negroes to serfdom (slaves of
the state)
Regular Bureau court consisted of one representative of the employer, one of the Negro, and one
of the Bureau
Bureau disbursed over $20,000,000 before it was finally closed
Bureau began a system of free labor
Founded the free public school in the South
Established the black peasant proprietor
Secured the recognition of black freedmen before law
Failed to establish good will between ex-masters and freedmen
The Freemen’s Bureau expired by limitation in 1869
Border states and the south made bitter attacks on the Freedmen’s Bureau
Senator Davis of Kentucky moved to entitle Act of 1866 “to promote strife and conflict between the
white and black races...by a grant of unconstitutional power.”
Legacy of the Freedmen’s Bureau is a heavy heritage of this generation
Digest Over Pages 105-110
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Telegraph said sherman was demon, instaiable with the fallen race
best farm land btwn sierra nev anf frwy 99 about 300m n-s
Came thr. sierra nev and burned towns
killed animals and pets
strip trees of fruit and burn down barns
sher. through 120 acre farm on 12/28/64.
sherman is crazy
Quote: Thos people made war on us, defied and dared us to come south to their contry where they
boasted they would kill us and do all maner of horrible things. We accepted the challange and now
for them to whine and complain of the natural and necessary results is beneath contempt.
Critics argue sherman march ot sea was irrelevant to north and amoral.
March to sea did not kill many confederates but desemated southern plantation properties.
Many critics questioned the march to sea because it did not accomplish any of the objectives of the
war to begin with.
Less than half a dozen rapes, and few acts of violence against southern sivilians.
Kills outside of battle were simply military style executions, to respond to killings of northern
prisoners
Quote by Fed Office: THe federal army generally behaved very well in this state. I dont think there
was ever an army in the world that would have behaved better, on a similar expedition, in an
enemy country. Our army certainly wouldn't
J. Bennet argues that march was a moral saying it traumatized and robbed noncombatants and
wrecked their homes.
J. Bennet Quote: AN invading army , without any claim on military neccessity, had thrown away
every inclination toward mercy for weakness and helplessness. THe federal troops had resorted to
the sheer brutality of overpowering streangth to despoil a people of their natural resources and to
injure irreparably their finest sensibilities.
True question was whether whites who supported chattel slavery were fair game
Supporters argued that if the point was ending slavery then the best mechanism was to destroy the
mechanisms to providing slavery.
Sherman waged war of terror, through the destruction. But terror was not total no barbaric things
like mass killings or ethnic cleansing such as wars in 20th century
Late 20th cen. is era of conflict resolution and peace studies. This are concepts for both the good
and bad sides.
Those to fight to end slavery and those who fight to keep slavery can be judged as different
Killed bloodhounds because tracker of slaves and union soldiers.
Only way plantation owners would remain rich is with the bondage of african blacks.
Sherman marched freely through the south probably saving lincoln the election
After marching through only 300mi away from last confederate stranglehold which was lee's army
in virginia
Lee was very much afraid of sherman was he was marching up north towards them.
Thomas Osbourn was sheman reached savvanah:" Thus the immediate object of the campaign is
completed. THis army has been transferred from the middle of the country the the sea coast the
city captured and the and supplied for lee's army destroyed.."
In 1870 the value of farms was less than a third of what is was 10 yrs before
Although poor south ramifacations continued for decades
Confed Soldiers Write Governor: It is not in the power of the yankee armies to cause is to wish
ourselves hom. We can face them, and can hear their shot and shell with out being mocved; but,
sir, we cannot hear the cries of our little ones and stand.
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Sheman requoted something saying his cause wasnt to hurt families it was to stop the stranglehold
the south has on slavery.
On 12/6/84 sher man said: we have more men now than we had when the war begian...We are
gaining strength and many if need be maintain the contest indefinently.
Grant nor Army of Potomac after summer 1864 could make the american populance continue the
war.
Super Quiz Pg. 111-116
 Lincoln assassinated by John Booth on April 14, 1865
 Union troops depressed by Lincoln’s death.
 As shock subsided, a burning anger ignited.
 Voices clamored for retribution
 Sherman’s veterans in N.C. swore if war went on, “The Battle cry will be ‘Lincoln’ and woe to the
rebel that falls into our hands.”
 Southern Civ. and Rebel prisoners who openly expressed approval of Lincoln’s death faced
merciless retaliations.
 Union soldiers reportedly killed civilians in Nashville and D.C. over it.
 Some Union men approved of Lincoln’s assassination. They blamed him for emancipation and for
the war’s dead.
 Very few Union soldiers felt this way.
 Lincoln gained approval of numerous soldiers by spending countless hours in hospitals, visiting the
patients before his death.
 The Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed blacks the right of citizenship
 By permitting blacks the vote, Congress hoped to give the freed-people (or at least black men) the
means to protect themselves.
Section VI- Reconstruction
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Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Dec. 1863 Lincoln enticed rebel states with lenient rules to enter Union again.
From Vice Pres., to President, Andrew Johnson continued the lenient policy
Rebel Legislatures pass “black code” to lower black status.
These Codes made sure even freed blacks still had no rights.
Congress mad at B Codes enacted its own Reconstruction Act of 1867
This act put all Rebel states into military rule, except Tennesse.
The Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed blacks the right of citizenship
By permitting blacks the vote, Congress hoped to give the freed-people (or at least black men) the
means to protect themselves.
PLACEHOLDER FOR 117-122
(pages 123-128)
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Theory and practice of white supremacy transcended regional boundaries
Emancipation introduced other forms of white duplicity and coercion…the attitudes and behavior which had
justified and underscored enslavement persisted in different ways
More than a century of black freedom did not alter Patsy Mitchner’s assessment…it only deepened its tragic
implications and underscored the terrible paradox of black men and women seeking admission into a
society that refuses to recognize their essential humanity
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Blacks constituted the muscle of military and economic effort designed to perpetuate their bondage…they
were considered as both the cause of the war and indispensable to the Confederacy
The more desperate the Confederate case became, the more the white South depended on the labor and
loyalty of its blacks…the more they were needed, the less they could be trusted
Most loyal and devoted would be enshrined in white southern mythology (in story, in legend, and in statues
and song)
Neither whites nor blacks were untouched by the physical and emotional demands of the war…both races
suffered and each had some sympathy for the other
Many of the same slaves and others came to appreciate at some moment in the war that in the suffering
and defeat of their white folks lay their only hope for freedom
George King was a former South Carolina slave that was raised on Samuel Roll’s plantation
King says about his master…“he says we are all free, but it don’t mean we is white. And it don’t mean we is
equal. Just equal to work and earn our own living and not depend on him for no more meats and clothes.”
Difference between slavery and freedom could be perceived in the choices that became available to
them…expanding their personal and psychological autonomy, securing families/locating loved ones,
formalizing marital ties, taking new surnames or revealing old ones, educating themselves, withdrawing the
women from the white folks’ kitchens and fields, worshipping in their own churches, assembling for political
and community purposes, and working at a pace under terms that go along with their new status
Contemporary observers say that to suggest that emancipation made no difference in lives of black men
and women is to judge emancipation solely by its economic content and ignore how many blacks perceived
their freedom
Former Florida slave observed that “even the best masters in slavery couldn’t be as good as the worst
person in freedom”
The distance blacks chose to place between themselves and their old status could not be measured by how
far they traveled from their place of bondage
The same class that had thought that blacks were needed to be tied to them by feelings of dependency
found themselves dependent on blacks and unable to look after themselves
If few former slave-owning families ever paused to scrutinize their own lives and dependency, the blacks
who worked for them knew only too well
Former slaveholders had not surrendered the convictions which they held blacks as slaves and they fully
expected those men and women to maintain the same slave demeanor
Nothing in the postwar behavior and attitudes of former slaveholders suggests that the ownership of slaves
compromised their values or tortured their consciences
After emancipation, every field hand aspired to work for himself on his own plot of land to become the
independent proprietor of a small farm…the most American of aspirations, the stamp of respectability in an
agricultural society, and the way to enter the mainstream of American life
The certain confirmation of freedom was to own the very land on which they had worked on
For blacks to succeed in becoming proprietors of small farms posed dangers as great as those raised by the
specter of blacks succeeding as voters or legislators
If emancipation created in the victorious North a rhetorical commitment to helping blacks help themselves, it
was never translated into a significant measure of economic opportunity for the newly freed slaves
South Carolina…a federal official took pains to explain a group of freedmen the meaning of free labor…he
called it “the price you pay for freedom”
“Every man has his own place, his own trade that he was brought up to, and he must stick to it…If a man
works, no matter in what business, he is doing well. The only shame is to be idle and lazy.”
“It is so everywhere and perhaps by hard work some of you may by and by become rich yourselves.”
Federal government and that nation said in effect that special consideration did not need to be accorded the
freed slaves to correct two centuries of special inequality and exploitation
In the postwar South, the relationship of slave and master was transformed into tenant and landlord
Former slaveholders did not respond easily to the concept of free labor
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Freed blacks also didn’t respond easily or passively to perceived limitation placed on their working lives and
opportunities…they resisted contracted labor, sought to reduce the hours they worked each day, rejected
working in gangs under white supervisors, broke up slave quarters, demanded shares that reflected their
contribution to the making of the crop
By securing farms of their own, blacks achieved a certain kind of personal autonomy and forced upon the
old ruling class a new organization and management of labor
Fact remained that most black farmers enjoyed neither ownership of the land nor the full rewards of their
labor
Landlord ultimately used ownership of the land, control of credit, vagrancy laws, blacklists, the court, and the
police to reassert his authority over black labor
No matter how often the black press and black orators celebrated the examples of economic success and
land ownership, the great mass of black southerners remained landless agricultural laborers…the political
and civil rights they won during Reconstruction failed to alter their economic lives
Through their industry, skill, enterprise, and frugality, former slaves would some day command a place in
the South commensurate with their numbers and their weight in the economy
Freedmen’s schools taught them to be diligent, faithful, and punctual in the workplace, to respect property
and authority, to cultivate the virtues of honesty, industry and frugality
Fredrick Douglass said “If you would be prosperous, you must be industrious.”
African Methodist Episcopal Church preached to southern blacks that the only way to win over the hearts
and minds of white people was through their pockets
Reverend Henry Highland Garnet, a veteran black abolitionist, said that “The more money you make, the
lighter your skin will be. The more land and houses you get, the straighter your hair will be.”
Success came ultimately to the hardworking, the sober, the honest, and the educated
Whites had accepted that irresponsibility, ignorance, and submissiveness were peculiar Negro traits…the
blacks who failed to fit the stereotype seemed somehow abnormal and menacing
While claiming that blacks were incapable of becoming their political, social, or economic equals, whites
betrayed the fear that they might…Reconstruction taught blacks that many whites feared black success
more than black failure
The white South was driven to violence not because it was diminished by black failure but by the spectacle
of blacks learning the uses of political power
W.E.B. Du Bois wrote that “there was one thing that the white South feared more than Negro dishonesty,
ignorance and incompetency, and that was Negro honesty, knowledge, and efficiency”
Even as whites dwelt on the ignorance and illiteracy of blacks, they did not necessarily welcome the
emergence of a class of educated, literate, and ambitious blacks
Whatever black children learned in school, they came to understand that their color marked them as inferior
in the eyes of whites, no matter how they conducted themselves
Some young blacks found themselves cheated, beaten, and kicked off jobs by white employees who
resented their ambition, their eagerness to learn a trade
Isaiah Montgomery (back in 1890) was the only black delegate to the Mississippi Constitutional Convention
and he proclaimed his faith in economic and educational progress as the key to race programs
The fears of black success and assertiveness that had provoked much of the violence of Reconstruction
proved equally pervasive in the early 20th century when blacks no longer posed a political threat
If a given a choice, white southerners clearly preferred the “shiftless, worthless, ignorant” Negro to the
educated and ambitious Negro
 MS, 1890s-white farmers terrorized black farmers off land
 Ned Cobb-black AL sharecropper: had property, white neighbors hated his success
 Best way to survive-don’t look like you’re succeeding
 Blacks were lynched, flogged, mutilated, or quietly murdered
 Attacks were publicized (Little Rock newspaper: “This may be ‘Southern brutality,’… but in polite
circles, we call it southern chivalry…”)
 1906-white mobs lynched, murdered, and assaulted blacks for 4 days
 Much violence fell on property-owning blacks-the industrious, respectable, law-abiding,
accommodating, educated
 Dr. W. F. Penn, prominent black physician, Yale graduate-driven from his home
 Some whites deplored the violence, but dominant racial views were unchanged
 Historical docs, press-image of irresponsible, immoral, slow, stupid, easily frightened, sometimes
dangerous Negro
 New generation of blacks-more rebellious, don’t know the compliance in slavery
 Other ways blacks improved themselves
 Learning to read, building communities, creating culture
 Thinkers, editors, preachers, leaders created programs, manifestos, sermons
 Found ways to be happy
 Richard Wright (born Natchez, 1908) grew up in MS, TN, AR-threat of violence was the worst
 Blues was a prominent form of self-expression
 Roots: hollers, shouts, chants, work songs of black field hands
 Expressed: day to day experiences, frustrations, anxiety, despair, values of new gen
 Famous singers
 Charlie Patterson, born Edwards MS, mid 1880s
 Furry Lewis, born 1900, raised in Delta at Greenwood
 Robert Johnson, raised in upper MI Delta; his song: “Crossroads Blues”
 Right before WWI, blacks migrate North but don’t escape racism.
The Ending of Reconstruction (by Eric Foner and Olivia Mahoney)
 Conflicts b/w white Unionists and Confeds, but mostly former slaves were the victims
 Early Reconstruction-violence was local and unorganized
 1865-66-most violence was over control of labor
 1867-vilence was more organized and politically motivated (Rep dominated politics)
 Ku Klux Klan
 Founded 1886 in TN, served as military for Democrats
 Originally social clubterrorist organization of S
 Led by planters, merchants, Dem politicians
 1868-killed AK congressman James M Hinds, 3 SC legislature, other Rep leaders
 GA, LA-terrorblacks can’t voteHoratio Seymour wins both states for pres election
 1869-70-violence accelerated
 Local Rep leaders were targets
 1870, AL-William Luke, Irish teacher in black school, lynched w/4 black men
 African-Americans, esp local leaders, were main targets
 Eg: 1869, GA-black legislator Abram Colby; Monroe County, MI black leader
 York County, SC-nearly all white males joined the Klan
 Early 1871-thousands hid in the woods to avoid assault
 Targets: blacks who have land, learned to read and write
 Violence sometimes expanded from one to the whole group
 Targets: churches, schools, any symbol of black autonomy
 1871, Meridian, MI-30 blacks, white Rep judge killed
 1873, Colfax, LA-black militiamen killed after surrendering local gov control to whites
 Purpose: restore white supremacy
 S gov couldn’t suppress KKK, most asked for aid from Pres
 Some Rep state gov (AR, TX) used milita to control KKK
 Sen John Sherman (OH)-the “power of the nation” must “crush, as we once before have done,
this organized civil war”
 1870-71-Congress adopted 3 Enforcement Acts
 1871-Pres Grant authorized fed marshals to arrest hundreds of accused Klansmen
 1872-after publicized trials of KKK leaders, Klan died
 1870s-N’s commitment to Reconstruction decreased
 Radical leaders for civil rights replaced w/conservative, less idealistic politicians
 Some felt S should fend for itself
 1872-Liberal Rep formed
 Members include influential journalists, prominent Rep (Lyman Trumbull)
 Believed corrupt politicians gained power from Civil War/Reconstruction
 Gov positions should be given based on passing exams, not cronies
 Democratic criticisms of Reconstruction-“ignorant” voters control politics
 1872-Liberals nominate Horace Greeley (NY Tribune editor) for pres
 After Grant reelection, Liberal attack on Reconstructionmore racism in N
 1874-Greeley supporter James S. Pike published The Prostrate State
 Describes SC as a “mass of black barbarism”
 “Negro gov”problems; solution: restore leading whites to power
 Newspapers supporting Reconstructionswitched sides
 1873-severe eco depression; no time for civil rights
 Except Civil Rights Act of 1875-no discrimination in places of public accomidation
 1876, US v Cruikshank-removed some convictions from Colfax MassacreEnforcement Acts
meaningless
 Mid 1970s-Reconstruction was failing; where it survived, violence ^
 1875-76-violence in broad dayliigh
 1875, MI
 White rifle clubs drilled in public, pres openly assaulted/murdered
 Gov Adelbert Ames asked for fed assistance
 Grant refused to helpDem landslide MI, end Reconstruction there
 1876, SC-Dem nomination for governor: Wade Hampton (Confed cavalry commander)
Hampton:
 Became governor as part of the Bargain of 1877.
 Favored a paternalistic policy toward former slaves and appointed a few blacks to minor positions.
 Was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1878, serving until 1891.
 Promised to respect the rights of all citizens of the state.
 His opponents inspired by Democratic tactics in Mississippi the previous year, used rifle clubs to
disrupt Republican meetings, and freedmen being driven from their homes, assaulted and
sometimes murdered.
Presidential Campaign of 1876:
 Events in S. Carolina directly affected the outcome.
 Republicans nominated Gov. Rutherford B. Hays of Ohio to succeed Grant.
 Democratic opponent was New York’s governor, Samuel J. Tilden.
 Only S. Carolina, Florida and Louisiana remained under Republican control.
 Whoever captured these states would become the next president.
 There was anxious talk of civil war, but also intense negotiations involving leaders of both parties
and self-appointed maneuverers representing Southern railroads anxious to receive federal aid.
 January 1877: Congress appointed a 15 member Electoral Commission, composed of senators,
representatives, and Supreme Court justices.
 Republicans enjoyed an 8 to 7 majority on the Commission.
 The members decided that Hays had carried the disputed Southern states and was elected.
 Bargain of 1877: Hays would recognize Democratic control of remaining Southern states, and
Democrats would not block the certification of his election by Congress.
 Hays promised to end federal intervention in the South and ordered U.S. troops to return to their
barracks from guarding the state houses in S. Carolina and Louisiana.
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The Redeemers: Southern Democrats who overturned Republican rule and now ruled the entire
south.
Reconstruction came to and end.
Collapse of Reconstruction:
 In many parts of the South, the Republican Party disappeared and the region long remained a
bastion of one-party rule under control of a reactionary elite who used violence and fraud to stifle
internal dissent.
 The federal government stood by indifferently while the Southern states effectively nullified the 14th
and 15th Amendments, and stripped African-Americans of the right to vote (beginning in 1890’s.)
 Southern governments began enacting laws mandating racial segregation in schools,
transportation, and public accommodations.
African-Americans’ Struggle:
 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court ruled that such segregation did not violate the 14th
Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection before the law, so long as facilities for the two races
were “separate but equal.”
 Southern blacks were pushed into oppression, each of whose components, segregation, economic
inequality, political disempowerment, reinforced the others.
 Between 1880 and 1968, nearly 3,500 African-Americans were lynched in the U.S.
Southern Instability:
 White Southerners suffered as well as black, as expenditures on education, health, and public
welfare remained well below those in other states.
 New laws strengthened the hands of landlords in disputes with tenants, and state governments
resolutely opposed the introduction of labor unions.
 Long into the 20th century, the South would remain the nation’s foremost economic problem, a
region of low wages, stunted economic development, and widespread poverty.
 Millions of poor Southerners felt their only hope for economic opportunity and social justice was to
migrate to other parts of the country.