Transcript New York Tribune

Wedges of Separation
1850-1860
Senator Stephen DouglasIllinois
“There are eleven hundred
coming from Platte County to
vote and it that ain’t enough we
can send five thousand-enough
to kill every God-damned
abolitionist in the Territory”Senator David Atchinson
Missouri
John Brown
Senator Charles Sumner
Dred Scott
John Brown
1861-62
President James Buchanan
Jefferson Davis
Bull Run, VA
“Your little army, derided for its want
of arms, derided for its lack of all
the essential material of war, has
met the grand army of the enemy,
routed it at every point, and it now
flies, inglorious in retreat before our
victorious columns. We have
taught them a lesson in their
invasion of the sacred soil of
Virginia.”
Jefferson Davis (CSA) after 1st Bull
General George McClellan
General Robert E. Lee
CSA
Antietam-September 17, 1862
Moving towards Emancipation
Crittenden Resolution
• Passed by Congress July of 1861
• War is being fought to preserve the Union,
not to end slavery.
• Lincoln had stated as much in his First
Inauguration Speech
First Confiscation Act-1862
• Any property being used to aid the
Rebellion can be seized.
• Example: slaves growing crops helps the
Rebellion
• Loophole: quit fighting and the South can
keep its slaves.
Second Confiscation Act-1862
• All rebel property, regardless of its use,
can be seized.
• Loophole: quit fighting and keep the
slaves.
Steps Toward Emancipation
• March 1862-slaves who escape to Union
lines will not be returned to owners.
• April 1862-compensated emancipation
$$$$ goes into effect for Washington DC.
• June 1862-Territories are emancipated
without compensation
Political consideration against Emancipation
1. Did not want to offend the border states
a. Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware,
Maryland
2. Offend the racist element in the North
a. Did not want freed slaves to take their
jobs
“I would do it if I were not afraid
that half the officers would fling
down their arms and three more
States would rise. “ Lincolnsummer 1861
Horace Greeley
• Owner and editor of New York Tribune
• Editorial-”Prayer of 20 Million” urging
immediate emancipation.
Lincoln’s Response
• “My paramount object in this struggle is to
save the Union, and it is not either to save
or destroy slavery.”
• Free none, free all, or free some and leave
others enslaved.
• This response reflected Lincoln’s official
view, not as he stated his personal view of
slavery.
• What Lincoln needs, in 1862, is a victory in
the Eastern Theater of the war to help the
North see the connection between ending
the war and ending slavery.
• What victory leads to emancipation?
• Antietam
Emancipation Proclamation
• Issued September 22, 1862-five days after
Antietam
• All persons engaged in Rebellion as of
January 1, 1863 will have their slaves
freed. This justified emancipation for
military reasons.
• Loophole: if the South quits, they can keep
their slaves.
King Cotton Diplomacy
• An attempt to force Britain or France to
recognize the Confederacy as a nation
Process
• Create an artificial cotton shortage
Process
• Create an artificial cotton shortage
• Leads to higher unemployment in Britain &
France
Process
• Create an artificial cotton shortage
• Leads to higher unemployment in Britain &
France
• Unemployment leads to an increase in
social problems such crime, prostitution,
etc.
• These problems will force Britain and
France to recognize the Confederacy and
thus resume cotton shipments
Reasons for Failure
• Egyptian cotton was abundant
• European crop failures forced Europe to
import Yankee wheat
• British and French working classes willing
to suffer if it meant the end of slavery in
the United States.
General George Meade
General Robert E. Lee
CSA
Big Round Top @ Gettysburg
Little Round Top @
Gettysburg
General Ulysses S. Grant
“We must destroy this army of
Grant’s before he gets to the
James River. If he gets there, it will
become a siege, and then it will be
a mere question of time.” Lee,
June 1864 to Jubal Early
General William Tecumseh
Sherman
John Bell Hood
“Atlanta is ours and fairly won”
Sherman
“I will make Georgia howl.”
Sherman
“We cannot change the hearts of
these people of the South, but we
can make war so terrible and
make them so sick of war that
generations will pass away
before they again appeal to it.”
Sherman
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Decides to live off the land
• 1. Sherman can cut his supply line and
move his army faster.
• 2. Taking supplies from civilians inflicts
terror on the civilian population. Union
Army burns what they cannot consume.
Effect of Sherman’s Terror
• 1. Proves to Confederate citizens that
their government is incapable of protecting
them.
• 2. Increases the desertion rate of the
Confederate Army as soldiers go home to
protect their families.
1865-The End
“The deep waters are closing over
us.” Mary Chestnut
When I learned that Sherman’s
army was marching through the
Salkiehatchie Swamps, making
its own roads at the rate of a
dozen miles per day and bringing
its artillery and wagons with it, I
made up my mind that there had
been no such army in existence
since the days of Julius Caesar.”
Joseph Johnston CSA
“Thank God I have lived to see
this. It seems to me that I have
been dreaming a horrid
nightmare for four years, and
now the nightmare is over.”
Lincoln early April 1865
“The result of last week must
convince you of the
hopelessness of further
resistance. I regard it as my duty
to shift from myself the
responsibility of any further
effusion of blood, by asking of
you the surrender of that portion
of the Confederate States Army
known as the Army of Northern
Virginia.” Grant April 7, 1865
“There is nothing left for me to do
but to go and see General Grant
and I would rather die a thousand
deaths.” Lee, April 9, 1865
“Boys, I have done the best I
could for you. Go home now,
and if you make as good citizens
as you have soldiers, you will do
well, and I shall always be proud
of you. Goodbye, and God
bless.” Lee April 9 1865
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
“Our country owed all our troubles
to Lincoln. God made me the
instrument of his punishment.”
John Wilkes Booth