Transcript Major Events before and during the Civil War

Major Events leading up to the
American Civil War
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1852).
• Book represented the humanity
of slaves showing them as
husbands, wives, parents,
children contrasting the image of
slaves.
• “So this is the little lady who
made this big war.”
-----Abraham Lincoln
• 1.5 million copies sold worldwide
• Uncle Tom- a noble slave who is
sold to a series of owners, but
retains his dignity and hopes to
be reunited with his family.
• In America in the 1850s it was common for a family to gather at night in
the parlor and read Uncle Tom’s Cabin aloud. Yet in some quarters the
book was considered highly controversial.
• In the South, as might be expected, it was bitterly denounced, and in some
states it was actually illegal to possess a copy of the book. In southern
newspapers Harriet Beecher Stowe was regularly portrayed as a liar and a
villain, and feelings about her book no doubt helped to harden feelings
against the North.
Dred Scott Case
– Scott was born a slave between 1795 and 1800 in
Virginia and taken by his owner to Missouri.
– Owner was Major John Emerson an army surgeon.
– Over the next twelve years, Scott was taken to
Illinois and Wisconsin territory both areas
prohibited slavery.
• Scott got married and had two children.
• Emerson got married to Eliza Sanford and was transferred to
Louisiana where he sent for Scott and his new wife.
• In 1838 he returned to Missouri and was again held as a slave.
• In 1843, Emerson died leaving all his property( including Scott)
to his wife.
• In 1846, he sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had
been liberated by his residence in Illinois and Wisconsin. He
won in lower court, but Supreme Court of Missouri ruled
against him in 1852.
Dred Scott (cont.)
• Scott appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Of the nine justices, five were from the South.
• Supreme Court ruled that Scott was not a citizen, but
a slave. Ruled that “Negroes” were “inferior to
whites, and may be justly reduced to slavery for their
own benefit” and that they “had no rights which a
white man was bound to respect, and that they were
not and could not become, part of the American
people, even when accorded the right to vote. ”
• Chief Justice Taney argued that under the U.S.
Constitution slaves were property and the
Constitution permitted no distinction between them
and property in general.
– Ruling said that because slaves were not citizens they
could not sue in court.
– The sons of Peter Blow, Scott's first owner, purchased
emancipation for Scott and his family on May 26, 1857.
Their gaining freedom was national news and celebrated in
northern cities.
– Scott worked in a hotel in St. Louis, where he was
considered a local celebrity. He died of tuberculosis only
eighteen months later, on November 7, 1858.
John Brown’s Rebellion
• John Brown, a white man, planned to march South,
arm the slaves, establish a black republic in the
Appalachians to wage war against the South.
• Frederick Douglass thought the target was suicidal.
Harriet Tubman supported the idea but got sick.
• October 16, 1859, Brown and three sons and 15
followers attacked the Federal arsenal at Harper’s
Ferry, VA. Occupied the arsenal but no slaves came
to join him.
• He was tried for treason against the state of Virginia,
the murder of five proslavery Southerners, and
inciting a slave insurrection and was subsequently
hanged.
Causes of the American Civil War
• Event: The election of Abraham Lincoln in
1860.
– Impact: South Carolina seceded from the union
four days after the election.
– Within a month, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi and Louisiana seceded.
– Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and
Tennessee went in the next few months. (11
states)
Civil War dates and battles
• Event: April 12, 1861 Fort Sumter captured--The
attack on Fort Sumter prompted four more states to
join the Confederacy. With Virginia's secession,
Richmond was named the Confederate capitol.
• Result: April 15 Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers for
three months service
• Result: April 19, 1861 Naval blockade ordered by
Lincoln—prevents cotton shipments and limits imports
of munitions
• Event: July 21—first Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas)
Virginia.
• Result: Union realizes that it wasn’t going to be a
ninety day war.
• The Southerners’ reaction to the election of President Lincoln
was strong. They felt that the country had put an abolitionist
in the White House. The South felt that secession was the
only option.
• The South felt they had the right to secede. The Declaration
of Independence stated that “it is the right of the people to
alter or to abolish” a government that denies the rights of its
citizens. Lincoln, they believed, would deny them the right to
own slaves.
Lincoln’s views on slavery and blacks
• “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the
Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.
If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I
would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the
slaves I would do it;
• and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving
others alone I would also do that. What I do about
slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it
helps to save the Union.”
• ------Lincoln letter to Horace Greeley
Lincoln’s views on blacks and slavery
• 1858: "I will say then that I am not, nor have ever
been, in favor of bringing about in anyway the social
and political equality of the white and black races that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making
voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to
hold office, nor to intermarry with white people;
• and I will say in addition to this that there is a
physical difference between the white and black
races which I believe will forever forbid the two races
living together on terms of social and political
equality."
• The eleven states that left the Union formed the
Confederated States of America and elected
Jefferson Davis President and Alexander Stephens,
Vice President
– Constitution copied almost verbatim—except it outlawed
the protective tariff and legalized slavery through the
country. Added “Almighty God.” President had a six year
single term instead of unlimited 4 year terms.
– Border states: Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland,
did not secede.
• Vice-President of the Confederate States of
America, Alexander Stephens, wrote:
– “Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests
upon the great truth that the negro is not the
equal of the white man; that slavery,
subordination to the superior race is his natural
and normal condition.”
– “ Do you love your mother, your wife, your sister,
your daughter? In 10 years or less our children
will be slaves of Negroes.”
Army of the Potomac v. Army of
Northern Virginia
• North had 22 million v. 9
million
• North had 23 states v. 11 in
the South
• North had 2.3 million
enlisted men v. South’s 1.3
million
• North had ¾ of all banking
capital
• North had 75% of all
manufacturing operations.
• North had 2/3 of all railroad
lines
• South had only to fight
a defensive war
– South had better trained
military leaders
• 360,000 Union soldiers
killed
• 260,000 Confederate
soldiers killed
• 200,000 blacks fought—
38,000 killed
• April 6-7, 1862
– Battle of Shiloh (TN) 20,000 Union and
Confederate soldiers killed or wounded in 2 days.
• Combined losses are more than the total American
casualties in the American Revolution, War of 1812 and
Mexican American War.
• April 16, 1862—Jefferson Davis signs Confederate
Conscription Act which is the first military draft in
American history.
• July 1862: Congress authorizes acceptance of
black recruits
• September 17, 1862: Battle of Antietam
– 25,000 killed, single bloodiest day of the war. This
cost the South any hope of European recognition
of Confederacy.
– Lincoln believed he needed a Union victory on the
battlefield so his decision would appear positive
and strong.
Emancipation Proclamation
• The Emancipation Proclamation consisted of
two executive orders issued by United States
President Abraham Lincoln during the
American Civil War.
• The first one, issued September 22, 1862,
declared the freedom of all slaves in any state
of the Confederate States of America that did
not return to Union control by January 1,
1863.
• The second order, issued January 1, 1863,
named ten specific states where it would
apply.
Emancipation (cont.)
• The proclamation did not name the border states of Kentucky,
Missouri, Maryland, or Delaware, which had never declared a
secession, and so it did not free any slaves there.
• The state of Tennessee had already mostly returned to Union
control, so it also was not named and was exempted.
• Virginia was named, but exemptions were specified for the 48
counties that were in the process of forming West Virginia, as
well as seven other named counties and two cities.
• Also specifically exempted were New Orleans and thirteen
named parishes of Louisiana, all of which were also already
mostly under Federal control at the time of the Proclamation.
Emancipation Proclamation
• January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third
year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared
"that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious
states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
• The Proclamation announced the acceptance of
black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling
the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the
war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had
fought for the Union and freedom.
Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation
• Drew support from the British workers who were
against slavery.
• French not able to support the South because of
anti-slavery sentiment.
• 500,000 slaves fled the plantations disrupting food
production and compelling rebels in confederate
states to divert many of their troops to guard duty.
Final battles
• July 1-3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg: One of
the largest and bloodiest battles of the Civil
War.
– The confederate troops were in search of shoes.
Confederate losses at battle were 28,000 to the
Union’s 23,000.
– Confederate General Robert E. Lee retreats to
Virginia.
– This battle was a turning point because the Union
realized the Confederacy could be defeated.
The Battle of Chancellorville
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Fought between April 30-May 6, 1863
in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Major Gen. Joseph Hooker (Union) v.
Gen. Robert E. Lee (Confederate)
Chancellorsville is known as Lee's
"perfect battle" because his risky
decision to divide his army in the
presence of a much larger enemy
force resulted in a significant
Confederate victory.
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Military historians consider Stonewall
Jackson to be one of the most gifted
tactical commanders in U.S. history.
His Valley Campaign and his
envelopment of the Union Army right
wing at Chancellorsville are studied
worldwide even today as examples of
innovative and bold leadership.
General Lee decided to employ a
risky tactic to take the initiative and
offensive away from Hooker's new
southern thrust—he decided to
divide his forces.
Jackson and his entire corps were
sent on an aggressive flanking
maneuver to the right of the Union
lines. This flanking movement would
be one of the most successful and
dramatic of the war.
The Draft Riots
• On July 11, 1863 the first names for induction
into the army were called. The next day, New
York erupted into some the most violent riots in
American history.
• Resentment against the Conscription Act—turns to
deadly rioting. Troops from Gettysburg sent to stop
rioting. Blacks are lynched in New York, Boston and
Vermont. Over 100 people dead, Blacks fled New York
– Whites resented the unfairness of allowing the wealthy to
avoid conscription and the idea of fighting to free the slaves.
Draft Riots (cont.)
• The Civil War was sometimes referred to as the
“Rich Man’s War, poor man’s fight”.
• Because of huge union troop losses, Lincoln
announces the Conscription Act of 1863 which
said that all men 20-45 must serve.
• States worked not to draft soldiers, instead offering
volunteers a considerable amount of money to enlist.
Volunteers received a bounty of $100 from the federal
government, plus state and local bounties. Combined
bounties in some locations exceeded $500.
• This gave way to the practice of bounty jumping—men
enlisted, took the bounty, deserted, and then enlisted
elsewhere to receive another set of bounties.
Final Moments of the Civil War
• April 8, 1865 Lee surrenders to Grant at
Appomattox Courthouse. Terms are generous
at Lincoln’s’ request—officers retain their side
arms, men keep their horses.
• April 14, 1865 Lincoln is assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth at Ford Theater in Washington,
D.C.
Music of the Civil War
– The most famous song sung by the
Southerners was Wish I was in Dixie.
– Written by Ohio-born Daniel Decatur Emmett
– The song tells the story of a freed
black slave pining for the plantation of his birth.
– John Brown’s body was often sung
by the Union troops.