Transcript Civil War Notes

Missouri Compromise of 1820
Designed to maintain a balance
between slave and free states
 Established the 36degree 30’N
line for future admission of
slave and free states
 Temporary solution

Slavery’s extension questioned
Wilmot Proviso:
 Popular Sovereignty:
 Stephen Douglas
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Compromise of 1850
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
California would be free.
New Mexico, Utah decide
themselves.
Slave trade illegal in DC.
Texas gave up claims to New
Mexico.
Fugitive Slave law Passed.
Issue of Slave or Free
“Great and Primary” issue is
one of political power. The
North and South are battling
over control of the congress
and the electoral college.
 Sectionalism is emotional.

Dred Scott Decision
1857 Scott v. Sanford
 Roger Taney is Chief Justice.
 Court ruled 7-2 against Scott.
 “Slaves are not citizens and do
not have rights.”
 Congress could not ban slavery.
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Lincoln / Douglas Debates
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1858 senate Race
Freeport Doctrine: It does not matter
what the Supreme Court says slavery
cannot exist in a territory if the local
police do not support it.
Stephan Douglas
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Freeport doctrine
States decide
Slavery.
Not for racial
equality
The Causes of the Civil War
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Nationalism
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States Rights v/s National Rights
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Sectionalism (economics)
Slave Owner Statistics
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According to the U.S. 1860 Census, one out of every four families in Virginia
owned slaves. There were over 100 plantation owners who owned over 100
slaves.
Population of Virginia 1860 1,596,318 people
Number of slaves in the Lower South: 2,312,352 (47% of total population).
Number of slaves in the Upper South: 1,208,758 (29% of total population).
Number of slaves in the Border States: 432,586 (13% of total population).
Fewer than one-third of all Southern families owned slaves at the peak of
slavery prior to the Civil War.
On a typical plantation of more than 20 slaves, the capital value of the slaves was greater than the capital
value of the land and implements.
Election of 1860
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Abraham Lincoln – R- Freehomesteads,
protective tariff, internal improvements,
rail to pacific, preserve the union.
Stephan Douglas – D- Popular
Sovereignty.
The Election of 1860

John Breckenridge – D – Pro Slavery
John Bell – Constitutional Union Party
Save the Union at all costs and no stance
on slavery.
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Election of 1860
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Lincoln was not on the ballot in the
southern states.
Lincoln received 40% of the vote.
CSA formed
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South Carolina seceded 12-20-1860.
CSA formed when Florida, Georgia,
Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana
also secede from the Union.
Before April of 1861.
Jefferson Davis
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Elected President of
Provisional CSA
govt.
Instituted a national
conscription.
First Fighting of the War
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Fort Sumter, South Carolina April 6,
1861
Shelled for 33 hours.
Habeas Corpus
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Art. I, Sec. 9 of the Constitution says, “The Privilege of the
Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when
in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may
require it.”
Who is protected by habeas corpus? U.S. citizens? Persons in the
U.S.? Person’s held by the U.S. government?
Art. I outlines legislative, not executive power. Therefore, is this a
limitation on legislative power?
Can the executive unilaterally suspend habeas corpus?
Ex parte Merryman (1861)
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In April 1861 Lincoln unilaterally and secretly suspended the writ
of habeas corpus in Maryland. Among the pro-Confederates in the
Maryland militia was Lieutenant John Merryman. He had recruited
and trained soldiers for the Confederate army and was involved in
cutting telegraph wires and burning railroad bridges. On May 25,
Merryman was arrested and charged with treason.
Merryman's lawyers appealed to the United States Circuit Court
for the District of Maryland. At this time, Supreme Court Justices
sat as circuit judges while the Supreme Court was not in session.
Merryman's complaint was heard by Chief Justice Roger Taney.
Taney promptly issued a writ of habeas corpus for Merryman and
held that the President cannot suspend habeas corpus: “These
great and fundamental laws, which congress itself could not
suspend, have been disregarded and suspended, like the writ of
habeas corpus, by a military order, supported by force of arms.
Such is the case now before me, and I can only say that if the
authority which the constitution has confided to the judiciary
department and judicial officers, may thus, upon any pretext or
under any circumstances, be usurped by the military power, at its
discretion, the people of the United States are no longer living
under a government of laws, but every citizen holds life, liberty
and property at the will and pleasure of the army officer in whose
military district he may happen to be found.”
Lincoln, citing Andrew Jackson before him, disregarded the ruling.
Lincoln also got an opinion supporting his suspension from
Attorney General Bates. It formed the basis for Lincoln's July 4,
1861 speech to Congress in which he rhetorically asked "Are all
the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself
go to pieces, lest that one be violated?" Lincoln subsequently
expanded the zone within which the writ was suspended.
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Congress
Responds
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Clement Vallandigham
When Congress convened in special session on July 4, 1861, Lincoln sent them
a message in which he defended his actions in suspending the writ of habeas
corpus. Although he felt he had the right to expand his powers under the
Constitution, he assured the members “that nothing has been done beyond the
constitutional competency of Congress” and he expressed confidence that the
legislature would “ratify” the extraordinary measures he had taken.
Rep. Clement Vallandigham (D-OH) carried on a prolonged and futile fight
against Lincoln’s acts of “usurpation,” and introduced seven resolutions
censuring the President for the suppression of freedom of speech and press,
the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the establishment of a naval
blockade, among others. But by voice vote the House quickly tabled the
resolutions and they never came to a vote.
Led by Thaddeus Stevens (R-PA), the Republican-controlled Congress passed
66 bills, all but four of which related to supporting the war effort, in the one
month they were in special session. For example, one of the bills authorized the
secretary of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase, to borrow $250 million over the
next 12 months to help finance the war.
But the Union Army initially lost a series of battles to the South. Eventually,
they fought to a draw at Antietam in September 1862. Lincoln declared victory
and issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in which he would free all
slaves as of January 1, 1863, in Confederate areas still in rebellion against the
U.S.
Two days after he issued the preliminary proclamation he announced that at his
discretion the writ of habeas corpus could be suspended anywhere in the
United States.
Peace Democrats picked up congressional seats during the 1862 elections and
increased their criticism of Lincoln. On the House floor they howled their
opposition to this “imperial military despotism.” Vallandigham had failed to win
reelection but continued to denounce Lincoln’s tyrannical rule in a fiery
February 23, 1863 speech before he left his seat.
Thaddeus Stevens introduced a habeas corpus bill in the House, giving the
President the authority, at his discretion, to suspend the writ for the duration of
the war. It passed in March 1863.
No longer a member of Congress, Vallandigham gave a speech back in his
home state of Ohio on May 1, 1863, in which he contended that the war could
have been concluded by negotiation but that the administration needlessly
prolonged the bloodshed in order to liberate blacks and enslave whites. Accused
of advocating resistance to the Lincoln administration and expressing sympathy
for the enemy, he was arrested, denied the privilege of habeas corpus, tried by
a military commission and found guilty of disloyal opinions. He was sentenced
to prison for the duration of the war. But Lincoln commuted his sentence and
ordered Vallandigham escorted to the Confederacy.
Robert E Lee
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Offered Command
of All Union Armies
by Lincoln.
Declined to accept.
Commanded CSA
troops during the
War.
Northern Strategy
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Naval Blockade of the South
Gain control of the Miss. River.
Capture Chattanooga, TN
Capture Richmond, Virginia
The Prize Cases (1863)
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Lincoln had not asked Congress to declare war on the
Confederate States of America as he believed this
would be tantamount to recognizing the Confederacy
as a nation. Instead, Lincoln instituted a naval
blockade which had interesting legal ramifications
because nations do not blockade their own ports;
rather they close them. By ordering a blockade,
Lincoln essentially declared the Confederacy to be
belligerents instead of insurrectionists.
The Confederate States were mostly agrarian, and
almost all of their machined and manufactured goods
were imported. At the beginning of the war there was
only one significant steel mill and manufactory in the
South, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond,
Virginia. Moreover, the southern economy depended
on the export of cotton, tobacco and other crops.
The blockade of the South resulted in the capture of
dozens of American and foreign ships, both those
attempting to run the highly efficient blockade and
smuggle goods and munitions to the South as well as
those attempting to smuggle exports from the South.
The commercial ship owners brought suit claiming
that Lincoln did not have the authority to seize their
ships without a formal declaration of war from
Congress.
Justice Robert C. Grier
Delivered the Opinion of the
Court
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“The right of prize and capture has its origin in the ‘just
belli,’ [laws of war—international law governing war]
and is governed and adjudged under the law of nations
[international law in general]. To legitimate the capture
of a neutral vessel or property on the high seas, a war
must exist de facto, and the neutral must have
knowledge or notice of the intention of one of the
parties belligerent to use this mode of coercion against a
port, city, territory.”
Writing for a 5-4 majority, Grier said that the parties do
not have to be sovereign nations, one belligerent can
claim sovereign right against the other. A civil war is
never publicly proclaimed, it just evolves.
“The proclamation of blockade is itself official and
conclusive evidence to the Court that a state of war
existed which demanded and authorized a recourse to
such a measure, under the circumstances peculiar to the
case.”
“Therefore we are of the opinion that the President had
a right, jure belli, to institute a blockade of ports in
possession of the States in rebellion, which neutrals are
bound to regard.”
Though a bare majority, the decision expanded the
power of the president to act in military conflicts without
congressional approval. It also made clear that war
could exist without a formal declaration.
Southern Strategy
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Fight a defensive War.
This strategy is often used by the side
that is overmatched, and is often
successful.
Heavy price for victory though.
Northern Advantages
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Large Population.
Industrialized.
Stronger economy/more varied econ.
More resources.
Agriculture suited for human
consumption.
Southern Advantages
More motivated.
 Defensive Strategy
 Military Leadership
 Military Tradition
 Horsemanship
 Robert E Lee
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Battle of Bull Run (1st)
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Southern Victory
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Ruined the hope for a short war.
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No one thought the South would win
any battles.
Battle of Antietam
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Battle was a draw.
First time the North did not lose.
Stopped the Confederate invasion of
the North.
Encouraged Lincoln to free the slaves.
North could not find a good leader.
Union Army: Lacks Leadership
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McDowell
McClellan
Burnside
Hooker
Meade
Grant
Joseph Hooker
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Commander of the
Army of the
Potomac
Lost the Battle of
Chancellorsville and
was fired. (May
1863)
Ulysses S Grant
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Won several battles
in the Western
Theater early in the
war.
Became the last
commander of the
Army of the
Potomac
18th President
Battle of Gettysburg
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Northern Victory
Turning Point of the war
Stop Confederate invasion of the North
July 1863
Longstreet and Lee
Battle of Vicksburg
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Northern Victory
Gave the Union control of the
Mississippi River.
US Grant becomes nationally famous
and will be promoted to command of
the Army of the Potomac.
Grant and Sherman
Sherman’s March to the Sea
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Northern Victory
William Tecumseh Sherman
commanding
Total war practice by Sherman
Broke the will and ability of the South
to fight.
Hard feelings created.
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Ex Parte Milligan (1866)
Milligan was an attorney living in
southern Indiana. He was a
confederate sympathizer (a
Copperhead) and made speeches
and organized against the war. He
was arrested by the military, found
guilty by a military tribunal, and
was sentenced to be hanged.
Meanwhile, the war ended but
President Andrew Johnson
sustained the sentence. Milligan
filed for a writ of habeas corpus in
federal court claiming that he
should not have been tried by the
military and that the President did
not have the authority to suspend
habeas corpus.
Lambdin P. Milligan
Justice David Davis Delivered the
Opinion of the Court
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Writing for a unanimous Court, Davis held that the
writ of habeas corpus had not been suspended by
Congress and therefore Milligan must be set free or
tried in a civilian court.
Davis explained that the “law and usages of war can
never be applied to citizens in states which have
upheld the authority of the government, and where
the courts are open and their process unobstructed.
Indiana was under federal authority ad no usage of
war could sanction a military trial there for any
offense whatever of a citizen in civil life, in nowise
connected with military service. He should have been
presented to the grand jury of the circuit court.”
“It is difficult to see how the safety of the country
required martial law in Indiana. If any of her citizens
were plotting treason, the power of arrest could
secure them, until the government was prepared for
their trial, when the courts were open and ready to
try them. It was as easy to protect witnesses before
a civil as a military tribunal; and as there could be no
wish to convict, except on sufficient legal evidence,
surely an ordained and established court was better
able to judge of this than a military tribunal
composed of gentlemen not trained to the profession
of the law.”
Conclusion
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The Civil War brought about the first occasion
for the Supreme Court to weigh in war
powers claims.
Overall, the rulings were mixed. On the one
hand the President’s authority was
strengthened by The Prize Cases (1863). On
the other hand the habeas cases suggested
that the President’s authority had limits—
particularly when U.S. citizens were involved.
Election of 1864
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Took Place only in the North.
Abraham Lincoln – R – National Union
Party (55% of the vote)
George McClellan-D- Supported by the
Copperheads.
Appomattox Court House
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April 9, 1865
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Ulysses Grant and Robert E Lee meet.
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Lee Surrenders his army
Reconstruction
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Major questions:
Who was in Charge of Reconstruction?
Had the Southern State really left the
Union?
What was to be done with the newly
freed 4 million slaves?
Lincoln’s Plan
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High ranking officials would not be
pardoned.
All other CSA supporters would be
pardoned.
An end to slavery accepted.
10% of pre war voters must take oath
of loyalty.
Radical Republican Plan
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Insisted on Black Suffrage.
New state govt. set up with non-CSA
supporters.
Wade-Davis Bill
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Majority of White males must take oath
of loyalty.
Blacks to receive “Equality before the
law.”
Passed by congress.
Killed via pocket veto.
Lincoln shot while at a play
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John Wilkes Booth
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An actor
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Shot Lincoln and
then leaped from
the box to the
stage.
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Lincoln shot in
Ford’s theater.
Carried across the
street where he
died.
Andrew Johnson VP
Andrew Johnson
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Democrat
Tennessee
Radical republicans
hate him.
Continues with
Lincoln’s Plan for
Reconstruction.
Impeachment
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Radical republicans passed the Tenure
Office Act to limit Andrew Johnson’s
ability to interfere with their
reconstruction efforts.
President had to have senate approval
to remove cabinet members.
Impeachment
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Johnson believe the law
unconstitutional so he fired Edwin
Stanton Sec. Of War.
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House of Reps. Voted to impeach.
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First President to be impeached.
Reconstruction Amendments
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13th : 1865 :
Abolished Slavery
Why was this amendment necessary?
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14th : 1868
All native born person’s are citizens.
Equal protection under the law.
Former CSA officers cannot hold state
or national office.
Incorporation
Applying the Bill of
Rights to the States
Bill of Rights Institute
Prairie State College---Matteson
Area Center
Matteson, IL
March 19, 2009
Artemus Ward
Department of Political Science
What is the Bill of Rights?
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The first 10 Amendments
to the U.S. Constitution.
Passed by the first
Congress in 1791.
The Bill of Rights was
added to the
Constitution because of
the fear that the federal
government might
become too powerful
and encroach on
individual rights.
What is Incorporation?
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Consider the 1st Amendment: "Congress
shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom
of speech.” What does this mean?
Can state legislatures pass laws curtailing
their citizens' free speech?
Incorporation: The process by which certain
provisions of the Bill of Rights have been
made applicable to the states.
Selective Incorporation: As America entered
the 20th century, the Supreme Court slowly
began to inform state governments that
they too must abide by most guarantees
contained in the first 8 amendments to the
federal Constitution.
Constitutional Convention
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Before the Framers adjourned the convention,
"It was moved and seconded to appoint a
Committee to prepare a Bill of Rights." The
motion, however, was defeated.
The
th
14
Amendment (1868)
“No state shall:
rivileges or Immunities make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the
Clause →
privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United
States;
 nor shall any state deprive
any person of life, liberty, or
Due Process Clause → property, without due
process of law;
 nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the
ual Protection Clause → equal protection of the
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The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
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Does the Privileges or Immunities
Clause of the 14th Amendment
“incorporate” or make applicable
the Bill of Rights to the states?
“We are convinced that no such
results were intended by the
Congress which proposed these
amendments, nor by the
legislatures of the States which
ratified them.”
Miller’s opinion had the effect
rendering the Privileges or
Immunities Clause virtually
useless, a condition that has
changed little since then. Today,
the Clause remains a virtual nonstarter in the law.
Justice Samuel Freeman Miller
Palko v. Connecticut (1937)
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The Due Process Clause of
the 14th Amendment
incorporates those rights
which are “implicit in the
concept of ordered liberty”
and which constitute “the
very essence of a scheme or
ordered liberty.”
“If the Fourteenth
Amendment has absorbed
them, the process of
absorption has had its
source in the belief that
neither liberty nor justice
would exist if they were
sacrificed.”
Justice Benjamin Cardozo
Today . . .
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Today, essentially all of the important provisions of the Bill
of Rights have been incorporated.
1st Amendment: Fully incorporated.
2nd Amendment: Supreme Court rejected incorporation
in 1876 and avoided the issue in D.C. v. Heller (2008).
Fully incorporated in MacDonald v. Chicago 2010.
3rd Amendment: No Supreme Court decision; 2nd
Circuit found to be incorporated.
4th Amendment: Fully incorporated.
5th Amendment: Incorporated except for clause
guaranteeing criminal prosecution only on a grand jury
indictment.
6th Amendment: Fully incorporated.
7th Amendment: Not incorporated.
8th Amendment: Incorporated with respect to the
protection against "cruel and unusual punishments," but
no specific Supreme Court ruling on the incorporation of
Reconstruction Amendments
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15th: 1870
Prohibits the limiting of voting rights
because of race.
Ku Klux Klan Formed
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The KKK was formed with the main goal
of keeping blacks from voting.
Terrorism and intimidation were the
means to this end.
Lynchings