Transcript VUS 7 a & b Civil War

THE CIVIL WAR
Mrs. Saunders
Election of 1860
• In the 1860 presidential election, the
Democratic party split over the issue of
slavery.
– Northern Democrats nominated Stephen
Douglas (Illinois)
– Southern Democrats chose John C.
Breckinridge (Kentucky)
– Constitutional Unionists, nominated John Bell
(Tennessee).
– Abraham Lincoln (Illinois) Republican
Election of 1860
Because of the split in the
Democratic party, Abraham
Lincoln easily won a majority
of electoral votes (but only
40% of the popular vote) and
became the sixteenth
president of the United
States.
Abraham Lincoln served as
President of the United
States during the Civil War.
Lincoln opposed secession
and insisted that the Union be
held together, by force if
necessary.
Several Southern states
refused to accept Lincoln’s
election as president,
because they feared he
would try to abolish or at
least further restrict
slavery.
Lincoln’s Inauguration
Lincoln in his first inaugural
address sought to assure
the South that he would
not tamper with slavery
where it already existed,
while simultaneously
insisting on the sacredness
of the union.
If war was to come, therefore, it would be over
secession, not over slavery. He concluded with an
eloquent plea for understanding and harmony between
the two opposing sides.
The South Secedes
• Late 1860 to early 1861
southern states seceded
(or withdrew) from the
Union
• Formed the Confederate
States of America.
• The secession of southern
states triggered a long
and costly war that
concluded with Northern
victory, a restoration of the
Union, and emancipation
(the freeing) of the slaves.
Jefferson Davis of
Mississippi was elected
as president of the
Confederacy.
Federal Gov’t vs. State’s Rights
• The Civil War put constitutional government
to its most important test as the debate over
the power of the federal government versus
states’ rights reached a climax.
• The survival of the United States as one
nation was at risk, and the nation’s ability to
bring to reality the ideals of liberty, equality,
and justice depended on the outcome of the
war.
The War Begins at Fort Sumter
• In April 1861, President Lincoln refused to
evacuate (remove) federal troops from Fort
Sumter, located in Charleston, South Carolina.
• When Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter,
the Civil War (1861-1865) began.
The Cost of Civil War
• A civil war is a war between people of the same
country, and approximately 620,000 Americans
died during the four years of fighting in the
American Civil War - 360,000 men died fighting
for the Union, while 260,000 Confederates
perished.
Key Leaders of the Civil War
• Robert E. Lee was a Confederate general
and commander of the Army of Northern
Virginia. Although Lee opposed
secession, he did not believe the Union
should be held together by force.
At the end of the war, Robert
E. Lee urged Southerners to
accept defeat and unite as
Americans again, even
though some Southerners
wanted to continue the fight.
Key Leaders of the Civil War
• Ulysses S. Grant
was a Union military
commander, who
won victories over
the South after
several other Union
commanders had
failed.
A West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, Grant
had resigned his commission in 1854 over troubles with
drinking. When the Civil War began, Grant volunteered
his services and by September 1861 was promoted to
brigadier general
Key Leaders of the Civil War
Frederick Douglass.
Douglass was a
former slave who
became a prominent
or important black
abolitionist. During
the Civil War,
Douglass urged
President Lincoln to
recruit former slaves
to fight in the Union
army.
Important Battles
• Antietam - A major
Union victory over
the Confederates
at the Battle of
Antietam in
Maryland in
September of 1862
led President
Lincoln to issue the
Emancipation
Proclamation.
Emancipation Proclamation
• Antietam marked a new stage in President
Lincoln’s conduct of the war. On New
Year’s Day, 1863 Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
This document freed all slaves in the
“rebelling” states (seceded Southern
states) as of January 1, 1863. This call for
emancipation of African-American slaves
changed the character of the war.
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln with his cabinet at the first reading
of the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862.
Emancipation Proclamation
• Previously, preservation of the Union had served
as the North’s primary goal. By issuing the
Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln made the
destruction of slavery a Northern war aim.
• This proclamation also discouraged any
interference of foreign governments in the war,
since neither Great Britain nor France wanted to
give the appearance of supporting slavery.
• It made the use of black troops a viable option
for the North.
Important Battles
Gettysburg - The Union
victory at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, in July
1863 proved to be the
military turning point
of the Civil War.
51,000 Union and
Confederate troops
died. After Gettysburg,
it was only a matter of
time before the Union
crushed the
Confederacy.
The Gettysburg Address
In November 1863, four
months after the North’s great
victory at the Battle of
Gettysburg, President Lincoln
traveled to Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania to dedicate a
military cemetery.
In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln eloquently set
forth the North’s now dual war aims of
preserving the Union and abolishing slavery.
The president described a different vision for the
United States from the one that had prevailed from
the beginning of the Republic up to the Civil War.
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln described the Civil War as a struggle to
preserve a nation that was dedicated to the
proposition that “all men are created equal” and that
was ruled by a government “of the people, by the
people, and for the people.” According to this vision,
the institution of African-American slavery must not
exist in the United States.
Important Battles
U. S. Grant was
made general-inchief of all Union
armies in March 1864
and commenced a
series of battles in
the Wilderness
region north of
Richmond in Spring
1864.
Despite heavy casualties, Grant continued to
attack, moving the fight ever closer to Richmond.
Absorbing extraordinarily high losses at
Spotsylvania Courthouse and Cold Harbor.
Important Battles
Grant next attacked the city of Petersburg. All roads and
railroads leading to Richmond from the south went through
Petersburg, 22 miles away, making that city the virtual key
to the Confederate capital. Lee rushed his army into
Petersburg's defenses just in time to stop Grant's attack.
However, Grant had forced Lee to occupy a fixed position,
and the Union could now bring the full weight of its
overwhelming manpower and materiel to bear upon Lee's
overextended army.
Important Battles
After a nine-month siege, Lee was
forced to abandon Petersburg on
April 2, 1865. A week later, he
surrendered to Grant at Appomattox
Court House. In April 1865 the
surrender of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee to Union General
Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox,
Virginia ended the Civil War. Meeting in the parlor of this house, Lee
wore his best dress uniform while Grant,
smoking a cigar, was as usual disheveled in
appearance. The two quickly came to
agreement as Grant offered, and Lee
accepted, very generous surrender terms.
Four days later, the actual surrender took
place as 26,000 Confederates laid down
their weapons and were paroled.
Civil War Facts
In the Civil War there
were more casualties
than in all of the other
U.S. wars from the
Revolution through
Korea. It was the last
U.S. war in which
horse cavalry served a
major role, and the
first war in which
railroads were used;
Civil War Facts
the last war in which sailing vessels took an
active part, and the first war in which
ironclad vessels were used. It was also the
first U.S. war in which aerial (balloon)
observation was used.