Transcript The American Civil War

The American Civil War
Kristine Fisch
Events Leading Up to the
Civil War
Fugitive Slave Act, 1850
•The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by Congress
on September 18, 1850.
•It was passed as part of the Compromise of
1850, a compromise meant to settle the
dispute between the North and the South over
the issue of slavery.
•The compromise pleased the south by
instituting a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, making
it mandatory for Northerners to return
runaway slaves to their plantations in the
South.
•The enforcement of this law outraged the
North.
•Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin stressed the
horrors of recapturing escaped
slaves, and outraged Southerners.
•The novel was intensely criticized
by slavery supporters and some
claimed the novel was an
exaggeration of what slavery was
actually like, arguing the harsh
violence depicted in the novel was
not what their slaves actually went
through.
•The novel attributed the abolitionist
movement and eventually the start
of the Civil War.
•When the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in
1854, Congress had finally adopted the idea of
popular sovereignty, a concept where the
people would be allowed to decide whether to
be a free state or a slave state.
•When the Kansas territory was being admitted
as a state, they were to use popular sovereignty
to make their decision.
•Both pro-slavery activists and strong
abolitionists fled to Kansas to attempt to get the
state admitted to their side of the issue.
•Violence between the two groups of people
resulted in one fatality. These acts of violence
were the first accounts of using physical
violence to solve the controversy and at this
point in time the Civil War seemed inevitable.
•In 1866 Senator Charles Sumner made a speech in
which he criticized Andrew Butler of South Carolina.
• Sumner's three-hour oration also mocked the 59year-old Butler's manner of speech and physical
mannerisms, which were impaired by a stroke.
Representative Preston Brooks was Butler’s
nephew.
•Two days later, Brooks confronted Sumner as he
sat writing at his desk in the Senate chamber. As
Sumner began to stand up, Brooks beat Sumner
severely on the head before he could. Sumner was
knocked down Brooks continued to beat the
motionless Sumner until his cane broke at which
point he left the chamber.
•Brooks was fined $300 for his actions. This is
another example of violence ensued as a result of
the controversy over the slavery issue.
Dred Scott Decision, 1857
•Dred Scott was the name of an African-American
slave who’s master took him from the slave state of
Missouri to the free state of Illinois and then to the
free territory of Wisconsin. He lived on free soil for a
long period of time.
•In 1846, Scott sued for his freedom in court, claiming
he should be free since he had lived on free soil for a
long time. The case went all the way to the United
States Supreme Court.
•In March of 1857, Scott lost the decision as seven out
of nine Justices on the Supreme Court declared as a
non-citizen, Scott had no rights and could not sue in a
Federal Court and must remain a slave.
•Overall, the Dred Scott decision had the effect of
widening the political and social gap between North
and South and took the nation closer to the brink of
Civil War.
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Fairy, 1859
•On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and several
followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown and 19 men marched into
Harpers Ferry, capturing several watchmen.
•Local militia companies surrounded the armory, cutting off
Brown's escape routes. When Brown realized he had no
way to escape, he took nine prisoners and moved them to
the armory's small fire engine house, but he was eventually
captured by the militia.
• John Brown stood trial at the Jefferson County Courthouse
on October 26. Five days later, a jury found him guilty of
treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia he was
sentenced to death and was hung in Charles Town on
December 2.
•Northern abolitionists immediately used the executions as
an example of the government's support of slavery. John
Brown became their martyr, a hero murdered for his belief
that slavery should be abolished.
The North
STRENGTHS:
• Large Navy and fleet of trading ships
• 70% of nation’s rail lines to transport food and
troops
• Larger (4x) population to volunteer for army and
work in factories.
•90% of nations industry including factories to
produce weapons and war supplies
The South
Strengths:
• Fighting a defensive war - knew the territory
they were fighting on
• Trained soldiers - hunting skills and attended
military school
• Believed in the cause because it was for their
independence
Major Battles
Fort Sumter
April 12, 1861
On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Beauregard, in command of the
provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the
surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison
commander Anderson refused. On April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire
on the fort, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 pm, April 13, Major
Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following
day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the
American Civil War.
Bull Run
July 21, 1861
Bull Run was the first “official” battle of the Civil War, fought in Virginia just
miles from Washington DC. President Lincoln ordered the Union army to attack the
Confederate forces who held a strong position along Bull Run. The goal was to make
quick work of the bulk of the Confederate army, open the way to Richmond, the
Confederate capital, and end the war. By July 22, the shattered Union army reached
the safety of Washington. The Battle of Bull Run convinced the Lincoln
administration and the North that the Civil War would be a long and costly affair.
Shiloh
April 6, 1862
On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under
the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods
and struck a line of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on
the Tennessee River. Grant’s April 7th counteroffensive overpowered the
weakened Confederate forces and Beauregard’s army retired from the field.
The two day battle at Shiloh produced more than 23,000 casualties and was
the bloodiest battle in American history at its time.
Antietam
September 16, 1862
The Union Army, under the command of George McClellan, mounted a
series of powerful assaults against Robert E. Lee’s forces near
Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862. Late in the day, the
third and final major assault by the Union army pushed over a bulletstrewn stone bridge at Antietam Creek. The bloodiest single day in
American military history ended in a draw, but the Confederate retreat
gave Abraham Lincoln the “victory” he desired before issuing the
Emancipation Proclamation.
Vicksburg
May-July 1863
In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s armies converged
on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under
Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. Grant's successes in the West boosted his
reputation, leading ultimately to his appointment as General-in-Chief of
the Union armies.
Gettysburg
July 1, 1863
Gettysburg, in conjunction with the simultaneous Battle of Vicksburg,
was a turning point in the Civil War where the victory seemed not
only feasible, but probable for the Union.
The Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a
new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final
resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow
-- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it,
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long
remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The Leaders
Robert E. Lee
Throughout his life, Robert E. Lee aspired
to remarkably high standards of duty,
honor, self-denial, and self-control; his
personal qualities were thought by many of
his contemporaries to be worthy of
emulation. Lee was particularly revered in
the South. He has been described him as a
military genius, who was defeated only
because he faced impossible odds, and as
the embodiment of what was best about
the Old South. What was worst about the
Old South, however—the institution of
slavery—would undermine Lee's standing
in American memory. Today, many
Americans question how any man can be
considered great if he joined a cause that
attempted to break apart the nation and
perpetuate slavery. •
Ulysses S. Grant
General William Tecumseh Sherman said,
"Grant is the greatest soldier of our time
if not all time." He was a talented and
highly determined individual who had
become first in the hearts of his
countrymen, many of whom were quick
to see the parallel between Grant’s
achievements and those of George
Washington. While we now think of
Abraham Lincoln as the greatest
American of his moment, many of their
contemporaries would have seen Grant
as his equal. As Theodore Roosevelt put
it, "as we look back with keener wisdom
into the nation's past, mightiest among
the mighty dead loom the three great
figures of Washington, Lincoln, and
Grant."
Lincoln and the Civil War
A common misconception about Lincoln is that he was an abolitionist. A
common misconception about the Civil War is that it was a war over the issue of
slavery. Four months after Lincoln became president the South seceded from
the Union and in 1862 Lincoln said:
“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; and what I
forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.“
Lincoln was not an abolitionist. His goal as President was not to free the slaves,
it was to save the Union. The Civil War was not fought over slavery. It was over
the issue of the confederacy seceding from the Union. Slavery was a huge
controversial issue that guided our country into a Civil War that was fought over
the issue of secession.
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