Transcript Monitor vs. Merrimac

THE CIVIL WAR
1861-1865
Monitor vs. Merrimac
■ Battle of the ironclads
■ Merrimac (former Union ship, rebuilt from June 1861- March 1862, and
renamed the Virginia) was a Confederate ironclad
■ March 8, 1862, near Hampton Roads, VA the Merrimac sunk several Union
wooden ships
■ The Confederacy wanted to break the Union’s blockade of the Southern ports
■ On March 9 the Monitor, the Union’s ironclad engaged the Merrimac in a 5
hour duel
■ The battle ended in a draw
■ This marked a turning point in the naval warfare, with wooden ships being
replaced by ironclad ships
Gettysburg Address
■ The Gettysburg Address took about two minutes and
was 273 words long
■ At the time, the speech did not garner much attention
■ It was not until 1876, 11 years after Lincoln had died,
that the speech became famous when it was touted
during the United States centennial for its emphasis
on freedom, equality and unity as well as a general
symbol of the significant impact the Civil War had on
the United States and the formation of the country.
Copperheads
■ Opposition to the war, to the administration’s policies,
and to the president himself waxed and waned,
depending on how well—or poorly—the army was doing
in the field
■ The principal dissidents were known as Copperheads,
conservative Democrats
■ Copperheads believed that the war would end
immediately if the North would give the South what it
had wanted before it seceded, including an unalterable
amendment to the Constitution protecting slavery
Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy
• Confederacy leaders expected that
Europe would need their cotton and would
give them direct aid
• Union knew it was critically important to
prevent the Confederacy from gaining
foreign support
Trent Affair
■
■
■
■
1861
Two Confederate diplomats were on a British steamer, the Trent
Wanted to gain recognition for their government
A Union warship stopped the steamer and removed the two
diplomats, and brought them to the US as prisoners of war
■ Britain threatened war over the incident if the two were not
released
■ Lincoln gave in and released them
■ They were not able to gain recognition from either Britain or
France
Failure of King Cotton Diplomacy
■ Europe found other sources for cotton, Egypt and India
■ Europe began to use other materials for textiles
■ Two other factors went into Britain’s decision to not recognize
the Confederacy
– General Lee’s setback at Antietam, without seeing a
decisive Confederate military victory, the British
government would not risk recognition
– Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made the end of
slavery an objective of the Union, a position that appealed
strongly to Britain’s working class. Britain could not ignore
the antislavery feelings of the British majority
Confiscation Acts
■August 1861– the Union could seize property
used to wage war against the United States
■“Contraband of war” – captured slaves
■Thousands of “contrabands” began escaping
slavery and found their way into Union camps
The End of Slavery
■ Lincoln was hesitant to take action against
slavery. Why?
– Wanted to keep the border states happy
– The constitutional protections of slavery
– The racial prejudice of many Northerners
– The fear that premature action could be
overturned in the next election
Emancipation Proclamation
■ Lincoln justified it as a “military necessity”
■ Encouraged the border states to come up with a plan for
emancipation, with compensation to the owners
■ After the Battle of Antietam, on September 22, 1862,
Lincoln issued a warning that enslaved people in all
states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863 would be
“then, thenceforward, and forever free.
■ Only about 1 percent of the salves were freed, since the
proclamation applied to enslaved people residing in
Confederate states outside Union control
Emancipation Proclamation and How it Helped the
Union
■ For the first time Union armies were fighting
against slavery and not just against secession
■ Also authorized the use of free slaves as Union
soldiers
■ Britain and France no longer have any ideas of
supporting the Confederacy
The Election of 1864
■ During three months in the summer of 1864, over 65,000 Union soldiers were
killed, wounded, or missing-In comparison, there had been 108,000 Union
casualties in the first three years.
■
Don’t change horses in
Peace Democrats (copperheads), who wanted a negotiated peace at any cost.
the middle of a stream
They chose as their nominee George B. McClellan
Lincoln’s
slogan
■ Lincoln expected
that McClellan
would win.
■ The South was well aware of Union discontent. Many felt that if the Southern
armies could hold out until the election, negotiations for Northern recognition of
Confederate independence might begin
■ Everything changed on September 6, 1864, when General Sherman seized
Atlanta. The war effort had turned decidedly in the North's favor
■ Two months later, Lincoln won the popular vote that eluded him in his first election
■ He won the electoral college by 212 to 21
The End of the War
■ April 3, 1865 – Richmond fell to the Union Army
■ Confederate Army tried to negotiate for peace, but Lincoln would accept nothing short of
the restoration of the Union, and Jefferson Davis still demanded independence
■ Lee and his army of 30,000 tried to escape Richmond, but he was cut off and
surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.
■ Grand was treated Lee and his men with respect, allowing Lee’s men to return to their
homes with their horses
■ Not until 16 months after Appomattox, on August 20, 1866, did the President formally
declare an end to the war
■ Estimated $15 billion in war costs and property losses
■ Southern economy is devastated
■
Thirteenth Amendment
■ to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction."
■ Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the
13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on
January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on
December 6, 1865.
Freedmen in the war
■ Almost 200,000 African Americans served in
the Union army and navy
■ Segregated into all-black units
■ Performed courageously under fire and won
the respect of the Union white soldiers
■ More than 37,000 African American soldiers
died in the war
Economic Change
■ Many aspects of a modern industrial economy were accelerated by the war
■ A new class of millionaires emerged from the fortunes made in the North during
the war
■ Republicans who had control of the Congress passed:
– The Morrill Tariff Act (1861)– raised tariff rates to increase revenue and
protect American manufacturers. Created high protective tariffs to help
industrialists
– The Homestead Act (1862)– promoted settlement of the Great Plains by
offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to any person or family that
farmed the land for at least five years
– The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)– encouraged states to use the sale of
federal land grants to maintain agricultural and technical colleges
– The Pacific Railway Act (1862)– authorized the building of a transcontinental
railroad over the northern route in order to link the economies of California and
the western territories with the eastern states
Social Change
■ The Civil War had at lease two permanent effects on American
women:
– 1. The field of nursing was now open to women for the first
time; previously hospitals employed only men as doctors
and nurses. (Clara Barton)
– 2. The enormous responsibilities undertaken by women
during the war increased the desire for women to gain
equal voting rights.