Causes of the Civil War
1850-1861
Compromise of 1850
Components:
California admitted free
Popular sovereignty in New Mexico
Tougher fugitive slave law
Abolition of slave trade in DC
Compromise stirs debate
Clay, Calhoun, and Webster
Calhoun: ―If you (North) will not yield, let the
states agree to separate and part in peace. If
you are unwilling, we should part in peace.‖
Webster on secession: ―Heaven forbid!
Where is the flag of the republic to remain?
Where is the eagle still to tower?‖
Futures…
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
―to provide for the appointment of federal
commissioners with authority to issue
warrants, summon posses, and compel
citizens under pain or fine or imprisonment to
assist in the capture of fugitives.
Commissioners who decided an accused
person was a fugitive slave received $10...$5
if they decided otherwise.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Told the story of Uncle Tom, a kind slave who
is physically and emotionally terrorized by
sadistic overseer Simon Legree.
His death and the story shock Northern
readers.
Election of 1852
Franklin Pierce
(Democrat-New
Hampshire)
Winfield Scott
(Whig-Virginia)
Why was each
selected?
2/3 caucus rule
Election Results
The Sad Legacy of Franklin Pierce
One of America’s worst…usually 39-40
on most rankings.
Sad tragedy prior to inauguration
Sad story of wife Jane
Appleton Pierce
Strong leadership needed…not provided
Transcontinental Railroad
Franklin Pierces initiative…
Gadsen Purchase designed to add remaining
continental territory as to build a southern
route from coast to coast.
Gadsden Purchase
Kansas-Nebraska Act
To support a railroad, the remaining territories need to be ―organized into statehood‖ for the purpose of having the railroad.
The ―Terminus‖
Stephen A. Douglas emerges to prominence…
Principal of the act: If South is to accept the Northern railroad route, they must get something…what do they get?
Popular Sovereignty in Kansas/Nebraska
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Slavery in Kansas/Nebraska?
Douglas thought the idea absurd, it was
geographically impossible for slavery to exist
there? So his thought, we need a railroad, so
who cares if they want to have slaves in a
northern climate…it will die out?
Result: wrong. This became a fury!
The race is on…
Populate Kansas as quickly as possible with
free soilers and pro slavery forces.
Congressional quotes!
―There are 1,1000 coming over from Platte,
Co. to vote and if that ain’t enough we can
send 5,000-enough to kill every #$%#
abolitionist in the territory.‖
Quotes:
―Come on Gentleman of the slave states,
since there is no escaping your challenge,, I
accept it on behalf of freedom. We will
engage in competition for the virgin soil of
Kansas, and God give victory of the side
which is stronger in numbers as it is in
right‖. Charles Sumner
Impacts of Kansas/Nebraska Act
The reopening of the slavery question in the territories with almost immediate tragic results in “Bleeding Kansas”
The president's hope for reelection dashed
The complete realignment of the major political parties
The Democrats lost influence in the North and were to become the regional proslavery party of the South
The Whig Party, which had opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, died in the South and was weakened in the North
A new Republican Party emerged as an immediate political force, drawing in anti-Nebraska Whigs and Democrats.
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas Defined
The Raid on Lawrence, Kansas. In May 1856, a band of Border Ruffians crossed the border from Missouri and attacked the free-soil community of Lawrence, looting and burning a number of buildings. Only one person was killed (one of the Ruffians), but the door to violence had been breached.
The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre. A few days later, in retaliation for the Lawrence raid, abolitionist forces under the zealot John Brown attacked a small proslavery settlement on Pottawatomie Creek. On Brown’s orders, five men were executed with a scythe.
John Brown
John Brown
The most shocking event?
Charles Sumner is beaten to within an inch of
his life for slandering a relative of Preston
Brooks and his pro slavery views.
Problem…the beating occurred in the US
Senate!
Dred Scott
Scott was transported
from slave Missouri, to
Wisconsin, sued for his
freedom as he entered
into free territory he
must be free.
Impact of Dred Scott
North outraged
Slavery rendered possible everywhere, Mo.
Compromise and Great compromise
abolished.
Slaves now have constitutional protection
thanks to a vile 7-2 decision led by
Southerner Roger B. Taney
Dred Scott was labeled ―property‖.
Election of James Buchannan
Northern
―doughface‖.
Northern (Penn)
man able to move in
Southern political
circles…
Worst president in
American
History…by far.
LeCompton Constitution
A proslavery constitution that…was arrived at illegally.
When passed by the pro-slavery forces illegally it was backed by President Buchannan!
Even southern senators insisted on a more democratic process.
Result: the fraudulent constitution was defeated by a 6-1 margin by a full body of Congress!
Buchannan shamed and humiliated.
Excerpts
―The legislature shall have no power to pass
laws for the emancipation of slaves without
the consent of the owners‖
―Free negroes shall not be permitted to live in
or travel in this State under any
circumstances.‖
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Senate seat in Illinois, young representative
and lawyer Abraham Lincoln v. Stephen A.
Douglas.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Debate #2 at Freeport.
Freeport Doctrine: responding to Lincoln’s
attacks on his being pro-slavery.
Douglass stated that slavery could legally be
barred from the territories if the territorial
legislatures simply refused to enact the type
of police regulations necessary to make
slavery work. Without a legal framework and
enforcement officials, slavery would be
excluded.
John Brown and Harpers Ferry
Importance of the
event?
Impact of John Brown
Led to the creation of the Southern militia system—precursor to the confederate army.
Created the belief that Northern Abolitionists would kill for their cause.
Execution divided the country
Election of 1860
Election of 1860
―I will say then that, I
am not nor have ever
been, in favor of
bringing about in any
way the social and
political equality of the
black and white race‖.
Lincoln’s views on
race
Why was Lincoln
such a hated figure in
South?
Lincoln
Denied to deal with
Slavery.
Denied rights of
South to secede.
Promised to protect
union and federal
institutions.
Words were
conciliatory.
Secession
South Carolina – Dec.
20, 1860
Alabama, Mississippi,
Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Texas – Feb.
1, 1861
―Confederate States of
America‖
President Jefferson
Davis
Secession
Order of secession
South Carolina (December 21, 1860),
Mississippi (January 9, 1861),
Florida (January 10, 1861),
Alabama (January 11, 1861),
Georgia (January 19, 1861),
Louisiana (January 26, 1861), and
Texas (February 1, 1861).
Border States?
Lost
Tennessee
Virginia
North Carolina
Arkansas
Preserved
Maryland
Delaware
Kentucky
Missouri
Challenges
Missouri-Border Ruffians
Maryland-suspension of Habeas Corpus
Delaware-only 2% slave
Kentucky-‖losing Kentucky is like losing the
whole game‖ Abraham Lincoln.
Antebellum Review: 1848-1860
What are the primary causes of the Civil
War?
What were the key events during the
Antebellum that fostered the coming of war?
What could have been done during the
Antebellum to stop the war?
Some have argued that the civil war had
been coming since 1776…would you agree?
Theatres of War
1861-1865
Tale of the Tape
Northern Advantages
Industry
Executive Leadership
Naval superiority
Ability to supply armaments.
Number of fighting men
European relations
Stability of political system
Southern Advantages
Caliber of fighting men
Military leadership
Defensive war
―King Cotton Diplomacy‖
Don’t have to win the
war?
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Lincoln made two promises at his
innauguration that are vital…
He would be ―friends of the South‖ and not
invade or pursue unprovoked military action.
He had a duty to protect Federal property.
Bull Run (Manassas)
Federals named things after geographic
features, rivers, etc…Confederates after civic
sites like railroads or cities (Manassas
Junction Railroad)
All myths about the war dispelled
This is not the Mexican American War
Lincoln’s initial call for 75,000 men seems
feeble. Issues a new call for 500,000 men. The
war will be unlike any that we have seen.
It appears clear as Irving McDowell is routed by
Pierre Gustave Toutant (PGT) Beauregard that
the confederates will have a distinct advantage
in military leadership.
Manassas
Casualties were light for a civil war battle,
2000 confederates, 1600 union.
Southerners lauded it as ―one of the decisive
battles of the world‖.
McDowell replaced with young bravado
George McClellan who despised Lincoln and
will contest his leadership in the election of
1864.
Lessons of Manassas: Finance
Congress passed an income tax. 3% over
incomes of $800.
Taxed states
Took out loans amounting to $140,000,000
during that first year.
Sold bonds
Issued a national currency called
―Greenbacks‖.
Lessons of Manassas: Politics
Republicans in factions
Democrats in factions
Emergence of Radical Republicans-Charles
Sumner.
Uncompromising view of slaves and their
future.
Lincoln and Dissent
Lincoln didn’t care for dissent.
Suspended Habeas Corpus, imprisoned
13,000.
Rights of the imprisoned
Ex Parte Merryman: failing to give a trial to
accused…Court ruled in favor of accused.
Ex Parte Milligan: declared military courts
illegal in areas where regular courts were
functioning…didn’t matter.
Clement Vallandingham
Congressman
banished to
Confederacy for his
views…fled to
Canada.
“A Rich Man’s War and a Poor
Man’s Fight”
Confederacy
Exemptions for slave
owners (20 or more)
Tax in Kind
Southern currency: 2
cents on the dollar by
1865, hard on the poor.
Union
Conscription could be
combated by buying a
sub for $300.
Income tax
Failed greenback
currency
Consequences
Union coming off big
wins at Fort Henry
and Fort
Donnellson.
Grant’s men
surprised at Shiloh
Church.
Staggering #’s.
Death toll (13,000)
in 2 days exceeded
the combined total
of the American
Revolution, War of
1812, French and
Indian War, and
Mexican American
War.
As we tramped solemnly and silently through the thin forest, and over its
grass, still in its withered and wintry hue, I noticed that the sun was not
far from appearing, that our regiment was keeping its formation
admirably, that the woods would have been a grand place for a picnic;
and I thought it strange that a Sunday should have been chosen to
disturb the holy calm of those woods.
Before we had gone five hundred paces, our serenity was disturbed by
some desultory firing in front. It was then a quarter-past five. 'They are at
it already,' we whispered to each other. 'Stand by, gentlemen,' - for we
were all gentlemen volunteers at this time, - said our Captain, L. G.
Smith. Our steps became unconsciously brisker, and alertness was
noticeable in everybody. The firing continued at intervals deliberate and
scattered, as at target-practice. We drew nearer to the firing, and soon a
sharper rattling of musketry was heard. 'That is the enemy waking up,'
we said. Within a few minutes, there was another explosive burst of
musketry, the air was pierced by many missiles, which hummed and
pinged sharply by our ears, pattered through the tree-tops and brought
twigs and leaves down on us. 'Those are bullets,' Henry whispered with
awe."
Shiloh’s impact
Perspective of the war changed.
―The most a soldier could say of any fight
was that I worse scared than I was at Shiloh‖
May 1862: Union Offensive
On to Richmond
Peninsula Campaign May, 1862. McClellan
moves, hammered by Johnston and then
Lee.
Lee/McClellan contrast.
Battle of Seven Days: 30,000 lost. McClellan
replaced with John Pope.
McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign
Instead of advancing through northern Virginia, where he was sure huge rebel armies lurked, the Union commander proposed instead to ship his 121,500-man Army of the Potomac to the tip of the York-James Peninsula by sea, then fight his way west to Richmond.
The Peninsular Campaign began in March 1862 - more than seven months after McClellan took command.
A Contrast Emerges
McClellan’s shortcomings prove costly
Lee’s strengths revealed
Lincoln and Emancipation
Believed in ―gradual
emancipation‖
Had spoken of this
―type‖ of plan as far
back as 1849.
Offered south
―compensated
emancipation”
Emancipation: Summer of 1862
Lincoln’s unwavering goal:
―my paramount objective is to save the Union.
It is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I
could save the Union without freeing any
slave I would do it, and I if I could save it by
freeing all the slaves I would do it‖
July 1862
Correspondence with Horace Greeley
Contradiction
From the ―London Times‖
―Where he has no power Mr. Lincoln will set the negroes free, where he retains power he
will consider them as slaves.‖ (referencing the
border states.)
Emancipation Proclamation
Changed focus of
war from restoration
of union to slavery.
Many found it ironic
that it only dealt with
slaves in lands
outside of union
control?
Secretary of State:
William Seward:
"We show our
symapthy with
slavery by
emancipating slaves
where we cannot
reach them and
holding them in
bondage where we
can set them free."
Antietam
Bloodiest Day in US History
McClellan’s big break.
23,000 casualties
McClellan’s failure proves costly.
Emergence of Ambrose Burnside.
“An act of justice”
Confiscation Act. Slaves were being
confiscated by the union army.
July 1862 all ―rebel slaveholders slaves were
forever free of their servitude‖
A bold national statement was needed.
Lincoln viewed it a military, political, and
emotional necessity.
Promised after Antietam
Legal?
1/1/1863
Emancipation takes effect
Democrats roared in anger
Republicans were anything but united.
Fredericksburg
One of the worst union defeats. An attack on
a Confederate stronghold. Several day
totals: 13,000 Union, 5,000 Confederate.
US Grant emerges
Failure from Galena, Illinois.
He had the aggressiveness that Lincoln craved, he matched Lee in that regard.
Victories at Fort Donnellson and on the Tennessee River drove the confederates out of Kentucky.
His perseverance at Shiloh secured a Northern victory and facilitated a slow Southern defeat in the West.
Union Blockade
Severing Southern commerce was key for the Union.
King Cotton.
―Shut the confederacy out from the world, deprived it of supplies weakened its military and naval strength‖.
Union victories and their contempt for slavery dashed any hope of intervention on behalf of the Confederacy.
1863-1865
5/1863: Chancellorsville
7/1863: Gettysburg
7/4/1863: Vicksburg
9/1863: Chickamauga
5/1864: Battle of the
Wilderness
5/1864: Spotsylvania
Court House
6/1864: Cold Harbor
9/1864: Fall of Atlanta
12/1864: Fall of
Savannah
4/2 1864: Fall of
Richmond
4/9: Appomattox
Surrender
US Grant
History
Ideas of warfare
Chancellorsville
Despite doubling
Confederate forces in
Chancellorsville
Virginia, the recently
appointed Joseph
Hooker is outwitted by
Lee’s genius. A
devastating Union
defeat, a huge victory
for Lee.
Key loss: Stonewall
Jackson (friendly fire)
The Twin Disasters
Vicksburg and Gettysburg were the turning
points of the Civil War. Southern forces
endured cataclysmic defeats in both the
North and the South, the tide had turned.
They occurred one day from each other and
signaled the end of the war.
Vicksburg
Impregnable stronghold that was sieged with a
brilliant move by Grant. The civil war’s most
brutal reminder of Grant’s total war philosophy.
Vicksburg conclusions
Lee refused the call of the Eastern armies to save western Vicksburg. He felt an invasion of the North to be more important and that eventually the weather would hamper Grant’s efforts.
Grant and the Union controlled the Mississippi, the confederacy had been cut in two.
Emergence of US Grant
No British involvement
Gettysburg
Lee’s miscalculation
Chancellorsville gets to his head. Invades
North.
Meade intercepts the force at Gettysburg, where
Northern forces occupied the high ground atop
the field at Little Round Top.
Cemetery Ridge
Lee ordered George Pickett and his men to
charge the union forces, fortified atop big and
little round tops. The result 28,000
casualties.
The hopeless maneuver cost Lee 1/3 of his
battle hardened force.
Last offensive in the North for Lee.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga
Grant’s reputation grows
Rescues victory from the jaws of defeat at
Chattanooga and deals a devastating blow to
the confederacy as the victory paved the way
for Georgia and Sherman’s march to the sea.
Grant v. Lee
Total War v. Strategic War
Astonishing casualty totals at:
Wilderness
Spotsylvania Court House
Cold Harbor
Wilderness
Lee negated Grant’s numbers in the trees.
18000 casualties. Usually considered a draw,
set the stage for other bloodshed in Spotsylvania
County Virginia.
Spotsylvania Court House
Grant moving to Richmond, Lee moves to
stop him. 120,000-60,000. Lee inflicts
staggering death tolls, but Grant’s total war is
taking its toll on the smaller armies.
Overland Campain
Grant’s Union Army of the Potomac’s quest to get to Richmond.
Staggering Union defeat that left even Grant bewildered at a 3-1 death toll ratio.
He indicated:
"I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22d of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained."
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Grant’s apocalyptic march to Richmond
distracted Confederate forces and after union
Victories at Chattanooga and Vicksburg,
Sherman had a clear path to the sea..
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain paved the way.
Goal—‖make Georgia howl‖.
Impact on election of 1864
Kennesaw Mountain
Sherman embraces Lee’s concept of Total
War.
Atlanta left in ruin. Only Savannah spared.
The March to the Sea
Scorched Earth, Theft, Destruction, ruined
Railroad transportation.
Appomattox Court House
Generous Terms
Lee was surprised to learn that Grant allowed
the men to return home immediately and
plant a crop, using their horses to do so.
The Election of 1864
Republican and
Democrats divided.
Issues ranging from
war handling, to
emancipation, to
finances, to
character.
Copperheads
Amazing it occurred
at all?
Assassination of Lincoln
Details
Impact
Toll
Modern Warfare
Modern warfare generally connotes wars
fought after the French Revolution by large
citizen armies equipped with the products of
the Industrial Revolution and motivated by
ideology.
By this definition do you view the Civil War as
an example of ―modern warfare‖?
Total War
―by 1865 under the pressure of total war the
Confederate South had surrendered most of
its cherished way of life‖
By definition: a form of social organization
that has given war a character of national
totality—that is the entire population and all of
the resources are sucked into the war‖
Given that definition do you agree with the
statement in the 1st bullet point?
Discuss this quote in the context of
total war: ―When men take up arms to resist a rightful authority, we are compelled to use
like force, because all reason and argument cease when arms are resorted to.
When the provisions, forage, horses, mules, wagons, etc., are used by our
enemy, it is clearly our duty and right to take them also, because otherwise
they might be used against us. In like manner all houses left vacant by an inimical people are clearly our right, and as such are needed as storehouses,
hospitals, and quarters. But the question arises as to dwellings used by
women, children, and non-combatants. [ So long as non-combatants remain in
their houses and keep to their accustomed peaceful business, their opinions
and prejudices can in no wise influence the war, and therefore should not be noticed; but if any one comes out into the public streets and creates disorder,
he or she should be punished, restrained, or banished to the rear or front, as
the officer in command adjudges If the people, or any of them, keep up a
correspondence with parties in hostility, they are spies, and can be punished
according to law with death or minor punishment. These are well-established principles of war, and this people of the South having appealed to war, are
barred from appealing for protection to our constitution, which I they have
practically and publicly defied. They have appealed to war, and must abide its
rules and laws.‖ William T. Sherman
Group Discussion
What ―non-combat‖ elements of warfare owe
their origins to the Civil War?
What challenges remain in the wake of the
Civil War?