The American Civil War

1. The American Civil War “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” - Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

2. Before we begin…. What caused the American Civil War? Slavery

3. Republican Party February 1854: N. Whigs (pro small gov.), anti-slavery Democrats, and Free Soilers (abolitionist party) met to form a NEW political Party • Conservative members wanted to resurrect Missouri Compromise • Liberal members were radical abolitionists • Supported by diverse groups

4. Political Party Shifts • Main source of competition: Known-Nothing Party • Targeted same voters • 1856 Election: • Republicans back John C. Fremont • Know-Nothings back Millard Fillmore • Democrats: James Buchanan • Results: Buchanan wins (15th President) • Know-Nothings decline • Republicans gain power

5. Major Political Parties (1850-1860)

6. “A House Divided…” “’A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it… or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.” - Abraham Lincoln, 1858 Speech

7. Election of 1860 Slavery was the #1 issue, especially after the Dred Scott Decision (1857): • Supreme Court declares • no slave (or descendant of a slave) can be a U.S. citizen • Congress will NOT STOP slavery in the new ter. • A. Lincoln angered over decision • Result: • Missouri Compromise effectively repealed • Slaves = Property

8. Election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln • Slavery Immoral • Slavery won’t stop spreading w/o legislation to outlaw it Stephen Douglas • Slavery a “backward” labor system (not good for the prarie) • Popular Sovereignty will allow slavery to fade on its own

9. Election of 1860: Issues • “Bleeding Kansas” - Pro-Slavery and Pro-Abolition people rush to Kansas to influence the free/slave state vote. Violence erupts. • John Brown & Harper’s Ferry • South feared North was inciting slaves to revolt • North saw Brown as a martyr - abolition worthy of support

10. Election of 1860 • Many Candidates: • Republicans - Abraham Lincoln • N. Democrats - Stephen Douglas • S. Democrats - John C. Brekinridge (1856 VP) • Constitutional Union Party (Know-Nothings/Whigs from south) - John Bell (TN)

11. Election of 1860

12. Southern Secession • Lincoln’s victory convinces S. they had lost voice in fed. gov. • S. worried N. Republicans would attack slavery everywhere

13. Southern Secession • Dec. 20th 1860 - South Carolina secedes • Jan. 9th 1861 - Mississippi secedes • Weeks later: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas secede • Union dissolves

14. The Confederacy • Feb. 4th 1861 - secessionist states send delegates to Alabama, write a constitution • Mirrors US but protected/recognized slavery in new territories. • Feb. 9th 1861 - Jefferson Davis (Sen., MS) elected president, Alexander Stephens (GA) VP • “The time for compromise has now passed.”

15. Calm Before the Storm • By Lincoln’s inauguration (Mar 1): • 7 slave states had seceded, formed a new union • 8 slave states remained within the Union (for how long?) • Pres. Buchanan announced: “Secession Illegal” (but it was also illegal for him to do anything about it) • Problems: • D.C. a Southern city • Secessionists in Congress AND Fed. Gov. AND POTUS’s Cabinet! • Mass resignations

16. Attack on Fort Sumter • Soldiers in secessionist states took over federal installations. By March 4th, only 2 Southern forts in Union hands. • Of these, SC’s Fort Sumter was most important (on an island, Charleston Harbor)

17. Attack on Fort Sumter • Lincoln’s Dilemma: • Order Navy into harbor = responsible for starting hostilities (other slave states might secede) • Evacuate fort = treading CSA as legit nation (Republicans mad, administration weakened, Union endangered) • Solution: • Not abandon or reinforce.Send “food for hungry men”

18. Attack on Fort Sumter • J. Davis’s Dilemma: • Do Nothing = CSA image (sovereign, independent) damaged • (and S. states might rejoin Union…) • Attack = peaceful secession becomes war Solution: War!

19. Virginia Secedes • Fall of Ft. Sumter unites North – Lincoln calls for 75,000 vols. to serve for 3 mo. • Overwhelming response (Iowa enlists 20x the state’s quota) • April 17th – VA secedes (unwilling to fight S. States) • Most heavily populated S. state. • Most industrialized (ironworks, navy yard) • May: AR, TN, NC secede • W. counties of VA secede from VA to become WV in 1863 • MD, DE, KY, MO remain in Union (but many ind. citizens fought for the CSA)

21. Comparing North and South

22. Americans Expect a Short War • Union and Confederates each expect short, glorious war • Soldiers head to the front w/ bands playing, crowd cheering • Each felt they were in the right

23. Confederacy Union • Advantage in Resources • More fighting power • More factories • Greater food production • More extensive RR • Lincoln – decisive, patient, good at balancing political factions • King Cotton [profits on the world market] • Strong military tradition • Highly motivated soldiers (defending homes) • Tradition of local/limited gov. – resistance to centralization of gov. necessary to run war • Some S. governors refused to cooperate w/ CSA gov b/c States’ Rights

24. Military Strategies Union Confederacy • 3 Part Plan (Anaconda) • Navy blockades S. ports (no cotton export, no manuf. good import) • Riverboats/armies move down MS R., split CSA in two • Union armies capture CSA capital (Richmond, VA) • Defensive • S. leaders encouraged generals to attack (even invade!) N. if opp. arose.

26. Bull Run • 1st major bloodshed (July 21st 1861) • 30,000 (inexperienced) Union soldiers head for Richmond, VA • Meet (equally inexperienced) Confederate army • Lincoln tells Gen. Irvin McDowell to attack • Battle goes back and forth • Confederates led by Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson • Confederate reinforcements arrive, S. wins • Union troops panic, retreat to capital (DC = 100 mi away)

27. Bull Run • D.C. ladies & gents put on best clothes, bring picnic to first encounter of the war. • When Union retreats, blocked by carriages of panicking civilians • After: no one in N. predicted war would be over quickly • Confederates too tired to follow to D.C. (morale soars, think war is over)

29. Union Reacts to Bull Run • Lincoln changes enlistment call: 500,000 men, 3 yrs (instead of 3 mo.) • 3 days later: and additional 500,000 • Gen. George McClellan to lead new Union army (Army of the Potomac) • Western Army began to fight for control of the Miss. R.