Unit 4: Civil War and Reconstruction
CIVIL WAR
The country began tearing apart due to sectional differences and arguments over states’
rights with regard to slavery.
o Missouri Compromise: issue was keeping the balance of free and slave states
in Congress. Compromise = Missouri comes in as slave state; Maine enters as
free. All states north of 36 30’ would be free territories.
o Compromise of 1850: California is admitted as a free state; in the Mexican
Cession, slavery will be decided by popular sovereignty; slave trade outlawed in
Washington, DC; and a Fugitive Slave Law was passed.
o Kansas-Nebraska Act: Repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new
territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty.
o Dred Scott v. Sandford: having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle
an enslaved person, Dred Scott, to his freedom. In essence, the decision argued
that, as someone's property, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a
federal court.
o John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry: Abolitionist John Brown leads a small
group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in an attempt
to start an armed revolt of enslaved people and destroy the institution of slavery.
He is captured and executed.
o The Election of 1860: Lincoln won the election in an electoral college landslide
with 180 electoral votes, although he secured less than 40 percent of the popular
vote. The election of 1860 firmly established the Democratic and Republican
parties as the majority parties in the U.S.. “A house divided against itself cannot
stand…” It also confirmed deep-seated views on slavery and states’ rights
between the North and South.
Before Lincoln could take office, 11 Southern states had seceded from (left) the Union.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president – soon after, the South seceded because
they feared that he would try to get rid of slavery.
They formed the Confederate States of America, elected Jefferson Davis as their
President and flew their own flag.
In April 1861, the Confederacy fired on the federal Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Civil
War began.
Lincoln’s main focus was to preserve the Union. He worked to keep the 4 border states
(slaves states) in the Union.
He broadened the power of the executive branch in a number of ways, most famously by
suspending the writ of habeas corpus in areas not in rebellion (When the privilege of the
writ is suspended, a prisoner is denied the right to secure such a writ and therefore can be
held without trial indefinitely.)
In 1862, he issued the Executive Order of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed
the slaves in the rebelling states. It aided in the war effort. The 13th Amendment officially
abolished slavery.
The Union had overwhelming advantages in terms of population, industrial capacity, and
transportation facilities. Because most of the military academies were in the South, the
Confederacy began the Civil War with a larger group of officers. Since most battles were
fought in the South, the Confederacy also had “home court advantage.”
Strategies
Confederacy: defensive war
Union: Anaconda Plan –a naval blockade of the Confederate coast, a thrust down the
Mississippi, and the strangulation of the South
Total war: used by Union General William T. Sherman to decimate the South
Gettysburg Address: Lincoln dedicated the Union military cemetery at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, the site of the turning point of the war (it was the last time the South
attempted to invade the North) “Four score and seven years ago…” expressed Lincoln’s
view of America’s past and vision for its future.
In his second Inaugural Address, Lincoln’s expresses his desire to put the country
back together:
The war ends when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General
Ulysses S. Grant in 1865. A week later, Lincoln is assassinated.
Major Impacts of the War:
Union preserved
Abolishment of slavery
Supremacy of the federal government upheld
Economic growth for the North
South economically devastated
