THE CIVIL WAR

Election of 1860Democratic Party split over the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln easily won a majority of electoral votes (but only 40% of the popular vote) and became the sixteenth President of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln – Republican Candidate

Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas (Illinois) Southern Democrats chose John C. Breckinridge (Kentucky) Constitutional Unionists, nominated John Bell (Tennessee). Abraham Lincoln (Illinois) Republican

The South Secedes

• Late 1860 to early 1861 southern states vote to secede (or withdraw) from the Union

• Formed the Confederate States of America.

Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected as president of the Confederacy. Previously, Senator from Mississippi

Several Southern states refused to accept Lincoln’s election as President, because they feared he would try to abolish or at least further restrict slavery.

The War Begins at Fort Sumter• In April 1861, President Lincoln refused to

remove federal troops from Fort Sumter, located in Charleston, South Carolina.

• When Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War (1861-1865) began.

The Cost of Civil War • A civil war is a war between people of the same

country, and approximately 620,000 Americans died during the four years of fighting in the American Civil War - 360,000 men died fighting for the Union, while 260,000 Confederates perished.

Before and After Fort SumterPresident Lincoln calls states to send troops to serve in the US Army.Rather than send troops, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas voted to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy

1)Ongoing political debate on tariff policies, extension of slavery and nature of the Union (South consistently takes state’s rights position)

2)Continuous conflict between Northern opponents of slavery and Southern proponents of slavery.

3)US Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott case4)Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin5)Ineffective Presidential leadership through the

1850s6)History of failed compromises over the

expansion of slavery in the territories7)President Lincoln’s call for troops in 1861

So….Secession of Southern States triggers a long and costly war that concludes with •Northern victory•Restoration of the Union•Emancipation of the Slaves

*Emancipation – In American History – refers to freeing of African-American Slaves

Early 19th CenturyDebate over the power of the Federal government vs. states rights finally reached a climax.Two most important issues1 – Survival of the US as one nation2 - Tested the US’s ability to live up to the ideals of liberty, equality and justice.More Americans died in the Civil War than any other War in the Nation’s history.

Key Leaders of the Civil War

• Abraham Lincoln • Served as President

throughout the War• Opposed secession and

insisted the Union should be held together by force if necessary

Key Leaders of the Civil War• Jefferson Davis • President of the Confederate States of

America• Davis was previously Senator from Mississippi

Key Leaders of the Civil War• Ulysses S. Grant

was a Union military commander, who won victories over the South after several other Union commanders had failed.

A West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, Grant had resigned his commission in 1854 over troubles with drinking. When the Civil War began, Grant volunteered his services and by September 1861 was promoted to brigadier general

Key Leaders of the Civil War• Robert E. Lee was a Confederate general

and commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Although Lee opposed secession, he did not believe the Union should be held together by force.

At the end of the war, Robert E. Lee urged Southerners to accept defeat and unite as Americans again, even though some Southerners wanted to continue the fight.

Key Leaders of the Civil War

Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a former slave who became a prominent or important anti-slavery abolitionist. During the Civil War, Douglass urged President Lincoln to recruit former slaves to fight in the Union army.

Important Battles – Antietam, Gettysburg, and Appomattox

• Antietam - A major Union victory over the Confederates as Lee retreated from Maryland back into Virginia (Sept 1862)

• Important – because the confidence after this Confederate defeat allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

GettysburgGettysburg - The Union victory over Confederates at Gettysburg, PA, in July 1863 proved to be the major turning point of the Civil War. 51,000 Union and Confederate troops died. After Gettysburg, it was only a matter of time before the Union crushed the Confederacy.

Appomattox CourthouseAfter a nine-month siege, Lee was forced to abandon Petersburg, VA on April 2, 1865. A week later, he surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. This ended the Civil War.

Meeting in the parlor of this house, Lee wore his best dress uniform while Grant, smoking a cigar, was as usual disheveled in appearance. The two quickly came to agreement as Grant offered, and Lee accepted, very generous surrender terms. Four days later, the actual surrender took place as 26,000 Confederates laid down their weapons and were paroled.

Emancipation Proclamation

• Antietam marked a new stage in President Lincoln’s conduct of the war. On New Year’s Day, 1863 Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This document freed all slaves in the “rebelling” states (seceded Southern states) as of January 1, 1863. This call for emancipation of African-American slaves changed the character of the war.

Emancipation Proclamation

President Lincoln with his cabinet at the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862.

Emancipation Proclamation• Previously, preservation of the Union had served as

the North’s primary goal. By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln made the destruction of slavery a Northern war aim and this joined the previous war aim of preservation of the Union

• This proclamation also discouraged any interference of foreign governments in the war, since neither Great Britain nor France wanted to give the appearance of supporting slavery.

• It made the use of black troops a viable option for the North.

The Gettysburg Address In November 1863, four months after the North’s great victory at

the Battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to

dedicate a military cemetery.

In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln:

Described the Union as one nation and not a federation of independent states (In contrast, Southern view – states joined freely, could secede.)

Set forth the North’s now dual war aims to preserve the Union and abolish slavery.

The Gettysburg Address

Lincoln described the Civil War as a struggle to preserve a nation that was dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” and that was ruled by a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” According to this vision, the institution of African-American slavery must not exist in the United States.

Impacts

The Civil War had a big impact on African-Americans, the common Soldier, and the home front and women in Virginia

African-Americans• Emancipation Proclamation

allowed for enlistment of African-American Soldiers

• Many enslaved African-Americans gained freedom by running behind Union lines as the Army approached

The Common Soldier in Wartime• Hand-to-hand combat

• Brutal warfare

• Lonely and boring camp life

• Wartime letters and diaries preserved their experiences

After the War• Many soldiers returned

to find their homes destroyed

• Families in poverty (particularly in the South)

• Many on both sides were wounded, crippled and lived with permanent disabilities

Women• Assumed non-traditional

roles on the home front

• Managed homes & families with scarce resources

• Frequently faced poverty and hunger

• New roles in agriculture, nursing and war industries during the war