The Civil WarMr. Webster’s Class

The Debate over Slavery

• The question of slavery had long fueled debate in the United States.• Each time the debate flared,

the nation’s leaders struck some sort of compromise, such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820.• In the 1840s, the debate over

slavery erupted once again when the United States acquired new territories from the Mexican-American War.

Zachary Taylor

• 12th President of the United States• His success as a general in the Second Seminole War earned him the name “Old Rough and Ready.”• His successes during the Mexican-

American War made him a national hero.• As a president, Taylor avoided the issue of slavery.• He died in office in July 1850 from a stomach-related illness.

Millard Fillmore

• 13th President of the United States• Fillmore assumed the presidency

after Taylor’s death.• He supported the Compromise of 1850, which included the Fugitive Slave Act.• Whig (last president to not be a

Democrat or Republican)• He is consistently rated as one of

the worst presidents in history.

Franklin Pierce

• 14th President of the United States• Democrat• Sympathetic to the South.• Pierce supported the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed new territories to decide whether or not to allow slavery.• He is considered one of

the worst presidents in U.S. history.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act. This law made it illegal to help slaves escape to freedom.• Many Northerners refused to obey the new law.• When Franklin Pierce

became president in 1853, he intended to enforce it.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

• In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.• The act also allowed voters in both territories to decide whether or not to allow slavery, which was known as popular sovereignty. • In effect, it repealed the Missouri Compromise.• In Kansas, supporters of both sides rushed there to influence the vote. Ultimately, the pro-slavery side won.

Bleeding Kansas

• After voters in Kansas voted to allow slavery, many slavery opponents refused to accept the laws. • They armed themselves, had their own elections,

and adopted a constitution banning slavery. • By January 1856, Kansas had two rival

governments.• In May 1856, slavery supporters attacked the town of Lawrence, an antislavery stronghold. Antislavery forces retaliated.• The violence led to the term “Bleeding Kansas,” and in October 1856, federal troops arrived to stop the bloodshed.

Birth of the Republican Party• After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the

Democratic Party began to divide among sectional lines. Northern Democrats left the party. • Differing views over slavery also

split the Whig Party.• In 1854, the Republican Party was founded by antislavery activists (many of whom were former Whigs and Democrats).• Republicans found support in the North, while Democrats held support in the South.

Election of 1856

• In the Election of 1856, Republicans chose John C. Fremont as their candidate while the Democrats chose James Buchanan.• Buchanan tried to appeal

to Southern whites, and he supported the idea of popular sovereignty.• The Election of 1856 was

divided among rigid sectional lines, and ultimately Buchanan won.

James Buchanan

• 15th President of the United States• Never married• Buchanan’s efforts to maintain peace between the North and the South alienated both sides.• By the time he left office, 7

Southern states had seceded from the Union.• Buchanan’s inability to deal with the mounting crisis has led to him consistently being ranked as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

• Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom after having lived in two states where slavery was illegal.• Scott’s case eventually made it all the way to the Supreme Court.• The Supreme Court ruled that Scott was still a slave, and as such, he was not a citizen and had no right to file a lawsuit.• The court also ruled that Congress had no power to ban slavery, which outraged Republicans and abolitionists.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• In 1858, the Illinois Senate race became the center of national attention when Democrat Stephen A. Douglas ran against a rising star in the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln.

• Lincoln was far less well-known than Douglas, but he challenged Douglas to a series of debates.

• At the debates, the main topic was slavery.

• Although Lincoln lost the election, he gained national reputation as a man of clear thinking who could argue with force and persuasion.

John Brown and Harpers Ferry

• In 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia.• Brown hoped to start an armed

slave revolt, but he was defeated, and later tried and convicted of treason and murder.• He received a death sentence.• Brown’s death rallied abolitionists, and confirmed that the nation was on the brink of disaster.

Political Cartoon Assignment – worth 20 points• For this assignment, you are to create a political cartoon that

explores one of the topics recently discussed in class (Fugitive Slave Act, Underground Railroad, Women’s Rights, Abolition, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dredd Scott, etc.)• You can create one central image / depiction, or you can produce

a comic-type cartoon where there are multiple scenes. Either way, your cartoon must be historically relevant and accurate, and it must depict the time period we are studying in class (mid-1800s).• I will be grading as follows:• Historical Accuracy / Relevance – 10 points• Creativity / Neatness – 10 points

Review Questions Assignment – worth 20 points• You are to use your textbook (pg. 410-444) to create 10

questions and answers that you feel would make good test questions.• You are to put all of your questions on one sheet of

paper, and all of your answers on another sheet of paper. On the answer sheet, you also need to write down the page # where you got your information.• Once you have completed creating your questions and

answers, you will submit them to me and I will distribute another student’s questions to you for you to answer. • The first three students to complete the assignment

successfully will receive a reward.

Civil War Vocabulary

• fugitive – a person who is running away from legal authority• secede – to officially leave an organization• civil war – conflict between citizens of the same country• arsenal – a place to store weapons and military

equipment• secession – withdrawal• states’ rights – the theory that individual states are

independent and have the right to control their most important affairs

Civil War Vocabulary Cont.

• border state – a state on the border between the North and South• enlist – to formally join a military force• ironclad – a warship equipped with iron plating for

protection• casualty – a soldier who is killed, wounded, captured, or

missing in battle• Emancipation Proclamation – a decree issued by Pres.

Lincoln freeing enslaved people in those parts of the Confederacy still in rebellion• total war – a strategy of bringing war to the entire

society, not just the military

The Election of 1860

• During the election of 1860, the issue of slavery split the Democratic Party.

• Northern Democrats supported popular sovereignty and nominated Stephen Douglas.

• Southern Democrats vowed to uphold slavery, and their candidate was John Breckinridge.

• The Constitutional Union Party took no position on slavery. Their candidate was John Bell.

• The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. They wanted to leave slavery alone where it existed, but ban it in the territories.

• With the Democrats divided, Lincoln won a clear majority of the electoral votes.

Abraham Lincoln

• 16th President of the United States• Born in a log cabin in Kentucky• First Republican President• President during the Civil War• Issued the Emancipation Proclamation• Delivered the Gettysburg Address• Instrumental in pushing the 13th Amendment (which outlawed slavery) through Congress• Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

“Sweet 16” Presidential Assignment – worth 30 points• For this assignment, you are to create a foldable that illustrates the

first 16 presidents of the United States. To begin, you need to get a blank piece of paper and then fold it in half four times. This will create creases in the paper that results in 16 squares. Each square will be used to represent one of the first 16 presidents. Within the squares, you must create an illustration that depicts each president or the key events associated with each presidency. Or… you may write a few brief statements that sums up the legacy of each individual president.• I will be grading as follows:• One point for including each president – 16 points• Creativity – 7 points• Historical Accuracy / Relevance – 7 points

The Confederate States of America

• Upset over Lincoln’s election victory, South Carolina voted to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860.• By February 1861, six other states had also seceded, including Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.• Delegates from these states met to form a new nation, which they called the Confederate States of America.

CSA – Order of Secession

• South Carolina – December 20, 1860

• Mississippi – January 9, 1861• Florida – January 10, 1861• Alabama – January 11, 1861• Georgia – January 19, 1861• Louisiana – January 26, 1861• Texas – February 1, 1861• Virginia – April 17, 1861• Arkansas – May 6, 1861• Tennessee – May 7, 1861• North Carolina – May 20, 1861

The Confederacy

• Jefferson Davis was chosen to become President of the Confederate States of America.• Initially, Montgomery, Alabama, was the capital of the Confederacy. After Virginia seceded, the capital became Richmond, Virginia.• No foreign state ever officially

recognized the Confederacy as an independent country.

States’ Rights

• Southerners used states’ rights to justify secession. • They argued that each state had voluntarily chosen to enter the Union, and that states had a right to leave the Union.• They defined the Constitution as a

contract among the independent states, and they believed the national government had broken the contract by denying Southern states equal rights.

Fort Sumter

• Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president on March 4, 1861.• On April 12, 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered his forces to attack Union forces at Fort Sumter (Charleston, SC).• Union forces surrendered the fort two days later.• The Civil War had begun!

Choosing Sides

• Following the Battle of Ft. Sumter, the southern states of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy. • The slave states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri remained in the Union and were considered border states.• Keeping the border states

remained vital to the strategy of the Union.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• When the war began, each side had advantages and disadvantages.• The North had a larger population and more resources than the South.• The South had excellent military leaders and a strong fighting spirit. • Also, because the war was fought in the South, the Confederacy knew the land and had the will to defend it.

Goals of War

• Each side had different goals in fighting the war.• The Confederacy wanted to be an independent nation, so it simply needed to fight hard enough and long enough to convince the North that the war was not worth the cost.• The Union wanted to restore the Union, so it had to invade the South to force those states to give up their quest for independence. • Lincoln’s original aim was not to defeat slavery.

Military Strategies

• The South’s basic strategy was to conduct a defensive war and hold as much territory as possible. The South also tried to win the support of Britain and France.• The North’s plan was to blockade Southern ports to prevent the South from exporting its cotton. Then, the North would seek to gain control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy into two and cutting Southern supply lines.

Civil War Soldiers

• The Civil War turned brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor.• Men of all ages, and on both

sides, rushed to join the army. Some did so out of patriotism. Others thought they would be called cowards if they did not serve.• To get into the army, many

teenagers ran away from home and lied about their ages.

African American Soldiers

• At first, the Union refused to let free African Americans enlist. They feared white troops would not accept African American soldiers.• Later in the war, the Union army changed this policy.• The Confederacy refused to consider having African Americans fight until the war’s final days. They did not want to give enslaved people weapons.

The 54th Massachusetts

• The best-known African American regiment was the 54th Massachusetts.• The regiment was founded in 1863,

and it was under the command of Col. Robert Gould Shaw.• Later that year, the 54th served on the front lines in an assault on Ft. Wagner in South Carolina.• Though the Union could not capture

the fort, the 54th became famous for their courage and sacrifice.

Rebels vs. Yankees

• Confederate soldiers were often called Rebels.• Union soldiers were often called Yankees.• At the war’s end, about

900,000 men fought for the Confederacy and about 2.1 million men fought for the Union. The Union army included just under 200,000 African Americans.

A Soldier’s Life

• Soldiers of the North and the South described what they saw and how they felt in letters to family and friends.• Many wrote about their

boredom, discomfort, sickness, fear, and horror.• Many men deserted. About 1

in every 11 Union soldiers and 1 in every 8 Confederates ran away because of fear, hunger, or sickness.

The First Battle of Bull Run

• The First Battle of Bull Run was the 1st major battle of the Civil War. It took place on July 21, 1861, just outside of Washington, D.C.• It ended in a Confederate victory, and it earned General Thomas Jackson the nickname “Stonewall” as he was described as holding his position “like a stone wall.”

The Monitor and the Merrimack

• The Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack is the most noted naval battle of the Civil War.• It was fought over March 8-9, 1862.• It was the first battle to ever take place between ironclad warships.• The Monitor was a Northern ship, and the Merrimack (renamed Virginia) was a Southern ship. • Neither ship won the battle, but it raised spirits on both sides.

The Battle of Shiloh

• The Battle of Shiloh was a major battle in the Western Theater of the Civil War that was fought April 6-7, 1862 in western Tennessee.• Although the Confederates

achieved considerable success on the first day, the Battle of Shiloh ultimately ended with a Union victory.• Losses on both sides were

enormous. Together, the 2 armies suffered more than 23,000 casualties.

The Capture of New Orleans

• On April 25, 1862, the Union naval forces captured New Orleans, the largest city in the South.• The capture of New Orleans meant that the Confederacy could no longer use the Mississippi River to carry its good to sea.

Confederate Victories

• Southern victories in the East were largely the result of the leadership of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.• The two generals knew the terrain,

knew how to move forces quickly, and they were also expert at inspiring troops.• In 1862, Confederate forces enjoyed a

string of impressive victories in Virginia.• In May 1863, Lee’s army defeated a

Union force twice its size at Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Robert E. Lee

• Robert E. Lee is the most well-known Confederate general.• Lee was a native Virginian and graduate of West

Point Military Academy.• Lee served in the U.S. Army from 1829-1861.• At the onset of the Civil War, President Lincoln offered Lee a command in the Union Army.• When Virginia seceded from the Union, Lee resigned from the U.S. Army and became commander of Virginia’s military forces.• Lee’s abilities as a tactician have been praised

my many military historians.

The Battle of Antietam

• On September 17, 1862, both sides met at a place called Antietam (in Maryland).• Antietam was a key victory for the Union. It was also the deadliest single day of fighting in the war.• About 6,000 soldiers died,

and about 17,000 more suffered wounds.

The Emancipation Proclamation

• At first, Lincoln viewed the Civil War as a battle for the Union, not a fight against slavery. As the war continued, his views changed.• On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves living in rebel territory.• While the Emancipation Proclamation did

not effectively end slavery overnight, it had a strong impact.• With it, the government declared slavery

to be wrong and it became clear that a Union victory would end slavery in the U.S.

Life on the Homefront

• The Civil War affected all Americans, not just those who fought.• Life in the South changed most dramatically.• Most fighting took place in the South, and therefore the South suffered the most destruction.• Southerners who lived in the

paths of marching armies lost their crops and homes.

Women and the Civil War

• During the Civil War, women suffered the stress of having the men in their lives away at war. • Women on both sides kept farms and factories going, and they scrimped and saved to get through the difficult time.• Thousands of women on both sides served as nurses. Clara Barton became famous for her work with wounded soldiers.• Women on both sides also served as spies.

Florida in the Civil War

• When the Civil War began, neither the Union leaders nor the Confederate leaders regarded Florida as important to their strategy.• With just 140,000 residents, Florida

was the smallest of the 11 Confederate states, and it had little industry and few links with the other state of the Confederacy.• As the war went on, Florida

became one of the Confederacy’s important suppliers of beef and salt.

The Tide Turns

• By the spring of 1863, the Confederates had the upper hand.• Lee was emboldened, and

decided to take the war into the North, hoping to win the support of France and Britain.• In July of 1863, a small town

in Pennsylvania became the site of one of the most decisive battles in the Civil War.

The Battle of Gettysburg

• The Battle of Gettysburg was fought between July 1-3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.• The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war. It is often described as the war’s turning point. • On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered his historic Gettysburg Address at the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

The Union Closes In

• By 1864, Union forces had the South surrounded. Union ships blocked the Confederate coast, and the Union also controlled the Mississippi River.• The South seemed ready

to fall, if the Union could come up with the right plan of attack.• General Ulysses S. Grant

would be the one to draw up such a plan.

General Ulysses S. Grant

• In March 1864, President Lincoln put General Grant in charge of all the Union armies.• Grant created a plan to

deliver killing blows from all sides.