2. Lincoln’s election led to secession by 7 states in the
Deep South but that did not necessarily mean “civil war”
Two things had to happen first:
One last failed attempt to reconcile the North & South
The North had to use its military to protect the Union
5. The Southern decision to secede was based on old
arguments:
The USA was a “compact between states,” not a national
gov’t “above the states”
Therefore, states could leave the Union freely & peacefully
States’ rights must be protected as a guarantee of liberty
On Feb 4, 1861, the Confederate States of America
were formed
The CSA constitution resembled the U.S., but with 4
key changes: (1) it protected states’ rights, (2)
guaranteed slavery, (3) referenced God, & (4)
prohibited protective tariffs
6. Secession & the Formation of the
Confederate States of America
7. Moderate Republicans proposed the Crittenden
Compromise to lure the South back into the Union:
offered to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the
Pacific
promised a Constitutional amendment to protect slavery
Both Lincoln & Davis rejected the compromise leaving the
North with 2 choices…
Allow for peaceful separation or fight to preserve the Union
The South rejected it because they had created a new nation
9. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the North had lots of
advantages:
Larger population for troops
Greater industrial capacity
Huge edge in RR transportation
Problem for the North:
Had to invade the South to win
Difficult to maintain enthusiasm & support for war over
time
11. Although outnumbered & less industrial, South had
advantages:
President Davis knew that they did not have to “win” the
war; the South only had to drag out the fight & make the
North quit
Had the best military leaders
England & France appeared more willing to support the
South
12. Southern strategy was an “offensive defense”: drag out the war
& strategically attack the North to destroy Northern morale
Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan
Blockade the Southern coast
Take control of the Mississippi River
Take the CSA capital at Richmond
Divide the West from South
George McClellan was in charge of Army
of the Potomac
Ulysses Grant in the West
14. Lincoln expanded his powers:
declared martial law
imprisoned “subversives”
briefly closed down a few
newspapers
Davis was less effective:
concerned mainly with military
duties
neglected the economy
obstructed by state governors
who resisted conscription
15. From 1861 to 1862, the South used “cotton diplomacy” to
get England & France to aid them:
Napoleon III favored the South but wanted England to do so
1st
England offered “belligerent” status to the CSA; but
otherwise chose a hands-off policy
By 1863, “King Cotton” diplomacy failed because
Egyptian & Indian cotton filled the European demand
16. 1st battle was Bull Run (Manassas, VA) on July 21,
1861; “On to Richmond” campaign was repulsed by
“Stonewall” Jackson
From 1861-1863, the South consistently beat the
North due to poor Union leadership & the Southern
defensive strategy
The U.S. & CSA forces fought to a draw at Antietam
in Sept 1862—the single bloodiest day of the Civil
War
18. One reason why the Civil War was so lethal was the introduction of improved
weaponry.
Cone-shaped bullets replaced musket balls
smooth-bore muskets were replaced with rifles with grooved barrels
The new weapons had appeared so suddenly that commanders did not immediately realize that
they needed to compensate for the increased range and accuracy of rifles. The Civil War was the
first war in which soldiers used repeating rifles (which could fire several shots without
reloading), breech loading arms (which were loaded from behind the barrel instead of through
the muzzle), and automated weapons like the Gatling gun. The Civil War also marked the first
use by Americans of shrapnel, booby traps, and land mines.
Outdated strategy also contributed to the high number of casualties. Massive frontal
assaults and massed formations resulted in large numbers of deaths. In addition, far
larger numbers of soldiers were involved in battles than in the past.
The Civil War separated families in unprecedented numbers and freed women to
assume many new roles. With the departure of many men into the military, women
entered many occupations previously reserved for men only.
But it was as nurses that women achieved particular prominence. Louisa May Alcott
and Clara Barton were among thousands of women, North and South, who carried
supplies to soldiers and nursed wounded men on the battlefield and in hospitals.
Initially, Lincoln and his generals anticipated a conventional war in which Union
soldiers would respect civilians' property. Convinced that there was residual
unionist support in the South, they expected to preserve the South's economic base,
including its factories and rail lines. But as the war dragged on, the Civil War
became history's first total war, a war in which the Union sought the Confederacy's
total defeat and unconditional surrender. To achieve success, Union officers such as
Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman believed that it was necessary to
break the South's will to fight.
19. The Civil War was the world’s 1st “total war” in which the
entire economy was devoted to winning:
North & South drafted soldiers
North & South employed female workers to meet supply
demands
New weapons, old tactics, & sheer numbers of troops in
battle led to massive casualties
21. Battle of the Ironclads (1862):
CSS Virginia vs. USS Monitor
Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia
was built using the remains of the
USS Merrimack
USS Monitor was a
revolutionary design: rotating
turret & low profile
24. Both the North & South faced problems supporting the
war:
Both sides began running out of troops; in 1862, the North &
South began conscription (draft)
The draft was unpopular among Southern governors &
Northern, antiwar “Copperheads”
Funding the war was difficult; both sides printed paper
money (greenbacks) to accommodate spending needs; led to
runaway inflation (9,000% in the South)
25. At the beginning of the war, the North was fighting to
preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery
By mid-1862, many Northerners called for immediate
emancipation
Congress refused a gradual plan
Many thought immediate freedom for slaves would lure
England & France into alliance
Southern victories pressured the North to “strike back”
27. Union “success” at Antietam led Lincoln to issue the
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863:
Lincoln freed all slaves in Confederate territories
This did not free a single slave but it gave the North a new
reason fight the Civil War
Inspired slaves to flee North
Pushed
for the 13th Amendment
Passed
after the Civil War ended on Jan 31, 1865
29. By early 1863, the North & South both faced morale
problems:
South—economic & diplomatic collapse, runaway slaves, &
many yeomen refused to fight
North—consistent losses against Lee, draft riots in NYC,
anti-war “Copperheads” played on war failures & racial
anxieties
31. But by 1863, the war began to turn in favor of the North:
Northern supremacy in industry & manpower began to take its toll on
the exhausted South
The North began enlisting blacks into the Union army; 200,000 fought
as soldiers & many others served as labor in the Northern war effort
William Sherman began his “march to the sea” (Atlanta to Savannah) &
destroyed everything of military value
Lee led an attack into the North, but lost at Gettysburg; North’s 1st real
victory in the east
In July 1863, General Grant took Vicksburg & gained control of the
Mississippi River
Due to Grant’s success in the west, Lincoln made Grant supreme commander of
Union army in 1864; Grant devised a strategy to invade the South on all fronts
Grant began a siege on Richmond
32. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new
nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation
so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field
of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not
hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little
note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
34. Meanwhile, Lincoln faced a tough re-election in 1864
against General George McClellan:
War failures were a key issue
Radical Republicans considered dropping Lincoln from the
ticket
But, when Atlanta fell during Sherman’s “March to the
Sea,” Lincoln regained support and was overwhelmingly
reelected
In his 2nd inaugural address, Lincoln promised a
Reconstruction Plan for the Union with “malice
towards none & charity for all”
36. Union Gains in the Civil War by
1865
In April 1865, Grant
faced off with Lee
outside Richmond;
Lee was cut off from
the South
37. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered
to Grant at Appomattox
Courthouse, ending the fighting of
Civil War
39. Social changes:
618,000 troops were dead
Women in both the North & South were forced to take on
more non-domestic roles
13th Amendment ended slavery
Nativism decreased as many immigrants fought in Civil
War
Political changes:
The Civil War established that the national gov’t is supreme over the
states
With no Southern opposition, Republicans passed new laws:
Homestead Act (1862), Morrill Act (1862), a protective tariff, land
grants to RR companies, & a national banking system