Chapter 17
MANIFEST DESTINY AND
ITS LEGACY

 Americans want Texas, remote backwater of
Spanish Empire
 US abandoned claim in 1819
 1823- new Mexican government gives land to
Stephen Austin to bring settlers
 2 conditions settlers had to become Mexican
citizens, become Catholic
 Ignored by settlers, annoyed by presence of
Mexican soldiers and government
 Settlers typical American individualist, did not
want to be pushed around
 Slavery an issue, outlawed in Mex., settlers
brought slaves anyway
 1836 Mex. Leader Santa Ana attempts to
repress Texans independence
GONE TO TEXAS

 Early 1836 Texans declare
independence
 Santa Anna attacks Alamo and Goliad
become rallying cries for Texans,
galvanized Americans behind Texas
cause
 Gen. Sam Houston lures Mexicans east
to San Jacinto (near present day
Houston), and defeats Santa Anna
 Forces Santa Anna to sign treaty giving
land to Rio Grande to Texas and
removing troops from region
 Mex. does not recognize agreement
 Texas becomes an independent
republic but wanted to be part of the
United States
 Refused admission, abolitionists did
not want new slave state
 Seen as a plot against slavery to
Southerners
THE LONE STAR REBELLION

1840’s territorial expansion
dominated politics, diplomacy
War with Mexico, gained territory
from Texas to California and
questions of status of slavery
1841 William Henry Harrison
(Whig) elected and died in office
Real leaders of Whigs Clay,
Webster tried to push agenda,
thwarted by John Tyler (VP, now
president)
Tyler supporter of states rights
Clay and others tried to push
nationalistic political agenda
Whigs pushed for new bank,
tariffs; all vetoed by Tyler
THE ACCESSION OF “TYLER TOO”

 British looked down on
Americans, increased tension
with America
 Americans borrowed
extensively from British banks
(many defaulted on loans
during Panic of 1837)
 1837 Caroline incident with
Canada, 1841 slaves offered
asylum in Bahamas (southern
fear of Caribbean becoming
haven for escaped slaves),
1842 border disputes in
Maine (settled by Webster-
Ashburton Treaty)
WAR OF WORDS WITH BRITAIN

1836- Texas achieves independence, not recognized by Mexico
Britain, France interested in Texas as place for cotton
production, check American power
Texas as independent nation threatened US
Presidential campaign 1844 issue of expansion
Texas annexed by joint resolution of Congress 1844
James K. Polk won election on expansion platform
Texas became state 1845
Oregon
enormous wilderness
Claimed by many different countries until 1825, then only US
and Britain
British claims based on occupation
American claims based on exploration and occupation
1830’s American missionaries settle Willamette Valley,
stimulates interest of Americans
1840’s number of Americans increases, came over Oregon
Trail
British had few settlers, weaker claim than Americans
TEXAS AND OREGON

 Election of 1844 between Henry Clay and
James Polk
 Major election issue Manifest Destiny
 Feeling that America’s duty was to spread
ideals of democracy across continent (idea
of expansion and liberty)
 Expansion ignored national boundaries,
came at the expense of others
 Expansionist Democrats won election felt
they had a mandate to take Texas and
Oregon
 New President James K. Polk had 4 point
program – lower tariff, create independent
treasury, acquire Oregon and California
 1846 US and Britain compromise on
Oregon territory border (dying fur trade
made British lose interest in Oregon)
MANIFEST DESTINY AND THE ELECTION OF
1844

Americans wanted San Francisco and San Diego
Bays as ports on Pacific and to expand
American trade to Asia
Americans saw weakness in Mexican control of
borderlands
Polk eager to buy California, Mexicans would
not sell
Wanted California to balance admission of
Texas with a free state
US/Mexico issues over boundary of Texas
Mexican claim was boundary at Nueces River,
American claim was Rio Grande
Rumors of British wanting to purchase
California, could not be tolerated under Monroe
doctrine
1846 Polk sends troops to Texas, march from
Nueces River to Rio Grande
April 1846 US soldiers killed and Polk asks for
war, Congress overwhelmingly supports it
WAR WITH MEXICO

Many northerners and Whigs saw this as a land grab and war for extension of
slavery
Lincoln (then Rep. from Illinois) pushes “spot resolutions” to show where blood
was shed on American soil
Both sides wanted war, America to teach Mexicans a lesson, Mexicans saw US
a bully to the north
South and West supported war
The US unprepared for the war. Ill equipped volunteers filled the American
army
Advantages over the Mexican military that had outdated equipment and little
motivation to fight.
American industrial base to prepare and equip an army, superior leadership
United States won easily over the Mexican forces in 1847
California- John Fremont led a revolt against Mexican rule and declared the
state “The Bear Flag Republic”
WAR WITH MEXICO

1848- War ended with Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo
Gave US vast new territory, paid Mexico $15
million dollars for land
Many Americans thought that US should not stop
with Mexico
European countries had new respect for American
military
The Mexican American War was a blatant war of
conquest that would have occurred through
migration eventually
The war also trained the next generation of
generals (Lee, Grant) to fight America’s next war
– the Civil War
Turning point in US relations with Latin America,
became suspicious of “Colossus of the North”
War aroused issue of slavery and its expansion
1846- David Wilmot tries to introduce amendment
that slavery should not exist in new territory,
never passed the Senate but symbolized issue of
slavery in territories (Wilmot Proviso)
WAR WITH MEXICO

Chapter 18
RENEWING THE SECTIONAL
STRUGGLE
1848-1854

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NORTH AND
SOUTH

1848 war with Mexico ends, issue of extending slavery
opened up, split politics along sectional lines, North and
South
Political parties had appealed to people across sectional
lines, during this period it was split by northern abolitionists
and southern fire-eaters
Election of 1848- Democrats turn to Lewis Cass, war hero,
Democratic platform was silent on the issue of slavery
Lewis Cass was not, he supported “popular sovereignty” to
determine status of slavery
Idea took question of slavery out of national politics and
made it a series of local issues; followed democratic ideal of
self determination
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY PANACEA

Whigs nominate Mexican War hero
Zachary Taylor (Clay was old, had too
many enemies)
Pushed personality of candidate
Anti slavery people not satisfied with
either candidate, establish own party
“Free Soil” Party
Free Soil Party- for Wilmot Proviso,
broadened appeal by advocating federal
aid for internal improvements, free
government homesteads for settlers in
new territory
Party attracted industrialists from North,
those who wanted cheap land in west to
allow free white workers a chance to
make money
Nominate Van Buren as candidate
Foreshadowed emergence of Republican
party
POLITICAL TRIUMPHS OF GENERAL
TAYLOR

 1848 gold discovered in California,
Americans flock to region to strike it rich
 300,000 go to CA (forty-niners)
 Most money made by those that provided
services to miners
 Influx of settlers overwhelm territorial
government, to bring order they draft a
constitution in 1849 (it excluded
slavery), and tried to bypass territorial
stage, Taylor saw it as a way to end
stalemate over slavery
 He felt slavery could be permitted where
it existed but not expanded
 Supported by free soilers; appalled
Southern politicians, knew it would upset
balance of slave and free states
“CALIFORNY GOLD”

1850- South relatively well
off, cotton prices high,
political sentiment was in
their favor, president was
southern, political sectional
balance was well maintained
South worried that new
territory would be free and
upset the sectional political
balance (California, New
Mexico, Utah)
Texas and New Mexico
dispute over border, Texas
threatened to send troops to
take Santa Fe in defiance of
federal government
SECTIONAL BALANCE AND THE UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD

Southerners angered by runaway slaves
and assistance of Underground Railroad
Assisted by abolitionists it was a series of
“stations” where slaves were safe during
their escape to freedom
Southerners upset at prospect of
abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia
Southerners wanted stronger fugitive
slave laws, free states refused to
cooperate to capture slaves
Upset with moral righteousness of
abolitionists
Said Constitution protected slavery and
laws that Congress passed to provide for
slave catching
SECTIONAL BALANCE AND THE
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

 1850- Congress needed to act decisively on
issue of slavery before country fell apart
 Last of second generation statesmen- Webster,
Calhoun, Clay were at center of fixing issue (or
arguing against it)
 Clay and Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced
a series of compromises to solve problem
 Wanted north and south to make concessions
 Calhoun upheld Southern position of states
rights and political balance, argued that slaves
were property and protected by 5th Amendment
and Article IV of Constitution
 March 7th speech- Webster gave impassioned
speech about compromise and was accused as
being a traitor to the north, speech helped turn
tide for compromise in north
 These politicians were the last of a generation
to support union at all costs ,new breed more
sectional in outlook
TWILIGHT FOR THE SENATORIAL GIANTS

 Young Guard from north led by William Seward of NY argued
sections could no longer compromise
 Said there was a “higher law” to be followed
 President Taylor also believed in higher law and was bent on
vetoing any action by Congress
 Taylor dies suddenly in 1850 and new president Millard
Fillmore signed series of compromise measures known as
Compromise of 1850
 Many eager to compromise because of prosperity brought by
gold riches from California and growing spirit of goodwill
 Southern extremists still opposed to concessions and
planned to meet in Nashville to secede from Union
DEADLOCK AND DANGER ON CAPITOL
HILL

 Compromise 1850- series of bills passed to
end slavery question, for the most part it
favored the North
a) California admitted as a free state
b) New Mexico, Utah organized a territories,
open to slavery on basis of popular
sovereignty (not going to be slave)
c) Land dispute between Texas and NM settled,
NM given land, TX receives $10m to pay off
government debt
d) Slave trade outlawed in D.C.
e) Most controversial part was Fugitive Slave
law
 Escaped slaves could not testify on their
behalf or given a trial by jury, bounty paid to
federal commissioners, people found aiding
slaves were subject to criminal penalties
BALANCING THE COMPROMISE SCALES

Northerners became galvanized around issue of
slavery and many states passed personal liberty
laws
Many would not support law, further turned tide
against south; it became a moral issue
Sectional balance would favor north and growing
population would insure it
North was more industrial and wealthy
Through the 1850’s they gained moral and
material strength
South dug in their heels to protect their way of
life
BALANCING THE COMPROMISE SCALES

 Published in 1852, written
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
(daughter of anti slavery
minister) united northerners
against slavery
 Made slavery seem “real”,
not removed from everyday
life
 Showed indignity of slavery
from cruel masters to the
ripping apart of slave
families
 Best selling novel of the
1800’s
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

 1852- Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire
nominated by Democrats, held pro
southern views, wanted territorial
expansion, endorsed Compromise of
1850, seen as compromise candidate
 Took votes away from southern Whigs,
also he was a weak and indecisive man
 Whigs nominate another war hero
Winfield Scott
 Campaign based on personality and
Pierce wins
 Spelled the end of the Whig party, end
of national politics
 Legacy was it was the party of union
and great leaders (Clay and Webster)
DEFEAT AND DOOM FOR THE WHIGS

 Expansionist impulses of the late 1840’s led to the
Young America movement
 Thought they could transform world through spreading
of “American” institutions (democracy, capitalism;
part of reforming impulse of antebellum America)
 Latin America- Clayton- Bulwer Treaty of 1850 with
British to secure right of transit across isthmus of
Panama (later used to justify land grab for Panama
Canal)
 Southerners wanted new slave territory, looked to
Central America
 William Walker briefly was president of Nicaragua and
made slavery legal (he was eventually executed)
 Cuba had a large population of slaves but it was
controlled by Spain
 1850, 1851 two filibustering expeditions sent to Cuba
but were repelled and tension escalated between
Spain and US
 Secretly US, France and Britain draft Ostend
Manifesto that recommended US could take Cuba if
certain conditions met
 Northern free soilers protested and the Pierce
administration backed off of plans
EXPANSIONIST STIRRINGS SOUTH OF THE
BORDER

 West coast possessions made US Pacific power
 Americans wanted to enter Asian markets
 1844 Americans gain entry to Chinese trade and
missionaries (compromised cultural integrity of China in the
long run)
 1852 Millard Fillmore sends US navy under leadership of
Matthew Perry to open trade with Japan
 Japan had been closed off from the rest of the world for 200
years but show of American military forced open society,
within a decade the “Meiji Restoration” would modernize
Japan
THE ALLURE OF ASIA

 New western territory needed to
be connected to rest of country,
transcontinental railroad was a
necessity
 Northern and southern sections
competed to see would have the
railroad and the wealth that went
with it
 James Gadsden purchased piece
of desert from Mexico in 1853 for
10 million
 Purpose was for southern rail
route that would have been easier
to build and it went through
already organized territory, easier
to protect with US military
PACIFIC RAILROAD PROMOTERS AND THE GADSDEN
PURCHASE

 1854- Stepen Douglas “The Little Giant”,
sought to break the deadlock of western
expansion
 Called the Kansas-Nebraska Act
 He proposed a northern route for the railroad,
it would begin in Chicago and spread a string
of settlements to the Pacific
 To gain southern support he split the Nebraska
Territory into two parts-Kansas and Nebraska,
their status regarding slavery would be decided
by popular sovereignty
 Problems- it contradicted the Missouri
Compromise, a sacred sectional pact
 President Pierce supported the plan
 Douglas also had other motives- he owned land
along the proposed route and he wanted to be
president
 Douglas defeated the free soil group in
Congress and pushed the bill through
DOUGLAS’S KANSAS-NEBRASKA SCHEME

 Kansas-Nebraska Act greased the slope
to the Civil War
 Northerners saw the events of the
previous decade as a southern
conspiracy (popular theme in American
history)
 Compromise was harder to come by ,
each side would not give in to the other
 Democrats torn apart by the Kansas-
Nebraska Act and would not put another
president into the White House for 28
years
 Caused the Republican party to emerge,
it consisted of anti-slavery groups,
Know-Nothings, Free-Soilers
 It quickly gathered strength in the years
leading up to 1860, the party was
supported only in the north
CONGRESS LEGISLATES A CIVIL WAR

Chapter 19
DRIFTING TOWARD
DISUNION
THE 1850’S

 Hope for compromise and keeping Union together fell apart
in the last half of the 1850’s
 Kansas erupted into violence, the Supreme Court in the Dred
Scott decision validated feeling of a “Southern conspiracy”
 Attitudes on both sides hardened
 1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin published, novel had great political
force- no Northerner wanted to support “peculiar institution”;
also popular across Europe
 1857 Impending Crisis of the South by Hinton Helper tried to
prove that non-slave holders in South suffered the most from
slavery (poor whites could not get ahead)
 Planter elite feel attacked from all sides
STOWE AND HELPER: LITERARY INCENDIARIES

 Kansas issue on popular sovereignty came to a
head
 Various groups came to Kansas- regular pioneers,
groups financed by northern abolitionists (some
armed by New England Emigrant Aid Company)
 Southern spokesmen under the impression
Kansas would be slave, Nebraska free and began
to sponsor slave owning families to move to
Kansas (risky to take slaves to region)
 1855- crisis in Kansas blows up (Bleeding
Kansas)
 Elections for first territorial legislature, many
came over border from slave state Missouri to
vote (early and often)
 Slavery forces won election, free soilers see this
as an illegal conspiracy and set up own
government
 State home to two separate governments
 Tension increased when proslavery raiders
attacked free town of Lawrence
THE NORTH-SOUTH CONTEST FOR
KANSAS

 1856- John Brown, insanely dedicated
abolitionist, moved to Kansas
 Led a band of abolitionist to a pro slavery
settlement on Pottawatomie Creek and
hacked to death a group of five
proslaveryites and brought swift retaliation
from proslavery forces
 Civil war erupted in Kansas after this
attack
 1857 Kansas applies for admission to US
with proslavery constitution (Lecompton
Constitution) approved in 1857
 Constitution supported by President
Buchanan, many saw this a popular
fraudulency
 Issue divided Democratic party along north-
south lines and broke last strands that kept
Union together
KANSAS IN CONVULSION

 1856- US Senator Charles Sumner (MA) and
Congressman Preston Brooks (SC)
demonstrated how inflamed the political
passions had become
 Sumner gave a two day long speech on
slavery and the Kansas issue
 During the speech he insulted a relative of
Brooks and he attacked and beat Sumner
with a cane on the Senate floor
 Brooks resigned and was reelected, Sumner
had to leave office because of his injuries
and his Senate seat remained empty
“BULLY” BROOKS AND HIS BLUDGEON

 1856 presidential election Democrats nominate James
Buchanan a Pennsylvania lawyer not tainted by Kansas
controversy
 Republicans nominate John Fremont who had little political
experience, also not part of Kansas dispute
 Republican platform against extension of slavery under any
circumstances
 Democrats supported popular sovereignty
 Know Nothings and their stand against foreigners also
nominated Millard Fillmore, party cut into Republican
strength
OLD BUCK VERSUS THE PATHFINDER

 Buchanan won easily
 Democrats won because of threats of secession if anybody else
elected
 Many northerners wanted to preserve Union and keep business
connections with South
 Events had not gotten bad enough to see no chance for
reconciliation (KS trouble had yet to explode)
 Democrats were losing strength as evidenced by election of
1854
THE ELECTORAL FRUITS OF 1856

 Dred Scott lived with master in Illinois and free
territory of Wisconsin, master died and he sued for
his freedom on basis of his residency on free soil
 Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857)
 Pro southern Supreme Court said he could not sue in
federal court because he was a black slave and not a
citizen
 Said slaves were private property and they could be
taken to any territory (free or slave) and they were
still slaves
 Basis was the 5th Amendment, it protected private
property from the government
 Southerners happy with decision, further drove a
wedge between north and south
 Used as a rallying cry for anti slavery forces, refused
to follow decision
 South wondered how they could exist with a group
willing to defy the Supreme Court
THE DRED SCOTT BOMBSHELL

 1857 economic panic
 CA gold had artificially inflated
currency
 Over production of grain to feed
Europeans (Crimean War over and it
was no longer needed), grain prices
dropped
 Over-speculation in land and railroads
 Hit north harder than south,
Southerners saw this as proof cotton
was king
THE FINANCIAL CRASH OF 1857

 Northerners called for free land to help out (provide
employment), met opposition from industrialists because it
would drain away people needed for factories
 Opposed in the South because plantation agriculture could not
flourish on small homesteads and if territories filled up it would
further tip sectional balance
 1860- Congress does pass Homestead Act, public lands
available for 25 cents an acre
 Panic caused clamor for higher tariff rates, surplus funds
caused Treasury to lower tariff rates and panic wiped out
surplus
 North wanted higher tariffs, Southern politicians blocked tariff
increases
 Events gave Republicans two issues to focus on in election of
1860 that were not slavery, tariff protections and farms for
farmless
THE FINANCIAL CRASH OF 1857

 1858 Senatorial election takes national
spotlight
 Abraham Lincoln (R) and Stephen Douglas (D)
running for Senate seat in Illinois
 Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of
debates, Douglas was known a great debater
and Lincoln was expected to fall
 Freeport, IL major debate
 Lincoln questioned how could popular
sovereignty survive with Dread Scott decision
 Douglas’ reply became known a Freeport
Doctrine, where public opinion does not support
law it is almost impossible to enforce (slavery
would stay down if it was voted down)
 Douglas defeats Lincoln but Lincoln becomes a
national figure
 Douglas and his support for popular sovereignty
splinters Democrats- How could they vote for
him if he supported what they opposed?
AN ILLINOIS RAIL-SPLITTER EMERGES

 John Brown hatches scheme to invade south,
cause slave rebellion and arm them
 1859- Invaded a federal arsenal in Harpers
Ferry, VA and failed
 Quickly captured and hanged
 South viewed him as a murderer and guilty of
treason, , moderate northerners agreed
 Abolitionists were upset by his execution and
viewed him as a martyr for their cause
 “ How can a barbarous community and a
civilized community constitute one state. We
must either get rid of slavery, or get rid of
freedom” Ralph Waldo Emerson
JOHN BROWN: MURDERER OR MARTYR?

 Election of 1860 hung on issue of peace or war
 Democrats divided could not choose presidential nominee
 Southern states would not support Douglas and they
nominated their own candidate John C. Breckinridge
 Middle of the road group wanted compromise candidate to
keep country together nominated John Bell from Tennessee
 Northern Democrats platform for popular sovereignty, and
supported Fugitive Slave Law
 Southern Democrat platform foe extension of slavery into
territories and annexation of Cuba
DISRUPTION FOR THE DEMOCRATS

 Republican choice between William
Seward and Lincoln
 Seward seen as too radical, Lincoln had
fewer enemies
 Republican platform for non-extension of
slavery, higher tariffs, free homesteads
and internal improvements at federal
expense
 Southern secessionists said if Lincoln
elected they would leave Union, thought
federal government would get rid of
slavery
 Lincoln elected as a minority president,
was not even on the ballot in 10 states
 Election of 1860 essentially two
elections- North and South
RAIL-SPLITTER SPLITS UNION

 Chain of secession began to erupt
 Dec. 1860 SC calls special convention and unanimously votes to
secede from Union
 Over the next 6 weeks six other states follow
 Feb. 1861 meet in Montgomery, AL to establish government and
choose former Senator Jefferson Davis from MS as president
 Buchanan, did nothing
 He was surrounded by pro-southern advisers and he could find no
authority in Constitution to keep states in Union
 Public opinion in North not for fighting to keep Union together,
so there was still hope for reconciliation
 Ideas proposed by James Crittenden (KY)
 Crittenden Compromise proposed Constitutional Amendments
designed to appease South
 Slavery permitted south of Missouri Compromise line and open
to popular sovereignty in all other territory
 Lincoln rejected plan and hope of compromise evaporated
THE SECESSIONIST EXODUS

 South left for a variety of reasons
1. Slavery, loosing sectional balance that was a threat to
slaveholding minority
2. They though departure would be unopposed
3. Northern economic interests would not put up a fight to
maintain business relations
4. South had a different culture and they could form a
country that fit their ideas
5. Develop own economic relations with Europe, keep tariffs
low
6. Felt it was their destiny and they were not doing anything
immoral or wrong
FAREWELL TO UNION

“ The Greeks did not understand each other any
longer, though they spoke the same language”
Thucydides
THE CIVIL WAR AND
RECONSTRUCTION
1860-1877

Lincoln Conciliatory toward the south in his inaugural address.
He had no intention to interfere with slavery where it existed,
but he would preserve the Union.
 There would be no war unless the south started it, the north did
not want to be viewed as the aggressor
 Southern states seized federal forts and arsenals.
 1861- South Carolina seized Fort Sumter, by April 1861 they needed
food and supplies and Lincoln notified the government of South
Carolina that he was sending supplies.
 Confederates were suspicious of his motives and they wanted
the total surrender of the fort. They began to fire on the fort
and Lincoln declared this an act of war
 April 15 Lincoln asked for 75,000 Union troops to fight against
the confederacy
 The Confederacy began to raise troops and Arkansas, Tennessee, and
North Carolina left the Union
 Both sides predicted a short war…..
END OF THE WAITING GAME

 Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware
and later West Virginia
 Huge strategic prize in population and
manufacturing capacity
 KY and WVA strategic because of Ohio
River
 Maryland- Lincoln sent in troops and
declared martial law
 To keep border states on side of Union
Lincoln would not declare publicly he was
fighting to free slaves
 Indian Territory- Five Civilized tribes fought
on side of Confederacy because many
owned slaves
 War became “brothers war” in many
families
BORDER STATES

ADVANTAGE FOR NORTH AND SOUTH

 Europe’s ruling classes sympathetic
to Southern cause (agreed with
southern social order)
 So why did King Cotton diplomacy fail
them?
 Enormous cotton exports of late
1850’s, caused oversupply of fiber
 Hoped for “cotton famine” never
happened,
 Union supplied Britain through
captured cotton, British turned to
India and Egypt for cotton production
 Northern states supplied England
with corn and wheat
Foreign Policy

 Confederate government wrote
Constitution similar to US Constitution,
except it protected slavery
 Fatal weakness in Confederate
government was tension between Southern
idea of state’s rights vs. the need for a
strong central government
Problems with Confederate Government

North had an established and
internationally recognized
government
Congress not in session when war
started, Lincoln proclaimed
blockade and increased size of army
Lincoln did suspend some freedoms
protected by the Constitution
Suspended habeas corpus (jailing
somebody without telling them of
crime) so anti-Union sentiment
could be controlled
“Supervised” voting in the border
states, suspended the press
Union Government During Wartime

 When war first started volunteers
filled ranks, by 1863 pace had
dropped off and Union Army began
to draft soldiers
 Many were immigrants, poor
 Wealthy could pay substitute to go
in their place
 1863 draft riots in NYC
 South had fewer men to draw from
and needed manpower more
quickly, rich could also buy their
way out of service
 Deserters problem in both armies
Volunteers and Draftees

 North customs fees and tariff fees major sources of revenue
 Without southern opposition Morrill Tariff Act passed (1861)
 Money backed by nations credit, not gold
 Bonds sold to finance war
 National Banking System established to back bonds and provide
sound credit (existed until 1913)
 South had customs duties choked off because of blockade
 Had to increase taxes, resisted by states righter's
 Government printed money was worthless, inflation was a huge
problem
 Confederate government had little international credit or revenue
stream
 South had 30% of national wealth in 1860, 12% ten years later
 South experienced food and material shortages during the war
 Many southerners turned to stealing from northern army and
blockade running to supply basic necessities
War Economy

Wartime prosperity for north
Protective tariffs, need for war
time goods stoked
manufacturing
Many speculators profited from
war
Lack of labor caused
innovation, made factories
more efficient
Westward settlement kept
growing, Homestead Act 1862
New opportunities for women
due to labor shortage in
factories
War Economy

The Civil War was the first
modern war.
 New technologies and
devices mobilized men and
materials- railroad transport,
artillery, repeating rifles,
ironclad ships, telegraph,
trenches, wire entanglements
were all battlefield devices
used for the first time
 Photography brought the war
to others not involved in
fighting living far away
Brought violence and life of
war home
Fighting the War

Anaconda Plan gradually began to work
and the Union began to make progress in
the western part of the Confederacy by late
1862. They began to cut supply lines,
destroy crops and rail lines.
The first major blow to the south occurred
at Antietam in Maryland in 1862
By the beginning of 1863 the north was
beginning to use its advantages of men and
materials to defeat the Confederacy
War Turns for the North

 Lee took tried to take the war to the north
in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in July of
1863. He was defeated and retreated
south.
 Ulysses Grant was named commander of
Union forces in 1864 and he began to purse
Lee until he was defeated
 Union General William T. Sherman led
60,000 troops on a march through Georgia
and South Carolina in the fall of 1864.
 400 mile “march to the sea” used a
strategy called total war - targeted troops,
support and supplies needed to feed,
clothe and support the army.
 Troops burned crops, destroyed railroad
tracks, homes and plantations. They burned
the city of Atlanta in the fall of 1864
 By the spring of 1865 the south was
exhausted and Lee surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox courthouse April 9, 1865
War Turns for the North

When the war began Lincoln did not think he had the
authority to abolish slavery- his chief goal was to preserve
the Union
In the fall of 1862 after the Battle of Antietam he decided
the time was right to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
that freed the slaves
January 1, 1863 all slaves in the south were declared free.
It did not apply to free states or areas of the south
already under federal control (to keep border states
happy)
Union army began to actively recruit former slaves to join
their cause
This changed the nature of the Civil War from something to
preserve the Union and redefined it as to being about
slavery, gave war a moral tone
Removed any chance of negotiated settlement to war
Emancipation Proclamation

 1864 presidential election fell in the midst
of war
 Many Northerners did not support Lincoln
 Resented expansion of presidential power
and the war itself
 Democrats against the war (Copperheads)
obstructed the war efforts in Congress
 Election of 1864 between Lincoln (R) and
George McClellan (D)
 Lincoln choose Andrew Johnson of TN as
his running mate to attract war Democrats
and border state vote
 Lincolns election was secured by a series
of Union victories in the months before the
election
 1865 Five days after Lee’s surrender
Lincoln was assassinated at the pinnacle
of his fame by a fanatically pro-southern
actor John Wilkes Booth
Politics of War

 600,000 died; 1 million wounded or
maimed
 Generation of men lost to war
 Idea of states’ rights moot
 Passage of 13th Amendment officially
ended slavery, 14th Amendment
guaranteed civil rights
 US became a singular nation, not a
collection of states
 Power of federal government expanded,
banking, judicial system became more
powerful, government expected to
protect rights above state powers
 Industrial growth kick started because
of war effort
 National legal, industrial and
governmental institutions came out of
war
Aftermath

Results of War

1865-1877

 Spring 1865 war was over. War that began as a way to
preserve the Union, became a war fought for the abolition
of slavery. The next twelve years were known as
Reconstruction
 By the end of 1865 Lincoln had been assassinated,
Thirteenth Amendment had been passed guaranteeing the
end of slavery
 The north had developed economically, the south was
devastated, and over the next three decades civil rights
and citizenship became redefined
 The questions that faced the country were; how would the
south be rebuilt? How would liberated blacks fare as free
men and women? How would the South be reintegrated
into the Union, and who would be in charge of it?

 Across the south:
 most of the fighting occurred there
 railroads were destroyed
 land values were worthless
 labor pool was wiped out
 cotton and tobacco production dropped
 many southerners left homeless
 Southern planters no longer had a voice in politics and
many remained defiant towards the “Yankees”

 What was the meaning of freedom for the
former slaves?
 Many planters resisted emancipation
either through violence or refusing to
recognize it until the local government did
so
 Most were forced to recognize
emancipation by the Yankee army of
occupation
 Freed blacks began to take matters into
their own hands, some sought to legalize
their marriages, work in towns and cities
away from their former masters
 Many settled in black communities that
offered mutual protection and assistance
 Many went north and west
 1878-1880 mass exodus to Kansas by free
Southern African Americans (Exodusters)

 Church became focus of black community
 Formed own churches and they grew rapidly
 Also mutual aid societies were established, helped blacks
protect their newly won freedoms
 Opportunity to have an education for the first time
 Purchased land to build schools and hire teachers

 Most freed slaves had few skills, no property
or money
 Did not know how to live like free people
 To cope with problem Congress creates
Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)
 Primitive welfare agency- provided food,
clothing, medical care and education to freed
slaves and white refugees
 Greatest success was education
 Tried to provide former slaves with 40 ac. of
land, little passed to them and many blacks
were tricked into signing labor contracts with
their former masters
 President Johnson tried repeatedly to kill it
and it expired in 1872

 Johnson was a self made man from
humble beginnings
 Used by Lincoln in 1864 to garner
votes from war Democrats
 Supporter of the Constitution and
states’ rights
 Not up for job of Reconstruction ,
supported by nobody

Lincoln believed that south never really left the Union
and he wanted to reunite it as quickly as possible
Formal restoration would be simple
1863 came up with 10% Plan-10% of voters would
pledge allegiance to the Union, pledge to abide by
emancipation and formally elect a new state
government they would be restored to the Union
Many in Congress wanted to punish the South

 1864 Wade-Davis Bill required 50% to sign oath of allegiance,
stronger safeguards for emancipation
 Congress refused to seat a delegation from Louisiana in that
followed Lincoln’s 10% plan
 Felt that South had forfeited all rights and were conquered
provinces
 Minority radical group wanted to uproot social structure and
protect freed blacks with federal legislation
 Group became known as Radical Republicans

 Johnson agreed with Lincoln’s plan and came up
with his own plan
 Took away right to vote for leading Confederates,
and those with property
 They could petition him for pardons (which he
granted)
 States had to call special conventions and ratify
13th Amendment that freed slaves
 Last half of 1865 many southern states did
reorganize but run by the old regimes
 All Republicans became furious

One of the first things the new
Southern governments did was pass
black codes
Varied in severity from state to state
All tried to regulate affairs of freed
blacks and assure a stable and
subservient labor force
Work contracts resembled slavery itself
Blacks were left out of the political
process
Although a few new rights were
recognized (freedomish, marriage) they
mocked the idea of emancipation

Freedmen lacked capital, had little to
offer except labor
Many blacks and poor landless
whites became slaves to soil and
creditors and slipped into the status
of sharecroppers (crop-lien system)
This lasted well into the 20th century
After the Civil War many in the north
wondered if these people were still
being enslaved, had the North really
won the war?

 December 1865 Congressional delegations from the south
came to reclaim their seats, northerners shut them out
 Voters across south turned to experienced leaders, many
leaders were tainted with association of Confederacy
 While war went on Republican leaders had a free had and
passed legislation favorable to the North
 Politicians became attached to northern business interests,
western farmers and free labor.
 Congress passed tariff legislation, financing of a
transcontinental railroad, Homestead Act (offered land to
settlers that occupied the land for 5 years), Morrill Land Grant
Act (provided land for colleges)

 Republicans worried that he
South would increase power in
Congress
 Blacks were now counted as a
whole person, not 3/5ths of a
person
 South gained 12 electoral votes,
12 more Congressional members
 Republicans feared that they
would perpetuate black codes,
get rid of Republican economic
program

 1866 Republicans wanting to keep Johnson in check pass Civil
Rights Bill to strike back at the Black Codes
 Johnson tried to veto, overturned by Congress
 Civil Rights bill became 14th Amendment
1. Citizenship to all persons regardless of race
2. Reduced representation if conditions not met
3. Disqualified former Confederates from federal and state
office
4. Guaranteed federal debt
5. Did not grant the right to vote
 Issue between Congress and President was Reconstruction
to be carried on with or without 14th Amendment
 1866 Congressional elections showed country favored
Republican plan

 Republicans won a veto proof control of
Reconstruction policy in Congress
 Radicals opposed rapid restoration of
Southern states (led by Thaddeus Stevens
and Charles Sumner)
 Wanted to transform society and economy of
south with federal government
 Moderates did not want states to take away
rights of A-A’s but did not want federal
government involved in people’s everyday
lives
 Both groups wanted blacks to have the right
to vote

 1867 Reconstruction Act divides south into 5 military
districts controlled by Union general and policed by Union
army
 Had to ratify 14th Amendment and guarantee suffrage for
black men
 Purpose was to create electorate that would vote states
back into Union and free federal government from direct
responsibility of protection of black rights
 1870 15th Amendment passed that guaranteed suffrage in
the Constitution

 Military Reconstruction of the South
took away power of president as
commander in chief and set up regimes
that were possibly unconstitutional
 By 1870 all states had met conditions
of readmission into the Union
 When federal troops left states they
swiftly went back to old governments
and became solidly Democratic
(Redeemers)
 Passage of 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments
disappointed advocates for women’s
rights, many had been abolitionists and
viewed the causes as similar
 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton actively campaigned against
passage of the 15th Amendment

 Southern black men began to
organize politically
 Campaigned and ran for office as
Republicans
 Union League included educated
men, churches and schools
represented black grievances in
employment and recruited militias
to protect black communities
 Black and white politicians helped
write new state constitutions
 Black congressmen were elected
to federal and state offices
although they were never a
majority in any government
State White Citizens Freedmen
SC 291,000 411,000
MS 353,000 436,000
LA 357,000 350,000
GA 591,000 465,000
AL 596,000 437,000
VA 719,000 533,000
NC 631,000 331,000

 Southern conservatives reaction
 Labeled those that helped
Reconstruction as “carpetbaggers”
and “scalawags”
 Carpetbaggers from north came south
to take advantage of them
 Scalawags were southerners that
were former Unionists and Whigs
 Radical regime rule did make some
reforms in education, tax systems,
property rights for women and public
works, actually rebuilt the South
 Graft and corruption was rampant
during Reconstruction (all across the
country), many freedmen were used a
pawns by white politicians

 Whites resorted to violent means to protest
Union rule
 Resented success of black politicians and
corruption of government
 Formed secret societies, most notorious was
KKK formed in 1866
 Harassed free blacks and “carpetbaggers”
 Congress tries to outlaw this with Force Acts
of 1870,1871; was successful in stamping
out activities
 Work of intimidation was already done though
 White resistance continued to undermine
attempts to empower free blacks
 Literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation
continued to openly flourish across the south
for decades
THE KU KLUX KLAN

 Radicals in Congress try to impeach
Johnson for his continued obstruction of
Reconstruction
 Basis was Tenure of Office Act which they
claimed Johnson ignored (removed
somebody from office without Senate’s
consent)
 Also had a spy in Executive branch (Edwin
Stanton)
 1868 House votes to impeach Johnson and
case goes to Senate
 In Senate they fail to get 2/3 majority
 Kept alive constitutional mechanism of
checks and balances
 Impeachment would have destabilized
government and weakened one of the three
branches of government
THE FAILED IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW
JOHNSON

 One of the few successes during Johnson administration was
purchase of Alaska from Russia, although it would not be
realized for years
 Alaska had become a financial and logistical liability and they
did not want it to fall into the hands of the British
 Sold it to the US for 7.2 million, for its potential profitability
and as a favor to an American ally
THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA

 Many Southerners were more offended at Reconstruction than the
outcome of the war itself
 Resented “Yankee” intervention in their social, racial and political
affairs
 Reconstruction happened without a clear plan from the beginning and
was a constant struggle between the executive and legislative branches
and of the entrenched white society
 Early 1870’s many northerners lost interest in remaking the south,
focus was on other political, social, economic issues (western
expansion, Indian Wars, Panic of 1873)
 Generation of leaders that wanted abolition and change began to pass
away. Many racial prejudices in the north began to reemerge. Political
scandals brought down Radical Republicans
 1871 troops were withdrawn from the south and Republican state
governments were replaced with conservative Democrats .
 1872 Congress abolished the Freedman’s Bureau
THE HERITAGE OF RECONSTRUCTION

 Southern Democrats began to discredit African American
politicians, former Confederates were elected to office and
many African Americans were denied opportunity to
participate fully as citizens.
 Americans were united as a nation , federal power became
dominant over state power
 De jure segregation, legal separation of the races became law
in all southern states
 The election of 1876 marked the official end of
Reconstruction as part of the Hayes- Tilden election
compromise (Compromise of 1877), all federal troops were
pulled out of the south
 When troops left Democratic rule returned and many blacks
faced harsher discrimination
THE HERITAGE OF RECONSTRUCTION