The History of the United The History of the United StatesStates

Unit FiveUnit Five

The Civil WarThe Civil War

I) Roots of Conflict A) California

1) free2) Compromise of 1850

a) California would come in as a free state

b) New Mexico & Utah Territories formed with no mention of slavery save debate for later

compromise that came out in 1850

Historian Shelby Foote said that the Civil War was “the crossroads of our being” in that it made America what it is today.

The Civil War (1861-1865)

After the Mexican War (1846) some in Congress tried to limit the expansion of slavery into the Mexican Cession with the “Wilmot Proviso,” but it failed to pass.

d) fugitive slave law toughened -underground railroad became more important

series of safe houses leading mainly to the “free states” of the North

c) slave trade ended in Washington DC

B) Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

1) Harriet Beecher Stowe

C) Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) 1) Stephen Douglas Senator from Illinois who wanted to build a railroad

a) “popular sovereignty”

having a state decide for itself whether to be a slave or free state

2) Republican Party formed as an antislavery party

3) “Bleeding Kansas”

D) Dred Scott (1857) 1) slave who sued for his freedom since he lived in a “free state” when his owner died

2) Supreme Court Decision a) Blacks had no rights b) Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional since the Constitution didn’t say Congress had the right to regulate slavery

E) Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

series of debates between Senator Stephen Douglas & Abraham Lincoln that made Lincoln a national figure on the issue of slavery

F) John Brown’s Raid (1859) 1) Harper’s Ferry, VA federal arsenal located there

a) wanted the slaves to rise upled to the creation of Confederate Army

G) Abolitionists1) William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator

those who worked to end slavery

anti-slavery newspaper

2) Harriet Tubman

3) Frederick Douglassa) eloquent ex-slave

called “Moses” by the slaves that she led north to freedom along the Underground Railroad

the country cannot remain half-slave and half-free—it must become all one thing or another

H) Lincoln wins 1860 Presidential election (Republican Party)a) restriction of slavery--not abolitionb) "A house divided against itself cannot stand..."

J) South Carolina secedes from the Union1) “...too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum...”

K) Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy1) Confederate capital later moved to Richmond, VA.

II) 4:30am, April 12, 1861 A) Ft. Sumter, SC. Charleston Harbor

III) Robert E. Lee A) "...sacrifice everything but honor..."

IV) Manassas/Bull Run, VA.

A) Stonewall Jackson

1st major battle of the war

Confederates named their battles for nearby towns

Union named their battles for nearby bodies of water

Thomas J. JacksonConfederate general who held his ground at Manassas and helped win the battle

V) A Thousand Mile FrontA) George McClellan takes command

1) unwilling to fight

2) "the Virginia creeper"

slow to attack, very tentative (some Union officers wondered whether he was motivated by “cowardice or treason”)

moved slowly up the Peninsula

VI) Shiloh, TN.A) changed people's perception of the war

made people realize that the war was going to be longer and bloodier than expected

In 1862, Lincoln told his cabinet that he had decided to free the slaves, but they worried that doing so without a victory on the battlefield would look desperate—so he decided to wait for a victory.

VII) Antietam, MD.A) bloodiest day in American historyB) McClellan removed from command

Even though the battle was a draw, the Confederates left the battlefield first and this allowed Lincoln to claim Antietam as a “victory” and issue the Emancipation Proclamation

IX) Emancipation Proclamationfreed only those slaves in areas under the control of the Confederacy

VIII) Chancellorsville, VA.A) Lee's "most brilliant victory"B) Stonewall Jackson killed

accidentally shot by his own men and died a few days after his arm was amputated

IX) Gettysburg, Penn.A) The First Day

1) largest battle of the war started over shoes2) Union holds high ground at the end of the 1st day

B) The Second Day1) Little Round Top

a) Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain saves the Unionheld his ground

2) Lee's "blood was up" at end of the 2nd day--made a "terrible mistake"

C) The Third Day1) Pickett's Charge

a) Lee ordered George Pickett to attack Union centerb) turning point in war--Lee blamed himself

2) Confederates retreated back to Virginia

X) Vicksburg, Miss.A) The Key To The Confederacy ("The nail that held [its] two sides together.")

1) "prairie dog town"

2) Ulysses S. Grant takes Vicksburg--Confederacy divided

residents dug holes in the hillsides to escape the shelling

even though the South had superior generals (at first) the North had more people which Grant took advantage of as he kept on the attack

XI) Grant Takes CommandA) "Move By The Left Flank"

1) "...superior numbers and doggedness..."

XII) Summer of 1864 the North’s darkest hour

Grant was stalled outside Petersburg, VA & William T. Sherman outside Atlanta, GA

= when neither side is strong enough to defeat the otherstalemate

A) Lincoln was sure of defeat in the 1864 election1) McClellan chosen Democrat nominee2) "Copperheads"

Northeastern “Peace Democrats” who wanted an end to the war “with or without victory”

B) Sherman Takes Atlanta

C) Lincoln wins election

the fall of Atlanta was one of the main reasons

XIII) Most Hallowed GroundA) Montgomery Meigs chooses Arlington to be National Cemetery

XIV) Sherman's March To The SeaA) From Atlanta to Savannah

1) 60 mile wide path of destruction

B) Sherman takes Savannah, December 1864

C) Lincoln: all the South had to do to rejoin the Union was lay down their guns & go home

XV) Grant Takes RichmondA) Lee retreats west along Appomattox River--Grant in pursuitB) Appomattox Courthouse, VA.

1) Lee surrenders to Grant

XVI) AssassinationA) John Wilkes Booth

1) Ford's Theater, Washington, DC.2) Our American Cousin3) "...the South is avenged!“

["Sic Semper Tyrannus"]thus be it ever to tyrants

B) Lincoln died the next morning1) "...now he belongs to the ages."

C) "Useless, Useless"1) Booth is killed

2) Jefferson Davis captured in Georgiaa) blamed for the war

3) 620,000 dead4) Reconstruction begins

a) Blacks lose freedoms gained during the warb) stage set for Civil Rights movement of

the 1960s