Civil War

By: Ray Carlton III

The Election of Lincoln (1860)

• Lincoln became president with 180 electoral votes and 1,865,593 popular votes.

Ft. Sumter• On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Beauregard,

in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson refused. On April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire on the fort, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 p.m., April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Although there were no casualties during the bombardment, one Union artillerist was killed and three wounded (one mortally) when a cannon exploded prematurely when firing a salute during the evacuation.

Emancipation Proclamation (Battle of Antietam).

• Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, it had unique significance as enough of a victory to give President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from potential plans for recognition of the Confederacy.

Emancipation Proclamation

• in US history, a declaration issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, freeing the slaves in those territories still rebelling against the Union

Battle of Gettysburg

• It was the turning point if the civil war, the battle lasted only three days.

• 3,155 were killed, 14,351 were wounded, and 5,369 were captured or missing.

• The Union defeated the Confederates by surrendering.

Gettysburg Address

• It was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.

Appomattox• On April 3, Richmond fell to

Union troops as Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in retreat to the West pursued by Grant and the Army of the Potomac. A running battle ensued as each Army moved farther to the West in an effort to out flank, or prevent being out flanked by the enemy. Finally, on April 7, General Grant initiated a series of dispatches leading to a meeting between the two commanders.

Lincoln’s view of Reconstruction• Determined to find a course

that would reunite the nation and not alienate the South, Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held throughout the war in areas behind Union lines. His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office, had not mistreated Union prisoners, and would sign an oath of allegiance.

Andrew Johnson’s view of Reconstruction.

• His class-based resentment of the rich appeared in a May 1865 statement to W.H. Holden, the man he appointed governor of North Carolina: "I intend to confiscate the lands of these rich men whom I have excluded from pardon by my proclamation, and divide the proceeds thereof among the families of the wool hat boys, the Confederate soldiers, whom these men forced into battle to protect their property in slaves.“ In practice, Johnson was not at all harsh toward the Confederate leaders. He allowed the Southern states to hold elections in 1865, resulting in prominent ex-Confederates being elected to the U.S. Congress; however, Congress did not seat them. Congress and Johnson argued in an increasingly public way about Reconstruction and the manner in which the Southern secessionist states would be readmitted to the Union. Johnson favored a very quick restoration, similar to the plan of leniency that Lincoln advocated before his death.

Radical Republican view of Reconstruction.

• The Radical Republicans led the Reconstruction of the South. All Republican factions supported Ulysses S. Grant for president in 1868. Once in office, Grant forced Sumner out of the party. Grant used Federal power to try to break up the Ku Klux Klan organization. Insurgents, however, and community riots continued harassment and violence against African Americans and their allies into the early 20th century.

Civil War Amendment 13th

• The 13th civil war amendment made slavery illegal in the united states. Many states passed a law to protect the rights of blacks, but white people against racial equality, mostly from the South, fought against similar laws when Congress tried to believe freeing the slaves would cause other problems.

Civil War Amendment 14th

• Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, sometimes called the "Great Amendment," to help protect the rights of the freed slaves. It was added to the Constitution in 1868. It stated that all people who were born in the United States, including African-Americans, are considered natural citizens and have the same rights as all other Americans. It also prohibited any state from making or enforcing any laws that took away or hurt an individual’s civil rights. After the Fourteenth Amendment passed, many African-Americans still didn’t have all the rights Whites had. Many Whites, especially in the South, continued to treat the Blacks unfairly.

Civil War Amendment 15th • The Fifteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution in

1870 to protect Blacks’ voting rights. It prohibited the national and state governments from refusing citizens the right to vote because of their race, color, or because they were a slave at one time. After the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, a large number of Blacks voted during the late 1860’s through the 1880’s. The African-Americans used their voting rights to gain political power and to protect their rights. Soon, southern states started passing laws to make it harder for Blacks to vote. Some states passed laws that required people to pay a poll tax before voting. Others required people to pass a reading or writing test before voting. Since most Blacks had been slaves their whole lives, they had little money to pay a poll tax and did not know how to read or write. Some people were still trying to take away the civil rights of African Americans.

The South after the war.

• When the war was ended, there was much to be done. The South had to rebuild houses, buildings, farms, and stores, while little of the North had been destroyed. The former slave owners now had to let blacks vote, run for office, and learn. The new country was beginning to reconstruct itself, but it was not easy.

The North and Midwest after the war

•  The Civil War produced quite different results in the North than in the South. Away from the ravages of battle, there was little rebuilding to do. Besides that, the Northern economy actually benefited from the conflict. There were new markets for products used by the Union Army. Northern factories were producing more than ever before. Booming factories meant that bankers and investors were making profits. This money supported new inventions and better ways to produce goods.

Election of 1876

• Samuel J. Tilden of New York defeated Ohio's Rutherford Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes yet uncounted. These 20 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (on account of being an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute.

Compromise of 1877.

• The Compromise of 1877 was one of a series of compromises reached to hold the United States together peacefully.

Jim Crow Era• The term “Jim Crow” signifies the elaborate legal and social

structure the South used to enforce the continued subordination of the black population after emancipation. This codified system of segregation denied free blacks access to the political process, limited their education and economic opportunities, and dehumanized them based on false notions of white superiority. In addition, southern whites employed terror through intimidation and extra legal violence, especially lynching, to doom the promise of Reconstruction. Show students what life was like for black Americans during the Jim Crow era with primary source documents that include eyewitness accounts of racial prejudice and terrorization, examples of segregation and disfranchisement laws, riveting photographs and President Truman’s Executive Order to desegregate the military.

Plessy v. Ferguson

• a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations (particularly railroads), under the doctrine of "separate but equal".

• The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1, with the majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown and the dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan, with Justice David Josiah Brewer not participating in this case. "Separate but equal" remained standard doctrine in U.S. law until its final repudiation in the later Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954).