The Civil War
Why was the civil war fought???
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the
slaves, I would do it… What I do about slavery… I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.”
Taking Sides in the War
Civil War Beginnings
•
The South’s Strategy
•
Defensive war of
attrition
: wear the
enemy down by picking battles carefully,
attacking and retreating when necessary
and avoiding large battles that might risk
heavy losses
•
Wanted to force the Union to spend its
• The Union’s Anaconda Plan
• Blockade Southern ports on the Atlantic
• Isolate Confederacy from European aid and trade
• Cut off flow of supplies, equipment, money, food and cotton
• Exhaust Southern resources, forcing surrender
• Control Mississippi with Union gunboats
• Divide eastern part of the Confederacy from the western part
• Capture New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Memphis
Turning Point Number 1
Battle of Antietam
Convince the North to accept the South’s
Independence
Reasons for the Battle
A victory on Northern soil might help the South win
recognition
Battle of Antietam
British decided to wait and see how the war progressed
Results of the Battle
Convinced Lincoln that the time had come to end slavery in the South
Emancipation Proclamation No international
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation
•
Decree freeing all enslaved persons in
states STILL IN REBELLION after
January 1, 1863
•
DID NOT address slavery in the border
states
“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord [1863], all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforth, and forever free…”
The Emancipation Proclamation
from a war
over
preserving
the Union
to a war of
freedom
(end
slavery)
Transformed the conflict
African Americans Help the Union
The Emancipation Proclamation helped unite
African Americans in support of the war.
Ultimately, 189,000 African Americans served
Divisions Over the War
South
• generally regions with large slaveholding
plantations supported the war more strongly than poor backcountry regions.
North
• many northerners opposed the
Emancipation
Divisions Over the War
•
Some people on both sides tried to
disrupt the war effort:
•
Encourage soldiers to desert
•
Some northerners helped Confederate
POW escape
•
Some southern peace groups tried to end
the war by working against the
Divisions Over the War
•
In response, both Lincoln and
Confederate president, Jefferson Davis
suspended the right of habeas
corpus.
•
Habeas corpus is a constitutional
protection against unlawful
imprisonment, the suspension of which
poses a
threat to civil liberties
since
Draft Laws
•
Desertion was a problem with both sides
– between 300,000 and 550,000 soldiers
left their units.
•
To meet the need for troops, each side
established a draft, a system of required
military service.
•
Wealthy people could pay to avoid the
The War and Economic Strains
South
• Union blockade prevented raising money by selling cotton overseas
• Shortages made
goods more expensive = high inflation
• Food production fell as farmland and crops
were destroyed
North
• Industry boomed to support the needs of the war
• An income tax was levied to pay for the war
Women in the Civil War
Disguised as men to join army, served as spies, took over farms/businesses, worked in factory and
Turning Point Number 2
Battle of Gettysburg
Pickett’s Charge – mile-wide line of
Confederate troops marched across open
farmland toward Cemetery Ridge where Union forces stood
Battle of Gettysburg
Strengthened the Republicans
politically
Results of the Battle
Ensured that the British would not recognize the
Confederacy
The South
The Gettysburg Address
•
November, 1863
•
Lincoln dedicated a portion of the
battlefield as a military cemetery
•
Explained that the war was NOT a
Turning Point Number 3
Battle of Vicksburg
Reasons for the Battle
Battle of Vicksburg
Entire Mississippi River was under Union (Grant’s) control
Results of the Battle
Union has the upper hand
Closing in on the Confederacy
Closing in on the Confederacy
General William
Sherman (Union)
believed in total
war as symbolized
through the
burning of Atlanta
and the path of
destruction 60
Coming to an end…
•
Knowing the end is near, Lincoln’s
second inaugural address in March,
1865 asks Americans to forgive and
forget…
“With malice toward none; with charity for
all;… let us strive together… to bind up the
nation’s wounds.”
Coming to an end...
•
1865 Confederate
troops under the
leadership of General
Robert E. Lee surrender
at Appomattox Court
House to Union General
Ulysses S. Grant
What now?
RESULTS
OF THE
CIVIL
WAR
Strengthened thepower of the federal government
over the states Question of how to
heal/reconstruct the war torn
nation
Question of what to do with the
freed African Americans South is socially
and
economically weakened =
rise of the New South End of slavery
with passage of the
13th
Amendment
The UNION is
