IB History of Americas: IB History of Americas Civil War Review
Typical Paper 3 Questions: Typical Paper 3 Questions Compare the political, economic and military strengths and weaknesses of the North and South United States at the beginning of the US Civil War in 1861.
Assess the successes and failures of Reconstruction in granting civil and political equality for former slaves in the southern states of the US
To what extent was the expansion of slavery into the territories the primary cause of the US Civil War
“Abraham Lincoln has been given greater credit than he deserves for the emancipation of slaves in the US.” How far do you agree with this statement?
To what extent did economic and social differences cause of US Civil War
Antebellum America: Antebellum America Abolitionism dominated reform mid-century
Controversy between gradual/immediate and colonization/assimilation
William Lloyd Garrison (1830s) – radical abolitionist (Liberator)
Disagreement among abolitionists on what means should be used to handle the slavery issue – Political? Moral arguments?
King Cotton: King Cotton 1793 invention of the cotton gin resulted in explosion of slavery
Huge agricultural factory
Cotton exported to England (accounted for 80%); $ used to buy Northern goods
Cotton growing centered in lower south (slave trade 1790 -1860 always moved south)
Why did King Cotton fail : Why did King Cotton fail 1861, British had oversupply
By the time British needed cotton, the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued and the North had the moral cause
Working people in England and to some degree France, hated slavery – pressured gov’ts
As union armies captured the South, they sent supplies of cotton to England
Booming war industries (north and south) helped British economy
Northern grain shipped to Britain who suffered through bad harvests
Regional attitudes toward abolitionisits: Regional attitudes toward abolitionisits North was split by rivalries w/in the movement
South was united in its opposition to the North
South could not dominate the nation, but it was powerful enough to prevent attacks on the institution of slavery
Example of Southern influence: Example of Southern influence Washington DC was considered a “Southern” city -- active during the slave trade “gag rule”
From Washington to Buchanan, all Presidents apart form the Adams had been Southerners or had sympathized with Southern interests
Abraham Lincoln was the first to be elected on a Northern platform, and his election split the nation
1850s: 1850s Slavery conflict calmed by political compromises
Distraction of western issues
Victory in the Mexican War
HOWEVER, it was with the vast territory gains acquired from Mexico that came further questions regarding the expansion of slavery
The compromises: The compromises Slave trade abolished in 1808 – internal sales unaffected ($800 - $1500)
Missouri Compromise 36 degrees 30’ – hope to keep balance of power between slave and free
Wilmot Proviso “neither slavery not involuntary servitude shall ever exist” in any territory acquired from Mexico
Compromise of 1850: Compromise of 1850
NM and UT popular sovereignty
CA enters as a free state
No slave trade in WA DC
Slavery could EXIST in WA DC
Tougher fugitive slave law
Gov’t to pay TX pre-annexation debt
Congress would not have jurisdiction over interstate slave trade
Problems w/ Compromise: Problems w/ Compromise CA as a free state upset the balance in the Senate - -South angry
Fugitive Slave Law – GREAT propaganda and ammunition for abolitionists (martyrs and victims!)
Led to the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852
Local self-determination: Local self-determination Slavery issue moved from Congress to the territories themselves
Partisan fighting
Resulted in extremism
Breakdown of political party system
Kansas Nebraska Act: Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
Stephen Douglas attempt to unite Democratic Party behind him (also trying to get the transcontinental RR to go through his home state rather than southern)
Territories rely on popular sovereignty which would nullify the Missouri Compromise
Fear that enough Southerners could move in and vote in slavery
Bleeding Kansas: Bleeding Kansas 1856
200 people killed
Southerners rushed into the new territory trying to claim it for the South
John Brown raid #1 – later resurfaced at Harper’s Ferry (1859) captured by Robt E. Lee, executed, martyred
Dred Scott Case: Dred Scott Case Slave
Brought to a free state
Six to three majority – Scott did not have a claim before the court – he was not a citizen, he was a slave
Struck down idea of popular sovereignty by declaring that the gov’t had no right to deprive a citizen of his property -- slave = property = gov’t could be required to protect it
Election 1860: Election 1860 Lincoln’s election led to seccession
February 1861 – seven southern states formed the Confederate States of America
This did not necessarily mean war
Southern states hoped to build a new nation and economic empire around “King Cotton”
Lincoln’s reaction: Lincoln’s reaction KEEP THE BORDER STATES
“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
Final showdown came over federal forts in the South.
South wanted them
Lincoln “let” them fire the first shots
Northern advantages and Southern assests: Northern advantages and Southern assests North
Industrial strength
¾ railroads
Population (22 mil + immigrants)
¾ nations wealth
Controlled the sea
Moral higher ground
Better logistical planning South
Better military leadership – Lee and Jackson
Only needed a stalemate to win
Until the Emancipation Proclamation, believed they held the higher moral ground
Better soldiers
Confederate chances: Confederate chances Lack of significant industrial capacity
Severe shortages of shoes, uniforms, blankets
Railroads cut or destroyed
Did not get foreign intervention (often necessary for a revolution to succeed)
Emancipation Proclamation: Emancipation Proclamation Jan 1, 1863
Union army could confiscate slaves as they invaded the South on the basis that they were contraband
Moral crusade
All slaves in rebellion declared now and forever free
Slaves in border states not included
Lincoln’s goal was to strengthen the moral cause at home and abroad
Reconstruction: Reconstruction What was reconstruction? Attempt to achieve national reunification and reconciliation and to improve the status of former slaves
Reality – goals are hard to meet
The North prevailed during the war. The South prevailed after the war.
Proposals and Plans: Proposals and Plans 1864-65: Lincoln’s 10% plan
1865: 13th Amendment
1865-66: Presidential Reconstruction: Johnson’s version of Lincoln’s proposal (Wade Davis Bill)
Black Codes (1866): designed to regulate affairs of freedmen – purpose – guarantee stable labor supply
1866-67: Congressional Plan; 10% plan with the 14th Amendment
1867-77: Military Reconstruction (Congress) 14th Amendment plus black suffrage that was later established nationwide by 15th Amendment
Compromise of 1876: ends Reconstruction
Fallout of Reconstruction: Fallout of Reconstruction Road to institutional discrimination
Failed to empower blacks politically
14th and 15th Amendment ignored for several generations
Sharecropping became a wide-scale practice keeping blacks tied to plantation owners with crop lien laws, which facilitated the binding of blacks unable to pay their debts
Wholesale disenfranchisement began in 1890
Poll taxes & prop requirements, literacy tests, “Jim Crow” laws (segregate), lynchings
Booker T Washington: Booker T Washington 44% nonwhite illiterate in 1900
Head of Tuskegee Institute
Taught “useful” trades as means toward self-respect and economic equality
Advocated ACCOMODATION in which he accepted segregation in return for the right to develop economic and education resources of the black community
Urged blacks to adopt white middle class standards in speech, dress, and habits so blacks would gain respect of whites
“Atlanta Compromise” 1895
W. E. B. DuBois: W. E. B. DuBois Opposed Washington and demanded immediate social and economic equality for blacks
Agitation and litigation
Niagara Movement
Demanded immediate end to segregation and to discrimination
Wanted immediate equal opportunity
Argued that the “talented tenth” of the black community be given full and immediate access to the mainstream of American life
NAACP