Reconstruction (1865-1877)

Here are the notes from the sub-day this Friday!

• Dates are markers. Provide context info.
• 1865
  • the end of the Civil War and the death of Lincoln
  • Rebuilding the South economically, socially, and politically
  • Suffrage
  • Military occupation of the South/Re-admission of the States into the Union
• 1877
  • The end of reconstruction
  • The military occupation of the South ends
  • The Election of 1876 elects Rutherford B. Hayes, closely contested by Samuel J. Tilden
  • The contested election went to the electoral college. 20 electoral votes and congressional committee award the election to Hayes in exchange for Hays's promise to end the military occupation of the South. This is called the Compromise of 1877.
  • After 1877, Democrats from the South regain political power. They are called the Redeemers.
• Challenge the Question
  • On January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in liberated areas of the Confederacy only. It was only issues by Lincoln after the Battle of Antietam.
  • The focus of the war transcends the preservation of the Union and emerges into the abolition of slavery. Europe is watching
• Lincoln's attitude towards reconstruction
  • He was moderate as opposed to later Radical Republicans.
  • He created the 10% plan. In the seceded states, 10% of citizens had to take the oath of allegiance for a state to become self-governing. This was the pathway to re-admittance
  • Lincoln wanted to re-enfranchise all Southerners who took the oath, except for the major leader of the South ie Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee.
  • For blacks Lincoln only wanted to enfranchise ex-slave Union Soldiers and those who passed a literacy test.
  • Lincoln's assassination in April of 1865 hardens the Northern attitudes towards reconstruction.
• Post Lincoln's assassination/ Steps in the right direction
  • The Radical Republicans gain influence and an unassailable congressional majority in 1866.
  • Lincoln's policy was intended to be carried forward by his Southern, republican vice president Andrew Johnson (NC/Tennesseean).
  • Johnson succeds in passing the 13th amendment, which abolishes slavery and the 13th becomes the major pre requisite for re-admission of individual states.
  • Johnson and Lincoln's policy was directed to aid the freed slaves with the creation of the Freedman's Bureau.
  • Who the hell is O. O. Howard?? Anyways he creates the Refugee assistance program. It helped with displacement, uniting split families, id in acquiring food, shelter, and land.
  • Immediately after the war, Southerners still held political power and sought to keep newly freed slaves in check.
  • The Black Codes passed in 1865 limits the movements of former slaves and keeps them in the neighborhood.
  • Southerner planters are impoverished postwar because of the worthless confederate currency, freed slaves, and plummeting land prices.
  • The immediate solutions was to plant crops with wage-earning ex-slaves. They promise to share agricultural revenue with former slaves; gets the name sharecropping.
• Radical Reconstruction (1867-1877)
  • In 1866 the Radical Republicans attempt to strengthen the power of the Freedman's Bureau (political/education) and grant full citizenship rights to ex-slaves. Both measures get vetoed by Johnson, which leads to his impeachment.
  • The Radical Republican Congress, empowered by the 1866 elections, impeach Johnson. Although it fails by one vote, it curtails his political power.
  • Radical Reconstruction is led by Thaddeus Stevens (PA, Stuart destroyed property?? idk what Courts was thinking here) and Charles Sumner from Massachusetts.
  • After 1866 they reinforce the Freedman's Bureau and pass
    • the 14th amendment: grants full rights of citizenship to any male born in America under due process of the law
    • and the 15th: gives the vote to Black males
    • The Reconstruction Act of 1867 (there was no explanation here from Courts)

Key Battles of the Civil War

Key Battles

• Strategy
  • Northern
    • their strategy was the vision of the overall Yankee commander General Winfield Scott. His nickname was "Ole fuss and feathers"
    • He designed the Anaconda Plan to squeeze the life out of the Confederacy. He said the South has two main weaknesses are
      • the fact that they have little industry so they must rely on foreign trade to acquire material of war
      • They don't have a navy
    • Scott's plan envisions the capture/blockade of all major Southern Ports: Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans. The North captured all of them by 1865.
    • The South used blockade runners to try to avoid the blockade. Scott also wants to reopen the "Father of Waters," which cuts the South in half and allows the Midwestern farm products to flow "unvexed to the sea."
    • Vicksburg, Virginia then provides for river-based invasion of the South
  • Southern
    • Defend their territory from Northern Aggression
    • Jefferson Davis was the Secretary of War and head of West Point.
    • Conventional over guerrilla insurgency; there were lots of borders.
• Theaters of the War
  • Eastern Theater- Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina
    • Battle of Bull Run
      • In 1861 there was hope for a short war. Both sides enlisted 90 day volunteers.
      • The North builds armies in Maryland and DC under Irwin McDowell, who has 35k men. Lincoln tells McDowell to attack PGT Beauregard (18k) at Manassas/Bull Run.
      • The South had another army in Shenandoah Valley under Joseph E. Johnston (15k). McDowell's advance caused Beauregard to ask Johnston for aid, so he sends his army by rail to help Beauregard.
      • McDowell successfully flanks Beauregard on July 21, 1861.
      • Half of the Southern Army is retreating except for 2,000 men under by a VMI math professor, eccentric, General Jackson. Jackson stands like a "stonewall" and rallies the Southern troops who then counter McDowell and drive him from the field in confusion.
      • This was a total victory for the South who were too disorganized by victory to follow up.
      • The failure to capitalize on the victory means a long war.
      • McDowell is replaced by George B. McClellan, who is an organizational genius and commands the Army of the Potomac and takes Scott's place.
    • Battle of Seven Pines and Robert E. Lee's appointment to Commander of the South
      • McClellan raises and trains 200,000 troops in the winter of 61-62.
      • Beauregard was sent west and the army of Northern Virginia was entrusted to Johnston. Both are fatally cautious.
      • Johnston has 60k men at Manassas and another 20k in the Shenandoah under Stonewall Jackson.
      • McClellan is a brilliant strategist, and sends 100k troops on transports to within 40 miles of Richmond. This is called the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862.
      • McClellan leaves the other 100,000 men around DC to defeat Jackson and move South.
      • Johnston moves the rest to defend Richmond. McClellan advances to within 7 miles of Richmond, Johnston finally attacks at Seven Pines. Johnston is defeated and wounded severely . Davis appoints his personal advisor Robert E. Lee to be the Commander of Souther Forces
    • Jackson's Valley Campaign and Seven Days' Battles
      • McClellan tells the other 100k troops of his to join him after defeating Jackson's small force.
      • Jackson has other plans: the Valley Campaign
      • He defeats 4 different Union armies and captures Harper's Ferry and threatens DC via Shenandoah Shotgun. Jackson's victories cause Lincoln to withhold his 100k troops from McClellan to protect DC.
      • Jackson disappears and then shows up outside of Richmond and aids Lee in the Seven Days' Battles.
      • They attack McClellan for 7 days straight. McClellan panics and flees to the protection of the Navy on James River.
    • Second Battle of Manassas in August 1862
      • Lee, seeing McClellan paralyzed and soon to be fired. Lee sends Jackson to attack outside of DC in the Second Battle of Manassas in August 1862.
      • Jackson with 25k holds of John Pope with 75k until Lee arrives with the rest of his army at pouts pope.
      • Pope gets fired and McClellan is reinstated
    • Antietam
      • After Pope's defeat at Second Manassas, Lee decides to move the war into the North.
      • The invasion of the North may lead to the Confederates recognition by Europe. Destruction of armies should be visited upon the North.
      • Also, Lee posits that moving the war into the North will allow Virginia farmers to harvest crops unmolested because of their food shortage.
      • In September 1862, with McClellan back in command, Lee, via Shenandoah, invades Maryland with 40k.
      • Lee splits his army to distract McClellan and Jackson goes to Harpers Ferry with 15k and Longstreet goes into Maryland while being slowly pursued by McClellan.
      • Lincoln is unhappy with McClellan's indecisiveness, but luck strikes and McClellan finds Lee's battle orders wrapped around 3 cigars at an old Southern army camp.
      • McClellan's 80k men attacks Lee's 20k at Antietam Creek; the bloodiest day in US History.
      • Jackson is 35 miles away at Harper's Ferry, and rushes to arrive at the battle at a critical time.
      • The battle is a draw with 22k casualties. Lee retreats back into Virginia and McClellan pursues slowly and is fired again by Lincoln, and brings in a new commander named Ambrose Burnside tries to attack Lee in the spring of 1863.
    • Chancellosville
      • Burnside is replaced by Hooker. Hooker divides his army skillfully and flanks Lee at Chancellorsville in May 1863. Lee divides his army and flanks Hooker's flank with Jackson's men and routs Hooker's army driving him to the banks of Rappahannok.
      • Nightfall stops Jackson's attack. Jackson reconnoiters norther position and rides back to the line. He is shot by NC troops in the dark and eventually dies form infection.
      • Chancellorsville is a Pyrrhic victory for the South.
    • Lee then determines that if the South winds it must be in 1863
      • The South's manpower is peaking and the North has just instituted the draft causing riots in NY, so their armies are growing
      • The Blockade is affecting the South's economic ability to wage war
      • Morale in the North is getting low and victory on Northern soil will empower Northern Peace Movement.
        • The Copperheads led by Clement Vallandingham in Ohio
      • A successful northern invasion will help with an unobstructed crop harvest and give them foreign recognition.
    • Gettysburg Campaign
      • Lee in June of 1863, invades Pennsylvania via the Shenandoah Valley with Stuart screening for him. Stuart is given "leeway" goes on a raid around the Northern Army, leaving Lee blind.
      • Lee has 3 corps after Jackson's death
        • Ewell (bald dick)
        • AP Hill (has gonorrhea)
        • Longstreet
      • Lee is pursued by Hooker, and Hooker gets fired and replaced by General George Mead.
      • Ewell surrounds Harrisburg while sending scouts to Philadelphia.
      • Hill's group suffers from Rocky Roads in Pennsylvania without shoes. Hill looks for shoes in Gettysburg.
      • When Hill's troops try to enter Gettysburg the next morning, it is occupied by the Northern Cavalry. Southern troops try to drive off cavalry outfitted with new Spencer repeaters (12 shots per minutes vs. 3 shots per minute).
      • Hill's troops are angered regroup in full battle formation now clash with No. Infantry and a full battle ensues on July 1, 1863. Ewell comes down from the North and wins the day. Mead's troops then take position on a high hill.
      • The troops dig overnight on the ridge, anchored by small mountains
  • Trans Mississippi- west of the Mississippi
  • Western Theater- between the Mississippi river and the Appalachians

Paper 3: Cause, Course, and Results of the Civil War

• Causes of the Civil War- an issue of Spice
  • S- Slavery
  • P- Political
    • Disappearance of the Whigs and the appearance of the Republicans
    • The Democrats- Northern and Southern Branches and also the Constitutional Union Party for the border states
  • I- Idealogical Issues
    • Southern nationalism and religion
  • C- Cultural Issues
    • The south develops an agrarian state, which is semi-feudal.
    • The south is based on culture and tradition
    • Immigration makes it so that Few Africans in the North
  • E- Economic
    • Chattel slavery and agriculture versus the Industrial revolution
• Slavery, the "peculiar institution"
  • From 1776-1865, slavery is legal. In 1776, all thirteen colonies had legal slavery. In 1865- the 13th amendment makes slavery illegal. After the Revolution the states begin to abolish slavery.
  • North and South are divided at the Mason-Dixon Line, which is between Maryland and Pennsylvania.
  • Constitutionally supported
    • the 3/5 compromise meant that southern slaves could count towards political representation in the House.
    • Article IV allows the importation of slaves for 20 more years
    • Slave status is maintained with movement inside the country. The status of slavery was mainly the prerogative of the individual states- States Rights
  • The Gradual abolition of slavery advances until Civil War
    • New Hampshire and New Jersey had slaves in 1865.
    • There are 15 Slave States:
      • The Deep South or the First Seven:
        • South Carolina
        • Georgia
        • Alabama
        • Mississippi
        • Louisiana
        • Florida
        • Texas
      • Upper South (4)
        • Arkansas
        • Virginia
        • North Carolina
        • Tennessee
      • Border States (4)
        • Maryland
        • Kentucky
        • Missouri
        • Delaware
        • DC, but it technically it doesn't count
  • Until about 1810, slavery was in decline in the US. Classical tobacco and wheat growing regions had abandoned slavery due to soil exhaustion of the coastal plain.
  • Moral guilt led to a wave of manumission. By 1810, 10% of blacks in the South were freed by masters at death. In 1810 1,000,000 Africans are in the US.
  • In 1860, there were 4,000,000 Africans and manumissions have all but ended. Eli Whitney and the cotton gin changed chattel slavery in two ways.
    • Cotton was 50x easier to clean and sell because it had no seeds. Cotton fiber feeds the textile mills of the Midlands and Industrial Revolution.
    • Indentured servitude's population in the 18th century ends due to the Industrial Revolution. King Cotton revitalizes southern Agricultural economy and spurs Westward development.
    • The expansion of the US is entangled with an extension of slavery.
    • The NW ordinance of 1787 banned slavery north of the Dhir River: in Indiana and Ohio, Anti-Slavery culture develops.
    • Slave trade ended in 1808, but slaves increased naturally.
    • African americans were displaced from tribal allegiances by slavery. Cotton began a second forced migration of africans (2nd Middle passage)
    • Slaves are sold South to satisfy labor demands in newly acquired Deep South cotton Regions: forests cleared and chain swamps
    • Male labor was at a premium (second mass destruction of Black families)
    • Nature of slavery also changes- 25% of families own slaves, and the average # was 5 slaves
• Religion
  • Southern whites split with Northern brethren over the slavery issue. An example is the Southern Baptists vs. Northern Baptists.
  • Slaved were forced into Christianity. It was their refuge.
  • Blacks embraced Sundays for rest and religion. Spiritual music and unique form of Christianity develop.
  • Southern Whites used Christianity to justify slavery:
    • Christianity was mutually beneficial to the Master and Slave.
    • Biblical justification for slavery
    • Some whites thought that black skin was the Mark of Cain (the mark God placed on Cain for killing his brother Abel)
    • Noah's son Ham, was the father of the Canonites, who were Jews and Muslims.
• Abolitionism
  • James Mcpherson called for the "immediate, unconditional, and total end to slavery" in the pre-Civil war era.
  • The absolute form of liberation of slaves was not universal. Some abolitionists wanted only partial liberation, or wanted it soon, or after a war.
  • William Lloyd Garrison was the editor of the newspaper, "The Liberator," and Frederick Douglass edited, "The North Star."
  • Wendell Phillips was the head of the AAS (Americans for Abolition of Slavery).
  • There was a split between Garrison (who condemned slavery on Constitutional grounds) and Douglass who viewed slavery as a violation of Natural Law.
  • Gradualism: was an anti-slavery process that was handled by the States themselves. This was the Republican Party's policy and Lincoln's policy.
  • Anti-expansionist: was the view to stop the expansion of slavery. JQA opposed making slaves out of the the boat of Africans that landed in South Carolina in the Amistad case.
  • Ultra-Abolitionists: was mostly made up of women. Head party members include Abby Kelley Foster/ Susan B. Anthony. They wanted immediate and full civil rights.
  • Abolitionism is entwined with other Utilitarian and Liberal movements of the 19th century: Abolition, suffrage, temperance, public education (Blacks were prohibited), prison and asylum reforms. There is a strong feminist component in the Abolitionist movement.
  • In the 1830s the Grimke Sisters were famous for their speaking tours. They were born in the South. The speaking tours were closely associated with institutionalized higher learning.
  • Quaker Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Seneca Falls Conference) established Oberlin College in Ohio.
  • Former slaves and the underground railroad- Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth,
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, which sensationalized one form of slavery. There is a really large polarization of attitudes, which is a major cause for the Civil War.
• Timeline of the Abolition movement
  • Historically, Abolitionism begins in Britain begins in Britain in opposition to the slave trade, and the Quakers were foremost.
  • In the 18th century James Oglethorpe intended to found Georgia as a slave-free penal colony.
  • The Brits end the slave trade, but not actual slavery until the 1830s.
  • In 1783 Ben Franklin of Pennsylvania created the Manumission (release the slave when the master dies) Society. Ben owned slaves himself and was a gradualist.
  • In 1787 the North West Ordinance opened up the Ohio Vally for settlement but prohibited slavery in Illinois, Indianan, Ohio, and Michigan.
  • In 1799 the New York Manumission Society was founded by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr. There was a Gradualist ban in NY.
  • In 1808 the International Slave Trade was banned in the US by Thomas Jefferson. Sally Hemings and Jefferson manumitted his children.
  • in 1810 the Upper south had voluntary manumission trend before the advent of King Cotton. By 1860 90% of blacks were free in Delaware. 50% were free in Maryland, and 15% were free in Virginia.
    • Charles and John Langston had a white dad and black mom were central figures
    • Charles went to the college of Oberlin. Charles's grandson is Langston Hughes.
  • In 1820 the Missouri Compromise means that Missouri comes into the Union as a free state, and Maine is free. Slavery was confined to south-of the life 35'30." This temporary compromise lasts until the Compromise of 1850.
• The Tariff Issue
  • Abominations, Nullifications, Black tariffs, Tariff of 1846, Morrill 1861
  • The Tariff of Abominations 1828-1832:
    • The New US industries, especially in New England, needed a high protective tariff against cheaper, established European production.
    • The Tariff was with the British, whom the South sell their cotton and tobacco almost exclusively with.
    • The South also wanted to purchase higher quality European goods. The result was the Nullification crisis: South Carolina threatens secession.
  • In 1832 the Tariff was reduced, which pacifies the South Carolina
    • The Tariffs are the primary source of Federal Revenue. It is a political issue, the party in power just adjusts tariffs to their constituency.
    • The tariff of 1846 reduces tariffs and relaxes tariff war with the Brits. The Corn Laws benefit Midwestern farmers who sell grain to Brits. Culminates in 1861 with the Morill Tariff, which is the highest tariff in history.
• Political Issues
  • California
    • The Mexican War ended in 1845-48 in the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, negotiated by Nicholas Trist. Mexican Cession extends the options for 36'30."
    • The South really pushed the Mexican War and the idea of a transcontinental Railroad.
    • Part of Mexican Cession becomes really important when in 1849 at Sutter's Mill, California, people start finding gold. The California Gold Rush!
    • The Compromise of 1850 there is a rush to make California a State so no one can take the gold. California comes in as a free state. In recompense, the South gets a newer and stronger Fugitive Slave Law with stronger enforcement ($1,000 fines).
    • Absolute abolitionist and the underground railway wanted to ban slavery in all new territories. After the Fugitive Slavery Law the Wilmot Proviso in 1850 wanted to ban slavery in all new territories, but it failed. The South and North continued to grow angry and suspicious of each other.
  • Kansas
    • The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: opened up to settlement, but North of 36'30."The North wants free soil. and the South wants slavery. The compromise position from Illinois was from the Little Giant, Stephan Douglas: Popular Sovereignty. (basically self-determination)
    • Kansas becomes bleeding Kansas. The Missouri pro-slavery forces called the Border Ruffians and the Iowa and Midwesterners free soilers called the Jayhawkers.
    • Violence ensues. The foremost event of violence was the Pottawattomie Massacres where 10 pro-slavery people were hacked to death with swords by John Brown.
  • The Lincoln Douglass Debates underscore the debate nationally and popularize Lincoln. The Kansas-Nebraska Act also destroys the Whig Party and gives birth to the Republican Party (1856, John C. Frémont, the Pathfinder, was the first Republican candidate)
  • In 1856 Preston Brooks canes Massachusetts Charles Sumner on the Senate Floor. In 1957 Dred Scott Decision justifies slavery on the grounds that slaves were citizens, changed by the 14th amendment.