Chapter 3
CRISIS, CIVIL WAR, AND
RECONSTRUCTION 1846-1877
SECTION 1: THE UNION IN CRISIS
SECTION FOCUS QUESTION
How did the issue of slavery divide the union?
SLAVERY AND WESTERN EXPANSION
The Mexican-American War highlighted the issue
of slavery in the United States
 Wilmot Proviso – called for a ban on slavery in any
territory that the United States gained for this war
 Southerners denounced the
proposal but it passed the
Republican dominated House of
Representatives

A NEW PARTY OPPOSES SLAVERY
New political parties are ignited by the antislavery movement
 Free-Soil Party – northern opponents of slavery

CONGRESS TRIES TO COMPROMISE
1850 California applied to enter the Union as a
free state ( non-slave)
 Compromise of 1850 – this measure admitted
California as a free state but allowed other
territory acquired from Mexico voter would get
to decide
 Popular Sovereignty – this is the idea of voters
deciding for or against slavery in new states

CONT…

The 1850 Compromise also included the
Fugitive Slave Act.
 Arrest
suspected runaway slaves
 No jury trial
 Required citizens to help capture runaways
THE ROAD TO DISUNION

Harriet Beecher Stowe – author of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, showed the plight of slaves in the south

“So you are the little woman who wrote the book
that made this great war” President Lincoln
THE KANSAS – NEBRASKA ACT

Kansas-Nebraska Act – divided the Nebraska
Territory into Kansas and Nebraska, allowing
voters in each territory to decide the issue of
slavery
VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN KANSAS
May 21st 1856 proslavery forces attacked the
free-state town of Lawrence, Kansas
 John Brown – moved to Kansas hoping to
confront the issue of slavery head-on
 Brown and his men murdered five pro-slave
settlers near Pottawatomie Creek

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY EMERGES
Opposition to slavery led to the creation of the
new Republican Party in 1854
 The presidential election of 1856

 James
Buchanan – he would “stop the agitation of
the slavery issue (Democrat) “Won the election”
 John C. Fremont – opposed the spread of slavery
(Republican)
THE DREAD SCOTT DECISION INFLAMES THE
NATION

Dred Scott v. Sandford – the court ruled
against Scott. The court ruled that blacks were
not citizens and, therefore, were not entitled to
sue in the courts
THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES

Abraham Lincoln – Republican challenger to
Senator Stephen Douglas a Democrat
 Lincoln
called for political equality for African
Americans but not immediate abolition
 Douglas saw the issue of slavery as being solved by
popular sovereignty
JOHN BROWN PLANS A REVOLT
Brown saw the political process to slow in
ending slavery and saw violence as the best
answer.
 Harpers Ferry, Virginia

SECTION 2: LINCOLN, SECESSION, AND WAR
SECTION FOCUS QUESTION

How did the Union finally collapse into a civil
war?
THE ELECTION OF 1860
John Brown, Kansas, Supreme Court (Dred
Scott), and the Fugitive Slave Act’s intrusion
into the states’ independence further fueled
the flames of war
 Jefferson Davis – Mississippi senator,
convinced Congress to restrict federal control
over slavery

DEMOCRATS SPLIT THEIR SUPPORT
The Democrats held their nomination
convention in Charleston, N.C.. They split their
party over the issue of federal protection vs.
popular sovereignty
 John C. Breckinridge – nominated Vice
President by southern Democrats

WHIGS MAKE A LAST EFFORT

The Whigs joined the Know-Nothings to create
the Constitutional Union Party with the platform
to uphold “the Constitution of the country, the
Union of the States and the enforcement of the
laws”
REPUBLICANS NOMINATE LINCOLN

Republicans held their convention in Chicago,
they chose the more moderate Lincoln over
William H. Seward because his antislavery
views were deemed to radical
LINCOLN WINS THE ELECTION
Lincoln won the election benefiting from the
fracturing among the other political parties
 He did not receive a single southern electoral
vote and was not on the ballot in many
southern states

LONG-TERM CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR





Sectional economic and
cultural differences
Debate over expansion of
slavery into the territories
Laws increased sectional
tension
Growth of anti-slavery
movement
Failed political compromises



SHORT-TERM CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR




Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
THE UNION COLLAPSES
Kansas-Nebraska Act splits
political parties
Breakdown of the party
system
Lincoln elected President
South Carolina secedes from
the Union
SOUTHERN STATES LEAVE THE UNION

On December 20th 1860 the South Carolina
legislature decreed, “the union now subsisting
between South Carolina and the other States,
under the name of the ‘United States of
America’, is hereby dissolved”
THE CONFEDERACY IS FORMED

Confederate States of America – consisting of
seven states formed their own union and wrote
their constitution very similar to the U.S.
Constitution with stress on states rights,
Jefferson Davis was chosen as president
A FINAL COMPROMISE FAILS
Crittenden Compromise – proposed a
constitutional amendment allowing slavery in
western territories south of the Missouri
Compromise and called for federal funds to
reimburse slaveholders for unreturned fugitives
 Lincoln saw this as a step backward and the
measure fail to get approval in Congress

THE CIVIL WAR BEGINS

Lincoln feared that he faced a challenge
greater than that of George Washington’s
LINCOLN TAKES OFFICE
Lincoln was sworn in as President on March 4,
1861
 He took a firm but conciliatory tone toward the
South
 Primary Source pg. 78

LINCOLN DECIDES TO ACT
Fort Sumter – guarded the harbor at
Charleston S.C., one of only four forts that
remained in Union hands
 Sumter was in need of supplies and Lincoln
faced a dilemma of what to do…

FORT SUMTER FALLS
Lincoln decides to send food, but not munitions
to the fort
 The Confederacy told the Fort Sumter garrison
to surrender they refused and fighting began
 April 15th Lincoln declared that “insurrection”
has come and called for 75,000 volunteers to
fight the confederacy

SECTION 3: THE CIVIL WAR
SECTION FOCUS QUESTION

What factors and events led to the Union
victory in the civil war?
RESOURCES, STRATEGIES, AND EARLY BATTLES
Civil War - April 1861 to April 1865
 Goals:

 North
– preserve the Union
 South – independence from the Union
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The North had no issue increasing it’s
production of ammunition, arms, uniforms,
medical supplies, food, ships, and rail cars
 Rail networks allowed for the easy movement of
men and material
 Strong navy blockaded vital southern ports

CONT…
The advantages of the South were few, however
their forces were committed, and had some of
the brightest military minds
 Robert E. Lee – he was
offered a command of Union
forces but chose to remain
loyal to his native Virginia

NORTH AND SOUTH DEVELOP THEIR
STRATEGIES
The South had an advantage because they
simply had to survive.
 The North adopted a strategy designed to
starve the South
 Anaconda Plan – called for seizing the
Mississippi River and the Gulf
of Mexico so the South could
not send or receive goods

A STALEMATE DEVELOPS
Both North and South could not gain an
advantage
 New weapons such as rifles, ammunition, and
artillery, produced more than 10,000
casualties a day

CONT…

Lack of clean and experienced medical care
ensured many wounded died of infection rather
then the wound
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS EMANCIPATION

Emancipation Proclamation – presidential
decree declared that “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, thenceforward, and forever free.” (pg. 83)
WAR AFFECTS DAILY LIFE

North ramped up production of goods, raised
tariffs, imposed taxes, and printed money
THE NORTH FACES PROBLEMS
A shortage of volunteers, lead to Congress
passing the draft in 1863 (ages 20-45)
 Riots broke out in several northern cities
 Habeas Corpus – guarantees that no one can
be held without specific charges against them

THE SOUTH SUFFERS HARDSHIPS
Most battles took place in the South and the
starvation of the South seemed to be working
 North and South issued paper money
guaranteed by their governments
 Inflation – price of
increases

WAR LEADS TO SOCIAL CHANGE

Women on both sides set up field hospitals and
nursed wounded, harvested crops and held to
home front
THE UNION PREVAILS

Ulysses S. Grant – Union General scored five
victories in three weeks ending with the
surrender of 30,000 Confederate troops
THE UNION WINS A VICTORY AT GETTYSBURG
Battle of Gettysburg – destroyed one third of
Lee’s forces and last major Confederate
attempt to invade the North
 Gettysburg Address – reaffirmed the ideas for
which the Union was fighting (primary source
p. 84)

THE WAR ENDS
William T. Sherman – led 60,000 troops 400
miles march of destruction through Georgia
and S.C.
 Total War – targeted not only troops but all
resources
 April 9, 1865 Lee surrendered to Grant in
Appomattox

THE CIVIL WAR HAS LASTING IMPACT
One third of northern and southern soldiers
were killed or disabled
 Southern landscape and economy were
decimated
 Deaths:

 Union
/ North – 346,511
 Confederate / South – 260,000
 Soldiers
killed – 606,511
SECTION 4: THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA
SECTION FOCUS QUESTION

What were the immediate and long-term effects
of Reconstruction?
THE NATION MOVES TOWARD REUNION
Reconstruction – bringing the South back into
the Union
 Lincoln wanted to “bind up the nation’s
wounds”

THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU AIDS SOUTHERNERS
Freedmen’s Bureau – federal agency designed
to aid freed slaves and relieve the South’s
immediate needs
 Food, healthcare, schools, and fair labor
contracts for freed slaves

PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS CLASH
Andrew Johnson – became President after
Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865
 Thirteenth Amendment – ended slavery
 Radical Republicans – favored punishment of
the South
 Impeachment – act of bringing charges against
an official in order to remove from office

THE RECONSTRUCTION SOUTH
Congress divided the South into five military
districts under the control of Union Generals
 Fourteenth Amendment – guaranteed full
citizenship status and rights to every person
born in the U.S.

AFRICAN AMERICANS GAIN POLITICAL RIGHTS
By 1868 many southern states had black
elected officials and were dominated by a
strong Republican Party
 Fifteenth Amendment – guaranteed that no
male citizen could be denied the right to vote
on the basis of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude

FREEDMEN REBUILD THEIR LIVES

For the first time former slaves could live “their”
lives; families, employment, school,
marriages…
THE KU KLUX KLAN USES TERROR TACTICS
Ku Klux Klan – secret society that used
violence against African Americans and their
white supporters
 Primary source pg. 90

RECONSTRUCTION COMES TO AN END
After a decade of Reconstruction the North
began to lose interest in Reconstruction
 Political and economic failures also played a
part of diminishing interest

SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS REGAIN POWER
Over several years Democrats began to gain
back control over Southern political arenas
 Violence kept many African Americans from
voting
 S.C., F.L., and L.A. with large black populations
remained under military occupation after 1876

ELECTION OF 1876 ENDS RECONSTRUCTION
Rutherford B. Hayes won the Presidential
election without the popular vote
 Electoral votes in dispute were those of F.L.,
L.A., and S.C.

HISTORIANS EVALUATE RECONSTRUCTION

De Jure Segregation – or legal separation of
the races, became the law in all southern
states