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Causes of the Civil War
When the nation gained new territory in the mid 1800s (Mexican American War),
the slavery controversy intensified over whether or not new states would be
slave or free. California became a state due to the gold rush, and to get to CA,
the US needed a transcontinental railroad. In order to build the RR, the new
territory needed to be organized, Slave or Free?
Should each state decide to be free or slave, or should the federal government
decide for them? The idea of“state’s rights” sparked much controversy.
Compromise: Popular Sovereignty = citizens decide for themselves.
Slave states worried that more free states could upset the political balance in
the Senate (12 slave states vs. 12 free states) & then pass a federal law to
abolish slavery nationally.
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed
to address the issue of imbalance in
the Senate, due to the creation of 2
new states. However, popular
sovereignty in the area led to the first
battles of the Civil war, in 1856
(Bleeding Kansas).
Resentment over the Compromise
of 1850 led to a further increase in
sectional tensions.
Causes of the Civil War
• Political compromise broke down by 1860, & when Lincoln (a free
state supporter) was elected, many Southern states decided to
secede, or withdraw from the Union (the US)  newly seceded
states formed “The Confederate States of America” (the
Confederacy).
• After secession of Southern states, & after the Civil War began,
Lincoln’s immediate goal became to preserve (keep together) the
Union.
• Immediate cause of war: Fort Sumter fired upon/taken by the
Confederacy
Causes of the Civil War
• Fundamental causes: Slavery (Dred Scott Decision),
sectionalism (Missouri Compromise/Compromise of
1853), states’ rights, mutual distrust (John Brown’s
raids didn't help); Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Fugitive
Slave Act make tensions between abolitionists and slave
owners worse because they angered previously neutral
Northerners.
• Immediate causes: Lincoln is elected president, South
Carolina secedes and confederate states adopt their
constitution, confederates take fort Sumter
• Effects: Lincoln calls for volunteers, first Battle of Bull
Run.
CIVIL WAR NORTH v. SOUTH
Anaconda Plan: North’s plan to
blockade the South and then
divide it by taking control of the
Mississippi to cause the South to
run out of resources faster.
Important Civil War battles and people
People:
• Abraham Lincoln- duh
• Jefferson Davis- President of the Confederacy (AKA the antiLincoln)
• Robert E. Lee- Head General of the Confederate Army,
because he was from Virginia, not because he supported
slavery.
• William T. Sherman- Union General
• Ulysses S. Grant- Union General, future president of the US
• Harriet Tubman- Conductor on the Underground Railroad,
helping slaves escape to the North and Canada
Important Civil War battles and people
Battles
•Gettysburg- An extremely bloody battle in which Lee lost 1/3 of his entire force.
The victory strengthened the Republican party, further lessened the likelihood
of British interference, and for the rest of the war, Lee was on the defensive.
(July 1863)
•Gettysburg address- Lincoln honored the fallen soldiers
•Vicksburg- (May- July 1863) If the Union could capture the city of Vicksburg,
Mississippi, then the Union will have cut the South in two. Grant sent Grierson
on a raid as a distraction. Grant realized it was too heavily fortified for an all out
assault, so they put the city under siege. The Union successfully starved the
city until the Confederates surrendered. The Union had successfully cut the
South in 2.
•Emancipation Proclamation-This declared all slaves in revolutionary territory
to be free. The CW went from being a war over preserving the Union and
state’s rights to a war of Liberation. This did not free the slaves. That was the
13th Amendment!!!!
Consequences of the Civil War
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After the Civil War, the South was left in ruins & its economy, which in large part was
dependent on agriculture & slavery, was devastated. Cities, towns, railroads and
lives were destroyed and many were left homeless, orphaned, widowed & destitute.
Over 600,000 thousand Northern and Southern soldiers were killed in the war.
The Freedman’s Bureau was set up in the south to provide education for African
Americans & set up over 4000 schools, as well as provide food/clothes/jobs/etc… for
newly freed slaves.
The president & Congress had to deal with Reconstruction, or rebuilding the South
after the Civil War & decide under what terms & conditions the former Confederate
states would rejoin the Union; should Southern requirements to enter the Union
again be harsh or lenient? Lincoln wanted to be lenient. Radical Republican goals:
prevent Confederates from returning to power after the war, making Republican
Party powerful in the South & guaranteeing African Americans’ right to vote in the
South.
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During this era 3 Amendments were passed, known as the Civil War/Reconstruction
amendments: the 13th Amendment freed slaves, the 14th Amendment granted them
citizenship and equal protection for citizens under the law, & the 15th Amendment granted
African American men the right to vote (sufferage).
In response to the amendments, many angry Southerners responded with violence/malice
toward Af Am; they created the Black Codes, which stripped Af Am in the South of their
freedoms & essentially put them into a condition similar to the days before the war.
The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) was a terrorist organization set up by white southerners to
terrorize African Americans and any white Radical Republicans that supported their rights.
Jim Crow laws were established in the South which segregated public space and separated
whites and blacks. Other laws disenfranchised African Americans, or took away their right
to vote. (E.g. Poll Taxes charged African Americans a fee (they generally could not afford) to
vote. Literacy tests were required to vote and many African Americans were illiterate. The
Grandfather Clause would only allow an individual to vote if they had a close relative who
could vote before 1868, which meant that very few African-Americans qualified. Af. Am.
faced political inequality across the nation due to Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal).
• Under the Military Reconstruction Act, federal troops
were put in the South to ensure that Reconstruction met
little resistance. Reconstruction came to an end when
federal troops were pulled out of the South after the
election of 1876, when Democrats and Republicans
struck a deal called the Compromise of 1877, which
made Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, president of
the US, so long as he agreed to remove federal troops
from the South. The removal of federal troops now
meant the South was more free to return to the old South.
Important figures in Reconstruction
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Andrew Johnson- president from 1865-1896, Lincoln’s VP. His plan for
Reconstruction closely resembled Lincoln’s plan (Lenient). During his
presidency, he was NOT getting along with the Radical Republicans and
was impeached, but not removed from office. During his term, and due to
his lenient plan, Black Codes were passed in the south and the Radical
Republicans took control.
Radical Republicans- A group of Republicans during the era of
Reconstruction (1865-1877) that wanted a radical, military occupation and
reconstruction of the south
Ulysses S. Grant- President following Johnson, a Union General. He didn’t
do very well as president, his political inexperience ended up dividing the
Republican party
Rutherford b. Hayes- President following Grant. Republican. Was elected by
democrats because he agreed to end military reconstruction in the south
Frederick Douglass- (though he could be considered an important pre-war
person, too) a famous anti-slavery orator. Favored non-violent means to
end slavery.
Buffalo Soldiers- First all black military regiment. Formed in 1866 from black
union soldiers from the civil war. Mainly stayed in the West
Carpet baggers- People who moved south to help with Reconstruction
Scalawags- Southerners who supported Republican Reconstruction
Farmer Life & Settling the West
• After the Civil War many Af. Ams. in the South became sharecroppers.
Sharecropping was essentially a form of slavery. Having nowhere else to do, freed
African Americans would end up having to rent land from a land owner (often, their
former master), borrow money for tools and housing, and end up in an endless cycle
of debt. Sharecropping, in a way, reduced the “freedman,” or former slave, to a
condition of bondage again, just like during slavery.
• The Homestead Act of 1862- the US government gave away land out in the West
for little to no cost to anyone daring enough to settle Western lands; this was mean
to promote Westward expansion. People could gain title to land by living there for
five years. But farmers, including homesteaders, faced many problems after the
Civil War.
• The Dawes Act attempted to assimilate Natives by breaking up reservation land into
single plot allotments to force Natives to become farmers/ranchers. Rest of land was
sold to American settlers & the proceeds went into a trust for Natives. FAILED.
Received little training, too small plots, & didn’t want to be assimilated.
Manifest Destiny
Consequences of Western Expansion
• Western Expansion- (3 reasons for moving west: mining, ranching, and farming)
Due to the idea of Manifest Destiny, Americans believed that God wanted them to
continue expanding to the west. The problem was, the area of the Great Plains
was already occupied by the Plains Indians. So, to get the Indians to leave, the
Government sponsored Buffalo hunts, because the Indians lived off of the buffalo.
As miles of railroad increased, the number of buffalo, and Indians, decreased.
• Assimilation- Whites wanted Indians to act like whites, so they encouraged Native
Americans to go to American schools, learn to farm and ranch, and dress in white
clothes. The Dawes Act (1887) eliminated communal ownership and set aside
money from the sale of land to help Indians assimilate.
• Sand Creek Massacre (1864) – an unprovoked attack on the Cheyanne while
they waited to have negotiations. At Sand Creek in Colorado
• Battle of Little Big Horn (1876)- American prospectors violated the Lakota Sioux
territory in search of gold, so the Lakota left the rez to hunt buffalo. The
government sent and expedition led by Col. Custer, he attacked the Lakota and
got his entire regiment killed. The battle was portrayed as an unprovoked attack
on Custer by the Lakota, forcing them to run from the military.
• Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)- the final stand for Native Americans against the
federal government. Chief Sitting Bull and the Lakota were massacred for
resisting arrest and performing the Ghost Dance.
Farmer Life in the mid-1800s through the early 1900s
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During the Civil War, farmers did relatively well as there was a large demand for food to feed
the soldiers. After the Civil War, there was a drastic decline in the price of farm goods, as
well as farmer clashes with railroad companies/land speculators over land; as a reaction,
farmers began to organize. Farmers did not believe they had the support of the Democrats or
Republicans to make the necessary political changes to boost farmer profits and/or represent
them. The Farmers’ Alliance formed, but failed since they were too small to dramatically
impact prices, loaned too much $ that wasn’t repaid, & discriminated against by
railroads/banks/businesses. Out of this plight, a third party emerged known as the Populist
Party, or Farmers Party.
One of the key issues for the Populist Party was the demand for government issued silver
coins, rather than paper money. In the 1896 presidential campaign, the Populist Party
candidate, William Jennings Bryan, made his famous “Cross of Gold Speech,” in which he
protested the gold standard and called for the coinage of silver. He did not win, but the party
did receive a significant amount of votes given their third-party status.
To control inflation after the Civil War, the fed. gov. stopped making silver coins, stopped
printing greenbacks, & started paying off its bond. In the late 1800s, many Americans
disagreed over what monetary system the US should be on. Those supporting the coinage of
silver were called silverites. Those supporting the gold standard were called goldbugs, those
supporting a combination of gold & silver supported bimetallism, & those supporting the
printing of paper money were called greenbacks.
Farmers were also affected by the new technology of the industrial era, such as the
mechanical reaper, which made farming more efficient. Also, new farming methods allowed
for farmers to settle areas that were once very difficult (too dry) to farm on. But, new
technology helped farmers produce more, which tended to lead to lower prices. Farmers were
helped, however, by Granger laws that limited railroad rates.
Morrill Land Grant – free land given by the federal government to the states, so long as the
states built agricultural & mechanical colleges on that land. This was meant to improve the
field of farmer efficiency & innovation.
Industrial Revolution (Late 19th Century)
• BRIEF OVERVIEW: By the early 1900s, the United States had become the world’s
leading industrial nation.
• The two main catalysts for American industrialization was the ability to produce
steel (in large numbers) and the expansion of the railroad system.
• With the end of the Civil War, American industry expanded and millions of people
left their farms to work in mines and factories. Many found work in cities which led
to urbanization as cities rapidly expanded, and families got smaller.
• Political machines provided new city dwellers with necessities (jobs/housing/police)
in exchange for votes. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall- party boss. Thomas Nast,
the political cartoonist combated this corruption with his cartoons.
Immigration at the turn of the century
• At first, the US was importing Chinese workers (new immigrants) in
order to build the railroads, but they didn’t assimilate well, and due
to nativism and job competition, the government passed the Chinese
Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882, renewed in 1892, and
made permanent in 1902.
• In 1907, an agreement between the US government and imperial
Japan not to allow any more immigration.
• Immigration Act of 1924- set up a quota system to allow 3% of the
number of any ethnic group to enter the country each year. This
favored the groups that were largest and easiest to assimilate- North
and Western Europe, and made it difficult for Eastern and Southern
Europeans. It did NOT put limits on immigrants from the Western
Hemisphere.
• Immigrants came in through Ellis Island from Europe and Angel
Island if they came from Asia.
• Why were immigrants coming to the US? Push factors- religious
persecution, forced military service, need a job. Pull factors: jobs,
religious freedom, the American Dream
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Industrial
Era:
Late
1800s
Immigrants before 1870 – Northern and Western Europe, assimilate easily.
Immigrants after 1870 (during peak of industrial era) – Southern and Eastern
Europe, not easily assimilated.
The rise of the United States as an industrial power began after the Civil War. Many
factors promoted industry, including cheap labor (increased immigration), new
inventions and technology, and plentiful raw materials. Railroads rapidly expanded.
Laissez-faire (government stays out of economy) government policies encouraged
growth & large corporations became important by providing jobs and spurring
economic growth. Laissez-faire required the gov. be hands off & let market forces of
supply/demand regulate prices & wages.
As industry expanded, workers tried to form unions to fight for better wages and
working conditions. In the late 1800s, workers’ buying power generally increased
because prices fell faster than wages.
During early industrialization, many believed tariffs (tax on imports) were necessary
to help new American industries compete with large established European factories.
Big Business
• After the Civil War, big business
assumed a more prominent role in
people’s lives
-Vertical integration- a company
controls all of its processes from
the very beginning (growing
cotton or mining steel) to the end
(the actual sales of the garment or
of the train).
-Horizontal integration is when
many companies which did the
same thing came together to work
as one corporation causing a
Monopoly, which was when one
company controls the entire
market for a good. There is
debate on how “good” or “bad”
monopolies.
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Andrew Carnegie &
the
Bessemer
Process
Andrew Carnegie, a poor Scottish immigrant, worked his way up from a
bobbin boy in a textile factory to the president of the Pennsylvania
Railroad.
• He invested much of his money in railroad-related businesses and later
owned his own business.
• He opened a steel company in 1875 and quickly adapted his steel mills to
use the Bessemer process, which allowed for the mass production of
steal for the first time in history.
• This dramatically changed the landscape of the US economy & led to
such marvels as skyscrapers.
Industrialization Terms to Know
• Monopoly- the total control of a type of industry by one
person or one company
• Entrepreneur- one who organizes, manages, and
assumes the risks of a business or enterprise
• Holding Company- a company whose primary business
is owning a controlling share of stock in other companies
• Trust- a combination of firms or corporations formed by
a legal agreement, especially to reduce competition.
• Corporation- an organization that is authorized by law
to carry on an activity but threated as though it were a
single person (Corporations often spread out financial
risk)
Railroad System
BEFORE: In the early 1800s, most railways served only local needs, resulting in many
unconnected rail lines.
•A great catalyst for industrialization was the expansion of the Railroad system.
•In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, which provided
for the construction of a transcontinental railroad by the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific railroad companies, in which free land grants were given to those two railroad
companies for constructing the railroad tracks.
•Because of a shortage of workers in California, the Central Pacific Railroad hired
workers from China.
•The railroad system linked the nation & expanded the size of markets.
•The railroad industry stimulated the economy by spending large amounts of money on
steel, coal, and timber.
Technology
• In 1876 Scottish-American inventor Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone.
• In 1877 Bell and his associates organized the Bell Telephone
Company, which later became the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company (AT&T).
• In the late 1800s, Thomas Alva Edison invented or perfected
the phonograph, the light bulb, the electric generator, the
Dictaphone, and the motion picture.
Technology (Continued)
• George Pullman- (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was
an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the
Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers
who manufactured it. His Pullman Company also hired African-American
men to staff the Pullman cars, who became known and widely respected as
Pullman porters, providing elite service. Eugene Debs organized a strike in
the company town when Pullman wouldn’t raise wages.
• Henry Ford- Used the Assembly line to quickly, cheaply, and efficiently
produce automobiles. This process for mass production became the
standard.
• Madame C.J. Walker- a black woman who invented the curling iron and the
straightening iron, as well as a line of beauty products. She owned her own
company.
Big Business (Corporations)
• By 1900, big business dominated the economy of the United States.
• A corporation is an organization (a business) owned by many people; the
ownership of the company is divided up by shareholders (or stockholders).
• Corporations could continue operating during poor economic times because
their operating costs were so small compared to their fixed costs.
• Stockholders, the people who own the corporation, own shares of
ownership called stock. Issuing stock allows a corporation to raise large
sums of money and allows them to spread out the financial risk.
• A monopoly occurs when one company gains control of an entire market;
e.g. Rockefeller attempted to monopolize the oil industry.
• The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was created by the government to make
monopolies illegal.
• In 1882, John D. Rockefeller’s company, Standard Oil, formed the first
trust, which merged businesses by allowing a person (from company A) to
manage another person’s property (from company B); this was not illegal.
Industrialization: The Labor Force
• Workers in industrial America faced monotonous (boring, unfulfilling, and
repetitive) work, dangerous working conditions, and an uneven division of
income between the wealthy and the working class.
• This distinction of social classes could be seen in cities throughout the US
that had very wealthy sectors and very poor sectors. Many of the
impoverished lived in deplorable conditions: in dirty one room apartments
called tenement apartments.
• Settlement houses- houses where the poor could have their basic needs
provided for; food, clothes, shelter. Jane Addams was a leading advocate
and creator of settlement houses.
• Terrible working conditions and low pay eventually led to the development of
Unions, which workers formed to fight for better working conditions and
better pay.
• Unions declined during the 1920s because many corporations instituted
welfare capitalism = companies allowed workers to buy stock, participate in
profit sharing, & receive benefits such as medical care & pensions.
Industrialization: The Labor Force
• American Federation of Labor- one of the first labor unions
in the US. Founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886
• Socialist Party- wanted government ownership of the means
of production
• Haymarket Riot (1886)
• Pullman Strike (1894)- a strike led by Eugene debs against
the Pullman Railway Car company- demanded higher
wages. The president had to step in
• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)- It prohibits certain business
activities that federal government regulators deem to be
anticompetitive, and requires the federal government to
investigate and pursue trusts. It has since, more broadly,
been used to oppose the combination of entities that
could potentially harm competition, such
as monopolies or cartels.
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Industrialization:
UNIONS
Many union workers would organize strikes and refuse to work and protest
until their employer met their demands for better work condition and better
pay.
Businesses used tactics like blacklisting, strikebreakers, & lockouts to fight
back against union organization.
Employers would often hire strikebreakers to work in the place of striking
workers. Often, strike breakers were immigrants.
Employers would use lockouts where they refuse to allow workers on the
property & refuse to pay them.
Many labor unions opposed immigration, arguing that most immigrants
would work for low wages.
Chinese immigrants in the California/West & South/Eastern Europeans in the
Northeast faced the strongest nativist feelings.
Nativism is a strong dislike for immigrants & wanted to limit immigration.
Many nativists were afraid that the Catholic religion would gain too much
power due to immigrants.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
• Market Economy- like laissez-faire, supply and demand controls
prices in this system
• Mixed economy- supply and demand plays a role, but so does
the government
• Planned economy- the government controls what is produced,
how much, and the costs