CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
SECTIONALISM TO THE
ELECTION OF 1860
RENEWING THE SECTIONAL STRUGGLE
1848-1854
• POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY “The Answer?”
– NEW LAND—MEXICAN CESSION—ISSUE OF SLAVERY
– ANTI-SLAVERY– “SPOT RESOLUTIONS” AND “WILMOT
PROVISO”
– SECTIONAL PARTIES??
– DEMOCRAT--GEN. LEWIS CASS—POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
– POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY’S FATAL DEFECT
• POLITICAL TRIUMPHS OF GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR—
ELECTION OF 1848
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DEMOCRATS—LEWIS CASS
WHIGS—GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR
FREE-SOIL PARTY—MARTIN VAN BUREN
CONSCIENCE WHIGS—MARTIN VAN BUREN
ISSUES:
RESULT:
• CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH
COMPROMISE OF 1850
NASHVILLE CONVENTION
REACTION TO FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW
ROAD TO SECESSION:
• ELECTION OF 1852
– CANDIDATES
– RESULT
• KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL-1853
– CONTENTS
– OPPOSITION
• GADSDEN PURCHASE
• OSTEND MANIFESTO
• KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT 1854
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CONTENTS
RESULTS
WILLIAM SEWARD
ELI THAYER—MASSACHSETTS EMIGRANT AID SOCIETY [AKA]
“JAYHAWKS”—”Beecher’s Bibles”
– “BORDER RUFFIANS”—MISSOURI
– TERRITORIAL ELECTIONS 1855—LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION
– “BLEEDING KANSAS”—POTTAWATOMIE CREEK MASSACRE
SECTIONAL ISSUES AND THE ELECTION OF 1856
• MAJOR ISSUES DIVIDE PARTIES:
– REPUBLICAN PARTY CREATED FEB. 1854
– WHIG PARTY SPLIT-(N) CONSCIENCE WHIGS, (S) COTTON
WHIGS– 1854
– AMERICAN PARTY, NATIVE AMERICAN PARTY (KnowNothings)
• IMMIGRATION
• SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES
• KANSAS
• PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
– CANDIDATES
– RESULTS
• ADMINSTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN 1857-1861
– DRED SCOTT DECISION
– KANSAS STATEHOOD DEBATE
– LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES
• FREEPORT DOCTRINE
– HARPER’S FERRY
– SUMNER-BROOKS ATTACK
ELECTION OF 1860
CANDIDATES
PLATFORMS:
Northern Democrats—Western Platform—Stephen Douglas
Southern Democrats—Southern Platform—John C. Breckinridge
Republicans—”Conservative” Platform—Abraham Lincoln
Constitutional Unionist—”save the Union Platform”—John Bell
• OUTCOME:
• ATTEMPTED COMPROMISES:
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Crittenden Compromise Dec. 1860
SECESSION:
Washington Peace Conference, Feb. 1861
EVENTS AFTER THE ELECTION AND SECESSION:
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CREATION OF CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT
DECLARE INDEPENDENCE
WRITE CONSTITUTION
CHOOSE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT
LINCOLN’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS
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LINCOLN’S GOVERNMENT
FT. SUMTER
75,000 VOLUNTEERS, THE OTHER SOUTHERN STATES SECEDE.
4 SLAVE STATES STAYED LOYAL– MO., KY, MD., DE., [LATER WEST VA.
ADMITTED].
THE CIVIL WAR
1861-1865
START OF THE WAR
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Ft. Sumter –April 12, 1861
Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers.
More states secede:
Capital moved to Richmond, Va.
Lincoln asks Lee to lead his army. Lee
declines.
• Lincoln appointed Irwin McDowell to lead the
army.
COMPARISON OF THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
CATEGORY
NORTH
SOUTH
POPULATION
25,000,000
9,000,000 (40% slaves)
INDUSTRY/
AGRICULTURE
95% factories
food crops
Tredegar Iron Works
1 metal forge, 2 gun factories
cotton, tobacco
RAILROAD
MILEAGE
3 x mileage of south, Standard
gauge
State gauge
MONEY
Greenbacks, gold supply
No backing
GOVERNMENT
Established 1776
No foreign recognition 1861
NAVY
Naval officers stayed loyal
100,000 sailors
Very few
MILITARY
LEADERS
Winfield Scott, George McClellan
Irwin McDowell, Ulysses Grant,
William T. Sherman, Phil Sheridan
Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart, PTG Beauregard, James Longstreet
CAUSE
Save the Union, free the slaves
Southern Independence
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
• Union’s major weaknesses:
– Over confidence,
– Long lines of supply and communications
– Fight an offensive war
• Southern Advantages:
– Defending home and way of life
– “Better fighters”
– Better Generals
• Weakness:
– Cotton Diplomacy
• Civil War Names
– North= Union, Federals, Yankees, “Billy Yank”, Blue, USA
– South=Confederacy, Rebs, Rebels, “Johnny Reb”, Gray,
CSA
– North= Army of the Potomac, Army of the Cumberland
– South= Army of Northern Virginia, Army of the Tennessee
• Names of Battles
– North= closest physical feature (streams, creeks, churches,
mountain)
– South= closest village or town
• 1st major battle of the Civil War
– 1st Bull Run (Manassas) Virginia Railroad center July 1861
• Witnessed by 1000s of spectators anxious to watch only battle
of Civil War!!
• North-Gen. Irwin McDowell, 35,000 troops
• South- PGT Beauregard, 22, 000 troops, with 11,000
reinforcements led by Gen. Thomas Jackson
• Earned nickname “Stonewall” at this battle
• “Great Skeedaddle” US army routed and retreated toward Washington,
DC
– Results:
» South confident that they can win the war.
» North realizes war will not be 90 days long
» Lincoln replaces McDowell with George McClellan.
UNION PLAN TO WIN THE WAR!!
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Gen. George McClellan—Army of the Potomac
– Brilliant motivator, organizer and trainer of troops
– Poor field commander and overly cautious
– Spent next 9 months training the Northern army
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Anaconda Plan (Winfield Scott--1862)
– 1. naval Blockade of Confederate coastline
– 2. Secure the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans.
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Split CSA in half.
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Cutting off “breadbasket” from the East.
– 3. Keep constant military pressure on Richmond, Va.
– 4. Attack the Confederate mid-section—Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi.
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Battles of 1861 and 1862
– Missouri pacified by Gen. John C. Fremont
– Northern Arkansas fell to Union forces
– Port Royal, SC, fell to Union navy.
– Feb. 1862 Ft. Donelson, Tennessee, and Ft. Henry, Ky, taken by Gen. Grant
• Earns nickname “Unconditional surrender”, drinking problem first exposed
– Mar. 1862—Blockade in place, NC coast secured.
• Battle of the USS Monitor v. CSS Merrimac (CSS Virginia)
• 1st modern naval battle Ironclad ships, Merrimac withdrew.