After Gettysburg:
Social, Economic and Political Warfare
• Economic and Social
Effects
• Grant and Union
Victory
• The Outcome
• Reconstruction
– Lincoln
– Johnson
– Radical Republicans
1863:
May 2-4: Battle of Chancellorsville (VA)
Lee’s army defeats Hooker’s Army of the Potomac—Stonewall Jackson dies
May 22: Grant begins long siege at Vicksburg, Miss. –the key to control of the
Mississippi River
July 1-3: Gettysburg—the final turning point of the war; Confederates lose 28,000;
Union loses 23,000—Lee retreats to VA.
July 4: Grant’s siege at Vicksburg ends in Victory; Union controls the Mississippi—
cutting the South in two
November 23-25: after taking control of the Union forces in the West, Grant drives
Confederate forces away from Chattanooga, takes control of Tennessee
1864:
March: Grant named commander of the Union armies
Grant repeatedly attacks Richmond
November: Lincoln reelected
November 16: Sherman’s March to the Sea (splits South Horizontally)
1865:
January: 13th Amendment passed: Outlaws slavery (ratified Dec. of the same year)
March 4: Lincoln’s 2nd Inauguration
April 2: Confederacy evacuates Richmond
April 4: Lincoln tours Richmond, sits in Davis’s Chair
April 8: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VA
April 14: Lincoln assassinated
Economic Effects
• South being defeated economically by naval
blockade
• Outrageous Southern inflation (9,000%)
– Cigars--$10
– Butter--$25/lb.
– Flour--$275/barrel
Grant in Charge…
• North on the road toward
victory
• Lincoln found his general
• The Northern
Advantage—more
replacements
• 60,000 casualties in
< a month
• “Butcher Grant?”
“March to the Sea”
•
•
•
•
William Tecumseh Sherman
Atlanta, post-destruction
overnight turn-around
Atlanta to Savanna
25 Days, Total War
Territorial, Economic,
Psychological Victory
for North
• Southern Will Cracked
“Let us judge not…that we be not
judged”
• Lincoln reelected
(1864) and called for:
• End to war
• Tolerant, merciful
reconstruction
• Lasting peace between
North and South
The Fall of the Confederacy
General Lee
• April 3, 1865:
Richmond falls
• April 9, 1865:
Lee Surrenders at
Appomatox
-Confederate soldiers lay down
arms
-Can return home peacefully
Appomatox Court House, VA
The Outcome
• Over 600,000 Casualties
– 350,000 Union Soldiers
– 250,000 Confederate Soldiers
•
•
•
•
•
•
Southern Property and Economic Loss
BUT….
Slavery is dead
U.S. is a Nation
Better integrated Society
More advanced and productive economic system
Expansion of the “Proper Sphere”
• Women’s roles expanded—
• North and South
– Managed Farms
– Nurses and Doctor(s)—
Elizabeth Blackwell
– Factory Workers
– Volunteer Medical Corps
– U.S. Sanitary Commission
Why did the North Win the War?
• South had an 18th Century Army—fighting
a 19th century war
• The numbers—South outmanned 2 to 1
• Blockade of the Southern Ports—starvation
• Failure of the South to gain foreign support
• Willingness of the North to fight a War of
Attrition
Fundamental Questions Faced
the Nation:
•What would the United States do with the Fruits of
Victory?
•What would ex-slaves do with their freedom?
•How would various groups of Americans react to
emancipation?
•Could people forget the past?
Reconstruction
The Central Question: What was more important: Getting the
nation back together first, then worrying about civil rights
issues; or, Making sure the freed slaves were guaranteed equality
before reunifying the nation?
• Lincoln’s Plan
–
–
–
–
–
Provisional governors
Simple loyalty oath
“10% Plan”
Lenient on South
“We shall sooner have
the fowl by hatching it
than by smashing it.”
• Radical Republicans
• The Wade-Davis Plan
– Wanted to make the
South pay
– Oath that one was not a
Confederate
– Majority necessary
before readmission
– Pocket Vetoed
Tragedy Strikes
• Lincoln visited
Richmond—hailed and
worshipped as a hero
• Ford’s Theater—shot and
assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth
• Plot of die-hard Southern
conspirators
• End to chance for
relatively easy
Reconstruction (for all
involved)
The 13th Amendment:
Lincoln helps it pass , but doesn’t live to see it
ratified
• “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for a crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted,
will exist within the United States or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.”
• “Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.”
Andrew Johnson: “the lone wolf”
• Indecisive
• Lacked Lincoln’s political
abilities
• Alienated himself from
nearly all constituencies
• We’ll soon see the results
of this…
•
The Radical Republicans
• Ultras (Sumner): Called for
immediate and absolute social
and political equality for blacks
• Moderates (Stevens) civil
rights, but not necessarily
prepared to fight for absolute
equality (but Stevens’ personal
ideals were truly radical—
buried in a black cemetery)
• Joint Committee on
Reconstruction
• Civil Rights Act
The “Moral Trustees” of Reconstruction
Charles Sumner
Thaddeus Stevens
The 14th Amendment—a truly radical
measure
A broad definition of citizenship: “All persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of
the state wherein they reside.”
Put Down Black Codes: “No state shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law.”
Repudiated Confederate Debt
Attempted to enforce black right to vote