A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, CHAPTER OUTLINE

Transcription

1 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page 465 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Introduction: Marcus Spiegel II. The First Modern War A. The Two Combatants 1. The Union had many advantages (e.g., manufacturing, railroad mileage, and financial resources), but it would need to conquer an area larger than western Europe to win. 2. Confederate soldiers were highly motivated fighters. 3. On both sides, the outbreak of war stirred powerful feelings of patriotism. B. The Technology of War 1. Railroads were vital to the war effort. 2. Introduction of the rifle changed the nature of combat. 3. Modern warfare included POW camps and disease. C. The Public and the War 1. Both sides were assisted by a vast propaganda effort to mobilize public opinion. 2. The war was brought to the people via newspapers and photographs. D. Mobilizing Resources 1. The outbreak of the war found both sides unprepared. 2. Feeding and supplying armies was a challenge for both sides. 3. Despite the North s advantages, victory on the battlefield was elusive. E. Military Strategies 1. The Confederacy adopted a defensive strategy. 2. Lincoln realized that his armies had to defeat the Confederacy s armies and dismantle slavery. F. The War Begins 1. In the East, most of the war s fighting took place in a narrow corridor between Washington and Richmond. 2. The first Battle of Bull Run, a Confederate victory, shattered any illusions that war was romantic. 3. After the First Bull Run, George McClellan assumed command of the Union army of the Potomac. G. The War in the East in General Lee blunted McClellan s attacks in Virginia and forced him to withdraw back to the vicinity of Washington. 2. Successful on the defensive, Lee now launched an invasion of the North. 3. McClellan s Army of the Potomac stopped Lee at the Battle of Antietam (Maryland), the single bloodiest day in U.S. history (September 17, 1862).

2 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page Chapter Ambrose Burnside replaced McClellan after Antietam. 5. Burnside s assault on Lee at Fredericksburg, Virginia, resulted in a disastrous Union defeat (December 1862). H. The War in the West 1. Ulysses S. Grant was the architect of early success in the West. 2. In February 1862, Grant won the Union s first significant victory when he captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee. 3. Grant withstood a surprise Confederate attack at the Battle of Shiloh (Tennessee). III. The Coming of Emancipation A. Slavery and the War 1. In numbers, scale, and the economic power of the institution of slavery, American emancipation dwarfed that of any other country. 2. At the outset of the war, Lincoln invoked time-honored northern values to mobilize public support. 3. Lincoln initially insisted that slavery was irrelevant to the conflict. B. The Unraveling of Slavery 1. Early in the war, Congress adopted a resolution proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, which affirmed that the Union had no intention of interfering with slavery. 2. The policy of ignoring slavery unraveled and, by the end of 1861, the military began treating escaped blacks as contraband of war (property of military value subject to confiscation). 3. Blacks saw the outbreak of fighting as heralding the longawaited end of bondage. C. Steps toward Emancipation 1. Since slavery stood at the foundation of the Southern economy, antislavery northerners insisted that emancipation was necessary to weaken the South s ability to sustain the war. 2. Throughout 1861 and 1862, Lincoln struggled to retain control of the emancipation issue. a. Union General John C. Frémont issued a proclamation freeing slaves in Missouri (August 1861). b. Fearing the negative impact on loyal border states, Lincoln rescinded Frémont s order. c. Lincoln proposed gradual emancipation and colonization for border-state slaves. D. Lincoln s Decision 1. Sometime during the summer of 1862, Lincoln concluded that emancipation had become a political and military necessity. 2. Upon Secretary of State William Seward s advice, he delayed announcing emancipation until a Union victory.

3 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page 467 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, On September 22, 1862, five days after Antietam, Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. 4. The initial Northern reaction was not encouraging, with important Democratic wins in the fall elections. E. The Emancipation Proclamation 1. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which declared slaves in Confederate-held territory to be free. 2. Despite its limitations, the proclamation set off scenes of jubilation among free blacks and abolitionists in the North and contrabands and slaves in the South. 3. The Emancipation Proclamation not only altered the nature of the Civil War and the course of American history, but represented a turning point in Lincoln s own thinking. F. Enlisting Black Troops 1. Of the proclamation s provisions, few were more radical in their implications than the enrollment of blacks into military service. 2. By the end of the war, over 180,000 black men had served in the Union army, and 24,000 in the navy. 3. Most black soldiers were emancipated slaves who joined the army in the South. G. The Black Soldier 1. For black soldiers, military service proved to be a liberating experience. a. At least 130 former soldiers served in political office after the Civil War. 2. The Union navy treated black sailors pretty much the same as white sailors. 3. Within the army, black soldiers did not receive equal treatment to white soldiers. 4. Black soldiers played a crucial role not only in winning the Civil War but also in defining the war s consequences. IV. The Second American Revolution A. Liberty and Union 1. The Union s triumph consolidated the northern understanding of freedom as the national norm. 2. Emancipation offered proof of the progressive nature and global significance of the country s history. B. Lincoln s Vision 1. To Lincoln, the American nation embodied a set of universal ideas, centered on political democracy and human liberty. 2. The Gettysburg Address identified the nation s mission with the principle that all men are created equal.

4 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page Chapter 14 C. From Union to Nation 1. The war forged a new national self-consciousness, reflected in the increasing use of the word nation a unified political entity in place of the older Union of separate states. D. The War and American Religion 1. Northern Protestantism combined Christianity and patriotism in a civic religion that saw the war as transforming the United States into a true land of freedom. 2. Lincoln shrewdly used religious symbolism to generate public support. 3. Religion helped Americans to cope with unprecedented mass death. a. Transformation of heaven : equated heaven with family gatherings in middle-class living rooms b. Heightened popularity of spiritualism (communication with the dead) 4. New government action to deal with death a. Systems for recording deaths and other casualties b. National military cemeteries E. Liberty in Wartime 1. Lincoln consolidated executive power and twice suspended the writ of habeas corpus throughout the entire Union for those accused of disloyal activities. 2. After the war, the Court made it clear that the Constitution was not suspended in wartime (Ex parte Milligan, 1866). F. The North s Transformation 1. The North experienced the war as a time of prosperity. G. Government and the Economy 1. Congress adopted policies that promoted economic growth and permanently altered the nation s financial system. a. The Homestead Act b. The Land-Grant College Act H. Building the Transcontinental Railroad 1. Congress passed land grants for railroads. 2. The transcontinental railroad was completed in I. The War and Native Americans 1. Withdrawal of troops from the West increased conflict between Indians and white settlers. a. Sioux attack in Minnesota. b. Chivington s massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek, Colorado 2. Union campaign against Navajo led to the tribe s Long Walk, or removal to a reservation.

5 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page 469 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, Confederates treated Indians better than did the United States. a. Confederate Constitution allowed Indian tribes to elect congressional representatives. b. Slave-owning tribes, such as Cherokee, sided with the Confederacy. J. A New Financial System 1. The need to pay for the war produced dramatic changes in U.S. financial policy: a. Increased tariff b. New taxes on goods c. First income tax d. Bonds 2. Wartime economic policies greatly benefited northern manufacturers, railroad men, and financiers. 3. Taken together, the Union s economic policies vastly increased the power and size of the federal government. K. Women and the War 1. Women stepped into the workforce as nurses, factory workers, and government clerks. 2. Hundreds of thousands of Northern women took part in humanitarian organizations. 3. Northern women were brought into the public sphere and the war work offered them a taste of independence. a. Clara Barton, president of the American National Red Cross, lobbied for the United States to endorse the First Geneva Convention of L. The Divided North 1. Republicans labeled those opposed to the war Copperheads. 2. The war heightened existing social tensions and created new ones. a. Draft riots b. Labor movement V. The Confederate Nation A. Leadership and Government 1. Jefferson Davis proved unable to communicate the war s meaning effectively to ordinary men and women. 2. Under Davis, the Confederate nation became far more centralized than the Old South had been. a. Confederate government controlled railroads b. Confederate government built factories 3. King Cotton diplomacy sought to pressure Europeans to side with the Confederacy, but this failed.

6 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page Chapter 14 B. The Inner Civil War 1. Social change and internal turmoil engulfed much of the Confederacy. a. The draft encouraged class divisions among whites. C. Economic Problems 1. The South s economy, unlike the North s, was in crisis during the war. 2. Numerous yeoman families, many of whom had gone to war to preserve their economic independence, sank into poverty and debt. 3. By the war s end, over 100,000 Southern men had deserted. D. Southern Unionists 1. Southerners loyal to the Union made a significant contribution to Union victory. a. At least 50,000 southern white men fought for the Union. 2. Elizabeth Van Lew provided vital information to Union forces. E. Women and the Confederacy 1. Even more than in the North, the war placed unprecedented burdens on Southern white women. a. Rose Greenhow served as a Confederate spy. 2. The growing disaffection of Southern white women contributed to the decline in home-front morale and encouraged desertion from the army. F. Black Soldiers for the Confederacy 1. A shortage of manpower led the Confederate Congress in March 1865 to authorize the arming of slaves, but the war ended before black soldiers were actually recruited. VI. Turning Points A. Gettysburg and Vicksburg 1. Lee advanced onto Northern soil in Pennsylvania, but was held back by Union forces under the command of General George Meade at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863). a. Pickett s Charge 2. General Grant secured a Union victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi (July 1863) B Grant, in 1864, began a war of attrition against Lee s army in Virginia. 2. At the end of six weeks of fighting, Grant s casualties stood at 60,000 almost the size of Lee s entire army while Lee had lost 30,000 men. 3. General William T. Sherman entered Atlanta, seizing Georgia s main railroad center.

7 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page 471 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, Some Radical Republicans nominated John C. Frémont on a platform calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery, federal protection of the freedpeople s rights, and confiscation of the land of leading Confederates. 5. The Democratic candidate for president was General George B. McClellan. 6. Lincoln won, aided by Frémont s withdrawal and Sherman s capture of Atlanta. VII. Rehearsals for Reconstruction and the End of the War A. The Sea Island Experiment 1. The Union occupied the Sea Islands (off South Carolina s coast) in November Women took the lead as teachers in educating the freed slaves of the islands. a. Charlotte Forten and Laura Towne 3. By 1865, black families were working for wages, acquiring education, and enjoying better shelter and clothing and a more varied diet than under slavery. B. Wartime Reconstruction in the West 1. After the capture of Vicksburg, the Union army established regulations for plantation labor. a. Freedpeople signed labor contracts and were paid wages. 2. Neither side was satisfied with the new labor system. 3. At Davis Bend, Grant established a negro paradise. C. The Politics of Wartime Reconstruction 1. In 1863, Lincoln announced his Ten-Percent Plan of Reconstruction. a. No role for blacks b. Leniency toward the South 2. Free blacks in New Orleans complained about the Ten-Percent Plan and found sympathy from Radical Republicans. 3. Wade-Davis Bill offered as an alternative plan. a. Required a majority of a state s voters to pledge loyalty b. Lincoln pocket-vetoed the plan. D. Victory at Last 1. Sherman marched from Atlanta to the sea in November December The Thirteenth Amendment was approved on January 31, On April 3, 1865, Grant took Richmond. 4. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April Lincoln was fatally shot on April 14 and died the next morning.

8 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page Chapter 14 E. The War and the World 1. Grant s post-presidential world tour illustrates how non- Americans saw the war. a. England s Duke of Wellington hailed Grant as a military genius. b. English workers saw war as having saved the leading experiment in democracy and vindicated free labor principles. c. German Chancellor Bismarck saw nation-building as war s central achievement. F. The War in American History 1. The Civil War laid the foundation for modern America. 2. Both sides lost something they had gone to war to defend. a. Confederacy lost slavery. b. The war hastened the transformation of Lincoln s America of free labor, small shops, and independent farmers into an industrial giant. 3. The work of achieving equality for blacks remained to be done. SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Describe why the Civil War was both a modern war and a total war. Why wasn t the Union more successful early in the war when it had clear advantages over the Confederacy? Why was a strategy of merely capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond not enough to win the war? Describe the various ways blacks, both in and out of the military, aided in the war and also defined its consequences. Over time, Lincoln switched from using the term Union to using the term nation. Discuss the significance of this shift in thinking. How does the Gettysburg Address express ideas of freedom and liberty? What purpose did Lincoln give the Civil War in that address? In the face of a significant manpower shortage, why was the Confederacy still so hesitant to use slaves as soldiers? Was Lincoln s Reconstruction Plan suitable considering the massive toll the Civil War took on American society? Have students imagine themselves to be Civil War soldiers, either for the Union or the Confederacy. Have each student decide his or her own fictional background. Maybe some are women hiding their gender, maybe some have

9 vol 1_Layout 1 11/5/10 4:11 PM Page 473 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, brothers fighting for the Confederacy, maybe some are immigrants, and maybe others are from a long line of military veterans. Have each student write a letter home discussing the war and his or her feelings about it. SUPPLEMENTAL WEB AND VISUAL RESOURCES The Civil War Documentary by Ken Burns, Episode 5, The Universe of Battle (1863), covers the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and discusses the wartime participation of women and African-Americans. americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/exhibition/flash.html From the Smithsonian Institution s National Museum of American History, select a war (The Civil War) and enter an exhibit that includes a movie, learning resources, statistics, printable exhibition, maps, and timelines. Robert E. Lee This site highlights General Lee s contribution to the Civil War. More information can be found on other aspects of the Civil War as well. Ulysses S. Grant This site solely concentrates on Ulysses S. Grant. Many links are also available for further research. The Emancipation Proclamation proclamation This National Archives website includes a digitized copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and related items, including an article by historian John Hope Franklin and a brief audio clip of former slave Charlie Smith discussing emancipation. Jefferson Davis The extensive material on this website covers the role of Jefferson Davis during the war. Binding a Nation From the Smithsonian Institution s National Postal Museum, this exhibit depicts the efforts to keep communication alive during the war through soldiers letters, efforts by family members to get around the blockades, and patriotic envelopes colorfully decorated with symbols of the writer s cause.