A Summary Of The Civil War Essay, Research Paper
The 1800’s were a tumultuous time for the United States of America. At that time
the south was typically slave and the northerners were traditionally for freedom. The
slave states of the south and the abolitionist in the north were quarreling and the
government recognizing that made efforts to stop or delay the civil war. In 1819 Missouri
wanted to enter the Union a slave state. At this time the 22 states of the Union were
divided evenly 11 slave and 11 free. Northern states were afraid that if Missouri entered
as a slave state it would give the south a majority in the senate. Southerners argued that
since the north had a majority in the House of Representatives that it was only fair that
they had a majority in the senate. Then in December 1819 three northern counties of
Massachusetts broke away and asked to be admitted to enter the Union as a free
state(Maine). This made the Missouri Compromise possible. The Missouri compromise
said that Missouri would be a slave state and Maine would be admitted
as a free state, it also said that any state in the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri’s
southern border would be a free state. This action delayed a deadly confrontation
between the North and the South, at least for awhile.
Then in 1828 congress raised the tariff on imported goods. In the south they didn’t
have very much industry so they had to import most of their good, so the tariffs were
unpopular their. One state that protested this action by congress. Since the North had
more industry, the South felt that congress was protecting the North by raising these
tariffs. South Carolina was the strongest protester of these tariffs. South Carolina
supported John C. Calhoun who said that a state could nullify or veto a national law
within it’s own boundaries. In 1832 South Carolina’s state legislature declared the tariff
acts of 1828 and 1832 null or void. They went even further by saying that if the
government tried to make them pay the tariff they would break away from the union.
Then President Andrew Jackson, who had said that the union must be preserved,
stated that he strongly opposed this nullification. Jackson also let it be know that he
would send 50,000 troops into South Carolina. This action scared South Carolina, and
when they asked other states for help they got no promises of military aid. Finally seeing
that his state was in bad shape John C. Calhoun asked Henry Clay to help him come up
with compromise. They came up with a law that would lower tariff annually over a 10
year period until they were satisfactory.
After the Missouri Compromise and the nullification crisis were dealt with things
were relatively quiet for awhile. Then in 1850 California requested admission to the union
as a free state. California was the first state applying for state hood in the Mexican
Cession. Southerners feared if California was a free state the rest of the territory would be
too. Northerners felt they had to stop the spread of slavery to end it altogether.
Then came another attempt to resolve the conflicts between the North and the
South. In January of 1850 Senator Henry Clay proposed a plan. His plan was divided
into six parts. The first part was that California would be admitted to the Union as a non-
slave state. The second part was that Utah and New Mexico could decide if they wanted
to be slave states of free states when they applied for statehood. The third and Fourth
parts were tied into each other, the third part was that Land in dispute between New
Mexico and Texas would go to New Mexico and for giving up this land Texas would
receive 10 million dollars. The fifth part was that buying and selling of slaves but not
slavery wouldn’t be allowed in the District of Columbia. The sixth and final part was that
congress would enforce a law stating that runaway slaves must be returned to their
owners. The bill was passed section by section until it became law. This again delayed
the inevitable.
Slavery: Slavery was one of the issues that the northerners and the southerners
fought about. In the south the main way of life was agriculture, the main cash crop was
cotton. Cotton was a labor consuming crop, it would cost a man a fortune to pay people
to work for him. Slaves were the answer to this problem.
Slave owners didn’t see the slaves as people he saw him as property. Slaves were
treated bad. Even the owners who saw themselves as fair still treated their slaves as dogs.
They were regularly beaten, they worked from dawn till dark for free.
This unfair treatment was a reason why many slaves wanted to escape, or runaway
from their masters to free states where they would be free. One way they escaped was the
underground railroad. It was called the underground railroad because it was secret and
the slaves were hidden at secret “stations” along the way, the people who guided the
escaping slaves were called conductors. One famous conductor was Harriet Tubman. She
guided many many slaves to freedom.
Another famous slave was Dred Scott. Dred Scott was a slave who had been
taken to Illinois, a free state, then to the Wisconsin territory where slavery was outlawed
by the Missouri compromise. He was then returned to Missouri by his master. Dred
Scott then sued his masters widow for his freedom saying that it was illegal to be taken to
a free state then taken back into slavery. The supreme court decided that slaves weren’t
citizens so they didn’t have the right to sue. The supreme court also decided that slaves
were property, and the bill of rights protected property therefore congress couldn’t outlaw
slavery in any of the territories.
This decision in the Dred Scott case pleased many southerners they felt that now
the new states would now be able to choose to be slave states. The decision angered
many northerners they felt that slaves were more than property and felt that this ruling was
unfair.
In 1854 there was a bill that formed two territories in the Louisiana Purchase,
these states were Kansas and Nebraska. The bill also said that even though these
territories were north of the anti-slavery line the people of the territory would have a
chance to vote whether to be free or slave.
This bill would allow southerners to try and add another slave state to the Union.
Pro slavery people started moving into the Kansas territory. The state of Missouri started
recruiting settler who were for slavery and sent them to settle in the new territories. In
1855 people from Missouri crossed the border and voted illegally. The legislature in
Kansas started making pro-slavery laws. This angered the anti-slavery people so they
formed their own government. With two governments fighting for control law and order
broke apart. People started fighting and bloodshed took place this it became known as
Bleeding Kansas. There were raids and murders. One group pro-slavery group destroyed
the town of Lawrence and the antislavery newspaper there. As a rebuttal to this act an
abolitionist from Ohio named John Brown and his sons murdered five pro-slavery
activists, in Pottawatomie Creek.
John Brown was a fanatical abolitionists after this massacre in Pottawatomie he
moved east. He was financially supported there by other abolitionists. On October 16,
1859 Brown led a group of 18 men in a raid to take the government arsenal at Harpers
Ferry, VA. They wanted to take the guns here then they hoped that slaves in the area
would rebel and come and get the guns. Marines surrounded them. When Brown
wouldn’t surrender the Marines stormed him and captured him. He was convicted of
treason and sentenced to death.
Another Famous Abolitionist was Harriet Beecher Stowe. She wrote the famous
book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was a book about the way slaves were treated. At this time
many northerners had never even seen a black person so many opinions of slavery were
formed from this book. Uncle Tom’s Cabin made many people who could have cared less
about slavery become abolitionists hard core.
Bibliography:
Brown, Richars; Bass, Herbert. One Flag, One Land. Silver, Burdett and
Ginn. Morristown, NJ. 1988
Allen, Thomas B. The Blue and The Gray. The National Georgraphic
Society. Washington D.C. 1992.
Abraham Lincoln: On Feb. 12, 1809 in a log cabin in Illinois Abraham Lincoln
was born. At the age of six Abraham and his sister walked “up the road a piece”(2 miles
each way) to go to school. He learned the three R’s, he liked writing and said that
practiced “anywhere and everywhere that lines could be drawn”. In 1816 the Lincolns
moved to backwoods Indiana. In 1818 Abe’s mother died. It only took one year for Abe’s
father to see that the family needed a mother so he went to town and married himself a
widow named Sara Bush Johnston. Abe and his sister learned to love their new mother.
She helped everyone in the family. Most of all she helped Abraham. Seeing how eager he
was to learn, she encouraged him to study. He later said “She was the best friend I ever
had…All that I am, I owe to my angel mother.” All of his schooling equaled less than a
year but he made up for that by reading. He was a crazy reading fool.
When Abe was the owner of the country store hired him to take a flat boat to New
Orleans. This was his first chance to see the outside world. Abe traveled 1,000 miles to
New Orleans, this is where Lincoln got his first taste of slavery. He didn’t like the seeing
the slave gangs in chains being taken to the plantations. He later said “Slavery is a
constant torment to me.”
When Abe was 21 he decided he was ready to live on his own. So when his father
moved he stayed and decide to go to New Orleans again. When he returned he worked as
a clerk in the town store. This is where stories about his honesty first started, people said
that he once walked six miles just to give back a few pennies to a woman who had paid
too much for groceries. People knew that they would get a fair deal when doing business
with “honest Abe”.
In 1832 he enrolled in the Black Hawk war. Lincoln was elected as captain of his
rifle company. This was an honor to him but he knew nothing of military life. During the
war he never saw any action but he did experience the hardships of military life. These
experiences gave him sympathy for the soldiers fighting for him during the civil war.
After the war the store he was running in New Salem didn’t work out. So he
bought another one with William Berry on credit. Months later Berry died leaving Lincoln
in debt $1,000. It took him years to pay it off. In 1833 Abe took an appointment as
deputy county surveyor. He had to learn how to survey though. He studied all day and
sometimes all night, and learned to survey in six weeks.
In 1834 he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly. He was reelected in
1836, 1838, 1840. During this time Abe was determined to become a lawyer, so he
borrowed the law books and studied them. Many times he would walk 20 miles just to
return one and get another. On September 9, 1839 he received his law license. In
1837 he moved to Springfield he was dirt poor. So poor, that he couldn’t even afford to
buy sheets for his bed. The storekeeper felt so sorry for him he asked Abe to share his
home.
by 1839 Lincoln had established himself as a lawyer in Springfield. At this time he
met Mary Todd. She was also being courted by a man named Stephen A. Douglas.
Mary’s parents wanted her to marry Douglas, but she wanted Lincoln. She predicted that
someday he would be president of the United States of America. On February 4, 1842
they were married.
In 1847 he went to Washington D.C. to represent Illinois. At this time the
Mexican war was going. Lincoln antiwar speeches displeased his supporter and he knew
he wouldn’t be reelected. In 1849 he went back to ght Lincoln back into politics. This
act allowed states to decide whether or not they wanted to be slave or free. This would
allow slavery to spread and Abe didn’t like that idea. He began giving speeches against
this act. In 1856 he helped to organize the Illinois branch of new Republicans. A party
formed by people wanting to stop the spread of slavery. IN 1858 Lincoln was the
Republican nomination for senator from Illinois. When he addressed the state convention
he said “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot
endure permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved-I
do not expect the house to fall-but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become
all one thing, or all the other.” Lincolns opponent was S
tephen A. Douglas. Lincoln and Douglas had a bunch of debates on the slavery issue.
Lincoln won this election, but the debates had raised the public oppinion of LIncoln.
His friends saw that people liked him and worked to get the Repulican nomination
in 1860. LIncoln now saw that he wanted to be president. Lincoln was nominated As the
Republican candidate. The democratic party was devided with the North wanting Stephen
A. Douglas and the South wanting John C. Breckinridge. For his campaign Lincoln
stayed in Springfield. To avoid raising controversy and maybe dividing the party he didn’t
make any speeches. This worked nd he was elected as the first Republican president.
The election of Lincoln made southerners angry. They felt that a Republican
would not respect their rights. They believed that their only hope was to seceed from the
Union. On December 20, 1860 South Carolina became the first state to break away from
the Union.
When it came time for Abe to become inaugurated as the six-teenth president of
the United States. He had many threats against his life, none of them frightened him. He
wa saware that there was great danger for a man in his position during a crisis. The
election of 1860 was a major factor in starting the civil war. In his inaugural speech
LIncoln said that he would respect the rights of the south despite this the civil war began
six weeks later.
At the start of the Civil War it appeared that the south would have no chance of
winning. The north had more money more men they had the advantage. They had more
industry and other resources. These advantages were eventually used by general Grant to
win the war.
There were some advantages that the south had though. One was the type of war
they had to fight. They could stay on the defensive until the North found out they couldn’t
win. Another advantage was that Lincoln couldn’t find anyone to lead his army. He led
the army himself for awhile.
Bibliography:
Brown, Richars; Bass, Herbert. One Flag, One Land. Silver, Burdett and
Ginn. Morristown, NJ. 1988
Allen, Thomas B. The Blue and The Gray. The National Georgraphic
Society. Washington D.C. 1992.
“Lincoln, Abraham”. Comptons Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. 1986.
Flato, Charles. The Golden Book of the Civil War. Golden Press. New York.
1960.
At the start of the war the Union decided that to win they would “strangle” the
confederate states. They came up with a plan called the anaconda plan, named for the
snake wich wraps itself around it’s victims and then suffocates them. This plan consisted
of four parts they were;
1) To block off the ports of trade of the south so they wouldn’t be able to trade to
get supplies.
2) They would take the Mississippi River Valley thus dividing the confederacy
into two parts.
3) To take the Tennessee river and then into Georgia and divide the confederacy
even more.
4) The final goal was to take the Confederate capitol of Richmond.
In July 1861 Gen. George B. McClellan had won some small victories. People
wanted them to take Richmond. So on July 16, 1861 General Irvin McDowell led Union
troops south towards Richmond. On the way the confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard
met them on the banks of the creek Bull Run. At first the Union troops were kicking butt.
Then they met a “StoneWall” a brigade commanded by a guy named General Thomas J.
Jackson, this earned him the name of stonewall Jackson. When reinforcements arrived the
Union troops began to retreat. At this point President Lincoln asked General McClellan
to train the troops more. It took him a year.
While these troop were training general U.S. Grant was winning battles in
Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1862 he took Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, when
the commander asked for the terms of surrender Grant told him there were none except
“Unconditional Surrender”. Then people started saying his initials stood for Unconditional
Surrender.
After taking Fort Donelson he marched his troop on almost to the border of
Mississippi. It was by Shilo that confederates launched a surprise attack on Grants forces.
The battle here lasted 2 days, it was counted as a Union victory but it cost Grant 13,000
men.
These battles on land were very influential in the war, but one place that the Union
forces had during the war was the warfare at sea. Because they did not have any
resources for building ships the Confederates didn’t have any large ships to challenge the
Union boats. This allowed the North to cut off all southern ports of trade without any
reistance from sea. The only thing the confederates had was ships called Confederate
raiders. One famous confederate ship was the Alabama in it’s two years of service it sank
or captured 67 Union ships. It finally was sank by the U.S. Navy’s ship Kearsarge. The
two ships fought for more than an hour finally the Alabama went down.
In March 1862, the south captured a Union boat called the Merrimac. They turned
the Merrimac into and ironclad, they covered the sides and decks with 4 inches of iron.
This boat was renamed to the Virginia, it was to free the ports of Virginia by braking the
blockade. At first it was succesful it sank one ship by ramming it, and it scared all the
others away. Union cannonballs bounced harmlessly off. Then the next day another
ironclad called the Monitor sailed up to the Virginia, it was called the Monitor. The
Monitor was a ship theat the Union had a inventor build for them it had one difference
from the Virginia instead of fixed guns it had a rotating gun turret. For hours they fired at
eachother they fired until they ran out of ammo. Neither ship won the fight but afterwards
the Virginia had to go in to get repairs.
In July, 1862 Lincoln told his cabinet that he had decided to issue a proclamation
freeing the slaves. They told him to wait until the Union forces won and important
victory, otherwise it might look like an act of fear.
In september 1862 General Rober E. Lee, who had taken control of the
confederate army in an attack of Richmond, decided to attack Maryland. President
Lincoln put General McClellan ,who he had taken out of power, back in command to stop
this invasion. They fought a bloody battle at Antietam Creek. The invasion was stopped,
but the battle could only be counted as a draw. Thie results did have a good effect for the
North. If Lee would have won then Great Britain and France might have given the
confederates support.
The result also gave Lincoln the chance to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
He felt this was the victory his cabinet had advised him he needed. So on September 22,
1862 he said that if by January 1, 1863 he would free every slave in all of the rebel slave
states unless they rejoined the Union before that date. None of the states were going to
return so on New Years Day 1863 Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The
proclamation didn’t free any slaves because the slave states wouldn’t free them and the
border states didn’t have to free their slaves.
One thing that happened because of the Emancipation Proclamation helped the
Union. As they pushed into the south former slaves would join them. Over 100,000 black
people that used to be slaves joined them. Also the British people did not like slavery so
there was less chance that they would help the rebels.
During the war black had a very important role in the fighting. In the south blacks
weren’t allowed to fight. They weren’t allowed in the North for a time either, but after
Emancipation they were acceepted. About 200,000 balck men fought in the war, many of
them recieved medals for their duty.
In 1863 one of the most pivotal points of the civil war took place. By this point
the two main figures of the war were U.S. Grant and General Lee of Virginia. General
Lee decided to invade the North once again. He picked Pennsylvania, at this point he had
no chance for foreign aid, but he thought that if he won a major victory on Northern soil it
might change that fact. It would also lower northern confidence. Lastly his men needed
clothes, food, and other supplies. They could obtain these supplies in Pennsylvania In
June 1863 his army advanced into Pennsylvania.
The Union army of the potomac was also moving. They were trying to keep ahead
of confederate forces. They were led by General Goerge G. Meade.
Neither of the general was ready to fight a battle in early July, but on July 1 scout
unit of each army were marching along and almost by chance they ran into eachother. As
they fought both sides were rushing reinforcements as fast as they could. On the first day
the confederates pushed the Union soldiers back but by the end of the day thousands of
them had reached cemetary hill where they dug in for the defense. They were going to
make a last stand but they were not attacked. So during the night the union forces had the
chance to form a defensive line three and a half miles long. One mile away across and
open plane Lee placed his troops on Seminary Ridge. During the second day Lee tried to
break through the defenses and flank them.
On July 3 in the morning Confederate guns started firing Union guns fired back.
Then to conserve ammunition Meade ordered them to stop firing. Thinking he had his
chance Lee ordered a frontal attack. 15,000 soldiers marched almost as if on parade over
the half mile towards the Union forces. After a few hundred yards Union cannons lashed
out at them. Then musket fire began one soldier said it mowed them down like “wheat
before the scythe”. After that they were driven off by Union defendersd using ahything
they could, cannon rammers, sabers, clubbed rifles. This charhge was called Picketts
Charge even though he commanded only 15 of the 46 regiments taking part in the charge.
His division did suffer the biggest losses of his 5,000 soldiers only 800 returned. After this
being a wimp as usual Meade opted not to counter attack many say if he had the war
would have ended then and there. He didn’t though and allowed Lee and his men to
retreat back to Virginia in a wagon train 17 miles long.
Bibliography:
Brown, Richars; Bass, Herbert. One Flag, One Land. Silver, Burdett and
Ginn. Morristown, NJ. 1988
Allen, Thomas B. The Blue and The Gray. The National Georgraphic
Society. Washington D.C. 1992.
At the end of the civil war General Lee and General Grant were running their
respective armies. There was one other general who was very influential in ending the
war, this war General William Tecumsah Sherman. He was a very brilliant general.
In the battle of Shilo Sherman fought right in the middle of the fight. He recieved
a rank of Major General for his fighting. In this battle General Grant made many mistakes
and got his butt kicked. Because of his mistakes he took much criticism and was going to
get out of the army, but Sherman talked him into staying.
After General Grant was given control fo the entire U.S. army Sherman was given
control of Grants old army. It was in this position that he made his famous March To The
Sea.
On May 6, 1864 Sherman and his army left Chattanooga Tennessee for the city of
Atlanta. He reached Atlanta on September second, after he had cleared the city of it’s
people and he had his men rested he started his famous march to the sea. He cut himself
off from his supplies so his men lived on what they stole. what they didn’t steal they
burned and destroyed. It was 400 wiles from Atlanta to Savanah where his trek would
eventually end. There was a path 60 miles wide of destruction behind Sherman and his
men. It took 32 days to make this march, and for 32 days no one heard from them. Then
on december 20 he telegraphed LIncoln and gave him the city of Savanah as a christmas
present.
In may 1864 General Grant ordered an attack on Richmond. The army of
Northern Virginia fought off the attacking soldiers. They fought many battles during a
short span of time. Both sides lost heavily, Grant lost 60,000 men in less than a month.
He knew though that he could handle these losses better than the confederacy. He was
still unable to capture Richmond, but instead of retreating like previous generals he
continued and went to the south of Richmond. Here he took over the railroad town of
Petersburg, and he took control of the roads leading into and out of the capitol. In the
Spring of 1865 Lee was forced to leave the city to save his army, then the Union troops
took control of the capital.
One week after that Lee’s troops who were tired, hungry and in need of many
supplies tried to break through the Union lines. They failed and were surrounded at
Appomatox Court House. There on April 9, 1865 they General Lee was forced to
surrender. After that all confederate resistance was crushed one by one.
On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln and his wife went to a performance of Our
American Cousin, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. This is when an actor named John
Wilkes Booth shot Lincon for revenge after the souths defeat in the war. At the same time
some of his friends were plotting to shoot other leaders but they failed. After he shot
Lincoln Booth escaped to Virginia but he was caught later. After the shooting Lincoln
was carried to a rooming house acrossed the street. He died the morning after the attack.
After the war was over the reconstruction began. The first part was to bring all
the states back into the Union. In 1863 Lincoln had come up with this plan. The first part
of this plan was that 10 percent of the men who had voted in the election of 1860 had to
swear and oath of loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. Once the 10 percent
had taken this oath they could then organize a government that would be recognized as
the government of that state by by the president.
After Lincoln’s assassination and Andrew Johnson became president he supported
the 10 percent plan, he did make some additions though. Each state had to undo their
secession acts. They could not pay off confederate war debts. They also had to pass the
thirteenth amednment wich outlawed slavery. By the fall of 1865 all 11 states had met the
requirements of the plan. They were now able to elect members to congress.
Congress did not like Johnsons plan they thought it was too easy. Southerners
were electing people that had been rebel leaders during the war and congress thought that
was not right. They felt that the south should be punished for what happend over the past
four years. Also the representatives elected by the south were democrats and this
threatened the republican majority of congress. The main opposition was a group called
radical republicans, they wanted to give former slaves all the freedoms of a regular citizen.
They knew that Johnsons plan wasn’t strict enough for this to happen. Under their plan
the southern states had to pass the fourteenth amendmant as well that said people born in
the U.S. are citizens and can’t be denied any right of a citizen. It also said that people who
had taken place in the rebellion could not take place in government.
President Johnson told the 11 states to not pass the fourteenth amendmant. He felt
that the part where rebel leaders couldn’t be elected was unfair. Only Tennesee ratified the
fourteenth amendmant. iN the elctions of 1866 republicans won the majority majorly, and
they wanted to make their own reconstruction bill. Johnson vetoed it but they overrode it
and on Mach 2, 1867 the Reconstruction Act of 1867 was passed.
This act said that until the states passed the fourteenth amendmant there would be
a general placed there and troops to carry out his orders. It also said that the troops could
stay until they felt the state was reconstructed.
After they had passed their own reconstruction plan the republicans tried to
impeach president Johnson. They felt they could easily get the 36 senate votes they would
need. The trial lasted from March 30 until May 16, 1868. There was only 35 votes to
impeach Johnson, only needing one more vote.
After the war many leaders in the south were what people called carpetbaggers.
Carpetbaggers were people from the North who came to the South after the war was
over. They were called carpetbaggers because many of them carried there belongings in
bags made out of carpets. Many carpetbaggers were in positions of power in the southrn
governments. Many of them wanted to help, but the majority was just out to make
money. Many southerners helped these people, and also gained positions of power.
These people were called scalawags, which is a mean, runty farm animal. These
carpetbaggers and scalawags s