Outline of Chapters 19 and 20

Chapter 19 Drifting Toward Disunion

Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a great success at showing the people the evils of slavery.
• It was a great political force as well that helped start and win the civil war, it was very influential in the North and abroad.
• Uncle Tom's Cabin convinced many foreigners that slavery and the south were in the wrong this made it impossible for French and British forces to intervene on the South's behalf. 
• The Impending Crisis of the South also was influential and was written by Hinton R. Helper.

The North-South Contest for Kansas

• Financed by Northern abolitionists the New England Emigrant Aid Company sent 2000 men to Kansas to sway the vote for free soil. 
• The south was enraged; they believes that Nebraska would become a free state and Kansas would become a slave state. 
• When the day came to elect officials the two groups created separate governments within Kansas
• in 1856 proslaverites shot and burned the free soil town of Lawrence.

Kansas in Convulsion

• Civil war broke out in Kansas on the issue of slavery.
• by 1857 there were enough free-soilers to apply for state hood.
• Proslavery forces created the Lecompton Constitution. this made it so that the people could not vote for or against the constitution but rater for slavery or against slavery. Whatever the outcome the constitution would still protect slaves already in Kansas. 
• Free soilers boycotted the vote thus the constitution was passed with slavery
• The debate went to washington where they put the issue to a popular vote. The free soilers went to the polls and denied slavery. 
• Buchanan by addressing the issue divided the Democratic party, the last national party. 

"Bully"Brooks and his Bludgeon

• the issue of "bleeding kansas" approached congress as well.
• Senator Charles Sumner delivered a long speech condemning proslavery men while directly insulting South Carolina
• Congressman Preston S. Brooks took offense, but was worried that if Sumner refused to duel with him then he would be placed on a lower social ladder, so he beat Sumner with a cane until it broke causing major mental damage. 
• Each blow caused thousands of Republican votes
• Sumner's "The Crime Against Kansas" speech was reprinted by the thousands, and it put Brooks and the South in the Wrong. 

"Old Buck" versus "The Pathfinder"

• In 1856 the Democrats chose James Buchanan as their presidential candidate. He was mediocre, irresolute, and confused, but was not tainted with enemies from the bleeding Kansas. 
• The Republicans chose Captain John C. Fremont who was a fighter in the Mexican American War
• The American party also known as the "Know nothing party" nominated Millard Fillmore
• Anti-foreignism was placed in the campaign
• The campaign was full of mudslinging and Fremont was hurt due to him being a Roman Catholic. 

The Electoral Fruits of 1856

• James Buchanan just barely won the presidency
• Fremont did not win due to a worry that the South would succeed (which they said they would) if Fremont was elected

The Dred Scott Bombshell

• The Dred Scott vs. Stanford was a supreme case 
• Dred Scott, a black slave, had lived with his master for five years in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory. He sued for freedom dependent on the fact that he had lived on free soil for a long period of time.
• The Supreme court ruled that Dred Scot was a black slave and not a citizen, and hence could not sue in federal courts. They went further to state that because a slave was private property he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery. Also, in this line of thinking, the compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. 
• Te case inflamed millions of abolitionists against slavery and even those who didn’t care much about it.
• Northerners complained; Southerners were ecstatic about the decision but inflamed by northern defiance, and more tension built

The Financial Crash of 1857

• The panic of 1857 was a psychological panic. 
• its causes were:

1. california gold causing inflation
2. over growth of grain
3. over-speculation

• The North was harder hit than the South because the South had favorable cotton prices thus they were able to keep their financial heads a float. This increased the go of the Southerners causing them to believe that Cotton was king. 
• In 1860 Congress passed the homestead act that would give cheap land to those in need, but it was vetoed by James Buchanan. 

An Illinois Rail-Splitter Emerges

• In 1858, Senator Stephen Douglas’ term was about to expire, and against him was Republican Abraham Lincoln.
• He was not a rich kid, but rather a humble man born in a log cabin. Lincoln was a good lawyer and debater and had a down to earth feel to him. 

The Great Debate: Lincoln versus Douglas

• Lincoln challenged Douglas to a debate duel. Everyone believed that Lincoln would fail for Douglas was a great debater and Lincoln did not have a good voice. He, however, managed to hold his own. 
• In Freeport, Illinois Lincoln asked Douglas if the people of a territory voted slavery down, despited the supreme court saying that they could not do so whom would he support
• Douglas replied that no matter what the Supreme court ruled slavery would stay away if the people wished it
• His decision caused the South to dislike him
• He won the senate seat, but lost his chance at presidency to Lincoln

John Brown: Murderer or Matyr?

•  John Brown was a man with a plan. He planned to invade the South, steal arms, and free Slaves along the way causing a major slave revolt that would free them all. 
• However, when he raided Harper's Ferry ( a federal arsenal) the slaves did not come to his calling and he was soon captured. 
• He was sentenced to death and hanged 
• In his last moments Brown portrayed himself as a Martyr against Slavery thus he became more influential to the cause after his death than before
• Northerners rallied around his memory. Abolitionists were angered by his execution. 
• The south, constantly paranoid, was worried of more slave revolts, but they were ecstatic that Brown was executed. 
• Even Ralph Waldo Emerson compared John Brown to Jesus

The Disruption of the Democrats

• After failing to nominate a candidate in Charleston, South
  Carolina, the Democrats split into Northern and Southern factions, and
  at Baltimore, the Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas for
  president while the Southern Democrats chose John C. Breckinridge.
• Meanwhile, the “Know-Nothings” chose John Bell of
  Tennessee and called themselves the Constitutional Union party. They
  tried to mend fences and offered as their platform, simply, the
  Constitution.

A rail-splitter Splits the Union

• The Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln instead of the well known Seward because "old abe" had caused less enemies. 
• The Republican's platform addressed every non-southern group. They gave a protective tariff to the Northern manufacturers, no abridgement of rights for immigrants, internal improvements out of the Federal wallet in the West and free homesteads for farmers. 
• Even though Lincoln was not an outright abolitionist Southerners threatened to succeed if Lincoln was elected 
• Despite not being on the ballot in the South Lincoln won the election. 

The Electoral Upheaval of 1860

• If the Democratic party had been more organized they might have won. 
• The Southerners, although losing the presidency, were still in a good position. The Republicans did not control the House or the Senate and the South still had a five to four majority in the Supreme Court

The Secessionist Exodus

• South Carolina seceded in December of 1860
• Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas soon followed before Abe was inaugurated
• Those seven met in Montgomery, Alabama in February of 1861 and created the Confederate States of America.
• they nominated jefferson Davis as president
• A country created by secession could not logically ban secession and it was difficult to have a strong central government because each state believed in powerful states rights. 

The Collapse of Compromise

• With a last ditch effort the Crittenden Compromise was created.
• The results would be ban of slavery north of the 36 30' line extended to the Pacific and would leave the issue of slavery in territories south of the line up to the people ; also any preexisting slavery south of the line was given a guarantee as to be protected. 
• Lincoln, sticking to principles, opposed the compromise due to his party's antagonism towards extension of slavery

Farewell to Union

• Many Southerners supported secession because they believed that they would be unopposed. 
• They feared for their right as a slaveholding minority 
• The South also hoped to create their own banking and shipping creating more profit and cutting out the middle man of the North. 

Chapter 20: Girding for War: The North and the South

The Menace of Secession

• March 4, 1861 Lincoln was finally inaugurated after seven states had already left the Union
• He stated that there would be no conflict unless the south provoked it
• Lincoln also declared that the unifying of the union was his main goal and that it was ridiculous in the first place of splitting
•  due to

1. geographically there was nothing that separated the two
2. sharing the national debt and federal territories
3. European powers could weasel their way into the Americas 

South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter

• There were still two forts in the South that flew the stars and stripes.
• Fort Sumter was one of them, but it was soon running out of supplies. Lincoln sent supplies and declared to the South Carolina governor that it was only supplies not reinforcements.
• However, the South did not see it that way. On April 12, 1861 cannons were fired onto the fort; after 34 hours the fort surrendered
• Northerners were enraged by the South's actions so when Lincoln called on volunteers to fight many flooded to the enlistment
• Lincoln also issued a naval blockade on the South
• This caused four more states to succeed: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Brothers' Blood and Border Blood

• Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland were crucial support for whomever held them. They were slave states that did not secede
• In Maryland Lincoln declared martial law so that DC would not be surrounded by confederate territory
• He also declared that the wr was to hold the Union together NOT free slaves, this helped secure the border states. If he had said it was to free slaves then the slave states would be worried about losing their property. 
• The war was one of brother vs. brother, with the mountain men of what’s now West Virginia sending some 50,000 men to the Union. The nation’s split was very visible here, as Virginia literally split.

The Balance of Forces

• Southern Advantages at the beginning of the war

1. They only had to fight to a tie
2. They knew the ground they were fighting on
3. Talented leadership in the form of Robert E Lee and Thomas Jackson
4. Most southerners knew how to fight and fire a gun 
5. they were protecting their livelihood and homes

• Southern Disadvantages

1. shortage of factories
2. shortage of train tracks
3. did not control the sea
4. lacked population
5. had a poor economy

Dethroning King Cotton

• The South needed Foreign aid, but due to Uncle Tom's cabin and a surplus of cotton most foreigners were inclined to side with the North
• Europe needed food such as Wheat and corn more than cotton therefore they sided with the Northerners

The Decisiveness of Diplomacy

• In 1861 a Union warship stopped a British steamer and removed two confederate diplomats. However Lincoln was forced to release the prisoners because it enraged Britain.
• The British built sea vessels that went to the Confederacy to help them in a legal loophole they were not technically war ships because they were not armed when in British territory
• Charles Francis Adams persuaded Britain not to build any more ships 
• for the Confederacy, since they might someday be used against England.

Foreign Flare-Ups

• Britain also created two rams that owuld destroy Union blockades, but threat of war caused them to keep the rams for  their own navy instead of giving them up to the confederates
• Napoleon III of France installed a puppet government in mexico directly disobeying the Monroe Doctrine while the United States was busy with their internal dispute
• After the war the U.S threatened war and Napoleon withdrew his influence. 

President Davis versus President Lincoln

• President Davis had issues because the States were more powerful than the confederacy and many soldiers did not want to fight past their own borders
• He was also not very popular because he did not appeal to the masses, but rather his own logic
• Lincoln had the benefit of ruling an already formed government and a powerful central government

Limitation on Wartime Liberties

• Lincoln did many questionable acts during presidency

1. illegally proclaimed a blockade
2. sending in troops to the border states
3. He advanced 2 million to three private citizens for war purposes
4. Suspended Habeas Corpus
5. Intimidated voted in the border states

• The Confederates refusal to sacrifice some states rights caused a handicap that ultimately led to their defeat.

Volunteers and Draftees: North and South

• The first draft appeared.
• This angered the poor in both the SOuth and the north because the rich could pay for their substitute. Many declared "It was a rich man's war, but a poor man's fight"
• The South had to declare a draft a whole year before the North

The Economic Stresses of War

• The North increased their tariffs 5 to 10 percents
• The Washington Treasury issued greenback paper money that was very unstable and lowered to almost 39 cents per dollar
• The Federal Treasury netted 2.6 billion i the sale of bonds
• The National Banking System was created to establish a standard bank-note currency, and banks that joined the National Banking System could buy government bonds and issue sound paper money.
• The southerners had difficulty with inflation. It went up 9000% as opposed to 80% in the North. 

The North's Economic Boom

• The North was more prosperous after the civil war than before.
• New factories were protected by the high tariffs and the first millionaire class was formed
• Many Union suppliers made their supplies cheaply and with new machines to reduce cost and increase profit
• Women began taking jobs that were previously men's during the war
• Women like Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix helped transformed nursing from a low job to a respected profession 

A Crushed Cotton Kingdom

• The South was crushed by the end of the war
• They only had 12 % of the national wealth as opposed to the 30% they had in the beginning
• Their transportation systems were destroyed
• Egypt had taken some of the cotton market from them

Identity: 

How did the conflicts that led to the Civil War change popular ideas about national, regional, and racial identities?  

The "bloody Kansas" incident led to a definitive split between the North and South. It gave a line to the border which caused the Civil war. 

Politics and Power: 
Why did attempts at compromise before the war fail to prevent the conflict?  

Compromise could only push back the inevitable conflict between the North and South because the two side were to juxtaposed. They both believed that they were defending their ways of life and protecting religion. Aso slaves made so much profit for the South that they would never give up their valuable assets.