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SSUSH8
THE STUDENT WILL EXPLAIN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GROWING NORTH-SOUTH DIVISIONS AND WESTWARD EXPANSION.
a. Explain how slavery became a significant issue in American politics; include the slave rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of abolitionism (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters).
b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states and territories.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and development of sectionalism.
d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
THE STUDENT WILL EXPLAIN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GROWING NORTH-SOUTH DIVISIONS AND WESTWARD EXPANSION.
a. Explain how slavery became a significant issue in American politics; include the slave rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of abolitionism (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters).
b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states and territories.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and development of sectionalism.
d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
A. EXPLAIN HOW SLAVERY BECAME A SIGNIFICANT ISSUE IN AMERICAN POLITICS; INCLUDE THE SLAVE REBELLION OF NAT TURNER AND THE RISE OF ABOLITIONISM (WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AND THE GRIMKE SISTERS).
The Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina, were southern women who lectured publicly throughout the northern states about the evils of slavery they had seen growing up on a plantation. Their public careers began when Garrison published a
letter from Angelina in his newspaper.
letter from Angelina in his newspaper.
B. EXPLAIN THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE AND THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY IN WESTERN STATES AND TERRITORIES.
C. DESCRIBE THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS AND THE EMERGENCE OF STATES’ RIGHTS IDEOLOGY; INCLUDE THE ROLE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SECTIONALISM.
Nullification Crisis
Vice President John C. Calhoun argued with President Andrew Jackson about the rights of states to nullify (cancel) federal laws they opposed. Trouble, known as the Nullification Crisis, resulted when southern states sought to nullify a high tariff (tax) Congress had passed on manufactured goods imported from Europe. This tariff helped northern manufacturers but hurt southern plantation owners, so legislators nullified the tariff in South Carolina. Calhoun, a South Carolinian, resigned from the vice presidency to lead the efforts of the southern states in this crisis. His loyalty to the interests of the southern region, or section, of the United States, not to the United States as a whole, contributed to the rise of sectionalism. Calhoun and the advocates of sectionalism argued in favor of states’ rights––the idea that states have certain rights and political powers separate from those held by the federal government and that the federal government may not violate these rights. The supporters of sectionalism were mostly Southerners. Their opponents were afraid that if each state could decide for itself which federal laws to obey, the United States would dissolve into sectional discord or even warfare. |
D. DESCRIBE THE WAR WITH MEXICO AND THE WILMOT PROVISO.
E. EXPLAIN HOW THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 AROSE OUT OF TERRITORIAL EXPANSION AND POPULATION GROWTH.
The Compromise of 1850 was four years in the making. Northern Whigs and Southern Democrats engaged in heated attacks on one another on the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession. Then the discovery of gold in California in 1848 rapidly increased the population of the territory past the 100,000 citizens’ necessary for statehood. As a part of their plan of statehood, Californians drew up a state constitution that outlawed slavery in the proposed state.
Southern politicians objected to California’s admission as a free state on two points. First, Southerners argued that the exclusion of slavery in the territory violated the Missouri Compromise (the compromise line split the state). Second, Northerners already controlled the House and Southerners feared the admission of California would upset the balance of free and slave states in the Senate. Northern and southern representatives argued bitterly over California. Finally, Henry Clay, who defused tensions previously with the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and a compromise tariff in 1833, (earning Clay the title of the “Great Compromiser”) presented a plan that Clay hoped would solve the impasse. Debates between Calhoun, representing the Southern position, and Daniel Webster, representing the Northern position, raged over the bill. Numerous votes were taken, but the extremists on both sides prevented passage of the bill. Clay and Calhoun both left the Senate too ill to continue. Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois) and Daniel Webster (Massachusetts) worked to split Clay’s bill into separate bills so that Congressmen could vote on each separately. The five bills then moved through Congress and were passed.
Collectively, the five laws were known as the Compromise of 1850. The compromise stated:
• The state of New Mexico would be established by carving its borders from the state of Texas.
• New Mexico voters would determine whether the state would permit or prohibit the practice of slavery.
• California would be admitted to the Union as a free state.
• All citizens would be required to apprehend runaway slaves and return them to their owners. Those who failed to do so would be fined or imprisoned.
• The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, but the practice of slavery would be allowed to continue there.
Despite passage of the bills, the Compromise of 1850 eased sectional tensions over slavery for only a short time.
Southern politicians objected to California’s admission as a free state on two points. First, Southerners argued that the exclusion of slavery in the territory violated the Missouri Compromise (the compromise line split the state). Second, Northerners already controlled the House and Southerners feared the admission of California would upset the balance of free and slave states in the Senate. Northern and southern representatives argued bitterly over California. Finally, Henry Clay, who defused tensions previously with the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and a compromise tariff in 1833, (earning Clay the title of the “Great Compromiser”) presented a plan that Clay hoped would solve the impasse. Debates between Calhoun, representing the Southern position, and Daniel Webster, representing the Northern position, raged over the bill. Numerous votes were taken, but the extremists on both sides prevented passage of the bill. Clay and Calhoun both left the Senate too ill to continue. Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois) and Daniel Webster (Massachusetts) worked to split Clay’s bill into separate bills so that Congressmen could vote on each separately. The five bills then moved through Congress and were passed.
Collectively, the five laws were known as the Compromise of 1850. The compromise stated:
• The state of New Mexico would be established by carving its borders from the state of Texas.
• New Mexico voters would determine whether the state would permit or prohibit the practice of slavery.
• California would be admitted to the Union as a free state.
• All citizens would be required to apprehend runaway slaves and return them to their owners. Those who failed to do so would be fined or imprisoned.
• The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, but the practice of slavery would be allowed to continue there.
Despite passage of the bills, the Compromise of 1850 eased sectional tensions over slavery for only a short time.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR SSUSH8
1. Nat Turner
http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/turner.html
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner
2. Rise of Abolitionismhttp://www.historynet.com/abolitionist-movement
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery/videos/abolition-and-the-underground-railroad
3. Missouri Compromise
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Missouri.html
http://www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromise
http://www.ushistory.org/us/23c.asp
4. Nullification Crisis
http://www.ushistory.org/us/24c.asp
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Nullification.html
http://blueandgraytrail.com/event/Nullification_Crisis
5. The war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso
http://www.history.com/topics/mexican-american-war
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
6. Compromise of 1850
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Compromise1850.html
http://www.ushistory.org/us/30d.asp
http://www.history.com/topics/compromise-of-1850
SSUSH9:
THE STUDENT WILL IDENTIFY KEY EVENTS, ISSUES, AND INDIVIDUALS RELATING TO THE CAUSES, COURSE, AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
a. Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, Dred Scott case, and John Brown’s Raid.
b. Describe President Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union as seen in his second inaugural address and the Gettysburg speech and in his use of emergency powers, such as his decision to suspend habeas corpus.
c. Describe the roles of Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, William T. Sherman, and Jefferson Davis.
d. Explain the importance of Fort Sumter, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and the Battle for Atlanta and the impact of geography on these battles.
e. Describe the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
f. Explain the importance of the growing economic disparity between the North and the South through an examination of population, functioning railroads, and industrial output.
THE STUDENT WILL IDENTIFY KEY EVENTS, ISSUES, AND INDIVIDUALS RELATING TO THE CAUSES, COURSE, AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
a. Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, Dred Scott case, and John Brown’s Raid.
b. Describe President Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union as seen in his second inaugural address and the Gettysburg speech and in his use of emergency powers, such as his decision to suspend habeas corpus.
c. Describe the roles of Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, William T. Sherman, and Jefferson Davis.
d. Explain the importance of Fort Sumter, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and the Battle for Atlanta and the impact of geography on these battles.
e. Describe the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
f. Explain the importance of the growing economic disparity between the North and the South through an examination of population, functioning railroads, and industrial output.
A. EXPLAIN THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT, THE FAILURE OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY, DRED SCOTT CASE, AND JOHN BROWN’S RAID.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT
In 1854, Congress again took up the issue of slavery in new U.S. states and territories. This time, the territories were Kansas and Nebraska, and Congress approved the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and gave the settlers in all new territories the right to decide for themselves whether theirs would be a free or a slave state. This made a proslavery doctrine, popular sovereignty (rule by the people), the law of the United States.
Pro- and antislavery groups hurried into Kansas in attempts to create voting majorities there. Antislavery abolitionists came from eastern states; proslavery settlers came mainly from neighboring Missouri. Some of these Missourians settled in Kansas, but many more stayed there only long enough to vote for slavery and then returned to Missouri.
Proslavery voters elected a legislature ready to make Kansas a slave state. Abolitionists then elected a rival Kansas government with an antislavery constitution, established a different capital city, and raised an army. Proslavery Kansans reacted by raising their own army.
The U.S. House of Representatives supported the abolitionist Kansans; the U.S. Senate
and President Franklin Pierce supported the proslavery Kansans. Violence between the two sides created warlike conditions. Popular sovereignty had failed.
In 1854, Congress again took up the issue of slavery in new U.S. states and territories. This time, the territories were Kansas and Nebraska, and Congress approved the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and gave the settlers in all new territories the right to decide for themselves whether theirs would be a free or a slave state. This made a proslavery doctrine, popular sovereignty (rule by the people), the law of the United States.
Pro- and antislavery groups hurried into Kansas in attempts to create voting majorities there. Antislavery abolitionists came from eastern states; proslavery settlers came mainly from neighboring Missouri. Some of these Missourians settled in Kansas, but many more stayed there only long enough to vote for slavery and then returned to Missouri.
Proslavery voters elected a legislature ready to make Kansas a slave state. Abolitionists then elected a rival Kansas government with an antislavery constitution, established a different capital city, and raised an army. Proslavery Kansans reacted by raising their own army.
The U.S. House of Representatives supported the abolitionist Kansans; the U.S. Senate
and President Franklin Pierce supported the proslavery Kansans. Violence between the two sides created warlike conditions. Popular sovereignty had failed.
DRED SCOTT
1857, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision, settling a lawsuit in which an African American slave named Dred Scott claimed he should be a free man because he had lived with his master in slave states and in free states. The Court rejected Scott’s claim, ruling that no African American––even if free––could ever be a U.S. citizen. Further, the Court said Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories. Thus, the Court found that popular sovereignty and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 were unconstitutional.
The Dred Scott decision gave slavery the protection of the U.S. Constitution. Proslavery Americans welcomed the Court’s ruling as proof they had been right during the previous few decades’ struggles against abolitionists. In contrast, abolitionists convinced many state legislatures to declare the Dred Scott decision not binding within their state borders.
The new Republican Party said that if its candidate were elected president in 1860, he would appoint a new Supreme Court that would reverse Dred Scott.
1857, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision, settling a lawsuit in which an African American slave named Dred Scott claimed he should be a free man because he had lived with his master in slave states and in free states. The Court rejected Scott’s claim, ruling that no African American––even if free––could ever be a U.S. citizen. Further, the Court said Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories. Thus, the Court found that popular sovereignty and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 were unconstitutional.
The Dred Scott decision gave slavery the protection of the U.S. Constitution. Proslavery Americans welcomed the Court’s ruling as proof they had been right during the previous few decades’ struggles against abolitionists. In contrast, abolitionists convinced many state legislatures to declare the Dred Scott decision not binding within their state borders.
The new Republican Party said that if its candidate were elected president in 1860, he would appoint a new Supreme Court that would reverse Dred Scott.
JOHN BROWN
One famous abolitionist, John Brown, decided to fight slavery with violence and killing. In 1856, believing he was chosen by God to end slavery, Brown commanded family members and other abolitionists to attack proslavery settlers in Kansas, killing five men. In 1859, he led a group of white and black men in a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (in modern-day West Virginia). They seized federal weapons and ammunition, killing seven people. Brown’s plan was to deliver the weapons and ammunition to slaves, who would then use them in an uprising against slaveholders and
proslavery government officials. But the raid failed, and Brown was captured by U.S. Marines led by U.S. Army Colonel Robert E. Lee. Eventually, Brown was convicted of treason against the state of Virginia and executed by hanging. Many Americans thought Brown was a terrorist killer. Others thought he was an abolitionist martyr.
One famous abolitionist, John Brown, decided to fight slavery with violence and killing. In 1856, believing he was chosen by God to end slavery, Brown commanded family members and other abolitionists to attack proslavery settlers in Kansas, killing five men. In 1859, he led a group of white and black men in a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (in modern-day West Virginia). They seized federal weapons and ammunition, killing seven people. Brown’s plan was to deliver the weapons and ammunition to slaves, who would then use them in an uprising against slaveholders and
proslavery government officials. But the raid failed, and Brown was captured by U.S. Marines led by U.S. Army Colonel Robert E. Lee. Eventually, Brown was convicted of treason against the state of Virginia and executed by hanging. Many Americans thought Brown was a terrorist killer. Others thought he was an abolitionist martyr.
B. DESCRIBE PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S EFFORTS TO PRESERVE THE UNION AS SEEN IN HIS SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS AND THE GETTYSBURG SPEECH AND IN HIS USE OF EMERGENCY POWERS, SUCH AS HIS DECISION TO SUSPEND HABEAS CORPUS.
PRESERVING THE UNION
Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. South Carolina voted to secede (separate from) the United States, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and then Texas. They formed a new country called the Confederate States of America (the “Confederacy”). When they attacked the U.S. Army base at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, the long-feared Civil War began.
President Lincoln believed preservation of the United States (the “Union”) was the most important task for any U.S. president (see Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, page 48). He did not believe the southern states had the right to secede from the Union and thought they were merely rebelling against the government. He never considered the Confederacy a separate country. When Lincoln called for a large volunteer army to preserve the Union, more states––Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee––seceded to join the Confederacy. Although Lincoln had often stated he wished only to restrict the spread of slavery, not to abolish it, over time he did embrace the idea of ending slavery in the United States.
Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. South Carolina voted to secede (separate from) the United States, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and then Texas. They formed a new country called the Confederate States of America (the “Confederacy”). When they attacked the U.S. Army base at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, the long-feared Civil War began.
President Lincoln believed preservation of the United States (the “Union”) was the most important task for any U.S. president (see Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, page 48). He did not believe the southern states had the right to secede from the Union and thought they were merely rebelling against the government. He never considered the Confederacy a separate country. When Lincoln called for a large volunteer army to preserve the Union, more states––Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee––seceded to join the Confederacy. Although Lincoln had often stated he wished only to restrict the spread of slavery, not to abolish it, over time he did embrace the idea of ending slavery in the United States.
LINCOLN’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
In composing his first inaugural address, delivered March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln focused on shoring up his support in the North without further alienating the South, where he was almost universally hated or feared. For guidance and inspiration, he turned to four historic documents, all concerned directly or indirectly with states' rights: Daniel Webster's 1830 reply to Robert Y. Hayne; President Andrew Jackson's Nullification Proclamation of 1832; Henry Clay's compromise speech of 1850; and the U.S. Constitution. Lincoln's initial effort was typeset and printed at the office of the Illinois State Journal, edited and then reprinted. Lincoln sent four copies of the second strike to his closest political advisors for commentary, resulting in further changes. The finished address avoided any mention of the Republican Party platform, which condemned all efforts to reopen the African slave trade and denied the authority of Congress or a territorial legislature to legalized slavery in the territories. The address also denied any plan on the part of the Lincoln administration to interfere with the institution of slavery in states where it existed. But to Lincoln, the Union, which he saw as older even than the Constitution, was perpetual and unbroken, and secession legally impossible. Until the final draft, Lincoln's address had ended with a question for the South: "Shall it be peace or sword?" In the famous concluding paragraph, Lincoln, following the suggestion of Seward, moderated his tone dramatically and ended on a memorable note of conciliation: I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stre[t]ching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. |
LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Abraham Lincoln was reelected president in 1864. When he delivered his second inaugural address, Union victory over the Confederacy was certain, and Americans foresaw an end to slavery. Instead of boasting about that victory, Lincoln expressed sorrow that the states had not been able to resolve their differences peacefully. However, he clearly stated that slavery was such an evil that the North was right to have gone to war over the issue. Nevertheless, he urged Americans not to seek revenge on slaveholders and their supporters and military. Instead, he urged reconstruction of the South “with malice toward none; with charity for all.” Now at the end of the Civil War, Lincoln formed what would become the popular memory of why the war was necessary. He said it had been fought to preserve the Union as an indivisible nation of citizens who would no longer profit from “wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces”––from taking their earnings from the labor of unpaid slaves. HABEAS CORPUS
Northerners supported President Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union. Some were Confederate sympathizers (just as some Southerners were Union sympathizers). Throughout the war, in some states Lincoln suspended the constitutional right of habeas corpus––the legal rule that anyone imprisoned must be taken before a judge to determine if the prisoner is being legally held in custody. The Constitution allows a president to suspend habeas corpus during a national emergency. Lincoln used his emergency powers to legalize the holding of Confederate sympathizers without trial and without a judge to agree they were legally imprisoned. Over 13,000 Confederate sympathizers were arrested in the North. |
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
In November 1863, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was another event by which he shaped popular opinion in favor of preserving the Union. The occasion was the dedication of a military cemetery at the Gettysburg battlefield four months after 51,000 people were killed in the battle there. Most of the ceremony was performed by famous orator Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours, as was the manner at that time for an important event. Then Lincoln rose to speak, starting with his famous words “Four score and seven years ago.” He spoke for just two minutes in what is now considered one of the greatest speeches in the English language. His address helped raise the spirits of Northerners who had grown weary of the war and dismayed by southern victories over the larger Union armies. He convinced the people that the United States was one indivisible nation. EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONClick here for the text of this historical document.As early as 1849, Abraham Lincoln believed that slaves should be emancipated, advocating a program in which they would be freed gradually. Early in his presidency, still convinced that gradual emacipation was the best course, he tried to win over legistators. To gain support, he proposed that slaveowners be compensated for giving up their "property." Support was not forthcoming.
In September of 1862, after the Union's victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary decree stating that, unless the rebellious states returned to the Union by January 1, freedom would be granted to slaves within those states. The decree also left room for a plan of compensated emancipation. No Confederate states took the offer, and on January 1 Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared, "all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in the United States. Rather, it declared free only those slaves living in states not under Union control. William Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, commented, "We show our symapthy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free." Lincoln was fully aware of the irony, but he did not want to antagonize the slave states loyal to the Union by setting their slaves free. The proclamation allowed black soldiers to fight for the Union -- soldiers that were desperately needed. It also tied the issue of slavery directly to the war. |
LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HORACE GREELYPresident Abraham Lincoln writes a carefully worded letter in response to an abolitionist editorial by Horace Greeley, the editor of the influential New York Tribune, and hints at a change in his policy concerning slavery.
From the outset of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed the war's goal to be the reunion of the nation. He said little about slavery for fear of alienating key constituencies such as the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and, to a lesser extent, Delaware. Each of these states allowed slavery but had not seceded from the Union. Lincoln was also concerned about Northern Democrats, who generally opposed fighting the war to free the slaves but whose support Lincoln needed.
Tugging him in the other direction were abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and Horace Greeley. In his editorial, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," Greeley assailed Lincoln for his soft treatment of slaveholders and for his unwillingness to enforce the Confiscation Acts, which called for the property, including slaves, of Confederates to be taken when their homes were captured by Union forces. Abolitionists saw the acts as a wedge to drive into the institution of slavery.
Lincoln had been toying with the idea of emancipation for some time. He discussed it with his cabinet but decided that some military success was needed to give the measure credibility. In his response to Greeley's editorial, Lincoln hinted at a change. In a rare public response to criticism, he articulated his policy by stating, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Although this sounded noncommittal, Lincoln closed by stating, "I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."
By hinting that ending slavery might become a goal of the war, Lincoln was preparing the public for the change in policy that would come one month later with the Emancipation Proclamation.
Letter to Horace Greeley
Written during the heart of the Civil War, this is one of Abraham Lincoln's most famous letters. Greeley, editor of the influential New York Tribune,had just addressed an editorial to Lincoln called "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," making demands and implying that Lincoln's administration lacked direction and resolve.President Lincoln made his reply when a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation already lay in his desk drawer. His response revealed his concentration on preserving the Union. The letter, which received acclaim in the North, stands as a classic statement of Lincoln's constitutional responsibilities. A few years after the president's death, Greeley wrote an assessment of Lincoln. He stated that Lincoln did not actually respond to his editorial but used it instead as a platform to prepare the public for his "altered position" on emancipation.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 22, 1862.
Hon. Horace Greeley:
Dear Sir.
I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do morewhenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.
Yours,
A. Lincoln.
From the outset of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed the war's goal to be the reunion of the nation. He said little about slavery for fear of alienating key constituencies such as the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and, to a lesser extent, Delaware. Each of these states allowed slavery but had not seceded from the Union. Lincoln was also concerned about Northern Democrats, who generally opposed fighting the war to free the slaves but whose support Lincoln needed.
Tugging him in the other direction were abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and Horace Greeley. In his editorial, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," Greeley assailed Lincoln for his soft treatment of slaveholders and for his unwillingness to enforce the Confiscation Acts, which called for the property, including slaves, of Confederates to be taken when their homes were captured by Union forces. Abolitionists saw the acts as a wedge to drive into the institution of slavery.
Lincoln had been toying with the idea of emancipation for some time. He discussed it with his cabinet but decided that some military success was needed to give the measure credibility. In his response to Greeley's editorial, Lincoln hinted at a change. In a rare public response to criticism, he articulated his policy by stating, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Although this sounded noncommittal, Lincoln closed by stating, "I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."
By hinting that ending slavery might become a goal of the war, Lincoln was preparing the public for the change in policy that would come one month later with the Emancipation Proclamation.
Letter to Horace Greeley
Written during the heart of the Civil War, this is one of Abraham Lincoln's most famous letters. Greeley, editor of the influential New York Tribune,had just addressed an editorial to Lincoln called "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," making demands and implying that Lincoln's administration lacked direction and resolve.President Lincoln made his reply when a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation already lay in his desk drawer. His response revealed his concentration on preserving the Union. The letter, which received acclaim in the North, stands as a classic statement of Lincoln's constitutional responsibilities. A few years after the president's death, Greeley wrote an assessment of Lincoln. He stated that Lincoln did not actually respond to his editorial but used it instead as a platform to prepare the public for his "altered position" on emancipation.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 22, 1862.
Hon. Horace Greeley:
Dear Sir.
I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do morewhenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.
Yours,
A. Lincoln.
C. Describe the roles of Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, William T. Sherman, and Jefferson Davis.
Key Leaders of Civil War
The political and military leaders of the Union and the Confederacy represented the different beliefs and values that separated the North from the South. The northern leaders thought it was illegal for the southern states to secede from the Union. They considered the Confederates outlaws, not citizens of a separate country. On the other hand, the southern leaders put loyalty to their home states above everything else. They fought for the Confederacy to protect their homes, even though they may have had misgivings about secession.
North/UnionAbraham Lincoln
• U.S. representative from Illinois
• President of United States of America, 1861–1865
• Appointed Gen. Ulysses S. Grant commanding general of Union armies
• Issued Emancipation Proclamation
• Promoted Thirteenth Amendment to Constitution
Ulysses S. Grant
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Won first Union victories
• Captured control of Mississippi River in Siege of Vicksburg
• Appointed commanding general of Union armies by Lincoln
• Accepted surrender of Confederate Gen. Lee to end Civil War
William Tecumseh Sherman
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Served under Gen. Grant during Siege of Vicksburg
• Destroyed Atlanta; ended Confederate’s ability to fight
• Accepted surrender of all Confederate armies in Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida
South/ConfederacyJefferson Davis
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• U.S. senator from Mississippi
• U.S. secretary of war
• President of Confederate States of America, 1861–1865
• Appointed Robert E. Lee as general in chief of Confederate armies
Robert E. Lee
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Fought larger Union armies to standoff at Battle ofAntietam
• Defeated at Battle of Gettysburg
• Appointed general in chief of Confederate armies by Davis
• Surrendered to U.S. Gen. Grant to end Civil War
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Won First Battle of Bull Run
• Fought under Confederate Gen. Lee at Antietam and
Second Bull Run
• Died in battle
Key Leaders of Civil War
The political and military leaders of the Union and the Confederacy represented the different beliefs and values that separated the North from the South. The northern leaders thought it was illegal for the southern states to secede from the Union. They considered the Confederates outlaws, not citizens of a separate country. On the other hand, the southern leaders put loyalty to their home states above everything else. They fought for the Confederacy to protect their homes, even though they may have had misgivings about secession.
North/UnionAbraham Lincoln
• U.S. representative from Illinois
• President of United States of America, 1861–1865
• Appointed Gen. Ulysses S. Grant commanding general of Union armies
• Issued Emancipation Proclamation
• Promoted Thirteenth Amendment to Constitution
Ulysses S. Grant
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Won first Union victories
• Captured control of Mississippi River in Siege of Vicksburg
• Appointed commanding general of Union armies by Lincoln
• Accepted surrender of Confederate Gen. Lee to end Civil War
William Tecumseh Sherman
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Served under Gen. Grant during Siege of Vicksburg
• Destroyed Atlanta; ended Confederate’s ability to fight
• Accepted surrender of all Confederate armies in Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida
South/ConfederacyJefferson Davis
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• U.S. senator from Mississippi
• U.S. secretary of war
• President of Confederate States of America, 1861–1865
• Appointed Robert E. Lee as general in chief of Confederate armies
Robert E. Lee
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Fought larger Union armies to standoff at Battle ofAntietam
• Defeated at Battle of Gettysburg
• Appointed general in chief of Confederate armies by Davis
• Surrendered to U.S. Gen. Grant to end Civil War
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
• Graduated from U.S. Military Academy, West Point
• Won First Battle of Bull Run
• Fought under Confederate Gen. Lee at Antietam and
Second Bull Run
• Died in battle
D. Explain the importance of Fort Sumter, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and the Battle for Atlanta and the impact of geography on these battles.
Key Battles of the Civil War
Union and Confederate forces fought many battles in the Civil War’s four years. Land battles were fought mostly in states west of the Mississippi River; sea battles were fought along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico; and river battles were fought on the Mississippi.
• Fort Sumter––April 1861––Fort Sumter was a federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Confederate forces staged a 24-hour bombardment against it and, by attacking federal property, had committed an act of open rebellion. To uphold the Constitution, President Lincoln believed he had no choice but to call for troops to respond against the Confederacy. As a direct result, the Civil War began.
• Antietam––September 1862––Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee marched his forces to Antietam Creek, Maryland, where he fought the war’s first major battle on northern soil. It was the deadliest one-day battle in American history, with over 26,000 casualties. Neither side won a victory. As Lee withdrew to the South, Union forces might have been able to end the war by going after the Confederates––Union soldiers outnumbered them two-to-one––but they did not follow Lee. The significance of the Battle of Antietam was that Lee’s failure to win it encouraged Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
• Gettysburg––July 1863––Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee hoped that an invasion of Union territory would significantly weaken Northern support for the war effort. A major Southern victory on northern soil might also convince Great Britain and
France to aid Confederate forces. Lee’s army was met by Union troops at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In the course of a three-day battle, as many as 51,000 were killed. It was the deadliest battle of the American Civil War. Lee gave up attempts to invade the Union or to show Northerners that the Union troops could not win the war. Four months later, Lincoln delivered hisGettysburg Address at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
• Vicksburg––May–July 1863––Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi, because the army that controlled its high ground over a bend in the Mississippi River would control traffic on the whole river. After a seven-week siege, Grant achieved one of the Union’s major strategic goals: He gained control of the Mississippi River. Confederate troops and supplies in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were cut off from the Confederacy. This Union victory, coupled with the Union victory at Gettysburg, was the turning point of the war.
• Atlanta––July–September 1864––Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman besieged Atlanta, Georgia, for six weeks before capturing this vitally important center of Confederate manufacturing and railway traffic. Sherman’s goal was to disrupt the Confederacy’s capacity to resupply its troops throughout the South. Union troops burned Atlanta to the ground and then marched to the Atlantic Ocean, destroying the railways, roads, and bridges along the path, as well as the crops and livestock his troops did not harvest and butcher to feed themselves. Now the South knew it would lose the war, and the North knew it would win. Lincoln easily won reelection against a candidate who wanted a truce with the Confederacy.
Key Battles of the Civil War
Union and Confederate forces fought many battles in the Civil War’s four years. Land battles were fought mostly in states west of the Mississippi River; sea battles were fought along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico; and river battles were fought on the Mississippi.
• Fort Sumter––April 1861––Fort Sumter was a federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Confederate forces staged a 24-hour bombardment against it and, by attacking federal property, had committed an act of open rebellion. To uphold the Constitution, President Lincoln believed he had no choice but to call for troops to respond against the Confederacy. As a direct result, the Civil War began.
• Antietam––September 1862––Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee marched his forces to Antietam Creek, Maryland, where he fought the war’s first major battle on northern soil. It was the deadliest one-day battle in American history, with over 26,000 casualties. Neither side won a victory. As Lee withdrew to the South, Union forces might have been able to end the war by going after the Confederates––Union soldiers outnumbered them two-to-one––but they did not follow Lee. The significance of the Battle of Antietam was that Lee’s failure to win it encouraged Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
• Gettysburg––July 1863––Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee hoped that an invasion of Union territory would significantly weaken Northern support for the war effort. A major Southern victory on northern soil might also convince Great Britain and
France to aid Confederate forces. Lee’s army was met by Union troops at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In the course of a three-day battle, as many as 51,000 were killed. It was the deadliest battle of the American Civil War. Lee gave up attempts to invade the Union or to show Northerners that the Union troops could not win the war. Four months later, Lincoln delivered hisGettysburg Address at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
• Vicksburg––May–July 1863––Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi, because the army that controlled its high ground over a bend in the Mississippi River would control traffic on the whole river. After a seven-week siege, Grant achieved one of the Union’s major strategic goals: He gained control of the Mississippi River. Confederate troops and supplies in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were cut off from the Confederacy. This Union victory, coupled with the Union victory at Gettysburg, was the turning point of the war.
• Atlanta––July–September 1864––Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman besieged Atlanta, Georgia, for six weeks before capturing this vitally important center of Confederate manufacturing and railway traffic. Sherman’s goal was to disrupt the Confederacy’s capacity to resupply its troops throughout the South. Union troops burned Atlanta to the ground and then marched to the Atlantic Ocean, destroying the railways, roads, and bridges along the path, as well as the crops and livestock his troops did not harvest and butcher to feed themselves. Now the South knew it would lose the war, and the North knew it would win. Lincoln easily won reelection against a candidate who wanted a truce with the Confederacy.
E. Describe the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln used his emergency powers again to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. It emancipated (freed) all slaves held in the Confederate states. Lincoln did not expect Confederate slaveholders to free their slaves, but he thought news of the proclamation would reach southern slaves and encourage them to flee to the North. Lincoln believed one reason southern whites were free to join the Confederate Army was because slaves were doing war work that, otherwise, the whites would have to do. Encouraging slaves to flee north would hurt the southern war effort.
Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves held in the North, it was warmly welcomed by African Americans living in Union states. They understood the proclamation announced a new goal for the Union troops––besides preserving the Union, the troops were fighting for the belief that the United States would abolish slavery throughout the nation.
The announcement of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was one of the main actions of the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves residing in territory that was in rebellion against the federal government. This encouraged slaves in the South to attempt to escape. As the number of runaway slaves climbed, the South’s ability to produce cotton and food declined. To counter this, the South devoted some of its manpower to keeping slaves from running away. In addition, following the proclamation, the North began to allow African Americans to join the Union army. While few served in combat, more than 150,000 African Americans took the place of white soldiers by garrisoning forts and working behind the front lines. This was the equivalent of giving the North a new army larger than the South’s. Some historians believe this was enough to guarantee a northern victory. The Emancipation Proclamation had a very practical effect on the outcome of the war. When you think about it, do not forget its impact on manpower and the outcome of the Civil War.
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln used his emergency powers again to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. It emancipated (freed) all slaves held in the Confederate states. Lincoln did not expect Confederate slaveholders to free their slaves, but he thought news of the proclamation would reach southern slaves and encourage them to flee to the North. Lincoln believed one reason southern whites were free to join the Confederate Army was because slaves were doing war work that, otherwise, the whites would have to do. Encouraging slaves to flee north would hurt the southern war effort.
Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves held in the North, it was warmly welcomed by African Americans living in Union states. They understood the proclamation announced a new goal for the Union troops––besides preserving the Union, the troops were fighting for the belief that the United States would abolish slavery throughout the nation.
The announcement of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was one of the main actions of the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves residing in territory that was in rebellion against the federal government. This encouraged slaves in the South to attempt to escape. As the number of runaway slaves climbed, the South’s ability to produce cotton and food declined. To counter this, the South devoted some of its manpower to keeping slaves from running away. In addition, following the proclamation, the North began to allow African Americans to join the Union army. While few served in combat, more than 150,000 African Americans took the place of white soldiers by garrisoning forts and working behind the front lines. This was the equivalent of giving the North a new army larger than the South’s. Some historians believe this was enough to guarantee a northern victory. The Emancipation Proclamation had a very practical effect on the outcome of the war. When you think about it, do not forget its impact on manpower and the outcome of the Civil War.
F. Explain the importance of the growing economic disparity between the North and the South through an examination of population, functioning railroads, and industrial output.
North versus South
When southern forces opened fire on Union forces at Fort Sumter, they began a war that would last four years and take the lives of 821,000 soldiers. From the start, the Confederacy was at a serious disadvantage. The southern economy differed greatly from the economy of the northern states, and, in the end, the numerical and industrial superiority of the northern economy proved too much for the South to overcome.
Northern Economy
Southern Economy
North versus South
When southern forces opened fire on Union forces at Fort Sumter, they began a war that would last four years and take the lives of 821,000 soldiers. From the start, the Confederacy was at a serious disadvantage. The southern economy differed greatly from the economy of the northern states, and, in the end, the numerical and industrial superiority of the northern economy proved too much for the South to overcome.
Northern Economy
- Industry and trade
- 71% of U.S. population; 99% free, 1% slave; large enough to assemble an army capable of defending the Union
- 92% of U.S. industrial output; generous resources to produce weapons and other military supplies and equipment
- Many citizens worked for someone else and owned no property. Even in large-scale farming regions, machines reduced the need for agricultural workers.
- 34% of U.S. exports; favored high tariffs on imported foreign goods to protect northern industries and workers’ jobs
- More than twice as much as the South produced
- 71% of U.S. railroad network; efficient railway transport system. Ready capacity to transport troops and their supplies, food, etc.
Southern Economy
- Agriculture
- 29% of U.S. population; 67% free, 33% slave; too few free men to assemble an army capable of defending the South
- 8% of U.S. industrial output; minimal resources to produce many weapons and other military supplies and equipment
- Though most Southerners owned slaves, the economy of the South as a whole depended on the production of cash crops such as cotton, corn, rice, and tobacco, which required human labor and depended on slavery.
- 66% of U.S. exports; favored low (or no) tariffs on imported goods to keep the prices of manufactured goods more affordable
- Less than half as much as the North produced 29% of U.S. railroad network; inefficient railway transport system. Poor capacity to transport troops and their supplies, food, etc.
SSUSH10 The student will identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction. This standard will measure your understanding of how, after the Civil War, the United States worked to resolve the issues that had caused the war. The legal status of the freed African Americans, the defeated southern states, and the Confederate leaders had to be settled to truly reconstruct the United States. Your understanding of Reconstruction is crucial to your knowledge of U.S. history.
A. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction.
Presidential Reconstruction
The Reconstruction plans begun by President Abraham Lincoln and carried out by President Andrew Johnson echoed the words of Lincoln’s second inaugural address, which urged no revenge on former Confederate supporters. The purpose of Presidential Reconstruction was to readmit the southern states to the Union as quickly as possible. Republicans in Congress, however, were outraged by the fact that the new southern state governments were passing laws that deprived the newly freed slaves of their rights.
Radical Republican Reconstruction
To remedy the Radical Republicans’ outrage, Congress forced the southern states to reapply for admission to the Union and to take steps to secure the rights of the newly freed slaves. This resulted in the creation of southern state governments that included African Americans. The key feature of the effort to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves was the passage of three constitutional amendments during and after the Civil War. Southern states were required to ratify all these amendments before they could rejoin the Union.
Presidential Reconstruction
The Reconstruction plans begun by President Abraham Lincoln and carried out by President Andrew Johnson echoed the words of Lincoln’s second inaugural address, which urged no revenge on former Confederate supporters. The purpose of Presidential Reconstruction was to readmit the southern states to the Union as quickly as possible. Republicans in Congress, however, were outraged by the fact that the new southern state governments were passing laws that deprived the newly freed slaves of their rights.
Radical Republican Reconstruction
To remedy the Radical Republicans’ outrage, Congress forced the southern states to reapply for admission to the Union and to take steps to secure the rights of the newly freed slaves. This resulted in the creation of southern state governments that included African Americans. The key feature of the effort to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves was the passage of three constitutional amendments during and after the Civil War. Southern states were required to ratify all these amendments before they could rejoin the Union.
B. Explain efforts to redistribute land in the South among the former slaves and provide advanced education (Morehouse College) and describe the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
During the Reconstruction period, African Americans made progress in many areas. Some of these gains lasted, but others did not. Many African American children were able to attend free schools for the first time. African Americans started newspapers, served in public office, and attended new colleges and universities established for them. One of these institutions, Morehouse College, was founded in Atlanta in 1867 as the Augusta Institute. A former slave and two ministers founded it for the education of African American men in the fields of ministry and education.
Congress also created the Freedmen’s Bureau to help African Americans make the transition to freedom. The Freedmen’s Bureau helped former slaves solve everyday problems by providing food, clothing, jobs, medicine, and medical-care facilities. While the Freedman’s Bureau did help some former slaves acquire land unclaimed by its pre-war owners, Congress did not grant land or the absolute right to own land to all freed slaves. Such land grants would have
provided African Americans with some level of economic independence. Without it, and with few skills outside of farming, the newly freed slaves had few options other than entering the sharecropping, crop lien, or tenant farming system, where
they often ended up working for former slaveholders in conditions little different from lavery.
Northerners who traveled to the South to help the former slaves and to make money were called carpetbaggers. Southerners who cooperated with the African Americans and carpetbaggers wer called scalawags. These two groups also played a role in Reconstruction.
During the Reconstruction period, African Americans made progress in many areas. Some of these gains lasted, but others did not. Many African American children were able to attend free schools for the first time. African Americans started newspapers, served in public office, and attended new colleges and universities established for them. One of these institutions, Morehouse College, was founded in Atlanta in 1867 as the Augusta Institute. A former slave and two ministers founded it for the education of African American men in the fields of ministry and education.
Congress also created the Freedmen’s Bureau to help African Americans make the transition to freedom. The Freedmen’s Bureau helped former slaves solve everyday problems by providing food, clothing, jobs, medicine, and medical-care facilities. While the Freedman’s Bureau did help some former slaves acquire land unclaimed by its pre-war owners, Congress did not grant land or the absolute right to own land to all freed slaves. Such land grants would have
provided African Americans with some level of economic independence. Without it, and with few skills outside of farming, the newly freed slaves had few options other than entering the sharecropping, crop lien, or tenant farming system, where
they often ended up working for former slaveholders in conditions little different from lavery.
Northerners who traveled to the South to help the former slaves and to make money were called carpetbaggers. Southerners who cooperated with the African Americans and carpetbaggers wer called scalawags. These two groups also played a role in Reconstruction.
C. Describe the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
Thirteenth Amendment: abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States
Fourteenth Amendment: defined U.S. citizenship as including all persons born in the United States, including African Americans; guaranteed that no citizen could be deprived of his or her rights without due process
Fifteenth Amendment: removed restrictions on voting based on race, color, or ever having been a slave; granted the right to vote to all male U.S. citizens over the age of 21
Thirteenth Amendment: abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States
Fourteenth Amendment: defined U.S. citizenship as including all persons born in the United States, including African Americans; guaranteed that no citizen could be deprived of his or her rights without due process
Fifteenth Amendment: removed restrictions on voting based on race, color, or ever having been a slave; granted the right to vote to all male U.S. citizens over the age of 21
D. Explain Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction.
Resistance to Racial Equality
Not all white Southerners accepted the equal status of former slaves. After the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, all former slave states enacted Black Codes, which were laws written to control the lives of freed slaves in ways slaveholders had formerly controlled the lives of their slaves. Black Codes deprived voting rights to freed slaves and allowed plantation owners to take advantage of black workers in ways that made it seem that slavery had not been abolished.
Other white Southerners formed secret societies that used murder, arson, and other threatening actions as a means of controlling freed African Americans and of pressuring them not to vote. The Ku Klux Klan was the worst of these societies. The Klan, or KKK, was founded by veterans of the Confederate Army to fight against Reconstruction. Some southern leaders urged the Klan to step down because federal troops would stay in the South as long as African Americans needed protection from the society.
Resistance to Racial Equality
Not all white Southerners accepted the equal status of former slaves. After the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, all former slave states enacted Black Codes, which were laws written to control the lives of freed slaves in ways slaveholders had formerly controlled the lives of their slaves. Black Codes deprived voting rights to freed slaves and allowed plantation owners to take advantage of black workers in ways that made it seem that slavery had not been abolished.
Other white Southerners formed secret societies that used murder, arson, and other threatening actions as a means of controlling freed African Americans and of pressuring them not to vote. The Ku Klux Klan was the worst of these societies. The Klan, or KKK, was founded by veterans of the Confederate Army to fight against Reconstruction. Some southern leaders urged the Klan to step down because federal troops would stay in the South as long as African Americans needed protection from the society.
E. Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in relationship to Reconstruction.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
During the Reconstruction period, the biggest issue in northern and southern states alike was the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. The U.S. Constitution allows Congress to remove the president from office by impeaching (accusing) him of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors,” so Radical Republicans impeached Johnson when he ignored laws they had passed to limit presidential powers. They passed these laws to stop Johnson from curbing the Radical Republicans’ hostile treatment of former Confederate states and their leaders. After a three-month trial in the Senate, Johnson missed being convicted by one vote, so he was not removed from office merely because he held political opinions unpopular among politicians who had the power to impeach him.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
During the Reconstruction period, the biggest issue in northern and southern states alike was the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. The U.S. Constitution allows Congress to remove the president from office by impeaching (accusing) him of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors,” so Radical Republicans impeached Johnson when he ignored laws they had passed to limit presidential powers. They passed these laws to stop Johnson from curbing the Radical Republicans’ hostile treatment of former Confederate states and their leaders. After a three-month trial in the Senate, Johnson missed being convicted by one vote, so he was not removed from office merely because he held political opinions unpopular among politicians who had the power to impeach him.
F. Analyze how the presidential election of 1876 and the subsequent compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction.
All in all, the readmission of states proved difficult and led white Southerners to resist Reconstruction and to regard their Reconstruction state governments as corrupt. Reconstruction came to an end when Union troops were withdrawn from the South as part of the Compromise of 1877, which resulted from the contested 1876 presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. When the soldiers left and white Southerners regained control of their state governments, African Americans were left unprotected. The new southern governments quickly passed laws that deprived blacks of their rights and worked to strengthen the segregation of southern society.
All in all, the readmission of states proved difficult and led white Southerners to resist Reconstruction and to regard their Reconstruction state governments as corrupt. Reconstruction came to an end when Union troops were withdrawn from the South as part of the Compromise of 1877, which resulted from the contested 1876 presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. When the soldiers left and white Southerners regained control of their state governments, African Americans were left unprotected. The new southern governments quickly passed laws that deprived blacks of their rights and worked to strengthen the segregation of southern society.