Civil War Redux and Reconstruction Introduction to AMH2020 Civil War 1861 1865 o Reconstruction 1865 1877 o 4 million slaves freed at the end of the war o More American deaths in the civil war than all the other wars COMBINED Over 600 000 americans died 360 000 union members 258 000 confederates o Questions brought on by the end of the war How would the slaves adjust to freedom How would the south treat them and respond to their defeat Emancipation Proclamation 1862 after Antietam o Freed the slaves in the states that had rebelled against the union not in the o The freed slaves joined the union which basically turned the south s states loyal to the union advantage against them Antietam September 17 1862 o Confederate Army under Robert E Lee invades Maryland o Lee wraps his battle plan around a cigar and a U S Soldier finds it giving him away o This is considered the bloodiest day in history o 23000 killed in a 12 hour period o This is ultimately what causes Lincoln to issue Emancipation Proclamation Compromise of 1850 o 1846 war with Mexico US took California Nevada Utah Arizona New Mexico and Colorado o 1848 Gold Rush California ready to become a free state but will upset balance between free state and slave state o 1850 Southerners worried Slavery would be voted out if there were too many free states 1856 Republicans Formed o Controlled president and both congress houses o The democrats were seen as the party of traitors o But the republicans don t get along within their own party Moderate wing Easy on south Reconstruction painless Lincoln Radical Wing Rebuild and Punish South Congress should control reconstruction John Brown o Fathered 20 kids o Believed the only way to do away with slavery was to kill all the slave owners o 1859 led a revolt in Harpers Ferry but was caught and hanged o Southerners believed he was paid by the North so they didn t want any compromise 1860 South Carolina 1st State to Secede May 1861 11 states seceded and formed their own country Vicksburg May July 4 1863 o Only town left on Mississippi River left in Confederate Hands o Captured by Ulysses S Grant o He was the leading general in U S Army he cut the confederacy in half when he captured Vicksburg Gettysburg July 1 3 1863 o Lee hoped to gain food and supplies for his soldiers and invade the north but instead he lost 20 000 soldiers Election of 1864 was the 20th presidential election It was held on Tuesday November 8 1864 Abraham Lincoln was re elected as president The Electoral College had been expanded with the admission of Kansas West Virginia and Nevada as free soil states but the electoral process was disrupted by the American Civil War No Electoral votes were counted from all eleven Southern states although elections were held in the Union occupied states of Louisiana and Tennessee o Abraham Lincoln Republican Lincoln was still popular with most members of the Republican party and the National Union Party nominated him for a second term as president at their convention in Baltimore Maryland on June 7 8 1864 Lincoln dissatisfied with Republican Vice President Hannibal Hamlin had the convention nominate Military Governor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee a War Democrat as his running mate Johnson was ideally suited to run as a vice presidential candidate with Lincoln in 1864 He had strongly supported the Union he was a Southerner and he was a leading member of the War Democrats o George B McClellan Democrat The Democrats adopted a peace platform McClellan personally rejected this platform McClellan supported the continuation of the war and restoration of the Union but the party platform written by Vallandigham opposed this position Lincoln s 10 Plan December 8 1863 o All confederates could regain citizenship by promising to uphold 13th amendment once 10 of people in that state did it they could be reinstated o They also had to swear support for laws and proclamations dealing with emancipation o Lincoln believed the President should oversee reconstruction but many republicans argued that it should be congress that oversaw it o Congress would control reconstruction A majority of people had to take an oath not just 10 And only those whose oaths could contest to their past loyalty as well could serves in state constitutional conventions Wade Davis Bill July 8 1864 o Lincoln Vetoed it Andrew Johnson o Very poor did not own slaves was a tailor from Tennessee o Stayed loyal to US when Tennessee seceded thought all seceders o Saw reconstruction as a way to get back at southerners who ridiculed him should be punished for being poor o He was also a racist and Lincolns VP o He kept the racist side of himself hidden o He was president after Lincoln was assassinated o But questions arose How would he perform as president Would he help former slaves or not Appomattox o The Battle of Appomattox Court House fought on the morning of April 9 1865 was the final engagement of Confederate States Army General Robert E Lee s Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt Gen Ulysses S Grant and one of the last battles of the American Civil War o Lee having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond Virginia after the Siege of Petersburg retreated west hoping to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina o Union forces pursued and cut off the Confederate retreat o Lee s final stand was at Appomattox Court House where he launched an attack to break through the Union force to his front assuming the Union force consisted entirely of cavalry o When he realized that the cavalry was backed up by two corps of Union infantry he had no choice but to surrender April 14th 1865 Lincoln was assassinated o By John Wilkes Boothe o Goal was to get North to surrender to South Johnson s Reconstruction Plan May 29 1865 o Pardons to most southerners o If you were worth more than 25 000 you had to write a personal letter of apology to Johnson and beg for forgiveness o Constitutional Conventions that would allow them to reenter the union only white voters could participate in electoral process for delegates o Now the radical republicans don t like him cuz he s a racist o December 1865 sworn in legislation to help former slaves in the south o Assist freed slaves and poor whites by distributing food clothing and June 1865 last confederate surrender 39th Congress Committee of 15 Freedmen s Bureau Extension Act providing schooling o Andrew Johnson vetoed it 14th Amendment Midterm Election of 1866
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