What Is This Quick Reference For? This quick reference does not try to cover everything, but to provide a way to help you understand the essentials and to see how those essentials fit together. If you have a question, ask. Glad to help you. Common Question about Dates and This History Class: Does having these dates in here mean students are expected to memorize them? The answer is “no.” To understand how things happened, you want to notice the order of events. Think of it this way: if you were watching two people fight, how you interpreted things would probably depend on who did what first. |
Two Ways to Find
What You Want If you are looking for specific information, use Find (available in different ways on different systems). For example, if you missed a question (such as Emancipation Proclamation) on the quiz, you could press Ctrl-F, type a few letters (such as Procl), and follow the screen prompts to move through all uses of the word in this resource. You can also click on the links below to go directly to something you want to use. Civil
War Between Brothers (and Sisters): Comparison of Strengths Civil
War Between Brothers: Comparison of Enlistments, the Wounded, and the Dead South’s
Assumptions About Their Success and the Reality of Each Assumption Timeline:
Civil War – April 1861 to April 1865 What
Set the Direction for the Republican Party and for the Post-Civil War Era What’s
the Gilded Age and What Does Its Name Mean? Timeline:
Phases of Reconstruction to the Beginning of the Gilded Age – April 1865 to
1877 |
Civil War Between
Brothers (and Sisters): Comparison of Strengths
Tip: Compare the column for the North and the South. Who might win in a short war? Who probably cannot win in a long war? |
Issues |
The |
The Confederacy
(the South) |
Basics |
23 states (4 slave[1]);
22M people. |
11 states; 9M people (5.5M white; 3.5M slave) |
Goal of war |
Stop the secession
(only later is slavery an official objective of the war) |
Secede – Act like
the Patriots in the American Revolution: avoiding defeat is enough. |
Infrastructure,
banking |
Money in place (2X
banking) |
¾ |
Infrastructure,
communication |
Communication in
place (telegraph lines) |
¾ |
Infrastructure,
government –people |
Central bureaucracy in place –
including for collecting taxes and dealing with revenue |
Bureaucracy to build – including lacking
a system for collecting taxes or dealing with revenue (Done by state governments.) |
Infrastructure,
government –system itself |
Constitutional
system of government |
Government
equivalent to Articles of Confederation |
Infrastructure,
manufacturing technology |
Technology to manufacture; 6X South |
¾ (and only 3%
of firearm manufacture) |
Infrastructure,
government income |
Printing paper money (greenbacks), but Legal Tender Act
Taxes (income and tariff) |
Printing $1 billion in paper money and few goods (What’s the result?) Confederate bonds. Taxes (property
and by 1863 “nearly everything”[2]) |
Infrastructure,
transportation –land |
Railroad network in place (some varied gauges) |
Inadequate
railroads (varied gauges) |
Infrastructure,
transportation –sea |
Navy in place to block ports (no imports in, no cotton out). |
Dependent on imports of war materials and on exports of
cotton to British and French. |
Infrastructure,
transportation –sea - protection for |
Navy in place |
Navy on order from
British and French |
Leadership |
Abraham Lincoln |
Jefferson Davis |
Population, for
manufacture |
People to manufacture (quantity & consolidation) |
¾ |
Population, for
military |
400,000
soldiers = immigrants |
20 slave/1 white
exemption |
Population, for
military¾the negatives |
(But NY draft riots
in 1863) |
(But 1865 law to
conscript 300,000 slaves) |
Population, for
nursing |
Women as nurses - notice wounded |
Women as nurses |
Raw materials for
manufacturing |
Raw materials |
Raw materials |
Overall strength |
Diverse economy, diverse infrastructure, large population
with immigrants |
Agricultural economy, limited infrastructure – and it
remains so during and after the war |
Civil War Between Brothers: Comparison of
Enlistments, the Wounded, and the Dead
The
% numbers are from McPherson’s What They Fought For. Numbers do not include losses from prisons
(Encyclopedia of American History). Notice the difference in the
Enlistments. Remember: 22 M in the North; 5.5, South. |
Issues |
The |
The Confederacy
(the South) |
Enlistments
– See the Basics above |
1,557,000 |
1,082,000 |
Wounded – See nursing above |
275,000 |
100,000 minimum |
Dead, # |
365,000 |
200,000 |
Dead, % |
5% |
11-12% |
South’s Assumptions About Their Success and the Reality of Each Assumption
|
Assumption |
Reality |
|
Could get Egyptian cotton Also needed Northern wheat |
|
Union threat of war with them, plus South’s
failure to win at |
Northwest needs our rivers to get to
market. |
Unaware of the Northeast-Northwest
connection by canal and railroad grid Rivers opened South to Union forces (US
Grant in 1862) |
We’re fighting a defensive war just like
the Patriots. |
War on the homeland—disruption of food
supplies and civilian losses, as shown in |
We’re experienced fighters. |
North had Singer sewing machine, Borden milk,
immigrant solders. |
We have experienced generals. |
North had, when he was sober, U.S. Grant;
North had William Sherman. |
We’re fighting for a higher cause of
liberty. |
Abraham Lincoln, Radical Congress, Radical
officers, and the Emancipation Proclamation—Slavery became the cause and
liberty became the cause. |
Timeline: Civil War
– April 1861 to April 1865
Tip
on the History: Look at the map provided in the course with this
resource. It has instructor’s notes. Reminder: Does having these dates in here mean students are expected to memorize them? The answer is “no.” To understand how things happened, you want to notice the order of events. Think of it this way: if you were watching two people fight, how you interpreted things would probably depend on who did what first. The date column in the timeline shows the year followed by the number of the month. For example: 1861-04 means 1861 in April |
Date |
Details |
1861-04 |
Fort Sumter (harbor of Provisions in short
supply, unarmed supply ship. 2 days firing by
the South and surrender of fort. South became the
aggressor. Threat to slavery in the South by Lincoln: none |
1861-07 |
Bull Run (near Manassas, VA) – failure of Northern generals Officially a
Southern victory |
1862-04 |
A mixed outcome
with each side having a claim to success, but the South is unable to stop the
Union’s moves (led by U.S.
Grant) into the |
1862-09 |
Antietam (creek near Sharpsburg, MD) - Lee attacked in the North. 2,100 Union deaths
and 2,700 Confederate; wounded 18,500. Stalemate, but Lee
retreated¾Official victory |
1863-01 |
Emancipation
Proclamation - freed slaves in rebellious territory only
(where the Union troops conquered the South), not in the border states still in the Union—a beautiful chess move.
His action §
Did
nothing that could be stopped (Northern Democrats could criticize, but not
stop it.) §
Did not offend the slave-holding
Union states – Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky §
Did
give a reason for black freemen to join the Union army §
Blocked
Radical Republicans—pressing §
Blocked
the radical press—arguing for emancipation § Blocked the Radical military—freeing slaves
they found and classifying them as contrabands § Blocked
French and British sentiment toward South (The British public was increasingly anti-slavery as were the textile
workers, who remained supportive of the North even as they lost jobs.) Threat to slavery in the South by Lincoln: only if a state continues to be in
rebellion (but no Southern state took his offer) |
1863-07 |
Gettysburg (PA)¾Eastern part of the war - Lee attacked in the North—the last time. Why? Hopes for 165,000 troops;
Southern charge (George Pickett’s charge), 14,000-15,000 soldiers made it to
engage the Union forces. Later, Confederate retreat. Consequence: §
Union
had clout to threaten to §
British
blocked delivery of ironclads/rams §
French
blocked delivery of 6 vessels. (FYI: French in June had occupied Mexico City,
placed Maxmilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico.) Vicksburg
(MS)—Western part of the war -Defeat of the South by Ulysses S. Grant –
Confederacy now divided at the Mississippi; Mississippi now controlled by North. Tip on
the History: Look at the map of the war. Notice that the North
has divided the South vertically at the Mississippi River. The North can now
use the Mississippi to get to the Gulf of Mexico from the west. |
1863-12 |
Lincoln
Plan¾Proclamation
of Amnesty and Reconstruction – a moderate, not a Radical
§
Premise—The states never left the §
Presidential
control §
10 % legal voters taking oath of
allegiance accepting end of slavery §
Amnesty with the oath §
Legitimate
state government, representatives and senators to Congress 1864 Per this plan,
Tip on
the History: Notice the offer to the South and the 10%. Do the
math on the years: how long has this war lasted? |
1864-05 - 09 |
§
60,000
Union soldiers - Their Orders: To
“forage liberally on the country” §
300 miles
long §
60
miles wide. Tip on
the History: Why would Sherman do this and at this time. Look
at the map of the war. Notice that the North has now marched across the South
diagonally from the West in Tennessee down to the East through Georgia. |
1864-11 |
Re-election of Lincoln over Democrat George B. McClellan, former General, means the war continues. |
1865-01 |
13th
amendment¾passed Tip on
the History: What’s the difference between: § An
amendment and a law? § Passing
an amendment and ratifying it? If you
do not know, then ask. Glad to help you. |
1865-02 |
Sherman’s March
to the Carolinas Tip on
the History: Look at the map of the war. Notice that the North
has now marched across the South from Georgia through North and South
Carolina. |
1865-02 |
Meeting: Hampton
Roads (VA) – not in your book but useful to realize Lincoln and
Secretary of State Seward with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens Confederate
President Jefferson Davis rejected the offer because he wanted independence Tip on
the History: How realistic was the rejection? Do the math: § On the years: how long has this war lasted? § On the geography: how much has the North conquered? § On the number of population for a war: how many did each side have and
how many at the end of the war? |
1865-04 |
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
(VA) -
Previously at 165,000 before Gettysburg in 1863, Lee’s army to 25,000,
rations short. |
1865-04 |
|
The Republican
Party’s predecessor parties led it to have many of the issues previously
associated with the Whigs, such as favoring internal improvements. They also
countered the Whigs; for example, the Whigs were becoming nativist and the
countermove was being pro-immigration. The X’s in the table are based on
specific lists of platform issues in the Encyclopedia of American History.
Other issues may also have been in the parties’ platforms. |
Issues in the Campaigns of the Varied Anti-Slavery Parties |
|
Free Soil |
Republican |
||
1840, 1844 |
1848 |
1852 |
1856 |
1860 |
|
Free soil (including
specifics such as supporting the Wilmot Proviso) |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Pro-internal
improvements in general and/or a transcontinental railroad |
|
X |
|
X |
X |
Homestead provision
so people could get land |
|
X |
X |
|
X |
Pro-immigration |
|
|
X |
|
X |
Pro (somewhat)
protective tariff |
|
|
|
|
X |
Republican – Democrat Votes
in House and Senate
Once
the 11 Confederate states left the The change in party balance shows
the results of secession: the Northern Senators and Congressmen can get the
laws they want—and you’ll see below. The South will not have representatives
and Senators until they |
|
1857 |
1861 |
Senators,
Democratic |
36 |
10 |
Senators,
Republican |
20 |
31 |
Representatives,
Democratic |
118 |
43 |
Representatives,
Republican |
92 |
105 |
What Republican Legislation from 1861 to 1864 Set the
Direction of the Post-Civil War Era?
The issues passed
by these Senators and Representatives included: §
1861—Increased protective tariff
with subsequent additions through 1869 raising tariffs to the rate of just
under 50% (Protective tariffs helped industrialists and became a Republican
principle.) §
1862 +—Transcontinental railroad established—land
grants for a Northern
route §
1862—Homestead Act—160 acres of public land to
heads of families for residence for five years, a small fee (In 1866
there was an equivalent act for Southern blacks, but its implementation was
blocked by landowners short of labor in the South.) §
1862—Land grant colleges (Morrill
Act)—30,000
acres to states in the §
1864—National banking system—uniform
currency, with a tax on state bank notes driving them out of circulation
(greenbacks again backed by gold in mid-1870s) |
Date |
Details |
1864-0 |
Reminder:
Lee surrendered at Appomattox
Courthouse (VA)
|
1865-01 |
Reminder: 13th
amendment ended slavery¾passed (not yet ratified
by the states.
What do former slaves do? Seek family separated from them. In the future, they form churches and schools. |
1865-05 |
Andrew
Johnson, former Vice-President, a “War Democrat” – His plan for restoration
of the Union
§
Premise—Like Lincoln’s plan, the
states never left the Union §
Presidential
control like Lincoln’s plan but he is lenient to white supremacists, such as
those writing “black codes.” |
1865-11 |
Black Codes¾New state legislatures started passing. Vagrancy laws
forced employment with private individuals to pay fines; forbidden to rent or
own land, could not change jobs, could not do work other than as farm or
domestic labor.
Tip on
the History: § Where have you heard the name black codes or a similar name? § Ask yourself how you would feel when you heard this if you’d had a son
or brother die for the Northern cause or if you were a Congressman? |
1865-12 |
13th amendment¾ratified
Johnson - Per his plan, 10 states ready for restoration. |
1866 |
Ku Klux Klan
started Intent white
supremacy; used violence, continued past 1869, when officially disbanded. |
1866 + |
Congressional Reconstruction had been:
§
Congressional
control §
50 %
legal voters took oath of allegiance accepting end of slavery Tip on
the History: Notice the percentage (It’s not
the 10% as with Lincoln’s offer or Johnson’s offer.) |
1866-03 |
Actions
by the national government in the South using the Freedman’s Bureau—freedmen and
abandoned lands—included education program
Actions by individual and groups of African Americans in the South: formation of churches and schools. |
1866-04 |
Civil
Rights Act¾Congress overrode Johnson veto
|
1866-06 |
14th
amendment
started with ratification required for readmission—Tennessee ratified and was
readmitted to Union.
Key provisions that remain
significant today:
- Those born in the United States are citizens. (Deals with Dred Scott case.) - States cannot violate “due process of law” – laws like the “black codes” (The 5th amendment had said Congress could not.) Provisions that mattered then and the 14th amendment stopped: - The South had been trying to pay the Confederate war debt - The South had been electing Confederates who had previously made an oath to support the Constitution. Question:
What’s the Southern expectation? Why not join in? Because other Southern states thought Radical Republicans
would be defeated with the Congressional elections; they were wrong.
|
1866-07 |
Race riots against blacks, Tip on the History:
What is a riot? |
1866-fall |
Congressional
Elections
– Northern public furious and elect a large
enough majority of Republicans that Johnson could not veto the laws they pass.
Tip on the History: What had the
voters been reading in the newspapers in the North about the events in the
South? So what kind of Congressman do you think the voters in the North vote
for? |
1867 + |
Congressional Reconstruction becomes:
§ First Reconstruction Act
§ Military
Reconstruction (5 districts) – military rule
§ Expansion of Freedman’s Bureau
Requires new state constitutions (without “black codes”) and that the states ratify the 14th
Amendment, not just the 13th.
|
1868 |
Fifteenth
Amendment proposed -
Consequences on women’s suffrage and women’s organizations |
1868-02 to 05 |
Impeachment of
Johnson —Viewed as
impediment to Radical Republicanism. Method used: Tenure of Office
Act—In brief, those Senate approved must be Senate removed. 1 vote saved
Johnson. |
1868 |
|
1869 |
Promontory, Utah -
Union Pacific & Central Pacific; |
1870 |
Election violence
and Grant sends troops—and federal troops are still
stationed in the South. Grant
urges Congress to act to stop a revival of the KKK. Ku Klux Klan Acts work and federal marshals are sent in.
13 volumes of Congressional testimony taken on the KKK. |
1871 |
Department of
Justice established; head=Attorney General |
1872 |
U. S. Grant v.
Horace Greeley (Democrat & Liberal Republican) With election
violence, Grant sends troops in again in
1874 and 1875. Issues of the
Liberal Republicans – end Reconstruction, end protective tariff (thus liberal, meaning supporting free trade), begin merit system (not
the spoils system started in Jackson’s administration) Tip on the History: If you do
not understand the difference between a protective and revenue tariff, the
meaning of the word tariff, and the meaning of the word merit system, ask.
These are key concepts General traits of
the era: §
Corruption
and abuse of power (many
scandals)—not by Grant but his cabinet. §
But
not just at the national level -Boss-ism (New York city government and Boss
Tweed) |
1873 |
Panic of 1873
(Depression of 1873) – This and the scandals and the violence in the South reduced Northern
interest/votes. |
1874 |
Women’s Christian Temperance Union – Frances
Willard Tip on the History: What’s the organization
for and what is the gender of Frances Willard? |
1876 |
Rutherford B.
Hayes (Ohio Gov.) v. Sam Tilden (NY Gov.) – Honest Sam Tilden 4,0360000 4,301,000
- Tilden won on the popular vote |
1877 |
Electoral
Commission – gives Hayes every disputed elector Compromise of 1877 – Why do the Democrats accept this victory for Hayes? The federal troops will be out of
the South—and what does that mean? |
Closing |
What’s a plantation after emancipation? Nothing. Beginning right after the end of the war planters and freedmen developed sharecropping and tenant contracts. They will increasingly be used to control the freedmen—and poor whites. On the other hand, slavery was no longer the law of the land. Further, the freedom and legal rights of freedmen varied with the region in the South. For example, your textbook covers a black city government in place in Wilmington, North Carolina, until 1898 when a white mob destroyed it.[3] The 13th,
14th, and 15th amendments lay the foundation for more
rights not just for African Americans, but also for women and other groups. |
Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2016 |
WCJC
Department: |
History
– Dr. Bibus |
Contact
Information: |
281.239.1577
or bibusc@wcjc.edu
|
Last
Updated: |
2016 |
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