The American Civil War

Introduction

United States of America were born in 1783, after an Independence War against Britain which

started in 1776 (Declaration of Independence)

Introduction

The new country expanded towards the

West by conquering lands where Indian Americans lived for centuries under

other European or American powers

sovereignty

Introduction

Even from the Independence,

there were strong

differences between North

and South

Introduction

The North, more populated and industrialised,

opposed slavery and wanted to «preserve the

Union»

Introduction

The South, with abundant slave

black population that worked in the

cotton fields, wanted to

maintain slavery and secede from the United States

The war

Bloody and violent war

which devastated the US. More than 600.000 people died either in

battle or disease

The beginnings

In the Northern states a growing

anti-slavery opinion

demanded the abolition of

slavery in the US

Urban Industry and Trade based

on free workforce

Rural Agriculture based on

slave work

In favour of a more unified

Union

In favour of more political power for the

States

The Compromise of 1850

• California, free state

• Territories of New Mexico and Utah

• Border issues between Texas and Mexico settled

• Slavery banned in Washington D.C.

• The Fugitive Slave Law

The Compromise of 1850

• Slaves who escaped to the North must be sent back to their masters

• This law changed the atmosphere regarding slavery in the North, encouragin the abolitionist movement

The Compromise of 1850

Regional Division, Political Unrest and the Elections of 1860

• Growing political unrest on the slavery issue

• Violent incidents

• Election campaign of 1860

Regional Division, Political Unrest and the Elections of 1860

• Republican Party (Abraham Lincoln): abolition and stronger central government

• Democratic Party: States should decide on slavery issue (maintaining slavery in the South)

Regional Division, Political Unrest and the Elections of 1860

• Abraham Lincoln and Republicans’ victory triggered the secession (separation) of several southern states.

Regional Division, Political Unrest and the Elections of 1860

• These states formed the Confederate States of America, the Confederacy which fought the Union (23 northern and some western states)

• Border Slave States: supported slavery and favoured the Confederacy but did not secede from the Union

The War (1861-1865)

• Battle of Fort Sumter 1861 – the beginning

• Extremely cruel war (600.000 people were killed, not including Native Americans)

• 179.000 African Americans fought in both sides. 40.000 of them died.

• «War of attrition»: relentless, bloody war until the complete exhaution of materials and soldiers of one side

The War (1861-1865)

The main figures of the war:• Ulysses S. Grant,

the most prominent Union general

• Robert E. Lee, one of the principle Confederate generals

The battles:• Antietam, 1862.

The Northern army kept the Confederate army from further advancing to the North

• Gettysburg, 1863. The Union started winning the war. The higher number of casualties.

The War (1861-1865)

The War (1861-1865)

The Gettysburg address: • The most famous of

Abraham Lincoln’s speeches

• The Union Army was fighting for a new country in «which equality and central government would reign»

The end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

• The fall of Atlanta(july 1865)

• «The March to the sea» from Atlanta to Savannah

• Batle of Five Forks (april 1865)

The end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

• The Union was maintained

• 13th Amendment to the US Constitution: Abolition of slavery

The end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

• Actually, the restoration of African Americans human and civil rights proved to be vey complicated

• Shortly, segregation substituted slavery in the Southern States of the former Confederacy

• "Jim Crow" had become a pejorative expression meaning "Negro" by 1838, before the war

The end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

• The «Jim Crow» laws were passed in southern states from 1875 to 1965

• They mandated racial segregation in all public facilities

• The separation in practice led to inferior conditions for African Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.

The end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

• The best example of the difficulties of bringing racial equality in the US was the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April 1865 by John Wilkes, a supporter of slavery and the Confederacy