Civil War- Causes

CIVIL WAR

The Nation Splits

Election of 1860

• Abraham Lincoln: Illinois. Republican • Stephen Douglas: Illinois. Northern

Democrat• John Breckinridge: Kentucky. Southern

Democrat• John Bell: Tennessee. Confederate Union.

Was a former Whig/Moderate

Election of 1860

• Abraham Lincoln WINS!!• Gets almost all the NORTH votes. • Gets NONE of the Southern votes– Not even on the Southern ballots!

• Southerners were very angry he won election– “Abolitionist in the White House”– “Lost their Voice in government”

Secession

• John Crittenden: Kentucky Senator. Attempts to heal the nation with an “Unamendable” Amendment that would guarantee the right to own slaves in the South.

• South Carolina is first to SECEDE [leave the Union]!

Secession

• “It is the right of the people to alter or to abolish a government that denies the rights of its citizens” Declaration of Independence

Confederacy

• Convention: Southern states meet in Montgomery, Alabama to create a nation

• Confederate States of America: Southern nation

• Jefferson Davis [Mississippi]: Elected President

Jefferson Davis

Lincoln

• Abraham Lincoln speaks to the nation• Goals– Preserve the Union: Claimed secession was

unconstitutional– Avoid War: Claimed he would NOT declare war

on the South. War would only happen if the South started it

Fort Sumter

• South SEIZES military forts located in their region

• Confederate soldiers attacked and bombed Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

• The war has begun!

Civil War

• Four years long– “Brother against Brother”

• More Americans died in this conflict than any other American war

• Martial Law: Lincoln declared the army was in control, not government. Did this to keep the peace and stop protests

• “Rich Mans War…Poor Mans Fight!”– Only poor people were drafted into the fighting

Civil War

• NORTH: • South were traitors• Many Northern volunteers showed up to fight– Wanted to preserve the Union

• Copperheads: Northerner who SUPPORTED the South. They were NOT well-liked

Civil War

• SOUTH• Believed they had the right to secede• Many willingly wanted to fight for their

independence and way of life• Problems: The new Southern nation

struggled to stay together– Did NOT want to pay taxes– Georgia threatened to secede from the South!

Civil War

• BORDER STATES• 1861: 8 SLAVE states that were technically

located in the NORTH!• Confederate States: Virginia, North

Carolina, Tennessee & Arkansas• Union: Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky &

Missouri

Strategy

• NORTH• Naval Blockade: Stop trade and cripple

southern economy• Invade South: Attack and take Richmond

[South Capital]• Invade West: Take control of Mississippi

River

Strategy

• SOUTH• Defensive War: Wait for North to attack

then defend themselves• European Money: Borrow money from

Europe nations that traded with them

Strategy

• “Our men must prevail in combat…or they will lose their property, country, freedom…in short, they will lose everything” Jefferson Davis

BATTLES

• AT SEA– Union/North: Blockaded southern ports– Confederacy/South: Used “Blockade

Runners” to escape

• Iron-clad Ships:–Merrimack: Southern Ship. Was an abandoned

old northern ship–Monitor: Northern ship, was faster and stronger

than the Merrimack

BATTLES

• Battle of Bull Run: 1st Major battle of the war

• South wins in an upset!!• “Stonewall” Jackson: Very tough

Southern general leads them to victory.• George McClellan: Northern commander.

Cautious, lazy and unorganized

Battles

• Battle of Antietam: South ties in Maryland • General Robert E. Lee: Leads South• Gen. George McClellan: Fails to capture

and win this battle in spite of having Lee’s battle plans. Lincoln FIRES HIM!

• Ambrose Burnside: Replaces him as Commander of the Union Army

Ambrose Burnside

Battles

• Battle of Fredricksburg: Northern Army attacks Robert E. Lee 6 times, and fails each time.

• Battle out West: Northern general Ulysses S. Grant defeats the Southern leaders in Tennessee and takes control of the important Mississippi River

Battles

• Battle of Shiloh: The bloodiest battle of the war

• General Grant: Defeats the South with help from reinforcements– This win begins to break the Southern morale

Battles

• Battle of Chancellorsville: South wins!• General Lee & Jackson: Outsmart the

North again and again. • General Jackson: Accidentally shot and

killed by his own troops who thought he was a Northern soldier

Battles

• Battle of Vicksburg: Mississippi• General Grant: Now the Commander of

the Union Army.• Uses Total War to take control of

Mississippi River & Port Hudson

Battles

• Battle of Gettysburg: Lee marched North to Pennsylvania.

• Gen. George Meade [North]: Meets Lee head on in a huge open field. – 400,000 soldiers die in this battle, all of the dead

are buried there.

War Ends

• Gen. William Sherman: Burns Atlanta [Total War]

• Richmond Falls• Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S.

Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse [Virginia].

• The war is OVER!

Women in the War

• Nurses: Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton & Sojourner Truth [North]. Sally Tompkins [South]

• Loretta Janeta Velazquez: Fought as a soldier for the North

• Rose Greenhow: Was a spy for the South

Abraham Lincoln

• President • At 6’4, was the tallest President• From Illinois • Hated slavery, thought is was “moral wrong”

Abraham Lincoln

• Civil War: 1st goal was to preserve the Union, no matter what.

Lincoln & Slavery

• Wanted to keep slavery from spreading• 1862– Freed the slaves with the Emancipation

Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

• “On the 1st day of January…all persons held as slaves within any state or…part of a state whose people are in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward and forever free” Lincoln

Civil War- Causes

Education

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