THE CIVIL WAR

Election of 1860

• In the 1860 presidential election, the Democratic party split over the issue of slavery.

– Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas (Illinois)

– Southern Democrats chose John C. Breckinridge (Kentucky)

– Constitutional Unionists, nominated John Bell (Tennessee).

– Abraham Lincoln (Illinois) Republican

Election of 1860 Because of the split in the Democratic party, Abraham Lincoln easily won a majority of electoral votes (but only 40% of the popular vote) and became the sixteenth president of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln served as President of the United States during the Civil War. Lincoln opposed secession and insisted that the Union be held together, by force if necessary.

Several Southern states

refused to accept Lincoln’s

election as president,

because they feared he

would try to abolish or at

least further restrict

slavery.

Lincoln’s Inauguration

Lincoln in his first inaugural

address sought to assure

the South that he would

not tamper with slavery

where it already existed,

while simultaneously

insisting on the sacredness

of the union.

If war was to come, therefore, it would be over

secession, not over slavery. He concluded with an

eloquent plea for understanding and harmony between

the two opposing sides.

The South Secedes • Late 1860 to early 1861

southern states seceded (or withdrew) from the Union

• Formed the Confederate States of America.

• The secession of southern states triggered a long and costly war that concluded with Northern victory, a restoration of the Union, and emancipation (the freeing) of the slaves.

Jefferson Davis of

Mississippi was elected

as president of the

Confederacy.

Federal Gov’t vs. State’s Rights

• The Civil War put constitutional government

to its most important test as the debate over

the power of the federal government versus

states’ rights reached a climax.

• The survival of the United States as one

nation was at risk, and the nation’s ability to

bring to reality the ideals of liberty, equality,

and justice depended on the outcome of the

war.

The War Begins at Fort Sumter

• In April 1861, President Lincoln refused to evacuate (remove) federal troops from Fort Sumter, located in Charleston, South Carolina.

• When Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War (1861-1865) began.

The Cost of Civil War

• A civil war is a war between people of the same

country, and approximately 620,000 Americans

died during the four years of fighting in the

American Civil War - 360,000 men died fighting

for the Union, while 260,000 Confederates

perished.

Key Leaders of the Civil War

• Robert E. Lee was a Confederate general and commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Although Lee opposed secession, he did not believe the Union should be held together by force.

At the end of the war, Robert

E. Lee urged Southerners to

accept defeat and unite as

Americans again, even

though some Southerners

wanted to continue the fight.

Key Leaders of the Civil War • Ulysses S. Grant

was a Union military commander, who won victories over the South after several other Union commanders had failed.

A West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, Grant

had resigned his commission in 1854 over troubles with

drinking. When the Civil War began, Grant volunteered

his services and by September 1861 was promoted to

brigadier general

Key Leaders of the Civil War

Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a former slave who became a prominent or important black abolitionist. During the Civil War, Douglass urged President Lincoln to recruit former slaves to fight in the Union army.

Important Battles

• Antietam - A major Union victory over the Confederates at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland in September of 1862 led President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Emancipation Proclamation

• Antietam marked a new stage in President

Lincoln’s conduct of the war. On New

Year’s Day, 1863 Abraham Lincoln

issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

This document freed all slaves in the

“rebelling” states (seceded Southern

states) as of January 1, 1863. This call for

emancipation of African-American slaves

changed the character of the war.

Emancipation Proclamation

President Lincoln with his cabinet at the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862.

Emancipation Proclamation

• Previously, preservation of the Union had served

as the North’s primary goal. By issuing the

Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln made the

destruction of slavery a Northern war aim.

• This proclamation also discouraged any

interference of foreign governments in the war,

since neither Great Britain nor France wanted to

give the appearance of supporting slavery.

• It made the use of black troops a viable option

for the North.

Important Battles Gettysburg - The Union victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 1863 proved to be the military turning point of the Civil War. 51,000 Union and Confederate troops died. After Gettysburg, it was only a matter of time before the Union crushed the Confederacy.

The Gettysburg Address

In November 1863, four months after the North’s great victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to dedicate a military cemetery.

In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln eloquently set forth the North’s now dual war aims of preserving the Union and abolishing slavery. The president described a different vision for the United States from the one that had prevailed from the beginning of the Republic up to the Civil War.

The Gettysburg Address

Lincoln described the Civil War as a struggle to preserve a nation that was dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” and that was ruled by a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” According to this vision, the institution of African-American slavery must not exist in the United States.

Important Battles

Despite heavy casualties, Grant continued to attack, moving the fight ever closer to Richmond. Absorbing extraordinarily high losses at Spotsylvania Courthouse and Cold Harbor.

U. S. Grant was

made general-in-

chief of all Union

armies in March 1864

and commenced a

series of battles in

the Wilderness

region north of

Richmond in Spring

1864.

Important Battles Grant next attacked the city of Petersburg. All roads and railroads leading to Richmond from the south went through Petersburg, 22 miles away, making that city the virtual key to the Confederate capital. Lee rushed his army into Petersburg's defenses just in time to stop Grant's attack. However, Grant had forced Lee to occupy a fixed position, and the Union could now bring the full weight of its overwhelming manpower and materiel to bear upon Lee's overextended army.

Important Battles After a nine-month siege, Lee was forced to abandon Petersburg on April 2, 1865. A week later, he surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. In April 1865 the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia ended the Civil War.

Meeting in the parlor of this house, Lee

wore his best dress uniform while Grant,

smoking a cigar, was as usual disheveled in

appearance. The two quickly came to

agreement as Grant offered, and Lee

accepted, very generous surrender terms.

Four days later, the actual surrender took

place as 26,000 Confederates laid down

their weapons and were paroled.

Civil War Facts In the Civil War there were more casualties than in all of the other U.S. wars from the Revolution through Korea. It was the last U.S. war in which horse cavalry served a major role, and the first war in which railroads were used;

Civil War Facts

the last war in which sailing vessels took an

active part, and the first war in which

ironclad vessels were used. It was also the

first U.S. war in which aerial (balloon)

observation was used.