Part 4

*The Election of 1828 and Andrew Jackson’s First Term*

- In the Presidential Election of 1828, poor J.Q. was up against all the rabid Jackson supporters who had been waiting for their revenge. Mudslinging was the order of the day [think modern campaign tactics], but e/t the NRs were able to attack Rachel Jackson as a bigamist [don’t ask] Jackson creamed them.
- As proved by Jackson’s mass-produced campaign stickers and stuff [a first] and his extensive, nat’l level campaign work, the sit-back-and-be-elected era had definitely ended and the time of popular movements had begun. “Old Hickory” had to first well-organized nat’l party in US history. 
- So what did Jackson do when he became President?
Well, like Jefferson, he managed the tricky task of strengthening the executive branch’s power even while reducing federal power as a whole by: (1) relying on a “Kitchen Cabinet” of his political friends instead of his official one, (2) rewarding his followers and confronting his enemies, and (3) rotating officeholders [spoils system] to keep Democrats in office.
On the limiting the gov’t side, Jackson vetoed nat’list programs, such as the Maysville Road Bill (1830), declaring them unconstitutional. 
- Jackson was very anti-elitist and all [reformer in sense that he returned gov’t to majority rule] but he was also very egotistical in his claims to represent the people – something that infuriated his opponents, who pointed out that he was corrupting the gov’t through the spoils system and called him “King Andrew.” 
- But the main issue during Jackson’s first term was…

*The Nullification Crisis*

- The whole nullification thing started in early 1828 before the election when an anti-Adams Congress decided to propose this new ultra-high tariff thing. The point was to raise New Englander’s hopes and then not have the ridiculous measure passed – thereby alienating Adams NE supporters and making him appear incompetent. But *surprise* it backfired and in 1828 the Tariff of Abominations [so said the South] passed.  
- South Carolina, basing itself on ideas expressed in the 1798 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, began protesting the tariff and declaring their right to nullify it. Calhoun, the VP, wrote and left unsigned the South Carolina Exposition and Protest [special state conventions can nullify nat’l laws]. 
- But in the Senate it was Robert Hayne [SC] who argued in favor of states’ rights vs. Daniel Webster [MA] in the 1830 Webster-Hayne Debates [“Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable” – DW].  
- E/t Jackson was a states’ rights person, he believed the ultimate authority rested w/the people, not w/the states. W/Calhoun obviously on the state sovereignty side, Jackson turned away from him and began to rely more on Secretary of State Martin Van Buren.  
- So in 1832 Congress tried to make the problem go away by reducing some of the duties but keeping them on iron, cottons and woolens. This was not good enough for South Carolina, who not only disliked the duties themselves but also feared that they could set a precedent for legislation on slavery. 
- In November 1832, then, a South Carolina state convention nullified both tariffs and made it illegal to collect them w/in state boundaries. In response, Jackson passed the Force Act, which gave the president authority to call up troops and to collect duties before ships reached the state, while at the same time recommending tariff reductions to give SC a chance to back down. 
- Calhoun, who had resigned as VP and become a South Carolina Senator, decided to work w/Henry Clay and eventually came up w/the compromise Tariff of 1833, which reduced duties over a 9 year period. SC was satisfied and repealed its nullification law [but nullified the Force Act, which Jackson ignored]. 
- Although the crisis was over, neither side really had won a decisive victory. It took another crisis, this time over a nat’l bank, to make the thing clear…

*The Presidential Election of 1832 and the National Bank Controversy* 

- First of all, in the Presidential Election of 1832, the main issue was the early removal of the Second Bank of the United States’ charter, which was due to expire in 1836. Jackson was all for the bank’s removal, attacking it as a center of special privilege and economic power; Clay wanted to recharter it.  
- In reality, the Second Bank of the US held federal funds and was an important source of credit for businesses. It also kept state banks honest by not accepting notes w/o gold to back them – so state banks weren’t exactly the nat’l banks biggest fans [saw it as private institution unresponsive to local needs].  
- Anyhow, Jackson was reelected easily [random note: this election first in nation’s history where candidates chosen by conventions] and quickly proceeded to take down the bank in 1833. Here’s what he did…

*Jackson’s Second Term: Financial Crisis*

- Basically, Jackson began by taking the $ in the nat’l bank and putting it in state-chartered banks – thereby shrinking the bank and making it just another private bank after 1836. 
- Then came the Deposit Act of 1836, which allowed the Secretary of the Treasury to choose one bank per state to do what the SBUS used to. The act also provided that any federal surplus over $5 million be given to the states starting in 1837. The surplus [from speculation in public lands] was then put into bank notes by state banks. This worried Jackson, who hated paper $, so…  
- He convinced Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury to issue the Specie Circular, which said that after August 1836 only gold/silver could be used to pay for land. This reduced sales of public land and killed the surplus and the loans to the states. 
- This policy was a total disaster. This economy stuff is confusing, but the idea is that e/t there were fewer land sales and less land, people continued to speculate. The increased demand pressured banks, which didn’t have enough specie, and credit contracted – fewer notes issued, fewer loans made.  
- Jackson just made things worse by continuing his hard $ policies, and his opponents had a field day. Congress then voted to repeal the circular, but Jackson pocket-vetoed this and the policy stood until in mid 1838 a joint resolution of Congress killed it. 
- Jackson was the first President to really use his veto powers, which was another reason why he was attacked as being “King Andrew.” 

*The Second Party System*

- In the 1830s, opponents of the Democrats, many of who were left over from the old National Republican Party, joined together in the Whig Party. The Whigs resented Jackson’s power over Congress, and competed on a nat’l level w/the Democrats from 1834 through the 1840s. 
- The Whig/Democrat thing became known as the Second Party System, and was more organized and intense than the first DR/Federalist one. 
- As the years passed the differences between the Whigs and Democrats became clearer…
The Whigs favored an economy helped by an active central gov’t, corporations, a nat’l bank, and paper currency. They also supported reform – they were generally more enterprising and optimistic than the Democrats were. Whigs supporters were generally evangelical Protestants, Methodists, or Baptists – and were usually American-born or free black. 
The Democrats favored limited central gov’t and were afraid of concentrated power. Democrat supporters were generally foreign-born Catholics, or non-evangelical Protestants. 
- When the Presidential Election of 1836 came about, however, the Whigs had not yet become a nat’l party, so they entered three sectional candidates [Webster, White, Harrison] against the Democrats’ Martin Van Buren, who won easily. 
- But, a few weeks after VB took office the whole American credit system collapsed, setting off an economic depression that persisted from 1839 to 1843. VB didn’t help by continuing Jackson’s hard $ policies and establishing a new regional treasury system for gov’t deposits (1840). 
- Then in the Presidential Election of 1840 the Whigs, now nationally organized, used the economic crisis to attack the Democrats and promote their candidate, William Henry Harrison and his running mate John Tyler [“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”]. 
- Harrison’s grassroots campaigning strategies worked, and he beat Van Buren – which didn’t do him much good, since he died of pneumonia a month after his inauguration. Tyler, a former Democrat who left the party to protest Jackson’s policies over nullification, really wasn’t a Whig at all, and promptly began vetoing the entire Whig program. 
- The only thing that did get passed during Tyler’s administration was the repeal of the independent treasury system and a higher tariff. Oh yeah, and the entire cabinet resigned, leaving Tyler a president w/o a Party [Whigs called him “His Accidency”]. 

*Manifest Destiny and Expansionism*

- Expansionist fervor only increased through the 1830s and 1840s and soon became a part of politics. The mid 1840s saw the rise of the whole manifest destiny idea, which was spurred by nat’l pride esp. after the depression ended in 1843, by racism [“we can use the land better than Native Americans can”] and by a desire to eliminate perceived external threats to nat’l security. 
- The big goals for expansionists were… 
TEXAS (Southerners) – Texas had been settled by Americans since 1821, when Mexico became independent and opened the area to all. By 1835, the settlers were numerous, powerful, and tended to ignore the Mexican gov’t, causing dictator Santa Anna to tighten control. This sparked a rebellion, which culminated in Texan independence and the establishment of the Lone Star Republic in 1836. Texas opened annexation negotiations w/Washington and Tyler, eager to gain the 1844 Democratic nomination, pushed for it. The Senate, however, rejected it – Northerners and Whigs didn’t like the idea. 
OREGON (Northerners) – Oregon had been split between the US and Britain since the Convention of 1818, but when “Oregon Fever” broke loose in 1841 fervid expansionists began demanding the entire area for the US [“Fifty-four forty or fight”]. 
- Naturally, expansion into Oregon and the rejection of Texas worried Southern leaders, who responded by convincing the 1844 Democratic convention to use a new rule – if candidate not chose by 2/3 of convention he’s out. This blocked Van Buren as the nominee and led to the selection of James K. Polk [hard money Jacksonian, expansionist, slaveholder].
- So in the Presidential Election of 1844 Polk ran against Henry Clay [Whigs] and James Birney [Liberty Party, took votes from Clay] and beat them both. 
- Right before leaving office, though, Tyler got Texas admitted into the Union [December 1845] through a joint resolution of Congress [requires only simple majority while treaty needs 2/3].  

The Road to Civil War (1845 – 1861)

*The Mexican War*

- In the 1844 election, expansionist Polk [Democratic] was elected. Polk quickly set about accomplishing his territorial goals – starting by provoking a war w/Mexico (right before his inauguration the US had annexed Texas) by urging the Texans to seize all the land to the Rio Grande. 
- When Mexico argued about the border, Polk sent troops under General Zachary Taylor [“Old Rough and Ready”] to Rio Grande in 1846. Since he really wanted CA, he tried to buy it as a last resort. When that fell through, he simply waited for war to erupt. 
- On April 24, 1846 Mexican cavalry finally responded to the US invasion and the war began [it was voted for by Congress on May 13]. This excited people, and there were many volunteers due to a craving for adventure, racist tendencies, and general expansionist dreams [still, some abolitionists were mad, and even Calhoun got worried that the war could lead to problems down the road]. 
- The war in short: Colonel Stephen Kearny invaded New Mexico and CA [where he was helped by rebellious settlers under Captain John C. Frémont], General Zachary Taylor secured northeastern Mexico and General Winfield Scott went all the way to Mexico City and captured it. 
- The result was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (signed in February 1848) which got the US California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and the RG Texas border and got Mexico a very pathetic reparations payment of $15 million. 
- As far as Oregon went, though, Polk had to throw out his campaign slogan and instead diplomatically [he didn’t want to be fighting two wars at once] pressure the British for a split along the 49th parallel, which was agreed to in 1846.  

*Reactions to Territorial Gain*

- Not everyone was obsessed w/gaining territory from Mexico – in fact, New Englanders, abolitionists and a few antislavery Whigs saw the whole deal as a plot to extend slavery, which didn’t go over too well. 
- This was part of the whole Northern fear of a “Slave Power Conspiracy” – i.e. that a slave-holding Southern oligarchy was taking over all political and economic power in the nation. So, not surprisingly, the Northerners weren’t so hot on gaining territory if it was going to be slave territory. 
- In the South overall opinion was pretty much in favor [although ultra-racists like Calhoun worried that taking too much Mexican land might bring too many Mexicans into the US, which they saw as bad]. 
- Slavery’s overriding importance in the Mexican war issue was confirmed in August 1846 w/the Wilmot Proviso – a proposed amendment that made slavery illegal in any territories taken from Mexico. Wilmot wasn’t really an abolitionist – it was more self-interest b/c her worried the spread of slavery would hurt labor by free whites and deny them their rights to work [also anti-Slave Power]. 
- The Wilmot Proviso majorly untied the South in support of the Mexican war, even more than at the beginning. Calhoun led their new position, which was that the territories belonged to all the states and that the gov’t was therefore powerless to stop slavery’s spread there [Fifth Amendment right to take property anywhere] – this was the state sovereignty position. 

*The Election of 1848*

- Of course, the whole territories-slavery deal was the big issue of the Presidential Election of 1848, e/t both sides tried very hard to keep the issue away. 
- The Democrats ran Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan and General William Butler of Kentucky [Polk said that once was enough]. Cass had come up w/the idea of popular sovereignty for the territories, but the party platform still held that Congress couldn’t interfere w/slavery. 
- The Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, a Southern slaveowner and war hero, and Congressman Millard Fillmore of NY – and they likewise claimed that Congress couldn’t do anything. 
- The issue just wouldn’t disappear, though, and a new party even formed b/c of Northern concern over slavery. The Free-Soil Party [“Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men”], which formed from former Liberty Party supporters and antislavery Whigs, nominated Van Buren as its candidate and got 10% votes.
- The election, which Taylor won [as some Southern Democrats voted for him e/t he was a Whig], showed that politics was, more than ever, splitting along sectional [instead of party and religious] lines. 

*The Compromise of 1850*

- The first big problem was about California, which had been populated in 1849 as a result of the Gold Rush, and was applying for statehood with a free state constitution [since Congress couldn’t decide what to do, Taylor had told CA to apply for admission directly]. 
- Southerners, however, wouldn’t accept CA as a free state b/c it would upset the delicate balance between free and slave states – so they tried to make CA a slave state or at least extend the Missouri line. 
- Sensing another compromise was necessary, Henry Clay [veteran of the 1820 and 1833 deals] stepped back up and, with the help of Stephen A. Douglas, came up with the Compromise of 1850. Obviously, the big issue was when territories could prohibit slavery [North = ASAP, South = very late in process when slaves hopefully already there]. 
- At first, the bill didn’t pass [Daniel Webster helped by giving it his support, but Calhoun did the opposite w/his speech] – but after Douglas split it up and had Congress vote on each aspect separately it worked. There were 5 basic aspects to the deal…
CA came in as a free state. 
Texas boundary kept at present limits but Texas given $10 million in compensation for loss of territory to New Mexico.
New Mexico and Utah territories to be decided by popular sovereignty.
Slave trade banned in Washington DC. 
A new harsher fugitive slave law.
- Yeah, it wasn’t so much a decision as it was an evasion [bought time for nation, some say it won war for North b/c it gave them more time to finish industrializing]. 
- The two major problems with the compromise were as follows:
What the heck does “popular sovereignty” mean? Nobody knew for sure – so the South decided it would mean wait-until-there-are-slaves-and-then-vote, but the North didn’t agree.
The new Fugitive Slave Act: basically it allowed slaveowners to go into court in their states to show evidence their slaves had escaped, have court officials identify the validity of the claim, and then possibly send US marshals after the person [they were paid extra $ to return the person, too]. This was not too popular w/the North, and abolitionists saw it as a violation of American rights. Violent resistance even broke out in many Northern towns as a result of the slave catchers [Shadrach Minkins taken across to Canada in 1851, Jerry McHenry freed by abolitionist mob, “Christiana Riot” occurred in Lancaster County]. 
- Also on the abolitionist front came Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), which was a huge bestseller. UTC both indicted slavery by describing the horrors of slave life and criticized Northern racism; its approach gave slavery a new human face for many Northerners who had never been to the South. 
- Then the whole Underground Railroad deal annoyed slaveowners even more – e/t the thing was never as organized as many thought it was, it was a source of constant irritation for the Southerners as it was also a symbol of resistance to oppression and focused more attention on the injustice of slavery. 
 
*The Election of 1852 and the Collapse of Compromise*

- The Democrats ran Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, and he won easily over the Whig nominee, General Winfield Scott. Pierce defended the rights of each area while Scott ignored the issue, so the South had reason to believe nat’l support for the Compromise of 1850 might get rid of the problem altogether. The Free-Soil party also ran a candidate [anti-compromise, of course]. 
- But in reality Pierce just won b/c the Whigs were being torn apart by sectional strife [and the deaths of Taylor, Webster and Clay didn’t help either]. By 1852 the Whigs were pretty much a thing of the past. 
- Anyhow, Pierce’s total support for the compromise aggravated much of the North [esp. his enforcement of the FSA, for ex. the case of Anthony Burns] and radicalized the situation big-time even among former conservatives. Juries stopped convicting abolitionists [ex. ones that stormed courthouse in Burns case] and states passed personal-liberty laws to stop federal enforcement. 
- As a sidenote, sectional conflict also managed to derail [OK, bad joke] plans for a transcontinental RRD and mess up annexation negotiations w/Hawaii and Cuba. 

*The Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the Destruction of the Party System*

- The next big problem began when Douglas [the C1850 guy] decided to introduce a bill about the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Douglas felt the slavery thing would be no big deal – all he wanted was some more $ for his home state of Illinois [transcontinental RRD thing]. 
- Boy did he pick the wrong topic – as soon as he mentioned the thing, the whole differing interpretations of popular sovereignty deal exploded. To make matters worse, K&N were on the non-slavery side of the Missouri line, so using PS there would invalidate the whole Missouri Compromise too! 
- Naturally, Southern Congressmen demanded a repeal of the MC, which Douglas actually gave them, thinking the climate of the area wouldn’t allow for slavery anyway. Then by May 1854 [e/t opposition was extremely strong from the anti-slavery people] the bill passed, opening a ton of formerly anti-slave land up! 
- The results of the K&N Acts…again [like C1850] the new laws acted like catalysts for anti-slavery forces [many more states passed personal-liberty laws, resisted the FSA]. Most importantly, though, the K&N Acts split the dying Whig party once and for all into Northern and Southern wings, lowered support for the Democratic Party, and led to the creation of a new political party, the Republican Party. 

*The Politics of Sectionalism: Republicans and Democrats*

- Basically, in the summer and fall of 1854, the Republican Party was formed from the antislavery Whigs and Democrats, the Free-Soilers and various other groups. They had a spectacular rise in the North[east] and managed to get most of the Northern House seats on their first appearance on the ballot in 1854. 
- The only party that was still nat’l by this time was the Democratic Party, except for a short period where the American Party [a.k.a. the Know-Nothings] also competed at that level [but they were mostly successful in the North]. The KN’s were anti-Catholic/anti-immigrant, but only lasted until 1856. 
- So, besides the obvious, what were the new Republican and Democratic parties all about?
Republicans were for the exclusion of slavery from the territories, new protective tariffs and more federal funding for RRDs/infrastructure, and for a free homestead act that would provide for parcels of land [not large enough for plantations, though]. Their ideology represented the new, industrial North – the key was the importance of work and opportunity [South is backwards] and the idea of the liberty to find work on new land. Important to note that some Republicans were not necessary anti-slavery in itself, many were even racist!
Democrats were *no kidding* for the extension of slavery into the territories. E/t most Southern Democrats were not slaveowners, the party’s appeal to racism [basic idea = if blacks are not enslaved, this is bad for whites in general] won over many of the yeoman farmers. Another element was the idea that restrictions on slavery were inherently against constitutional principles. Both these ideas helped blur the class lines in the South. 
- Things only intensified with time…

*Bleeding Kansas and the Election of 1856*

- In Kansas, both abolitionists and Southerners began sending in forces to support their side and influence the decision, which was to be made through popular sovereignty. As conflicts became increasingly violent, the nation’s attention focused more and more on Bleeding Kansas. 
- During elections for the territorial legislature, Border Ruffians [i.e. proslavery Missourians] screwed up the voting and caused the pro-slavery side to win. This led to the Free-Soilers creating their own gov’t, a pro-slavery posse killing some of them in 1856, and the whole John Brown rebellion/revolution scheme. Even the Senate was losing it [SC Representative Preston Brooks hit MA Senator Sumner w/cane]. 
- The polarization continued into the Presidential Election of 1856, where Democrat James Buchanan [chosen b/c uninvolved in controversies] beat out the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont. 

*The Dred Scott Case*

- The whole Dred Scott deal started when a Missouri slave named *wow what a surprise* Dred Scott sued his owner for his freedom b/c his owner took him in a free state. In 1857, the case reached the SC. Normally, the SC liked to stay out of slavery controversies [1851 decision – state courts decide]. 
- But this time [b/c 2 Northern justices threatened to dissent] the SC took on the case, finally deciding in March 1857 that: (1) Scott was not a US citizen and therefore couldn’t sue, (2) residence in free territory didn’t make him free and (3) Congress couldn’t ban slavery from any territory anyway. This was a big time victory for the Slave Power, and stimulated all sorts of complaints and protests from the North. 
- This is where the famous Abraham Lincoln speech comes in…in 1858, while announcing his campaign for US Senate, he talked about the divided house and all that. Since the DS decision had made the Republican position unconstitutional, they could only appeal to voters’ overriding morals or hope to change the SC justices – actually, they used both and it ended up helping them politically. 
- But for Northern Democrats [ex. Stephen Douglas] the case was a big problem – they had to reassure the North about the territories being opened but not scare off the South. Douglas ended up decided to stick w/PS, e/t it ticked off the South. 
- One incident involved the Lecompton Constitution, which had been drafted in Kansas but voted down. Still, Buchanan tried to force it through – infuriating the North and finally causing Douglas to side against the administration [no LC] and against the South. Douglas only made it worse for himself by continuing his PS idea [Freeport Doctrine] in his debates against Lincoln for the Senate seat in 1858. 
- Things like this made the possibility of a split in the Democratic Party increase. 

*John Brown and the Election of 1860*

- Although slavery was a big deal, most people weren’t thinking about it 24/7…until John Brown gave it a whole new slant with his attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry on October 16, 1859. 
- Brown was an obsessive abolitionist, and his capture and execution made him a symbol of all evil for Southerners and an almost holy martyr for much of the North. 
- So things were clearly pretty hyped up for the Presidential Election of 1860, which many felt would decide the fate of the Union. It was totally sectional, as even the Democratic Party had split at its 1860 SC Convention b/c Douglas refused to accept the Southern position on the territories. 
- As a result, the Democrats had Douglas [North] and John C. Breckinridge [South] up against the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln. There was also a Constitutional Union Party, which supported John Bell of Tennessee. 
- Lincoln ended up winning via the electoral college, but the losers refused to accept the results for a while as Lincoln didn’t have a majority in the popular vote [he wasn’t even on the ballot in 10 slave states]. 

*Secession and the Start of the War*

- There was one very last attempt at compromise tried in the winter of 1860/1861 by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky [Clay wannabe], but it didn’t work out as Lincoln wouldn’t agree to just split the territories back at the Missouri Compromise line [too late for that]. So that was that and… 
- On December 20, 1860 South Carolina passed a secession ordinance, hoping that other states would follow, which they did [Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas all split by February 1861, when the Confederate States of America was formed in Alabama]. And so it all began…

The Civil War (1861 – 1865)

*North vs. South: Advantages and Disadvantages*

- The North obviously had several advantages, such as:
An industrialized market economy that gave the government a tremendous amount of resources to fall back on.
A much larger population and more manpower for the army and navy. Speaking of the navy, the North had a larger, stronger navy.
An already established, relatively powerful and organized central government led by Lincoln.
The support of the liberated/runaway slaves in the South.
- However…
They mainly ended up having to invade “foreign” territory.
They had really crappy generals (especially initially) like McClellan, Burnside, etc.
To win, they had to invade and conquer the South (fighting an offensive war) – harder.
- The South had some advantages, too:
Fighting on home soil (most of the time) for their independence and way of life. 
They had some really good generals like Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, JEB Stuart, etc.
To win, they only had to keep the North out – keep up resistance – like Washington in RW.
- However…
They had a smaller everything: smaller population, smaller army, smaller navy, smaller economy, practically NO industrialization to speak of, and fewer resources. 
They had a developing central government and a big time aversion to gov’t power.
Class problems emerging (in North too, but more in South) i.e. yeoman farmers vs. planters. 

*General Strategies*

- The Union had the Anaconda Plan from the very start, which hoped to strangle the Confederacy through a blockade and cut it in half by taking the Mississippi. 
- The Confederacy only wanted to hang on and keep the Union from gaining control. To do this, they had the foreign policy goal of gaining foreign recognition (esp. Britain). To try to coax the British into supporting them, the South put an embargo on cotton production, but this didn’t work as the British got cotton from other sources.  
- In response, the North was very careful in trying to maintain good relations w/Britain. There were only two instances where this was threatened – the Trent affair in 1861 [US boards British steamer, takes off 2 Confederate ambassadors, imprisons and then releases them] and the Alabama issue [Britain selling warships to Confederacy, ambassador protested, Britain stopped].  
- The one area both sides didn’t pay attention to initially was the West. Guerrilla warfare broke out there in 1861, and locations along the rivers in the West would eventually be keys to the North’s victory. Beyond the Mississippi, the Confederacy allied itself w/some Indian tribes.

*The War Begins*

- On December 20, 1860 South Carolina passed a secession ordinance, hoping that other states would follow, which they did [Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas all split by February 1861, when the Confederate States of America was formed in Alabama]. 
- Then on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter Confederate commanders attacked after being notified by Lincoln a ship was arriving to resupply the fort. The fort surrendered, the war began, and four more states joined the Confederacy – Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. 
- The next battle took place on July 21, 1861 at Bull Run – to the shock of the Union picnickers watching the battle, General “Stonewall” Jackson sent Union troops fleeing back towards Washington. 
- In the last half of 1861 the only changes were really made in the sea, where the Union won some coastal victories, setting off a stream of runway slaves in the nearby areas.  

*1862: Initial Battles*

- In February 1862 Ulysses S. Grant won some important victories for the Union in the land and rivers of Tennessee at the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. These triumphs opened paths into Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. 
- Grant continued into Tennessee, fighting the first super-bloody battle of the war, the Battle of Shiloh, on April 6. Neither side won, but casualties for both sides were huge. 
- On the Virginia front, McClellan was stalling for time (not in favor of all out war, liked preparing armies, not using them). Although he was w/in 7 miles of the Confederate capital by June 1, Lee kicked his butt in the Seven Days Battles (June 26 – July 1) and sent him back to the James River. 
- Lee’s victory psyched Jefferson Davis up, and he ordered a general offensive (while at the same time calling for the support of the border states). 
- But the plan didn’t work, largely b/c of the Battle of Antiedam (the bloodiest day of the entire war) on September 17, 1862, where McClellan turned Lee back out of Maryland (but was subsequently replaced by Lincoln for not going after the enemy more). The South also lost in Tennessee, and had to give up the offensive due to a lack of resources. 
- Another noteworthy battle of spring 1862: the Merrimack (Confederacy) vs. Monitor (Union) deal, which is important b/c it was the first clash of ironclad ships (ever). 

*The Initial Effects of the War*

- The North changed a great deal during wartime…
Although business was shocked by the advent of the war [relationships w/South terminated, debts lost, etc.] it soon picked up – especially b/c the gov’t contributed formerly unheard of amounts [and added new taxes, like the first income tax, to make up for it]. The commercialization and industrialization of agriculture received an especially big boost.
Since workers didn’t really benefit as much as their employers did from the new conditions the labor movement gained strength – but the employers fought back, too. Some even made crappy products for the gov’t – i.e. corruption. 
Perhaps most importantly: the gov’t gained an activist role in the economy for good. This was solidified by a series of American System-ish acts passed [since no South to oppose]: 
Morrill Tariff Act (1861) – doubled former tariffs
Homestead Act (1862) – 160 acres to anyone for 5 years free
Legal Tender Act (1862) – creation of a nat’l currency
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) – land given to states to sell, but revenue can only go for education [think agricultural, engineering schools].
Pacific RRD Act (1863) – transcontinental RRD planned
National Bank Act (1863) – I hope this one is self-explanatory
Lincoln’s power also increased – he started a shipbuilding program w/o waiting for Congress, suspended habeas corpus in the border states (first w/o Congress, then w/their approval) and even invoked martial law. 
Lastly, Northern women took over jobs left vacant by soldiers. 
- And the South experienced even more disruption…
For one, the whole local/limited/states’ rights gov’t idea had to go in order to fight the war properly. Davis moved quickly to bring arms, supplies and troops under his control, and then had to resort to the first ever draft law in April 1862. Davis was a strong executive – he even suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law where there was opposition. 
The government also ended up having big time influence on the economy, b/c of conscription, which allowed them to control labor – RRDs, industries all went under gov’t control. And due to the Union blockade, the South actually started industrializing during the war. 
Southern women also had to take over tasks formerly reserved for men (like managing the farm, new jobs, etc.) – which pleased some women but annoyed others.
Then there was the whole food issue – there just wasn’t enough of it, mainly b/c of labor shortages [other goods were hard to get as well] – tremendous inflation resulted.
Social tensions also increased due to the unfairness of the draft system. 

*Emancipation*

- Wait, what? Slaves? This was a war about slavery? You wouldn’t have guessed it given the way both Lincoln and Davis avoided mentioning the topic for the first months – Lincoln b/c of the border states and Republican Party, and Davis b/c of the class conflicts [not all Southerners had slaves, remember].
- Lincoln’s refusal to address the issue didn’t go over too well w/blacks and abolitionists, though, so in March 1862 he first proposed that states consider emancipation on their own [aid was promised, as was compensation for slaveholders and colonization of former slaves in Africa]. This colonization scheme stuck around until 1864 – again, not cool w/blacks and abolitionists. 
- Some Radicals Republicans (George Julian, Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens), however, had other plans – they created a special House-Senate committee on the war to pressure Congress, and then they pushed 2 confiscation acts through – in August 1861 [slaves used in hostile actions could be seized] and in July 1862 [property of rebels confiscated, so slaves freed in South]. 
- But Lincoln stood by his voluntary gradual emancipation deal [Horace Greeley protested this in “The Prayer of Twenty Millions”] until after the Battle of Antiedam. Then, in the famous Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on New Year’s Day, 1863 (and some say “nothing changes on New Year’s Day”) he freed all the slaves in the states in rebellion against the US. 
- The EP was actually more of a threat to the South, and was still sort of ambiguous, the message was clear to many – and it defined the war as one against slavery. It was about time, too!
- The final thing came in June 1864 when Lincoln gave his support for a Constitutional ban on slavery, leading to the Republican Party’s call for the Thirteenth Amendment, which was passed in early 1865. As a rather strange note, near the end of the war the Confederates grew so desperate even they considered emancipating and arming the slaves. Go figure!

*1863: The Decisive Year*

- The year began well for the South w/the Battle of Chancellorsville, a crushing defeat for the North – but also detrimental to the South b/c of the loss of Stonewall Jackson. 
- But things went downhill quickly for the South b/c of two important battles: the Battle of Vicksburg [on the last major Southern fortification of the Mississippi] and the Battle of Gettysburg [the high water mark of the Confederate offensive into Maryland]. 
- The two Northern victories at the above battles were very important. The fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 opened the Mississippi for the North and cut the South in half and the Northern victory at Gettysburg was the end of all Southern offensives. 

*Disunity in the North and South*

- In the North (not as bad):
Resentment of the draft was one problem, as was general disillusionment. However, the North had enough resources that the problems didn’t make an impact on the war effort overall. 
Most resistance, in fact, was political in origin. Some Democrats attempted to gain support by blaming Lincoln for the misfortunes brought about by the war, attacking conscription, and defending states’ rights. These Peace Democrats [led by Clement L. Vallandigham] called Lincoln a dictator [got CV arrested for treason] – which led to Republicans calling them “Copperheads” [implication was that they were trying to sabotage war]. 
The worst incident of public violence came about against the draft [law in 1863] – the New York City Draft Riots, for example, showed the class and ethnic tensions of the time b/c blacks were the main target [taking jobs]. 
In the Presidential Election of 1864 the PD’s actually had somewhat of a chance – they ran former General McClellan against Lincoln. He lost, but still…
- In the South (a lot worse): 
One problem was the planters’ increasing opposition to their own gov’t. The centralizing tendencies needed to maintain the war effort were just not cool – so planters complained about conscription, wouldn’t change to food from cash crops, and were generally inflexible. 
The food situation, which had never been good, certainly wasn’t getting better. This culminated in the food riots in several Southern cities in spring 1863. 
Most Southerners resisted less conspicuously, though – by evading taxes and the draft, and by deserting from the army. Davis was not good at communicating w/the public, so he was stuck w/the overriding problem of public apathy/lack of morale, esp. after Vicksburg and Gettysburg. 
Some Southern legislatures even began to call for peace after V&G – William Holden [no, not the Sunset Bvld/Sabrina/Stalag 17 guy] in North Carolina (summer 1863) and Brown and Stevens in Georgia (1864) – but the movements never got anywhere. 
Also, the 1863 elections hurt Davis as many supporters of his administration lost seats. Basically, by 1864 the South had given up and many were either doing nothing or actively sabotaging the Confederate gov’t.

*1864 – 1865: The Final Stretch*

- The South could actually have still won in the last year if they had kept up a stalemate and waited for Northern anti-war sentiments to triumph. But several important events swayed things just enough the other way to assure a Northern victory. One aspect was that the North’s diplomatic strategy, which was don’t-let-Europe-recognize-them, succeeded into 1864. 
- Also, General Sherman [“War is Hell”] took total war right into the Southern heartland starting in the winter of 1863/1864 in Virginia. The policy was all-out: looting, pillaging, burning…it was all OK. In response, Davis concentrated his forces in Atlanta, Sherman’s first goal. 
- On September 2, 1864 Southern forces fell at Atlanta – which boosted Northern morale and secured Lincoln’s reelection, but killed hope for the South. 
- After the victory at Atlanta, Sherman took his men on the aptly-named Sherman’s March to the Sea. The goal was, quite simply, to destroy as much as possible – so the men lived off the land and ruined as much as they could. Since there was no guerrilla resistance [South gave up] the policy was very successful. 
- Simultaneously, Grant attacked Lee’s army in Virginia in repeated attempts to capture Richmond. After enormous losses, Grant was finally successful on April 2 in taking Richmond. Then on April 9, 1865 Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House [important to note that terms of surrender very lenient].