Civil War Final
Contraband
"Contraband" was a term used to describe a slave who had escaped their owner in the South to Northern lines and had been accepted by the Union army. The Union determined that it would not return fugitive slaves because the South had seceded and was no longer subject to US law. The contrabands became crucial to Union victory because many northerners used them as laborers to support the war effort. The loss of southern slave labor not only took away from southern capability but also help the North. More than 100 contraband camps existed by the end of the War.
Harmony of Interests
A "Harmony of Interests" occurs when labor and capital are harmonized in a capitalist economy, leading to greater economic growth. The republican party believed that it could harmonize interests with a free labor ideology. It was argued by the republicans that the institution of slavery prevented a harmony of interests. Thus, the harmony of interest became Lincoln's Republican Party's economic vision. The Republicans wanted to build the country with railroads and canals but they were blocked by the slave power.
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a direct result of the passing of the 1854 "Kansas-Nebraska Act." Upon the declaration that Kansas's admission to the Union would be determined by popular sovereignty, both pro slavery advocates and free soilers poured into the state in an attempt to claim the majority of votes. Northern free soil organizations like the New England Emigrant Aid Company sent both individuals and supplies to their supported sides within Kansas, so it truly was a national affair. Moreover, pro slavery settlers from Missouri, often referred to by free spoilers as "Ruffians," poured across the border. With the support of the pro slavery territorial governor, these pro slavery advocates established a pro slavery legislature upon conducting a fraudulent election. Representing the true majority of citizens within Kansas, the free spoilers responded by holding an alternate election and establishing a free soil legislature in Topeka. Bills were proposed within Congress to empower both of these legislatures, but since Republicans controlled the House and Democrats controlled the Senate, neither was recognized as the true legislature of the potential state. Ensuring violence between free spoilers like John Brown and pro slavers like the Missouri "ruffians" ensued, causing many media outlets to report on a "civil war" within Kansas.
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner was a Massachusetts Senator who was a leading critic of slavery. Sumner left the Whig Party in 1848 to join the Free Soil Party in order to oppose the spread of slavery into the territories before later becoming a Republican. As tensions between the North and South rose, so did Sumner's rhetoric. In 1856, he gave a two day speech entitled "The Crime Against Kansas," which led directly to his caning on the Senate floor by Congressman Preston Brooks. Unlike Lincoln, during the War, Sumner argued that the goal should have been to end slavery, not preserve the Union. Throughout Reconstruction, Senator Sumner was one of the most radical of republicans, arguing that Congress should play the predominant role in the process. Sumner viewed Reconstruction as the opportunity to established civil rights for blacks. Sumner was one of the largest supporters of black suffrage and equality before the law.
Election of 1864
Coming into 1864, Lincoln was on shaky ground with Republicans because of his lenient 10% plan. Also, with massive casualties and forced conscription laws, the population wasn't in the best mood. The Democrats nominated General McClellan on the platform of "negotiating peace with the confederacy." Lincoln believed that he was going to be defeated and asked Fredrick Douglass to help get slaves out of the south and into freedom before he is out of office. However, after Sherman forced the fall of Atlanta, there was a huge boost in Northern morale. Lincoln ended up winning in a landslide but it was the most racist election ever.
Emancipation Proclamation
Despite initially supporting gradual emancipation and even offering Confederate states compensation for their slaves, Lincoln offered the Emancipation Proclamation following the Union victory at Antietam in 1863. The Proclamation was an executive order that challenged the legal status of over 3 million enslaved people. The proclamation was the single largest government confiscation of property in the history of the US and did not apply to border states.
Dr. Wrede Sartoris
Dr. Wrede Sartoris was a Union surgeon in Doctrorow's novel, "The March." Sorters is emotionless and unfazed by the carnage that he regularly sees. Symbolically, Sartoris represents the need to remove oneself emotionally in order to deal with the horrors of age, but he is a mysterious character.
Greenback Dollar
Established in 1861, the Greenback Dollar is yet another example of the North's ever-expanding government. Before the war, there had only been small, local currencies and bank specific notes. At the start of the War, Lincoln recognized the need for paperbacks. Soldiers were payed with greenback dollars.
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter was the first act of aggression between the North and the South and is considered the beginning of the Civil War. Off of the Coast of South Carolina, Fort Sumter was one of the last Union garrisons in the South. After Confederate troops cut Sumter off from the Coast, the North sent ships to support the troops trapped inside. In response, the South fired shots on Fort Sumter and the Civil War ensued. After Fort Sumter, Virginia joined the Confederacy because it viewed the North's actions as acts of aggression against the South. At this point, Lincoln and Congress began to debate the nature of the Confederacy: if it was a rebellion, Lincoln would have constitutional authority to oversee the North's response. If it was a war, Congress would have authority.
Fredrick Douglass
Fredrick Douglass was a former slave who was a prominent abolitionist. By authoring his memoir "A Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass," he recounted his experiences as a slave and acted as the segue to many white people. An amazing orator, Douglass joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and embarked on a national tour of speaking arrangements; in the process, he became one of the country's best known African American abolitionists. In 1847, he founded the abolitionist newspaper, the North Star. During the Civil War, Douglass acted as an advisor to President Lincoln and advocated for black suffrage and abolition. Following the conclusion of the War and emancipation, Douglass declared that slavery would still exist until freedmen had been granted the franchise.
Free Labor Ideology
Free labor ideology became the foundation of both Republican and Northern Whig ideology toward the middle of the nineteenth century. Its premise agued that a system that allowed laborers to work for their own profit, rather than another's profit, within a harmony of interests, would lead to a more equitable distribution of wealth. Many northerners viewed the slave labor system of the South as inferior. Under a free labor system, wage earners had the ability to rise through the ranks and eventually gain wealth and property. In the view of free spoilers, free labor was more efficient than slave labor because it was motivated by the giving of wages and the ambition for upward mobility rather than by coercion. Moreover, advocates of free labor ideology also argued that slave labor might ultimately undermine free labor, if they existed simultaneously, by disallowing free whites the opportunity to compete.
Know-Nothing Party (American Party)
Generally frustrated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, liquor, catholics, and a huge surge of immigrants, the Know-Nothing Party briefly gained prominence within the 1850s. Appealing to native born citizens who were sick of Whigs and Democrats, the Know Nothings were comprised of Protestants who favored temperance. As the party grew within the North it, along with the also quickly growing Republican Party, greatly expedited the breakup of he Whig Party and even harmed the Democratic Party. As of 1855, it was unclear as to which of the two new parties-- the Know Nothings or Republicans-- would challenge the Democrats as the predominant national party, But, as the election of 1856 drew closer, sectional lines played a role and many Northern Know Nothings joined the Republican Party. it is important to note that the Northern Know Nothing Party's distaste for slavery came from the same biblical roots as its distaste for alcohol and immigrants. The primary purpose of the Know Nothing Party was to reduce the political power of foreign born citizens.
Ulysses S. Grant
Grant was appointed Lieutenant General (the highest position since Washington) by 1864 and provided a much needed force of aggression for the Union army. He is best known for the Battle of Shiloh, the Siege of Vicksburg, and the Virginia Campaign of 1864. In 1868, Grant was elected President as a Republican under the assumption of conservative responsibility. His administration was full of scandals.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harrier Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author of the 1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel became one of the nest selling books of the nineteenth century due to its harsh depiction of the realities of slavery. Uncle Tom's Cabin reached millions of people as a novel and energized anti-slavery forces in the North while agitating the South.
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
Having just won re-election over Democrat George McClellan, President Lincoln gave the 1865 speech within days of Confederate surrender. The speech was very short, and it acknowledged mistakes on both sides of the war. However, above all else, the speech emphasized reunion without harsh punishment (to the dismay of many Radical Republicans). Lincoln also painted the war as "God's Will" to end slavery. "With malice toward none, with charity for all."
Income Tax
In 1861, President Lincoln approved the first federal income tax. In 1862, the IRS was founded. The tax gradually increased and financed the war. The income tax is another example of the "big government" movement that the War produced.
Robert E. Lee
In 1862, Robert E. Lee was appointed a Confederate Gerneralship. Though he was offered a Union position and was not a huge fan of secession, he ultimately sided with his region. Lee was known for his military genius, but ultimately his aggression of taking the offensive cost him in the antietam and gettysburg battles.
1863 New York City Draft Riots
In 1863, Congress passed a conscription law making all men between the ages of 20 and 45 eligible for military service. In July, the government's attempt to enforce the draft in New York City ignited one of the most destructive civil disturbances in the city's history. Rioters torched government buildings and fought with troops. Over 100 rioters died. The vast majority of the rioters were poor Irish. The spark that ignited their grievances was the provision within the conscription law that conscription could only be avoided by a payment of three hundred dollars, a huge sum that only the rich could afford (like the South's "substitute" exception). In a context of a poor wartime economy, the Irish were chosen as the scapegoats for the difficult times. Blacks were also targeted in the riots.
Siege of Atlanta
In 1864, the Northern cause had been going so poorly that President Lincoln began to doubt his chances at reelection in November. However, Lincoln's luck changed when Atlanta surrender to Union forces after a months-long campaign. Atlanta was a railroad hub and industrial center of the Confederacy, provided many supplies for the army, and acted as a symbol of Confederate pride and strength. The gall of Atlanta made most southerners doubt that they could win the war. The fall of Atlanta led into Sherman's March to the Sea, which decimated the South. Lincoln went on to win the election of 1864 in a landslide.
Field Order Number 15
In 1865, General Sherman Issued Field Order Number Fifteen. The Order redistributed 400,000 acres of plantation land to newly freedmen in 40 acre segments. He also allowed families to receive loons in the for of mules from the army. Enacted before the war had officially ended, the Order occurred just after Sherman's infamous "March to the Sea." Field Order Number 15 is especially significant because it represented the US's willingness to redistribute land. The Order was also useful because it benefitted the military-- the army would no longer have to care for thousands of freedmen. In the Fall of 1865, Johnson returned the land to the planters who had originally owned it.
First Memorial Day
In 1865, the 21st US Colored Infantry entered Charleston to formally accept the surrender of the City. Black Charlestonians staged a parade of 10,000 around a slaver holder's race track and sang "John Brown's Body." Black soldiers then buried dead Confederate soldiers from a nearby prison. Memorial day was at first a black holiday.
Gettysburg
In July o 1863, General Lee marched into Pennsylvania after a huge victory in Virginia, hoping to gain recognition of the Confederacy from Britain and France. The Union destroyed Lee's army and after only three days, Lee lost over one third of his men (nearly 30,000). After the Union victory at Gettysburg, General Lee offered his resignation to President Davis, but Davis declined the resignation. The 1863 Battle of Gettysburg turned the tide of the War in favor of the Union.
Caning of Charles Sumner
In the Spring of 1856, Senator Sumner gave an inns two day speech entitled "The Crime Against Kansas" in which he criticized pro slavery actions within the territory and specifically attacked South Carolinian politicians. Summer's speech was met with intense criticism by from Democrats and even hesitancy by Republicans. Two days after the speech, Congressman Preston Brooks caned Sumner on the Senate floor for insulting his cousin, the state of South Carolina, and Pro Slavery ideology. The reaction to the event was polarizing: southern newspapers praised Congressman Brooks whereas northern press described the event as "savage" and used it to further fuel their hatred of the southern tendency of stifling free speech. Soon, "Bleeding Sumner" joined "Bleeding Kansas" within the minds of many free spoilers, including John Brown, as they criticized the supposed authoritarian ways of the slave power conspiracy.
Secession Commissioners
In the immediate wake of Lincoln's election, several southern governors appointed "commissioners" to other states with the purpose of consulting them on the appropriate course of action. The actual commissioners were not famous or well known. Mississippi and Alabama sent the first commissioners.
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist from Ohio. Having fathered nearly 20 children, Brown frequently employed Biblical messages in his attacks on slavery. Brown was both a leader of the "Bleeding Kansas" conflict and the orchestrator of the 1856 "Pottawatomie Massacre," wherein he and his sons murdered 5 innocent pro slavers in Kansas (consistent with his "eye for an eye" dogma). After the Massacre, Brown became dedicated to starting an insurrection of slaves that would destroy the institution, and he collected a gang of roughly 20 men. John Brown is perhaps most famous for his raid on Harpers Ferry. In 1859, Brown raided a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in an attempt to start a revolt. Brown's men were easily put down and he was sentenced to death. Brown's actions further inflamed relations between the North and the South and represented the intense nature of violence and religious obsession that the conflict had fostered and created.
John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun was both a Senator and Vice President. An ardent supporter of the institution, Calhoun frequently referred to slavery as a "positive good," pushing back against early 19th century southern notions that slavery was a necessary evil. By sharing such sentiments, Calhoun proved to be one of slavery's staunchest supporters. In order to combat positive sentiments for the Wilmot Proviso, in 1847, then Senator Calhoun proposed restrictions that would deny congress the right to exclude slavery from the territories. According to Calhoun, the territories were "common property" of sovereign states. According to the Senator, as "joint agents" of these states, Congress could do no more to prevent a slave owner from taking his human property to the territories than it could prevent him from taking his horses or dogs. Calhoun even went so far as to claim that the passing of the Wilmot Proviso would lead to civil war. Calhoun also opposed calls for popular sovereignty. Calhoun was also a states' rights activist and supported the theory of nullification.
John Washington
John Washington was the narrator of A Slave No More. A former urban slave from Fredericksburg, Washington escaped to Union army lines. He thought himself how to read, married a free black woman, and valued that ability to work for his own wages. Like other freedmen, Washington found community within the church. When the Union army approached Fredericksburg, Washington left his job and asked as a servant for the camp. Washington then went to DC in order to reunite with family.
King Cotton
King Cotton refers to the dominance of the Southern Cotton Industry for the majority of the 19th century. After Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, cotton could be produced, collected, and processed at a much faster and more efficient rate. As a result, the south cotton industry boomed. Feeding into both the British and American industrial revolutions, southern cotton fed both northern textile mills and British factories. King Cotton also alludes to the power of the painter class and its role in the "Slave-Power Conspiracy."
George B. McClellan
McClellan led the Army of the Potomac at a very young age, but he was very hesitant and cautious throughout the entire War. When Lincoln went to visit McClellan, the General wouldn't see him. He refused Lincoln's orders to go straight from DC to Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign. He always thought he was outnumbered. In 1864, McClellan was the Democratic nominee against Lincoln and ran on the platform of making peace with the South.
Mexican Cession
Mexican Cession refers to the region that Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848 following the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. The region included California. The Mexican Cession raised tensions over the admission of the new territories as slave or free. The Compromise of 1850 would attempt to settle this dispute by admitting California as a free state and organizing Utah and New Mexico under popular sovereignty.
Vicksburg
On the same day in 1863 that Gettysburg was won by Union forces, Grant won the battle of Vicksburg. Vicksburg was significant because it was a huge Union victory and gave the Union the control of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg basically cut the Confederacy in half.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Passed in 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was proposed by Stephen Douglas. The law admitted Kansas and Nebraska to the union under popular sovereignty, thereby nullifying the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Beyond popular sovereignty, the Kansas-Nebraska Act never stipulated how states would specifically settle the question of slavery, leading the the electoral violence known as "Bleeding Kansas." Rather than dissipating tensions over slavery as Douglas had hoped, the Act heightened Northern fear of Slave Power and the growth of slavery.
Pearl
Pearl is a character in "The March." She is a slave on the Jameson plantation until she is freed by an officer on Sherman's march. Pearl struggles with her identity: she passes for white and considers masquerading forever (by marrying a white man) but feels like this means she identifies more with her father (owner) than mother (slave). Pearl represents the conflicting identity issues that different races had.
Wilmot Proviso
Proposed in 1846 by Democratic Congressman David Wilmot, the Wilmot Proviso was one of the first bills to address slavery within the territories. On the eve of the Mexican-American War, Congressman Wilmot proposed that slavery should be banned from any potential territories claimed by the US as a result of the War. While Wilmot stood generally against slavery and strongly for principles of free labor, his Proviso was mostly inspired by a political desire. Upset by President Polk's decision to allow Britain to take the majority of Oregon and the apparent southern domination of his Democratic administration, Wilmot and other Northern Democrats sought to take control of the party. Moreover, Northern Whigs were more than happy to support the Proviso. Quickly passing through the northern dominated House, the Proviso was eventually stopped by the southern heavy Senate. However, the Proviso is extremely significant because it represented the first time that Congress voted along the lines of region, rather than along the lines of party affiliation.
William H. Seward
Seward was a former Secretary of State and the leading candidate for the Republican nomination of 1860 before Lincoln climbed to prominence. Seward is known for the Fort Sumpter Debacle, in which he told South Carolina commissioners and the press that Lincoln would give up the Fort. He also worked hard to ensure that neither France nor Britain would acknowledge the Confederate legitimacy.
Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea took place between November and December of 1864 from Atlanta to Savannah, GA. Sherman led 60,000 soldiers with the purpose of frightening Georgia citizens into abandoning the Confederate cause and demanding that President Davis surrender. Sherman and his soldiers stole food and livestock, burned property, and believed that the Southern army derived its strength from its moral support from southern whites rather than its fighting forces. The Confederacy surrendered only months after Sherman reached Savannah (which was unprotected because the Confederates fled). Sherman was fighting a truly psychological war.
Stephen Douglas
Stephen Douglas was a prominent antebellum Democratic Senator from Illinois. As an ardent expansionist and advocate of the Mexican-American War, Douglas helped to craft the Compromise of 1850 along with Henry Clay. Douglas was also a massive supporter of popular sovereignty and urged the doctrine's acceptance as a solution to the nation's conflict over the expansion of slavery. Douglas was one of the largest supporters of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1858, Douglas sought reelection to the Senate from Illinois and competed with Abraham Lincoln in the famed "Lincoln-Douglas" debates. Though Douglas eventually won the election, Lincoln emerged as a national figure. In the election of 1860, Douglas ran as a "Northern Democrat." Douglas's entire career was based around compromise and popular sovereignty.
Self-Emancipation
Stories like those of John Washington demonstrates how slaves took emancipation into their own hands. The combination of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the Union Army's advancement, and self-emancipation of slaves led to their freedom. The Proclamation lent no practical help to slaves. Self emancipation also disrupted the already chaotic, women-dominated social nature of the wartime south.
Thaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens was a prominent Radical Republican Congressman who acted as an extremist voice during Reconstruction and ultimately called for the Impeachment of President Johnson. Stevens was an advocate of "state suicide" and an enemy to President Johnson.
The "Shrinking South"
The "Shrinking South" was the belief that slavery would shrink both politically and economically if it did not expand. Since slavery was extremely land exhausting and slave states meant political representation in the government, slavery needed to expand west. Thus, proposals for free territories (like the Wilmot Proviso) threatened the very institution of slavery. Fear of the "shrinking South" stemmed from the Republican argument that if kept only in the South, slavery would eventually die out due to a lack of Congressional representation.
1857 Dred Scott Decision
The 1857 Dred Scott Decision ruled that no blacks, slave or free, were American citizens and therefore that none had the power to sue in Federal Court. Additionally, the Decision ruled that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories, deeming the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The Dred Scott Decision was praised by southern planters but infuriated northerners and strengthened northern opposition to slavery.
1862 Second Confiscation Act
The 1862 Second Confiscation Act allowed the Union army to confiscate slaves from all disloyal slaveowners, including within border states. After much debate, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act. The second confiscation act was significant because it confiscated property and sought to weaken the confederate social order. The Emancipation Proclamation has a copy and paste part of the Second Confiscation Act in order to provide legal justification.
Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was in the Fall of 1862 in Maryland between McLellan's Union and Lee's Confederates. Lee was on his first attempt to invade the North, which he tried to do to move fighting away from the South. The two armies clashed when a Union soldier discovered Confederate commands on a dropped cigar. The insignia battle was one of the bloodiest of the War. The Union emerged victorious, but the Union also suffered tons of casualties. The Victory at Antietam allowed President Lincoln to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and stopped Lee's first expedition to the North. Antietam was significant because it gave Lincoln the confidence to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from pursing an alliance with the Confederacy.
Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh was a two day battle in the Spring of 1862 in Tennessee between Grant and a Confederate army that ought him by surprise. The first day was a southern victory, but Grant emerged victorious on the second day. Despite his victory, Grant received much criticism in the North because of the high number of casualties. Shiloh was the bloodiest day of the war up until that point in time. The Battle of Shiloh dashed away any hoped that the Union would quickly or swiftly win the War or reconcile with the South. The significance was that despite a Union victory, people realized that it would have to be an intensive war.
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a five part compromise orchestrated by Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas in the face of new territory acquired by the Mexican-American War in 1848. The Compromise: 1. Admitted California to the Union as a free state, 2. prevented adoption of the Wilmot Provisio by organizing Utah and New Mexico under popular sovereignty, 3. banned the slave trade in Washington DC, 4. Enacted a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law, and 5. settled boundary disputes relating to Texans. The Compromise of 1850 might have been able to postpone the Civil War by a decade, but it was still controversial as northern states hated the Fugitive Slave provision.
Election of 1860
The Election of 1860 was very important because of the failure of the Election of 1856 to unify the nation. The Democratic party split, with the Northern Democratic Party nominating Stephen Douglas and the Southern Democratic Party nominating John Breckinridge. The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell, who promoted Union and nativism. The Republican Party nominated Lincoln. Lincoln won, but no candidate won a majority. South Carolina decided to secede.
Election of 1876
The Election of 1876 featured Republican Rutherford B Hayed and Democrat Samuel Tilden. The election occurred directly in the wake of the Grant-era corruption scandals and within the midst of a large economic crisis. Both parties wanted a nominee who would win public trust. Democrats and Tilden ultimately won the popular vote, but the electoral results were disputed. After the Compromise of 1877, President Hayes won by carrying a few states with disputed electoral votes. The crisis carried no constitutional precedent and congress created an Electoral Commission in order to find a solution.
First Reconstruction Act
The First Reconstruction Act was passed in 1867. Though vetoed by President Johnson, Congress overruled the Act with a two thirds majority. The Act itself applied to all the ex confederate states on the south (other than Tennessee, which had already ratified the 14th Amendment). The First Reconstruction Act split the states into five military zones, each under the control of a Northern General whose responsibility it was to protect life and property with force. The Act also demanded new state constitutions, the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, and enfranchisement for all male citizens aside from ex-confederates. The First Reconstruction Act is significant because it allowed for a formalized process for readmission to the Union, provided equality under the law, and granted the franchise to freedmen (military zones, new constitutions, 14th Amendment, male suffrage).
Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau was established in 1865 by Congress in order to help freedmen and poor whites in the South following the destruction of the War. The Bureau provided food, housing, established schools, and even offered legal assistance. In some instances, the Bureau was authorized to redistribute confiscated land. However, the Bureau was prevented from reaching its potential due to a shortage of funding and the end of Radical Reconstruction. In 1872, Congress decommissioned the Bureau-- "self help"
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed as part of Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850 in order to appease the South. The Fugitive Slave Law penalized officials who did not arrest runaway slaves as well as those who aided runaways. This Act was more stringent than previous laws because it stressed enforcement and stripped blacks of the means to fight allegations of being runaways. The Fugitive Slave Law enraged Northerners who feared that the "slave power conspiracy" had overstepped Constitutional boundaries in order to enforce slavery.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas debates occurred in the months before the Illinois Senate election of 1858. The seven debates attracted national attention because of Douglas's stature as a popular sovereignty Northern Democrat and Lincoln's obscurity. Throughout the debates, Douglas argued that popular sovereignty was the answer to the crisis of slavery and that the founding fathers delegated state rights for a reason. Within his "Freeport Doctrine," Douglas argued that, despite the 1856 Dred Scott Ruling, a territory should have the individual right to decide its own position on slavery. Especially within Southern Illinois, Douglas also attacked Lincoln's supposed love for slaves and African Americans. Within the debates, Lincoln premiered his "House Divided" argument, in which he claimed that the nation would collapse into chaos if it continued to exist with both slave and free states. Lincoln also attacked slavery as a moral evil and emphasized that despite his klieg in blacks' rights under the Declaration of Independence, he did not believe in racial equality or the granting of the franchise. Generally, the Lincoln-Douglas debates were significant because they represented the growing divisions within the nation. As a northern Democrat who defied his party with the endorsement of popular sovereignty and the rejection of the corrupt Lecompton Constitution, Douglas's victory in 1858 provided hope that the Democratic Party could survive. Moreover, the debates' national attention illuminated Lincoln as the Republican Party's clear northern leader and Presidential frontrunner for the election of 1860.
Loss of Will Thesis
The Loss of Will Thesis is a historical theory that argues that the Confederacy failed because its people lost the will to fight. Moreover, the Loss of Will Thesis argues that a lack of attachment to the Confederacy (especially by the poor) led to homefront losses and many army desertions. Faust supports the Loss of Will Thesis within Mothers of Invention whereas Gallagher argues against it within The Confederate War.
Virginia Campaign of 1864
The Virginia Campaign of 1864 was with Grant's Amry of the Potomac (over 100,000 men) against General Lee. Lee's army was not well equipped by 1864 due to Confederate financial issues, and Grant's was pretty well equipped. The point was to take the capital of the South and really end the war. The goal was to force Lee's army to engage him while Sherman marched to the south. Grant moved into Virginia to take Richmond and destroy Lee's army. They met for the first time in the wilderness and exchanged massive casualties. They met for a second time for a 56 day battle at the Spotsylvania Courthouse (devastating for Grant). By the end of his campaign, the dead, wounded, and injured numbered 55,000 for Grant. Through all the carnage, Grant persevered unlike previous generals.
Southern Yeoman Farmers
The term "yeoman farmer" can be traced back to the post revolutionary 18th century US, wherein Democratic-Republicans like Thomas Jefferson envisioned an agrarian nation full of self-sufficient yeoman farmers. Because the wealthy Southern planter class was so small, the majority of southern citizens and pro slavery advocates were middle class/poor yeoman farmers. These farmers owned few, if any, slaves and mostly lived modestly while tending to several dozen acres. Though it did not materially benefit them, the vast majority of soother yeomanry supported slavery, as it provided a racial basis for class distinction which gave them superiority over blacks in contrast to their inferiority to the planter class.
Slave-Power Conspiracy
The terms "Slave-Power Conspiracy" and "Slaveocracy" were used by 1840s and 1850s antislavery advocates. The terms aim at exposing the massive amounts of control and power that slave owning planters of the antebellum South wielded. The Slave-Power Conspiracy was especially evoked by the mid 1850s Republicans in an attempt to rally the nation against the spread of slavery to the territories. Throughout the war, even southerners complained that the Conspiracy's impact over legislation like the "20 Blacks Law." Having come from a poor Southern background, President Andrew Johnson was also very weary of the Slave-Power Conspiracy.
Election of 1856
Though Stephen Douglas coveted the Democratic nomination in 1856, his reputation had been badly tarnished by the ongoing violence associated with Kansas-Nebraska. As a result, the Democrats nominated James Buchanan, who was popular due to the Ostend Manifesto. Republicans ran their first presidential campaign, nominating John Fremont. The Know Nothings nominated former President Millard Fillmore. Republicans ran a campaign calling for the repeal of Kansas-Nebraska and opposing the extension of slavery into the territories. Buchanan won, but failed to gain the majority of the popular vote.
Pro Slavery Ideology
Though many southerners had believed slavery to be a "necessary evil" before 1830, the massive success of the cotton industry quickly dissuaded this sentiment as the century progressed. Pro slavery arguments often claimed that the institution had civilized "African savages" and provided them with a security system that was less cruel and harsh than the brutal free labor system of Britain and the North. Moreover, by releasing whites from menial tasks, slavery elevated white labor and protected it from degrading free labor and competition with African Americans. In the opinions of many southerners, slavery eliminated class conflict that would eventually destroy all free labor societies.
Total War
Total war is when any civilian related resource or infrastructure is targeted by military, and total war usually results in civilian casualties. The US had never used a total war strategy until Sherman's siege of Atlanta and subsequent March to the Sea, where civilian property was destroyed and many civilians were killed in Atlanta. Total war was a huge factor in Union victory, as it destroyed Confederate morale.
Wallace Turnage
Wallace Turnage was an escaped slave an a narrator in Blight's "A Slave No More." Turnage was sold many times, and he tried to escape many times. Turnage's story represents the importance of self emancipation in the freeing of slaves.
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was one of the most infamous abolitionists of the nineteenth century. As the most prominent leader of the abolitionist movement, Garrison founded and ran "The Liberator," a widely read publication that promoted abolition. As one of the most impactful voices against the "moral" drawbacks of slavery, Garrison was a polarizing figure within the antebellum US. Staunchly opposed to any sort of compromise, Garrison founded both the New England Anti Slavery Society and the American Anti Slavery Society. However, Garrison was most useful in bringing the horror of American slavery into the view of the entire world. Garrison believe that because the Constitution supported slavery, abolitionists should not participate in government.