Civil War

Trent Affairs

1861, Mason and Slidel were going to England to negotiate southern-English alliance on British ship Trent, union navy came aboard and took them prisoner, violated British right to the seas, Lincoln apologized// Began in late 1861, when two Confederate diplomats slipped through the then-ineffective Union blockade to Havana, Cuba, wherethey boarded an EnglishSteamer, the Trent, for England. Waiting in Cuban waters was the American frigate San Jacinto, commanded by this man. He acted without authorization and stopped the British vessel, arrested the diplomats, and carried them into Boston.

36-30 Line

36-30' Line According to the Missouri Compromise (1820), slavery was forbidden in the Louisiana territory north of the a certain latitude. This was nullified by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Kansas- Nebraska Act

A law passed by Congress in 1854 that divided the territory west of the states of Missouri and Iowa and the territory of Minnesota into two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. The law was extremely controversial because it did not exclude slavery from either territory, despite the fact that the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in these territories. By effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise, the law outraged many northerners, led to the collapse of the Whig party and the rise of the Republican party, and moved the nation closer to civil war.//the act of Congress in 1854 annulling the Missouri Compromise, providing for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and permitting these territories self-determination on the question of slavery.

Stepahn Douglas

A moderate Democrat, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty. He was the presidential candidate for the Northern Democrats in the Election of 1860.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of seven debates. The two argued the important issues of the day like popular sovereignty, the Lecompton Constitution and the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won these debates, but Lincoln's position in these debates helped him beat Douglas in the 1860 presidential election.//Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) 1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories, Lincoln emerged as strong Republican candidate

Bleeding Kansas

Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery forces from Missouri, known as the Border Ruffians, crossed the border into Kansas and terrorized and murdered antislavery settlers. Antislavery sympathizers from Kansas carried out reprisal attacks, the most notorious of which was John Brown's 1856 attack on the settlement at Pottawatomie Creek. The war continued for four years before the antislavery forces won. The violence it generated helped percipitate the Civil War.

Confiscation Act

In 1861, Congress passed this which declared that all slaves used for "insurrectionary" purposes would be considered freed.// Passed on August 6, 1861 and stated that any property belonging to confederates used in war could be seized by federal forces. Any slaves used by their masters to benefit the war would be freed.

Crittenden Compromise (1860)

The first of compromise proposals submitted in hopes to prevent a civil war. This one was first submitted by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. This plan was a proposal to reestablish the Missouri Compromise line and extend it westward to the Pacific coast. Slavery would be prohibited north or the line and permitted south of the line. Southerners in the Senate were willing to accept this plan, but the compromise would have required the northerners to abandon their most fundamental position-that slavery should not be allowed to expand- and so they rejected it.// 1860 - attempt to prevent Civil War by Senator Crittenden - offered a Constitutional amendment recognizing slavery in the territories south of the 36º30' line, noninterference by Congress with existing slavery, and compensation to the owners of fugitive slaves - defeated by Republicans

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

What decision involved a Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

2nd Inagural Adress (March 4, 1865)

Was meant to help heal and restore the country after four years of Civil War. Some see this speech as a defense of his pragmatic approach to Reconstruction, in which he sought to avoid harsh treatment of the defeated South by reminding his listeners of how wrong both sides had been in imagining what lay before them when the war began four years earlier. Lincoln balanced that rejection of triumphalism, however, with a recognition of the unmistakable evil of slavery, which he described in the most concrete terms possible.

Bleeding Kansas 3

aka Kansas Border War. Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery forces from Missouri, known as the Border Ruffians, crossed the border into Kansas and terrorized and murdered antislavery settlers. Antislavery sympathizers from Kansas carried out reprisal attacks, the most notorious of which was John Brown's 1856 attack on the settlement at Pottawatomie Creek. The war continued for four years before the antislavery forces won. The violence it generated helped precipitate the Civil War.

Bleeding Kansas 2

Bleeding Kansas refers to the time between 1854-58 when the Kansas territory was the site of much violence over whether the territory would be free or slave. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 set the scene by allowing the territory of Kansas to decide for itself whether it would be free or slave, a situation known as popular sovereignty. With the passage of the act, thousands of pro- and anti-slavery supporters flooded the state. Violent clashes soon occurred, especially once "border ruffians" crossed over from the South to sway the vote to the pro-slavery side. // A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in KansasTerritory where new proslavery and antislavery constitutions competed.The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent. One of the most publicized events that occurred in Bleeding Kansas was when on May 21, 1856 Border Ruffians ransacked Lawrence, Kansas which was known to be a staunch free-state area. One day later, violence occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate when Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane after Sumner spoke out against Southerners responsible for violence in Kansas. Several constitutions for the future state of Kansas were created, some pro- and some anti-slavery. The Lecompton Constitution was the most important pro-slavery Constitution. President James Buchanan actually wanted it to be ratified. However, the Constitution died. Kansas eventually entered the Union in 1861 as a free state.

Battle of Antietam

Civil War battle in which the North succeeded in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland. Was the bloodiest battle of the war resulting in 25,000 casualties// Northern victory which led to Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation

The Great Compromise (1850)

Forestalled the Civil War by instating the Fugitive Slave Act , banning slave trade in DC, admitting California as a free state, splitting up the Texas territory, and instating popular sovereignty in the Mexican Cession

Battle of Vicksburg (1863)

In the spring of 1863, Ulysses S. Grant was driving at Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. He boldly moved men and supplies over land and by water to an area south of the city were the terrain was good. He attacked from the rear and six weeks later, on July 4, Vicksburg surrendered when the residents were litteraly starving from the longed siege.// Grant besieged the city from May 18 to July 4, 1863, until it surrendered, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union.

13th Admendment

Ratified in 1865, abolished slavery as an institution in all parts of the United States.

emancipation proclamation (1862)

On September 22, 1862, after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam, the president announced his intention to use his war powers to issue and executive order freeing all slaves in the Confederacy. And on January 1, 1863, he formally signed this document, which declared forever free the slaves inside the Confederacy. This did not apply to the border states, which have never seceded from the Union, nor did it affect those parts of the Confederacy already under Union control.

Presidentional election 1860

Republican - Abraham Lincoln. Democrat - Stephan A. Douglas, John C. Breckenridge. Constitutional Union - John Bell. Issues were slavery in the territories (Lincoln opposed adding any new slave states).//

Dec. South Carolina secedes 1860

South Carolina first to secede from the Union

Popular Sovereighnty

The doctrine that stated that the people of a territory had the right to decide their own laws by voting. In the Kansas-Nebraska Act, this would decide whether a territory allowed slavery.

Presidential Election of 1860

The election of 1860 was super important, because the outcome would determine if there would be peace in America, or Civil War. Democrats split. Northern Democrats nominated Douglas. His platform was for popular sovereignty and (for the South), against obstruction of the Fugitive Slave Law by the states. Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge. Favored the extension of slavery into the territories and the annexation of Cuba. Constitutional Union party was formed (middle-of-the-road group, "Do Nothings" or "Old Gentleman's party." Former Whigs and Know-Nothings. Nominated John Bell. Promoted the Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of Laws. Seward was the best Republican contender, but he had made too many enemies. Lincoln was a stronger candidate because he had fewer enemies. Republican party appealed to all non-southerners! For free-soilers, nonextension of slavery. For northern manufacturers, a protective tariff. For immigrants, no abridgment of rights. For the Northwest, a transcontinental railroad. For the West, internal improvements at federal expense. For farmers, free homesteads. The election of 1860 was pretty much two elections: one in the North and one in the south. Lincoln won. This gave South Carolina an excuse to secede. South Carolina met at Charleston and decided to secede. Soon became 7 seceding states (and later 11). The first 7 met at Montgomery, Alabama in 1861 - created Confederate States of America.

Personal Liberty Laws

The personal liberty laws were a series of laws passed by several U.S. states in the North in the 1850s in response to the Fugitive Slave Law. The laws were designed to protect free blacks, freedmen, and fugitive slaves by effectively nullifying the Fugitive Slave Law without actually invoking the doctrine of nullification, which is unconstitutional. This was done through provisions such as forbidding the use of state jails to imprison alleged fugitives to prevent state officials from enforcing the strict law and compelling slave bounty hunters to furnish corroborative proof that his captive was a fugitive, as well as according the accused the rights to trial by jury and appeal. Laws in some states made it easier to extradite a runaway if slave status were confirmed.// Personal liberty laws were laws passed to maintain liberty for slaves who had become fugitives. These laws were used to protect those fugitives. They can be interpreted by removing most of the references to slave labor at this time.

Battle of Gettysburg

Took place at Gettysburg, PA, on July 1-3, 1863, between the Union army, led by Meade, and the Confederate army, led by Lee. After unsuccsesful charges by Lee he had lost about a third of his army and on July 4 he retreated from Gettysburg. The retreat was a great turning point in the war, never again were the weakend Confederate forces able seriously to threathen the Northern territory.// The most violent battle of the American Civil War,frequently cited as the war's turning point, fought from July 1 - July 3, 1863.//lee sent two forces before him to attack meades forces, an artillery attack that hit the back but not the front where it should've, a cavalry attack from the back that was defeated before it could do any damage. Then lee set out to attack up a shallow hill that provded no coverage, a convex hill. There were two hills on the side that the union also had control of. George pickett attacked one of them but it ran out of artillery so they charged down the hill and still maintained control because the confederates were scared off. It was the northernmost battle, and it was the last chance for the confederates to win the war

Lincoln's First Inaugral (March 4, 1861)

Written in a spirit of reconciliation toward the rebellious states, ___________ touched on several topics: first, his pledge to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government"—including Fort Sumter, which was still in Federal hands; second, his argument that the Union was indissolvable, and thus that secession was impossible; and third, a promise that while he would never be the first to attack, any use of arms against the United States would be regarded as rebellion, and met with force. The inauguration took place on the eve of the American Civil War, which began soon after with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter.

Kansas-Nebraaska Act 2

ended the peace established between the North and South by the Compromise of 1850. It was proposed by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and repealed the Missouri Compromise. The act enforced popular sovereignty upon the new territories but was opposed by Northern Democrats and Whigs. It was passed, however, because President Pierce supported it. The purpose of the bill was to facilitate the building of the transcontinental railroad on a central route.// This Act set up Kansas and Nebraska as states. Each state would use popular sovereignty to decide what to do about slavery. People who were pro-slavery and antislavery moved to Kansas, but some antislavery settlers were against the Act. This began guerrilla warfare.

Financial Panic of 1857 2

financial panic in the United States caused from the declining international economy and overexpansion of the domestic economy. With the failure of the Ohio life insurance and trust co. in New York and the overspecualtion in railroads and lands the panic fueled sectional tensions as northerners blamed it on the low tariff policies of the southern dominated congress.

The Great Compromise 18500

package of five bills sent in September 1850. It defused a four year confrontation between the southern slave states and the northern Free states following the Mexican American War. Drafted by Whig Henry Clay and brokered by Democrat Stephen Douglas it temporarily avoided secession or civil war at the time and it quieted a sectional conflict for 4 years.

Financial Panic of 1857

the slogan "Bread or Death," 5,000 business failures, and high unemployment were factors in this financial crisis.//An economic crash that arose due to the inflation caused by inpouring California gold. The demands of the Crimean War over-stimulated grain growth and land speculation, and when the collapse came over five thousand businesses failed. Northern farmers were hard-hit by the panic, while the South basically went untouched. Also the panic created a clamor of higher tariff rates.

Fugative Slave Laws

there was one passed in 1793 but the south thought it wasn't strict enough, so a stricter one was passed as a concesion to the south in the compromise of 1850. The new one wwas called the Bloodhound Bill—fleeing slaves couldn't testify on their behalf, denied a jury trial, federal commisiner who handled the case got $5 if the slave was freed and $10 if he was returned so most of the times slaves were returned, punishment for anyone who helped a slave escape such as fines and jail, stirred up much opposition in the north. Caused the north to go crazy, moderates became very antislavery, really awakened the north to the issue, and it didn't help the south much either because the north didn't cooperate.