Vocabulary

Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)

 

 

border state

blockade

Rebel

Yankee

emancipate

ratify

habeas corpus

draft

greenback

inflation

entrenched

total war

 

Reconstruction

amnesty

radical

freedmen

black codes

impeach

scalawag

carpetbagger

sharecropping

poll tax

literacy test

grandfather clause

lynching

 

 

Notes

The Civil War (1861-1865)

 

II. The War

A.      Comparing North and South

1.        North (called “The Union”, blue uniforms, flag is the “Stars and Stripes”)

a.        Union advantages:  “more”

1)       more people

2)       more factories

3)       more money

4)       more railroads

2.        South (called “Confederate States of America”, “rebels” grey uniforms, the flag is the “Stars and Bars’)

a.        Confederate advantages: “better”

1)       better generals – Robert E. Lee, overall commander of the southern armies; many of the nation’s best

        generals were from the south and they joined the southern army after the Civil War started.

2)       better soldiers – many southerners were in the army before the war; they were more accustomed to a military lifestyle (living in tents, taking orders, etc.)

3)       southerners were defending their homes – they fought very hard.

 

B.       War Goals

1.        Union Goals

a.        keep the US together as a nation – “preserve the Union”

b.       eliminate slavery as a legal institution in the US

c.        how did the Union work to achieve these goals?:

1)       destroy the Confederate Army

2)       gain control of the Mississippi River

3)       stop Confederate trade by using a naval blockade to block the Confederate coastline

2.        Confederate Goals

a.        gain independence from the US

b.       how did the Confederacy work to achieve this goal?:

1)       obtain help from Britain or France

2)       prolong the war so that the people of the Union would get tired of fighting and stop the war

 

C.       Important Battles from the Civil War

1.        Attack on Ft. Sumter ( April 1861)  Confederate forces attack Union forces in Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina to start the Civil War.

2.        Monitor vs. Merrimack (October 1862) first battle in world history between two all metal ships

a.        after this event, wooden ships are obsolete

3.        Battle of Antietam (Maryland, September 1862) a very close battle but the Union won; after this battle President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves

4.        Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania, July 1863) “Turning Point of the War”

a.        first major Union victory of the war

b.       after Gettysburg many people believe that the Union would win the war

5.        Battle of Vicksburg (Mississippi, May-June 1863) Union forces led by General Ulysses Grant gained control of the Mississippi River (“whoever controls the Mississippi controls North America”)

6.        “Sherman’s March to the Sea” (Tennessee to Georgia, Fall 1864) Union General William T. Sherman led an army of 75,000 from southern Tennessee to Atlanta, Georgia and then to the Atlantic Coast

a.        Sherman’s army destroyed EVERYTHING in a 50 mile wide path from Atlanta, Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean

b.       Sherman’s March to the Sea is considered to be the first example of “total war” in world history

1)       “total war”- in total war anything that can be used to support an army (cities, crops, farms, factories, transportation centers, and communications) become a target for destruction;  Sherman’s army destroyed anything that could have been used by the Confederate Army.

7.        Battle of Appomattox Court House (April 1865) Confederate forces led by General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union forces led by General Ulysses Grant.

 

III. Reconstruction (putting the US back together after the Civil War) – 1865-1877

 

  1. A list of events from Reconstruction
    1. President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in April 1865

a.        When Lincoln was elected, many people hated him; by April 1865 he is a respected leader.

b.       When Lincoln is assassinated, no one is able to replace him; the nation is without a strong leader at a time when a strong leader is needed very badly.

c.        Vice-President Andrew Johnson replaces Lincoln (Johnson was drunk at the Inauguration in March; not the sign of a strong leader)

    1. Slaves gain their freedom

a.        The Civil War amendments are passed (1865-1870)

1)       13 Amendment – abolished slavery in the US

2)       14 Amendment – all citizens are entitled to equal treatment under the law; states are not allowed to make laws that deny rights to the citizens.

3)       15th Amendment – all citizens have the right to vote regardless of race, color or religion                 

    1. Civil Rights Act of 1866 – former slaves are citizens and have the same rights as all other citizens
    2. Reconstruction Act of 1866

a.        This law was created by a group of northern Congressmen who wanted to punish the south for starting the Civil War; they are called “Radical Republicans”

b.       What did the Reconstruction Act of 1866 say?:

1)       Southern states were divided into military regions and were governed by an army General (Southerners were not allowed to elect their own government)

2)       Southern states must do the following in order to rejoin the US:

a)       create a new state constitution that outlaws slavery; must be approved by Congress

b)       they must accept the Civil War Amendments; especially the 14th Amendment

c)       guarantee the rights of former slaves, including the right to vote.

    1. Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson (1868)

a.        Johnson did not agree with the Reconstruction Act of 1866

1)       Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Act, but Congress passed the law over the President’s veto (a two thirds vote in Congress overrides a President’s veto).

2)       Johnson believed that the Executive Branch had the power to create reconstruction plans, Congress believed that the Legislative Branch should control reconstruction

3)       Congress impeached President Johnson in order to keep him from interfering with the Reconstruction Act

4)       Johnson was impeached, but he was not removed from office.

    1. Election of 1876

a.        The election of 1876 was a very close election between Rutherford Hayes (Republican supported by Northerners) and Samuel Tilden (Democrat supported by Southerners).

b.       When the voting ended, it looked like Tilden had won, but the Republicans claimed that the ballots in Florida had been counted incorrectly (no kidding!! … I know this sounds like the Election of 2000, but this really happened)

c.        The votes were recounted and Hayes won!

d.       The Democrats (Southerners) refused to accept Hayes as the winner, so they made a deal:

1)       Compromise of 1877 – Hayes would be the President but he promised to remove troops from the south and to end the rules created by the Reconstruction Act of 1866

2)       The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction.  

                          

 

Civil War and Reconstruction

(1861-1877)

 

Instructions:  Use your textbook and class notes (from this chapter and the previous chapter) to answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence on a separate sheet of paper.

 

  1. What event caused southern states to secede from the U.S.?
  2. Which southern state was the first to secede?
  3. What were the Union (Northern) advantages during the war? List 4 advantages.
  4. What were the Confederate (Southern) advantages during the war? List 3 advantages.
  5. What were the Union goals during the war? List two.
  6. What did the Union do to achieve their goals they had in the war?
  7. What were the Confederate goals during the war? List two
  8. What did the Confederates do to achieve their goals in the war?
  9. Historians say that the Civil War was the first “modern war” because it was a “total war”.  What is a “total war”?  (use the book to find this answer)
  10. For each of the following battles from the Civil War, explain the importance of the battle, and tell where the battle took place (state, body of water).
    1. Battle of Fort Sumter (April 1861)
    2. The Battle between the Monitor and Merrimack (October 1862)
    3. Battle of Antietam (September 1862)
    4. Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863)
    5. Battle of Vicksburg (May-July 1863)
    6. “Sherman’s March to the Sea” (Fall 1864)
    7. Battle of Appomattox Court House (April 1865)
  11. Why do you think the assassination of President Lincoln made it more difficult to rebuild the nation after the Civil War?
  12. List and explain the 3 amendments added to the Constitution after the Civil War (these amendments are called “The Civil War Amendments”)
  13. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1866 say?
  14. Who were the “Radical Republicans” and what did they want to do?
  15. According to the Reconstruction Act of 1866, what did Southern states have to do to rejoin the US?
  16. Why did Congress attempt to impeach President Johnson in 1868?  If President Johnson had been impeached, do you think his impeachment would have strengthened or weakened the Executive branch?  If the President had been impeached, would that have strengthened or weakened the Constitution?
  17. What event led to the creation of the Compromise of 1877?  How did the Compromise of 1877 effect Reconstruction in the south?

 

Use the book to answer following question;

 

Many southern states passed laws, and took actions, to limit the rights of Black Americans following the Civil War.  Explain each item (give a definition or tell me what it is).  Also, how did each of these items limit the rights of Black Americans after the Civil War?

 

Black Codes                                         lynching

Plessey v. Ferguson                               literacy test

poll tax                                                  “Grandfather Clause”