SS8H6: The Civil War

Causes of the Civil War:

    One of the most known causes of the Civil War is slavery. Slavery was very important to the South during this time because slaves were mainly used to harvest crops such as corn, and pick and separate cotton seeds (before the invention of the cotton gin in 1793). Slavery was also important to the South because of State's rights. State's rights are the state's interest rules over national interest (e.g. slavery is not mentioned in the Constitution, at least at that time, so states have the choice to decide what to do with it, whether it is banning it or allowing it).
    The Missouri Compromise was a compromise that said states over the 36 degree parallel line are free states, while states below it are slave states. 

The Missouri Compromise

    The Compromise of 1850 did away with the Missouri Compromise by allowing California to be a free state, even though it was going through the 36 degree parallel. This angered many Southerners, who chose to nullify, or refuse, the law. Georgia even held the Georgia Platform to decide if we should secede, or break away, from the United States.

The Compromise of 1850

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act that allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide by popular sovereignty, or people voting, if slavery should allowed in those territories. This lead to Bleeding Kansas, where pro-slavery people and abolitionists fought against each other. They became free states in the end.
    Another event before the Civil War was the Dred Scot Case, where the Supreme Court ruled that slaves are property, and denied blacks citizenship and freedom. After this came the election of 1860, where Abraham Lincoln won without votes from southern states. This then led to a debate of secession in Georgia where Secessionists, Unionists, and Cooperationists all got together to decide. Georgia eventually did, and Alexander Stephens, a Unionists from Georgia, was elected to be Vice-President of the Confederacy.


Alexander Stephens.

 

Battles of the Civil War:

    One of the most important battles was the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle of the War. This battle was a Union victory, and allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This stated that all slaves in the Confederacy are free (while ones in the North were not.), of course, the Confederacy did not listen to this, and most slaves were still held.


Lincoln at Antietam.

The Emancipation Proclamation.

   








   
    Another important and probably the most known battle is the Battle of  Gettysburg. This was a turning point in the war because it was the last time Lee would try and invade Washington, DC, and it was a Union victory, alas, it was also the bloodiest battle of the war.


The Battle of Gettysburg.

    Another important battle is the Battle of Chickamauga, which took place in northern Georgia. It was a Confederate victory, but made the South lose the opportunity to win the war. This is because it gave the chance for Union troops to regroup and later take place in Sherman's March to the Sea. This battle was the second deadliest battle of the war, after Gettysburg.
    One of the major blows to the South was the Anaconda Plan, or "Scott's Great Snake". Created by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, this plan cut off the South from trade and caused prices to rise and supplies to decrease in throughout the Confederacy.

The Anaconda Plan.

    Another major blow to the South was Sherman's March to the Sea. This march led Union troops throughout Georgia (the "Heart of the Confederacy"), which troops then burned Atlanta, ruined major railroads, destroyed stockpiles, and set fire to Savannah, which was later given to Abe as a "Christmas Gift". It was used to demoralize the South, and end the war quickly, in which it surely did because the war ended four months later.

Sherman's March.

    Located in Andersonville, Georgia, the Andersonville Prison was used to hold 45 thousand of Union soldiers in one place. Thirteen thousand died in this prison thanks to scurvy, starvation, bugs, malaria, and many other ways. The Major looking after this prison, Henry Wirz, was executed for war crimes because of his treatment towards the prisoners and the conditions they lived in.

Bringing Back the South:

   After the war, there were different plans thought up to join the South back. These were the Radical Republicans' Reconstruction (which wanted harsh treatment towards the South), and Presidential Reconstruction (which wanted to forgive the South). All the plans were used at some point or another, and did help bring back the South.
    During Reconstruction, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed. The 13th abolished slavery, the 14th made all men citizens of the US, and the 15th gave men the right to vote (this didn't go so well for African Americans, who had taxes, a clause, and a literacy test placed on them, as well as white primaries). Just remember "Freed Slaves Vote".
    The Freedman's Bureau was also important to former slaves. This bureau assisted slaves with everything from education to jobs (you can thank the Freedman's Bureau for the modern public school). Of course, if there is good in the world, there is also evil. The KKK started out as a vigilante police group and transformed into a group that terrorized blacks and white northerners.
    To give blacks jobs, albeit poorly,  sharecropping and tenant farming were created. These systems allowed whites to keep blacks and poor whites in debt to keep them working for them for virtually nothing. These sharecroppers and tenants went on to elect Henry McNeal Turner and other black legislators to office.


Sharecropping.

Henry McNeal Turner.

 

 

Fun Facts:

There were 2,607 people listed as tenants according to the US Census data.

34,000 soldiers were killed in the Battle of Chickamauga.