2.18.13

Antietam: The Bloodiest Day of the War

     The bloodiest day, although not battle, was the battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, if you are from the south. The battle took place in Sharpsburg, Maryland September 16, 1862. The Union general was George B. McClellan and the Confederate general was Robert E. Lee. The Confederate troops were massively out-numbered, nearly 2 to 1, by the Union. The Union had 87,000 troops present while the Confederate army had only 45,000. There were approximately 22,717 total casualties. The Union lost about 12,401 soldiers to this battle and the Confederate army lost approximately 10,316. The battle was inconclusive meaning that all of those soldiers died and the battle did not even have a clear winner. This battle proves to us just how horrific and gruesome the Civil War was to the divided America. The outcome, essentially a tie, was incredible because the Union army had an extremely clear advantage over the Confederacy for three reasons. The first is that they outnumbered them nearly 2 to 1. Also, General McClellan had a cheat-sheet of Lee's plan. Lee's army had no retreat because they were cornered on one side by a river. Fortunately for the Union, the South's advance into the north was repelled and European countries did not join their cause. General McClellan was discharged from the Union army because he did not pursue the Confederate armywhen he had the chance and did not send promised reinforcements. Additionally, the draw gave Lincoln the courage to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in order to discourage the south from continuing in the war.

Sources: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam.html?tab=facts

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Battle_of_Antietam.png/300px-Battle_of_Antietam.png

2.18.13
Secession in GA and  Alexander Stephen's Role
      Following the election of 1860, the states of the south were faced with a crucial choice to make: secede or remain in the Union. Almost all of the southern states, save Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and Kentucky, ended up seceding from the Union. In Georgia, and the south in general, there were two different groups of people, secessionists and cooperationists. Cooperationists were willing to remain in the Union. Alexander Stephens, a delegate of GA, was a cooperationist who voted against secession. The vote for or against secession in GA was 209 to 89, with secession winning. Seeing as there were still many non-secessionists in the South, a cooperationist was elected Vice President of the Confederacy, in order to appeal to more of the southern population. This Vice President cooperationist was Alexander Stephens. He helped insure that the vast majority of the south supported the Confederacy and its cause. 
Sources:
http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/articles/articleview.cfm?aid=34

2.14.13
The Election of 1860...
    There were three candidates in the election of 1860. Two were Democratic and one, for the very first time, was Republican. One Democrat was southern, the other northern. The Republican one was Abraham Lincoln. Evidently, Lincoln won. The southern states were outraged and almost immediately seceded. All of the southern states except for Missouri and Kentucky seceded from the union. As a result, the infamous Civil War broke out killing more U.S. citizens than all of the other wars combined. 
Sources:
http://s.fixquotes.com/files/author/abraham-lincoln_NZND6.jpg

2.13.13
The Dred Scott Case
     During the Pre-Civil War era, a famous court case took place. A black man who was a slave was suing his master. He and his wife had lived on free soil for a relatively long period of time. As a result, he felt that he had the right to be free. The head justice in the Supreme Court at the time was Roger B. Taney. Taney was a southern Democrat who supported slavery. The supreme court ended up ruling against Dred Scott. Their reasoning was that because he was a slave, which made him property, he could not be taken away from his owner without the due process of law. Additionally, they reasoned that as a slave, he was not an American citizen, which gave him no right to sue his owner in the first place. The abolitionists in the north were outraged. They felt that the government was practically encouraging slavery. This court decision led to the formation of the republican party and therefore the election of Lincoln.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/images/dred.jpg

02.12.13
The Kansas-Nebraska Act...
      The act was thought up by the Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas wanted the land out west to be opened up so that a Transcontinental Railroad could be built. Douglas wanted the railroad to have a more northern route with a major terminus in Chicago to benefit his business there. The southern states obviously preferred a more southern route. In order to appease the southern states to insure that they would vote for the act, Douglas suggested that the two states Kansas and Nebraska would be allowed to decide by popular sovereignty to be free or slave states. The act was passed and many northern abolitionists were not content. They felt that the act was essentially submitting and surrendering to the evils of slavery. This furthered tensions even more between the north and the south during the time leading up to the Civil War. 
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas–Nebraska_Act 

2.6.13
Compromise of Missouri, 1850, and GA Platform...    
  The next few events leading up to the Civil War all go together. When writing the Constitution, the founding fathers compromised when creating our legislature. They decided on a bicameral, or two-housed, legislature. In one, the Senate, each state had two representatives. In the other, the House of Representatives, the number of representatives each state had depended on its population. There was another balance that needed keeping in the young U.S. Congress: free and slave states. When a territory was ready to join the U.S. as a state, there needed to be another new state as well. One would need to be free, the other slave in order to maintain the balance. To make this process easier, Congress came up with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Essentially, they drew a line just above Arkansas to determine whether states would be free or not. The states entering the U.S. that were south of the line were deemed slave states, those north, free. This operated sufficiently until California decided it was ready to join the States. Evidently, the line would have split California in half. The people of California, however, did not want to be divided. Additionally, those who lived in California wanted to be an entire free state. The southern states would not be at all content if the balance was disrupted in the legislature. This resulted in the compromise of 1850. Quite a few things resulted from this compromise. Firstly, The U.S. took over the land claimed from Mexico by Texas. In return, the U.S. assumed the debt owed to Mexico by Texas. From this extra land, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada were formed. These new states were allowed to decide for themselves to be free or slave. Additionally, California became a free state and slavery was abolished in Washington D.C. Then, to appease the states of the south, the extremely controversial fugitive slave act was passed. Citizens had to help recover runaway slaves and return them to their proper owner. Also, the government employed additional people to be slave catchers. Fugitives were denied jury trials and the slave claiming process was much easier for the slave owners. The GA platform was Georgia's acceptance of the Compromise of 1850. Although Georgia did not reject the compromise, it also decreed that the state would tolerate no more actions against the rights of the south. These compromises represented the young United States trying to work things out before it led to civil war. As we all know now, their efforts were in vain.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Platform

2.6.13
States' rights and the Nullification Crisis...
As the north became more and more industrial, it became important to promote U.S. products as opposed to those imported. To do this, an extremely heavy tariff was put in place on all imported goods. Although this abetted the north's cause, the south was firmly against it. The south purchased many goods from overseas. Thanks, to the new tariff, this became immensely impractical. One state, South Carolina, was so outraged by their neglected states' rights that they caused the nullification crisis. South Carolina decreed that they would not enforce the tariff in their state. Also, they assembled their militia in case the U.S. army came calling. The national government was preparing their army as well. Although the crisis never resulted in violence it was proof that the rights of the states were very important and not to be messed with. It proved that the southern states had no problem starting a civil war to protect their rights.
Sources:
http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/b23f712eaca4fcec8a4a8aab2777a950_1M.png

Slavery as a Cause...

2.5.13
Slavery As A Cause…

         Although slavery was not the only cause of the Civil War, it was certainly a contributing factor. During the time leading up to the Civil War, many northern states began to view slavery as unjust.  One cause of this may be the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. For example, the Declaration influenced Vermont to abolish slavery in 1777 (see picture). Thus began the Abolition Movement. The goal of the Abolitionists was to insure that everyone, white or black, was free and equal. Obviously, the southern states were resolutely opposed to the Abolition Movement, and the northern states supported it. This created a sense of isolation of the southern states from the northern states. This was furthered by economic and social differences between the north and south. Together, among a few other factors, they eventually led up to the Civil War.

Sources:

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/freedom/history.html