Civil War and Reconstruction Flashcards
States Rights (10)
South said there is nothing in the constitution that says you can’t succeed
Limits to what a state can do
Says a state can do as it wants but there are limits
You can’t leave or own slaves
Cotton was the money making crop
Cash crop
Very hard to get (a lot of labor)
South wanted to secede because they wanted slavery
secede= to break away
3 types of states
Red is the confederate states
Blue is the union states
Light blue is the border states
Grey is the uncommitted territories
Strengths and Weaknesses (1861-1865)
North had more (a lot more) Money Men Machines Military The strengths of the north were all of the weaknesses of the south The south's strength is that they did the war on their home turf Had more heart into it New the land Fought harder South had more and better military leaders Leadership is everything Had a lot of military schools
Robert E. Lee
Southerner
Great soldier
Thought of as super human
Won so many battles
Couldn’t be defeated
People thought he would be the president of the confederacy
South loved him, general the whole war
He was asked by Lincoln to fight for the north
Said no he was fighting for Virginia (the south)
Number one student at West Point and then became the principle
Didn’t mind slavery
Thought African Americans were inferior
Big time racist
He was a backward thinker, he did not want to move forward with African Americans
The Battle of Bull Run
First battle of the civil war
Also called The Battle of Manassas
Given two names
Souths name and norths name
North thought they would crush the south in 2 days so they didn’t take it seriously
People from Washington came to “watch the battle”
Picnicked to watch
South won the battle and started to walk towards Washington
They didn’t end up taking over Washington
Northern soldiers panicked and ran
Embarrassing
People realized that this war would be longer and harder than they thought
South sometimes fought harder and better than the North, so it was not an easy battle like everyone thought to begin with
The Anaconda Plan
North can’t find a leader
First leader for North: General Scott
Said we need to surround the South like a snake
Use the Navy to make sure nothing could come in and out
Use soldiers to march in from the North
Slowly squeeze the South to death by starving them
North won
Copperheads
People up North who wanted no part of this war
Poisoning the war effort
Believed it was a waste of time and money
Northerners against the war
Merrimack vs. Monitor
Size of a soccer field
Both sides thought that if they got this big iron boat they would win the war
You could just ram a wooden boat sinking it while you stay afloat
Antietam
North won this battle
Fought in Western MD
One of the biggest battles of the war
Bloodiest day of the Civil War than any other day
Emancipation Proclamation
The freeing of slaves in rebelling states
Initial plan for starting this war was to glue this country together
Plan B was to free the slaves
Wanted to wait for a win before making this announcement
Nobody was really freed
NY Draft Riots
Drafted into the war- recieve a letter demanding you to fight in the war so you either show up or go to jail
You could get out of fighting if you paid $300
Rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight
Anger over this law blew up into a riot- burning, looting, shooting
Morphed into a race riot
Battle of Gettysburg
Bloodiest battle July of 1863 Lasted for 3 days Turning point of the war-had the South won this battle they might have won the war South surrendered
Battle of Vicksburg
Gettysburg and Vicksburg were the one-two punches
Happened the same week, technically Vicksburg a day after-early July
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Trying to get into the town at the top of the hill to take control of the Mississippi river
North starts charging and they all get killed
Grant calls it mini-anaconda= wanted to slowly surround it nothing in nothing out
South surrendered
The 54th MA
First black regiment
About a thousand soldiers in a regiment
Black soldiers would panic and were incapable of fighting a real fight
Racial stereotype= good for cooking and cleaning, not good for fighting
Nobody fought better or stronger than the African American soldiers
They’ve got more in this fight more than anyone else- put their heart and soul into
Am I gonna be a slave again? What will happen to my family?
Fort Wagner, SC
Lincoln gave a lot of credit to the black regiments that they helped win the war
Empirical evidence that African Americans could fight
Nothing worse for Southerners than seeing a freed slave dressed in blue
Andersonville
Southern prison in Georgia for Northern POWs
Subject to brutal torture
No food or medical attention
North went nuts and hung all the Southern leaders of this camp
Called war crimes which result in the death penalty or long prison sentences
The Gettysburg Address
Bloodiest battle itself
Of the people, by the people, and for the people
A bunch of big shots decided that four months after the battle to head towards the town and give a bunch of speeches to show respect and appreciation for all the dead soldiers
Guy before Lincoln spoke for two hours and Lincoln spoke for 2 min
Essence- we are here to thank the soldiers for two reasons
1st reason they are saving the Union and the country
2nd reason they saved democracy
General Grant and a War of Attrition
Leader of the North/Union Lincoln had a big problem and he was the solution Couldn’t find the right General A butcher, a buzz saw No mercy Loads of military experience
Sherman’s March
Made Grant look like a sissy
Fighting for the North
Grant hired him to finish off the South
South claims he didn’t have to totally destroy the South
Did it because he wanted to not because he had to “we were already gonna lose”
Sherman said he had to do it to teach the South a lesson and make sure they would never revolt again
Appomattox Court House
In Virginia
April 1865
Leigh is signing a peace treaty with Grant surrendering
Let Leigh go instead of shooting him
The 13th Amendment
New justice
Instituted amendments protecting African Americans
Rules don’t work unless you enforce them
Amendment stated that nobody is going to be enslaved in the United States of America
John Wilkes Booth
Southerner who never accepted that the war was over
Assassinated Lincoln
Radical Confederate
Week after shooting Lincoln he was shot
Modern Secession
No one ever actually does it
Before Obama was elected the Governor of Texas threatened to secede
Reconstruction (1865-1877)
Rebuilding the country after the War
South is not very cooperative
Not gonna go smoothly
Statistics to know
11 states took off in 1860 to start their own country
1861-1865
620,000 killed on both sides
Four million freed
Radical Republicans
Northerners who feel the South need to be punished
Abolitionists before the war and anti-South after the war
Lincoln’s Pardon
Lincoln wanted to forgive and forget
A moderate, mellow Republican not a radical Republican
Disagreement between his own party on how to handle the South
President Johnson 1865
Republican but radical Republicans hated him
Born and raised in the South, Tennessee
Wanted to totally forgive everyone down South
Alcoholic- had a habit of giving speeches drunk
Freedman’s Bureau
What do you do with all these free slaves?
Can’t teach them to read or write
No jobs
North created it
Educates the youth- how to read and write
Gives adults job training and advice on how to get your life on track
A program started by the North to jumpstart their lives
Black Codes 1865
Jim Crow
Every Southern state puts up signs separating whites and blacks
Superior white South
Inferior black South
The KKK 1866
If we can’t enslave them we can treat them like dirt
Tennessee the KKK is born
Only goal is to terrify African Americans so much that they would not dare ask for justice
Successful
Motto: The South Will Rise Again
Supposed to be the ghosts of every Confederate soldier hence the all white costume
The Civil Rights Acts of 1865 and 1875
North passes anti-Jim Crow anti-KKK laws
Tennis match between the N and the S during Reconstruction
All talk, writing on a piece of paper is useless if it is not enforced
The Military Reconstruction Act 1867
The walk to the talk of the Civil Rights Acts
South wasn’t cooperating so the North re-invaded the South with soldiers like policemen
Broke the South into five puzzle pieces
Each puzzle piece was a military district
Each district had a General
Each General had thousands of soldiers acting as policemen making sure the KKK was not running the South
KKK didn’t disappear but they went into hiding, racism didn’t go away but the Jim Crow signs were taken down
14th Amendment 1868
Stated that it doesn’t matter who you are as long as you’re a US citizen you must be treated equally under the law
The Tenure Act 1868
If you’re impeached you are sent to trial
Andrew Johnson was saved by one vote
His own party wanted to impeach him
Pro-South from the South so the Radical Republicans hated him
Violated the Tenure of Office Act that says if you’re the president and you wanna fire a government official, you need to get the OK of the Senate
Johnson fired a government official without the Senate’s permission
If the Senate had liked Johnson they would have let it slide but they hated him
15th Amendment 1870
Black men were given the right to vote
People thought everything was going to workout
Compromise of 1877
Reconstruction ended with this Compromise
Very bad news for African Americans
1876 election was a mess, both parties were accused of cheating
South said “you can have your president, Rutherford B. Hayes, if you get rid of Reconstruction” and the North agreed
What about 40 acres and a mule?
“Still waiting for my 40 acres and a mule”
At the end of the Civil War many people saw thousands of freed slaves who had nothing
Radical Republicans said they were gonna give every African American 40 acres and a mule as reparations for slavery
Take land away from the ex-slave owners for the ex-slave
Formal written down order
Andrew Johnson vetoed it and it never happened
Sharecropping and Debt Peonage
Ex-slaves went to their ex-masters plantation and asked if they could borrow some of their land
Former slave owners said yes but you have to give me a portion of your crops
Ex-slaves borrowed money for tools or a mule from a white man
The rule was you couldn’t leave the plantation until you paid them back
Jim Crow
Black codes
Signs go up all over the place
Two Souths- inferior blacks and superior whites
Lynching
Fear that if you spoke up for justice you would be hung from a tree or sent floating down a river
Lynching means death by mobs
