Civil War and Reconstruction: Causes

• Civil War and Reconstruction Study Guide: Multiple Choice, Drop-down, Selection, Short Answer format.

Causes of the Civil War

• Population Changes:

  • Irish Potato Famine led to a major increase in the Northern population.
  • Increased Northern control in the House of Representatives.
  • Immigrants couldn't afford to leave the North.
  • Causes Missouri and Massachusetts to enter as states.

• North/South Economic Differences:

  • The South was agricultural and agrarian, with major crops being tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton.
    • Southern planters held political power due to "King Cotton".
    • The Southern economy relied on slave labor for crops and plantations.
  • The North was very industrial, with mills producing textiles, and employed women, children, and immigrants.
  • The North was economically diverse.
  • Both North and South needed cotton for their economies.

• Territorial Additions/Impacts:

  • Maine enters as a free state, and Missouri enters as a slave state to maintain the balance.
  • The slave/free boundary line was drawn at 36°30'.
  • Kansas and Nebraska territories were open, so states could decide whether to be free or slave.
    • Angered northerners.
    • Abolitionist groups ran to the territories to control the vote.
    • Nebraska enters as a free state.
    • Attention focused on Kansas.
    • Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups set up state-level governments.
  • CA Gold Rush led to westward movement.
  • CA applies for statehood, upsetting the balance of slave/free states.
    • Southern states threatened secession.
    • Henry Clay proposes California enter as free, banning slave trade in DC to benefit both sides.
  • Utah and New Mexico would decide slave/free status.
  • Fugitive Slave Law strengthened, forcing the return of runaways on a national scale, even if they escaped North.

• Dred Scott Case Impact:

  • Dred Scott vs Sanford was used by the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of slavery.
  • African Americans were not considered citizens under the Constitution and had no right to sue in federal court.
  • Enslaved Africans were declared property that can be moved freely without government constraint.
    • Congress has no right to ban slavery in territories.
  • The Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional.
  • Slavery was legal in the United States.

Key Events during the War

• The initial shots of the Civil War were fired by Confederate General PGT Beauregard on Union troops at Fort Sumter.

  • Sparked enlisting on both sides.
  • The first major battle was fought near Manassas and Washington DC.
  • The Confederacy won an easy victory.
  • Confederate soldiers used the "rebel yell" to intimidate Union forces.
  • Civilians from Washington, DC, came to watch, but the battle proved the war would not end quickly.
  • This war is considered the war of attrition: the wear-down of one side by the other

• Antietam:

  • September 1862, Sharpsburg MD.
  • Lee develops a strategy to move the Confederate army north by cutting off Washington DC.
  • Lee wanted to force the Union to surrender after the Confederate army cut off Washington DC.
  • A message about the plan was dropped and intercepted by the Union.
  • The Union army intercepts the Confederate army at Antietam to stop their drive North.
  • Ended with 25,000 killed/wounded and no clear winner, making it the bloodiest single-day battle of the war.

• Gettysburg:

  • July 1,2,3 1863.
  • Neither side was ready to fight.
  • Lee wanted to cut off Washington DC.
  • The Second attempt by the Lee army at Gettysburg began at McPhersons Ridge.
  • Fighting moved throughout town and to the south in the city.
  • Intense fighting took place on the ends of the union line.
  • Pickett's Charge occurred along with a high water mark, showing how far the confederate army would get.
  • The Union wins, marking it the turning point in the war (S to N).

• Appomattox Courthouse:

  • Marks the end of the war.
  • Lee surrenders to Grant.
    • Grant offers fair terms to surrender:Allows confederates to keep their horses (spring plowing)
    • Does not take Lee prisoner
    • Allows soldiers to return home peacefully (provides food and water)