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California Gold Rush!
California filling up - statehood was destined to upset the balance in Congress
Slaveholding states would become the minority
Feared the North would move to abolish slavery -
Compromise of 1850
California admitted to Union as free state
Land won from Mexico would be open to slavery until they become states, and they’d vote on it
Slave auctions were banned in Washington DC
Texas receives $10 million, but not be allowed to advocate for slavery
Fugitive Slave Act - Tougher punishments on northerners who helped slaves escape the south. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln seen as a moderate
Supported Westward expansion - but halt slavery
Supported Southern states’ rights to slavery Lincoln wins election - does not win a single southern state North now controlled Presidency and Congress South determined to leave the Union before the “horrors of abolition were inflicted upon them” -
Withdrw
South Carolina votes to withdraw or secede from the Union -
Founding the Confederacy
February 8th, 1861: Confederate States of America founded as an independent republic.
Guaranteed slavery in every state
Banned tariffs
Limited Presidency to one, six-year term Jefferson Davis chosen as President, “The time for compromise has now passed.” -
Battle of Shiloh
Confederates launch surprise attack on Grant
More soldiers died in one day than the entire American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican-American wars combined.
Only the 9th bloodiest battle of the entire war -
Battle of Antietam
Lee pushes into Northern territory, fights Union General George McClellan
Lee kills/wounds 22,000 men in one day
Lee retreats: so many casualties omg -
Vicksburg
Union fights to control the Mississippi River
Vicksburg was the last major confederate base on the river
Grant assaults, but is repelled - puts under siege
Plan to cut off food/supplies
Siege for 3 months, Confederates are starving -
Ford’s Theater
Lincoln was shot.
Lincoln dies the next morning, Booth killed days later
Lincoln had empathy, wanted to reunite the nation
Country now depended on bitterly divided Congress
New President, Andrew Johnson -
Military Reconstruction Act - March 1867
Divided former Confederacy into 5 military districts
Strict requirements to be readmitted to the Union
Ratify 14th Amendment
Allow African-Americans the vote -
Battle of Bull Run
Both sides expected a quick, easy war: not true...
Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) happens 25 miles from Washington DC
Congressmen, American public, bring picnic baskets
Onlookers horrified: brutal, bloody battle
Northern casualties: 2,896 killed
Southern casualties: 1, 982 killed
Fearing the South would march straight to DC, Congress enlisted 500,000 men
The assumption of an easy war turned into a major armed conflict -
Sherman’s March: November 15 1964
William Tecumseh Sherman scorches his way to Atlanta
Burns everything: railroads, warehouses, mills, factories, farms
Made Southerners understand the horrors of war -
Confederacy can’t protect you!
Destruction 60 miles wide from Atlanta to Savannah