After Gettysburg:Social, Economic and Political Warfare

• Economic and Social Effects

• Grant and Union Victory

• The Outcome• Reconstruction

– Lincoln– Johnson– Radical Republicans

1863:May 2-4: Battle of Chancellorsville (VA)

Lee’s army defeats Hooker’s Army of the Potomac—Stonewall Jackson diesMay 22: Grant begins long siege at Vicksburg, Miss. –the key to control of the

Mississippi River July 1-3: Gettysburg—the final turning point of the war; Confederates lose 28,000;

Union loses 23,000—Lee retreats to VA.July 4: Grant’s siege at Vicksburg ends in Victory; Union controls the Mississippi—

cutting the South in twoNovember 23-25: after taking control of the Union forces in the West, Grant drives

Confederate forces away from Chattanooga, takes control of Tennessee1864:March: Grant named commander of the Union armiesGrant repeatedly attacks RichmondNovember: Lincoln reelectedNovember 16: Sherman’s March to the Sea (splits South Horizontally)1865: January: 13th Amendment passed: Outlaws slavery (ratified Dec. of the same year)March 4: Lincoln’s 2nd InaugurationApril 2: Confederacy evacuates RichmondApril 4: Lincoln tours Richmond, sits in Davis’s ChairApril 8: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VAApril 14: Lincoln assassinated

Economic Effects

• South being defeated economically by naval blockade

• Outrageous Southern inflation (9,000%)

– Cigars--$10

– Butter--$25/lb.

– Flour--$275/barrel

Grant in Charge…

• North on the road toward victory

• Lincoln found his general

• The Northern Advantage—more replacements

• 60,000 casualties in

< a month

• “Butcher Grant?”

“March to the Sea”

• overnight turn-around• Atlanta to Savanna• 25 Days, Total War• Territorial, Economic,

Psychological Victory for North

• Southern Will CrackedWilliam Tecumseh Sherman Atlanta, post-destruction

“Let us judge not…that we be not judged”

• Lincoln reelected (1864) and called for:

• End to war• Tolerant, merciful

reconstruction• Lasting peace between

North and South

The Fall of the Confederacy

• April 3, 1865: Richmond falls

• April 9, 1865:

Lee Surrenders at Appomatox-Confederate soldiers lay down arms

-Can return home peacefully

General Lee

Appomatox Court House, VA

The Outcome

• Over 600,000 Casualties– 350,000 Union Soldiers– 250,000 Confederate Soldiers

• Southern Property and Economic Loss• BUT….• Slavery is dead• U.S. is a Nation• Better integrated Society• More advanced and productive economic system

Expansion of the “Proper Sphere”

• Women’s roles expanded—

• North and South– Managed Farms

– Nurses and Doctor(s)—Elizabeth Blackwell

– Factory Workers

– Volunteer Medical Corps

– U.S. Sanitary Commission

Why did the North Win the War?

• South had an 18th Century Army—fighting a 19th century war

• The numbers—South outmanned 2 to 1

• Blockade of the Southern Ports—starvation

• Failure of the South to gain foreign support

• Willingness of the North to fight a War of Attrition

•What would the United States do with the Fruits of Victory?

•What would ex-slaves do with their freedom?

•How would various groups of Americans react to emancipation?

•Could people forget the past?

Fundamental Questions Faced the Nation:

ReconstructionThe Central Question: What was more important: Getting the nation back together first, then

worrying about civil rights issues; or, Making sure the freed slaves were guaranteed equality

before reunifying the nation?• Lincoln’s Plan

– Provisional governors

– Simple loyalty oath

– “10% Plan”

– Lenient on South

– “We shall sooner have the fowl by hatching it than by smashing it.”

• Radical Republicans• The Wade-Davis Plan

– Wanted to make the South pay

– Oath that one was not a Confederate

– Majority necessary before readmission

– Pocket Vetoed

Tragedy Strikes

• Lincoln visited Richmond—hailed and worshipped as a hero

• Ford’s Theater—shot and assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

• Plot of die-hard Southern conspirators

• End to chance for relatively easy Reconstruction (for all involved)

The 13th Amendment: Lincoln helps it pass , but doesn’t live to see

it ratified

• “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, will exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

• “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Andrew Johnson: “the lone wolf”

• Indecisive

• Lacked Lincoln’s political abilities

• Alienated himself from nearly all constituencies

• We’ll soon see the results of this…

•

          

The Radical Republicans

• Ultras (Sumner): Called for immediate and absolute social and political equality for blacks

• Moderates (Stevens) civil rights, but not necessarily prepared to fight for absolute equality (but Stevens’ personal ideals were truly radical—buried in a black cemetery)

• Joint Committee on Reconstruction

• Civil Rights Act

Charles Sumner Thaddeus Stevens

The “Moral Trustees” of Reconstruction

The 14th Amendment—a truly radical measure

A broad definition of citizenship: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

Put Down Black Codes: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

Repudiated Confederate Debt

Attempted to enforce black right to vote