Civil War/Reconstruction (1861-1877)
The Civil War was the culmination of nearly 40 years of tensions between the
North and the South. Northern abolitionists looked forward to the war with great
anticipation: victory over the South would finally allow the dreaded institution
of slavery to be eliminated. Northern industrialists saw the war as an
opportunity, at long last, to expand their control of American industry. The
majority of Southerners rejoiced at the onset of war; they perceived that
victory would allow the "Southern way of life" to continue without constant
criticism from the North. As in many wars, politicians and generals on both
sides predicted a quick victory. Newspapers in both the North and the South
declared that the war would be over by Christmas of 1861.
To state that the Civil War was just about slavery is an oversimplification.
Certainly, criticism by Northern abolitionists of the "peculiar institution" of
slavery, and Southern responses to that criticism, were important factors.
However, other tensions between the North and the South also existed. The future
of the American economy as seen by Northern industrialists differed drastically
from the desires and needs of the leaders of Southern plantation society. Most
importantly, the Southern view of "states' rights" differed most dramatically
from the view of the Union held in the North. By 1861, many political leaders in
the South fervently espoused the views that John C. Calhoun had formulated
decades earlier. It was up to the individual state to decide on the validity of
any federal law or federal action for that state. This position was intolerable
to President Lincoln and most political leaders in the North. If anything, it
was debate over the state's rights issue that made the Civil War inevitable.
North and the South. Northern abolitionists looked forward to the war with great
anticipation: victory over the South would finally allow the dreaded institution
of slavery to be eliminated. Northern industrialists saw the war as an
opportunity, at long last, to expand their control of American industry. The
majority of Southerners rejoiced at the onset of war; they perceived that
victory would allow the "Southern way of life" to continue without constant
criticism from the North. As in many wars, politicians and generals on both
sides predicted a quick victory. Newspapers in both the North and the South
declared that the war would be over by Christmas of 1861.
To state that the Civil War was just about slavery is an oversimplification.
Certainly, criticism by Northern abolitionists of the "peculiar institution" of
slavery, and Southern responses to that criticism, were important factors.
However, other tensions between the North and the South also existed. The future
of the American economy as seen by Northern industrialists differed drastically
from the desires and needs of the leaders of Southern plantation society. Most
importantly, the Southern view of "states' rights" differed most dramatically
from the view of the Union held in the North. By 1861, many political leaders in
the South fervently espoused the views that John C. Calhoun had formulated
decades earlier. It was up to the individual state to decide on the validity of
any federal law or federal action for that state. This position was intolerable
to President Lincoln and most political leaders in the North. If anything, it
was debate over the state's rights issue that made the Civil War inevitable.
Immediately following the war, all-white Southern legislatures passed black
codes which denied blacks the right to purchase or rent land. These efforts to
force former slaves to work on plantations led Congressional Republicans to
seize control of Reconstruction from President Andrew Johnson, deny
representatives from the former Confederate states their Congressional seats,
and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and draft the 14th Amendment, extending
citizenship rights to African Americans and guaranteeing equal protection of the
laws. In 1870, the 15th Amendment gave voting rights to black men. The freedmen, in
alliance with carpetbaggers and southern white Republicans known as scalawags,
temporarily gained power in every former Confederate state except Virginia. The
Reconstruction governments drew up democratic state constitutions, expanded
women's rights, provided debt relief, and established the South's first
state-funded schools. Internal divisions within the Southern Republican Party,
white terror, and Northern apathy allowed white Southern Democrats known as
Redeemers to return to power. During Reconstruction former slaves and many small
white farmers became trapped in a new system of economic exploitation known as
sharecropping.
codes which denied blacks the right to purchase or rent land. These efforts to
force former slaves to work on plantations led Congressional Republicans to
seize control of Reconstruction from President Andrew Johnson, deny
representatives from the former Confederate states their Congressional seats,
and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and draft the 14th Amendment, extending
citizenship rights to African Americans and guaranteeing equal protection of the
laws. In 1870, the 15th Amendment gave voting rights to black men. The freedmen, in
alliance with carpetbaggers and southern white Republicans known as scalawags,
temporarily gained power in every former Confederate state except Virginia. The
Reconstruction governments drew up democratic state constitutions, expanded
women's rights, provided debt relief, and established the South's first
state-funded schools. Internal divisions within the Southern Republican Party,
white terror, and Northern apathy allowed white Southern Democrats known as
Redeemers to return to power. During Reconstruction former slaves and many small
white farmers became trapped in a new system of economic exploitation known as
sharecropping.
“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic
military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of
Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a
track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be
our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we
will live forever or die by suicide.”
- Abraham Lincoln