Key Dates, People, & Ideas of the Civil War
Key Dates
- 1850 - The Compromise of 1850 is passed. California enters the Union as a free state and the Fugitive Slave Law is strengthened.
- 1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act introduced the idea of “popular sovereignty” as the method for territories to determine whether to be free or slave.
- 1854 - The Republican Party is formed to oppose the extension of slavery.
- 1857 - The Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sanford ruled that Congress cannot limit slaves, that slaves are property and not citizens, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
- 1860 - Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, was elected as the 16th President of the United States. His First Inaugural Address reassured the South, but stated he would act to preserve the Union, by force if needed.
- 1860 - Angered over the election of Abraham Lincoln, South Carolina seceded from the United States and, along with five other states, formed the Confederate States of America.
- 1861 - Jefferson Davis became the President of the Confederate States of America.
- 1861 - The Civil War began at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
- 1861 - Confederate general Stonewall Jackson defeated the Union army at the Battle of Bull Run in July. Jackson was regarded as one of the best Confederate commanders.
- 1862 - The Battle of Antietam took place late in the year. It became the bloodiest single day of the war.
- 1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation is announced by Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in rebelling states (those in the Confederacy).
- 1863 - The Battle of Gettysburg took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After 3 days of heavy fighting, Lee retreated.. The battle was the turning point of the war and Lee’s army was never again able to go on the offensive in the North again.
- 1863 - Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address to dedicate a cemetery to Union soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg.
- 1863 - The Battle of Vicksburg became another turning point in the war when Grant defeated the Confederate army and gained control of the Mississippi River, cutting the South into two parts.
- 1864 - Lincoln is re-elected to a second term as President of the United States. Gave his Second Inaugural Address which focused on the end of slavery and trying to bind the wounds that were caused by the Civil War.
- 1865 - General Lee and the Confederate Army surrendered to General Grant and the Union Army at Appomattox Court House and ended the Civil War.
- 1865 - Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while he attended a play at Ford’s Theatre.
Key People
- Abraham Lincoln - President of the United States of America during the Civil War
- Jefferson Davis - President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War
- Ulysses S. Grant - Commander of the Union forces during the Civil War
- Robert E. Lee - Commander of the Confederate forces during the Civil War
- William T. Sherman - Union General; tore up railroads, cut telegraph lines, and burned down farms, businesses and villages on his “March to the Sea”
- “Stonewall” Jackson - Confederate General; defeated Union forces at the Battle of Bull Run; regarded as one of the greatest Confederate commanders
- William Carney - Took part in attack on Fort Wagner. First African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
- Philip Bazaar- Hispanic (Chile) seaman who aided the Union victory at Fort Fisher. First Hispanic-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Key Ideas
- By the mid-nineteenth century, the nation consisted of three different regions or “sections.” Many Americans felt greater loyalty to their section than to the country as a whole. This strong loyalty was known as sectionalism.
- The North was the most industrialized. Factory workers produced manufactured goods. Farmers raised livestock to supply food to towns and cities. Railroads connected natural resources with factories and consumers.
- The West became the “breadbasket” of the country, growing wheat and other crops. Cities developed on the banks of the Great Lakes and along major rivers.
- The South was transformed by the invention of the cotton gin and the growing demand for cotton in by English and Northern factories. Plantation owners grew, harvested, and shipped cotton with large forces of slaves.
- Immigrants contributed to both economic and demographic growth in this period. Irish immigrants came to escape the famine in Ireland. German immigrants came to escape political repression. Many Irish settled in the cities in the Northeast, while Germans often settled in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
- Northern states abolished slavery. Some Southern slaves were freed by their owners and became free blacks. Most moved to the North.
- The struggle over slavery focused on the issue of its extension into new territories. Southerners feared the North would take control of Congress and abolish slavery. Under the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state, and the Fugitive Slave Law was greatly strengthened.
- The system of compromise started to breakdown when the Kansas-Nebraska Act let settlers decide if they wanted slavery, adding violence to the issue.
- The Republican Party was founded against the further spread of slavery.
- The Dred Scott decision, holding that African Americans had no right to citizenship, and that Congress could not limit slaver owners’ control of their property, ended the possibility of further compromise on the issue.
- The Democrats divided and nominated two candidates to the Presidency in 1860. As a result of this split, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the election.
- Because of Lincoln’s reputation as an opponent of slavery, South Carolina seceded. Five other states seceded before Lincoln’s inauguration.
- Jefferson Davis became President of the Confederacy.
- In his Inaugural Address, Davis claimed Southern states had the right to secede. In his First Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln pledged not to attack slavery in the South, but warned that he would act to preserve the Union, by force if needed.
- When Lincoln tried to reinforce Fort Sumter in April 1861, South Carolina fired on the fort. The Civil War began. Lincoln called on all states to contribute militia and put down the rebellion. Virginia and three more southern states seceded and joined the Confederacy. Many historians believe, sectionalism, states’ rights, and slavery were the three main causes of the Civil War.
- Both sides thought the war would end quickly. The North failed in its early attempts to take Richmond. The North had a large population, more industry, more money, and a larger navy than the South. Lincoln adopted the “Anaconda Plan,” attempting to strangle the South with a naval blockade. Southerners had gifted military leaders like Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson.
- The Confederate states felt they were fighting to preserve their own way of life, just as the American colonists had once resisted Britain.
- Lincoln took all the needed steps for pursuing the war, including a naval blockade of the South, conscription, use of paper money, and limited censorship.
- General Lee led Southern forces into the North in 1862, but they were stopped at the Battle of Antietam. Soon after, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, would be free. This did not extend to border states still in the Union.
- Lincoln hoped the Emancipation Proclamation would give the war a moral purpose and would prevent Britain and France from allying with the South.
- In the summer of 1863, Lee’s march northward was stopped at the Battle of Gettysburg. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln argued the war had become a struggle to see if the system of democracy could survive.
- The same week, Grant took Vicksburg, giving the North control of the Mississippi River. General William Sherman marched from the West across Georgia to the sea, destroying crops, town and farms everywhere he went.
- Lincoln was re-elected in 1864. In his Second Inaugural Address, he focused on slavery and the need to take a conciliatory approach at the war’s end.
- In April 1865, General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House. This brought the Civil War to an end.
- A few days later, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.