...“A house divided among itself cannot stand” - Abraham Lincoln. A country divided among itself will not survive. A government divided among itself will not function. The Civil War divided our country into what was perceived as right and wrong. However, both sides were caught together, stuck in an endless spiral downward. When Lincoln was assassinated restoring the nation was left to Johnson. A difficult task even for a strong man like Lincoln, but when Johnson, inexperienced in politics takes over the task become more or less impossible. Lincoln's assassination had a negative impact on the country after the Civil War because the South would have been better off with Lincoln's plan and Johnson accomplished nothing during his presidency. Lincoln's plan for governmental Reconstruction was flawless, until Johnson came along and ruined it. Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction was fair and peaceful; consequently he released the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863. He believed the proclamation would muster northern support for the war and meanwhile persuade tiring Confederate soldiers to give up (Coyne and Bolotin). The proclamation permitted full pardons to all Southerners - except high-ranking...
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...American war, nearly 620,000. The causes of the Civil War was caused by what is to be believed four main things, know as the four S's. The Civil War needed every solider to end it but some were truly amazing like the two presidents and the two generals of the warring sides. The Confederate and Union army had many battles throughout the war and the tide of war changed with each battle but some greatly changed the outcomes. The war's end came slower than it was thought to come and many great things came out of it like the end to slavery and the reconstruction of America. The Civil War commenced in order with the causes, the people who were a big impact, battles, and the results. There were many...
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...Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809. His parents were Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. He was raised in a farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. During his childhood Abraham was in the period of slavery, but the Lincoln family did not own any slaves, not only because they couldn’t afford it, but also his father Thomas did not approve of it. Later in 1816 the Lincoln family had to move to Indiana, near the Ohio River. Soon enough in 1818 Abraham’s mother, Nancy Lincoln, died of milk sickness. After the mother died, Thomas found a new wife named Sarah Bush Johnston. A few years later, the life in Indiana wasn’t as expected and the family had to move to Macon Country, Illinois. Abraham believed that he should be off by himself, and soon enough is what he did at the age of 23, and later he began his political career and became a member of the Whig party, and also a candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1832, after being fired from his job at a store, he decided to join the Illinois militia to help fight in the Black Hack war, and was chosen captain by his group. He served his country for 3 months, and it changed his life forever, because during the time he was in the militia, he saved an innocent Native American from being attacked from the other soldiers in the camp. When things were bad for him, he gave it his best to bring himself up again, and in 1834 Lincoln ran for state legislature, and in a few years he learned everything to become a lawyer and took an oath to...
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...Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809. His parents were Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. He was raised in a farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. During his childhood Abraham was in the period of slavery, but the Lincoln family did not own any slaves, not only because they couldn’t afford it, but also his father Thomas did not approve of it. Later in 1816 the Lincoln family had to move to Indiana, near the Ohio River. Soon enough in 1818 Abraham’s mother, Nancy Lincoln, died of milk sickness. After the mother died, Thomas found a new wife named Sarah Bush Johnston. A few years later, the life in Indiana wasn’t as expected and the family had to move to Macon Country, Illinois. Abraham believed that he should be off by himself, and soon enough is what he did at the age of 23, and later he began his political career and became a member of the Whig party, and also a candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1832, after being fired from his job at a store, he decided to join the Illinois militia to help fight in the Black Hack war, and was chosen captain by his group. He served his country for 3 months, and it changed his life forever, because during the time he was in the militia, he saved an innocent Native American from being attacked from the other soldiers in the camp. When things were bad for him, he gave it his best to bring himself up again, and in 1834 Lincoln ran for state legislature, and in a few years he learned everything to become a lawyer and took an oath...
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...their emancipation. But before we get an insight into this subject, it is important to know in brief the events that led to the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was elected the President of United States in 1860, and this propelled anxiety and fear in the minds of the southern states who believed that the government will pass laws that will dampen their economy and the 'southern way of life.' This was primarily because of the reason that northerners hadn't too much at stake in the institution of slavery. Their economy chiefly depended on industries and factories. South, on the other hand, depended on slaves heavily for their work. The plantations of indigo, tobacco, rice, and cotton (after the invention of cotton gin) required hard labor and the slaves were made to work for long hours so that profit was maximized. Many people believe that the Civil War was about North's struggle to emancipate the slaves and South's fight to continue the slave trade. However, it should be remembered that the North did not go to war to emancipate the slaves, instead Abraham Lincoln, before becoming the President had explicitly stated that his aim wasn't to abolish slavery, but to contain its spread. However, the southern states (none of which had voted for Abraham Lincoln) believed that the election of Abraham Lincoln was detrimental to their economy, and hence, there was no other option than secession. South Carolina was the first state to declare secession...
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...CIVIL WAR JOURNALS “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, And is not either to save or destroy slavery” -Abraham Lincoln (1862) THE BACKGROUND CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR (C.W. JOURNAL #1). The Civil War wasn’t only about the fight of freedom for the black people, but also the economics, and the states against the federal rights, lead them to the call of battle. To me, they were important factors that people had their own desire of having the life they wanted. The Economic and social differences between the North and the South became more notable each day. The North needed the South, and the South needed the North. The southern economy was depending on cotton in which they needed the salves to work on. The North had the industries that purchased the raw cotton and turned them into finished goods. This created a major difference in economic attitude, and the North meant the change of society, evolved with different cultures and classes. Other fact that lead them to war was the disagreement the states had against the government. The government felt that the states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. This resulted in the idea of nullification. When nullification would not work, the states felt that they were no longer respected and moved towards secession. ELECTION OF 1860 (C.W. JOURNAL #2). The Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern due the slavery issues. In the Northern democratic...
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...in 1787 and it was backed by the wealthy. The Federalist party believed in a republic where the federal government had most of the power and should protect the interests of the country. Jefferson was at the head of the anti-federalists also known as the Democratic-Republican Party. The Democratic-Republican Party was backed by people such as small farmers, artisans, and planters. They wanted the federal government to have little involvement in their lives and to leave most of the power to the local and state governments (Flanders, 2007). B1. The Whig and Democratic Parties had many different platforms they used. The Whig Party did not want to expand westward and wanted to grow commercially within the current territory of the nation. The Whig party...
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...opportunity to write to you, lest I should not be able to write you again. It is very clear that we are moving in a few days. We are all not so ready yet, but the indication is strong that we are attacking nonetheless. Hope this will bring the war to a quick end, and I may see you again. After the rebs opened fire on Fort Sumter to begin the war, the Union might be encouraged by early victories in western Virginia, and by the war fever spreading through the North, the superiors ordered to mount an offensive that would hit quickly and decisively at the enemy, hope to bring the war to a mercifully quick end. The defeat of Fort Sumter caused more states to join the Confederacy. Fort Sumter is an...
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...as the Confederate president and he was a famous soldier and politician. Jefferson Davis was born in Kentucky on June 3, 1808 but he was raised in Mississippi(Gallagher). He began his childhood in Rosemont, a plantation near Woodville(Gallagher). At the age of 8, he attended a boarding school at St. Thomas College near Springfield, Kentucky(Gallagher). He came back to Mississippi to go to Jefferson College in Adams county. In 1823, Davis attended Transylvania University in Kentucky(Gallagher). Most of his career he represented Mississippi in Washington and he also represented the military in the Mexican war for over 15 years(Jefferson Davis (1808-1889). Jefferson Davis was an effective...
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...reasonably argued that the Civil War is one of the most critical events to every happen in our country’s rich history. The devastating war took over half a million American lives in just a little over four years. This tragic event in history, up until Vietnam, claimed more American lives than any other war (Rubin 11). In hindsight it is clear that this war should have been avoided at all cost but during the late 1800’s the tension was so high and hostile that the war was inevitable. Sectionalism had increased so much during that period that even citizens thought of their country divided into two halves, being the North and the South. Each section considered themselves as right and proper while the other as ridiculous and wrong. These tensions kept building until the thought of secession became not a question of if but rather a question of when. According to Cole C. Kingseed, author of The American Civil War, the seeds of the Civil War can be planted as early as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. By the time of the convention five states had already abolished slavery, which made the southern states tentative to join the union for the fear of not having their slaves counted for representation in congress. A compromise was made that allowed for three out of every five slaves to be counted as the population. The slave owning states made it very clear that the only way for a union was for slavery to be legal in the southern states. Before the United States of America formally...
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...divisions, Confederates and Unionists fought their own political war to determine which way Tennessee would go as the Confederate States of America took form in neighboring Alabama. West Tennesseans, led by Governor Isham G. Harris, overwhelmingly wished connection with the Confederacy, while in East Tennessee most residents remained fervidly loyal to the Union. In the state's middle section, the counties in the Central Basin leaned heavily toward secession, but those on the basin's rim were more ambivalent in their support, a discrepancy which led to divided communities and divided families and prepared the way for vicious neighbor-against-neighbor guerrilla conflict when the Civil War commenced. In 1861 Governor Harris summoned the legislature into a special session to consider secession. To obtain a better view of the voters' sentiments, the legislature called for a February referendum to decide whether a secession convention should be held. At this point the secession fever that had gripped the Deep South remained much more muted in Tennessee and the other border states. By a vote of 69,000 to 58,000, a majority of Tennesseans rejected the call for a secession convention, with West Tennessee supporting the convention, East Tennessee rejecting it overwhelmingly, and Middle Tennessee almost equally divided. Secessionists continued to agitate, and Franklin Countians even threatened to secede from the state and join Alabama. The firing on Fort Sumter in April and President Lincoln's...
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...and class lines, the majority of Americans had much in common. They were white, Christian, spoke English, and shared a heritage forged in the crucible of the Revolutionary War. Questions relating to the institution of slavery set the stage for secession and war. Most men and women at the time would have agreed with Abraham Lincoln’s assertion in his Second Inaugural Address that slavery “was, somehow, the cause of the war.” Alexander H. Stephens, the Confederacy’s vice president, minced no words when he proclaimed in March 1861 that slavery “was the immediate cause of the late rupture and the present revolution” to establish southern independence.[1] The framers of the United States Constitution had compromised regarding slavery, creating a democratic republic that sought to ensure its citizenry’s freedoms while also reassuring the South that individual states would have the power to maintain and regulate slavery within their boundaries. The paradox of white liberty that rested in part on a foundation of black slavery was thus imbedded in the origins of the United States. Debates over the expansion of slavery into federal territories, which were tied to the South’s effort to maintain an equal number of free and slave states, created turmoil in national politics. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Wilmot Proviso of 1846...
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...drinking. He listened silently as his officers described a bleak situation. The Union Army was surrounded. Men and horses faced starvation. A Confederate victory seemed inevitable. Grant thanked his men, and began to write his orders. Max Byrd, Novelist: You see a lot of Grant in just that act of writing. The concentration and the determination. He never looked up. He never hesitated. He never seemed to search for a word. Geoffrey Perr et, Biographer: By the time he'd finished, he was surrounded by pieces of, of paper that he'd covered with his, his very even hand writing. In effect, he had fought the battle already in his o wn mind. Narrator: Before the war, Grant had been a nobody, a failure as a farmer and a businessman. As Commanding General, he was called an incompetent, a butcher. But he would win every campaign he ever fought. His plain, Midwestern w ays would captivate the American people. David W. Blight, Historian: There was something about that element of the American dream of that rags to riches story. He had experienced humiliation and he had understood failure. And I suspect a lot of Americans could see themselves in him. Donald Miller, Historian: Grant, not Lincoln was the most popular man in the nineteenth century. No question about it. Even in death Lincoln wasn't as popular as Ulysses Grant. Narrator: Twice a grateful nation elected the Civil War's greatest hero, President. But his years in the White House, marked by racial violence and scandal, would threaten...
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...Abraham Lincoln Biography Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. He moved to Indiana in 1816 and lived there the rest stated that he had about one year of formal education. However, he was taught by many different individuals. He loved to read and of his youth. His mother died when he was nine but he was very close to his stepmother who urged him to read. Lincoln himself learn from any books he could get his hands on. Family Ties: Father: Thomas Lincoln - farmer and carpenter Mother: Nancy Hanks - died when Lincoln was nine. His stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, was very close to him. Siblings: Sarah Grigsby was the only sibling to live to maturity. Wife: Mary Todd - grew up in relative wealth. Four of her siblings fought for the South. She was considered mentally unbalanced. Children: Edward - died at age 3 in 1850; Robert Todd - lawyer and diplomat; William Wallace - the only president's child to die in the White House, and Thomas "Tad" - died at 18. Abraham Lincoln's Military Career: In 1832, Lincoln enlisted to fight in the Black Hawk War. He was quickly elected to be the captain of a company of volunteers. His company joined regulars under Colonel Zachary Taylor. He only served 30 days in this capacity and then signed on as a private in the mounted Rangers. He then joined the Independent Spy Corps. He saw no real action during his short stint in the military. Career Before the Presidency: Lincoln worked as a clerk before...
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...property. The South was in all aspects following behind the North and did not except or want changes imposed by the North. Regardless of the differences perhaps at the beginning of the war the South was ready to defend its way of life. Their over all differences lead to the Civil War and it was not solely because of slavery, but the right to live as they had for years. Before the war you had the upper and lower South who did not agree to secession at the same time. This caused a dividing line not only was the North and South divided the South was divided between its self. These eight states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Maryland, and Delaware held most of the South’s resources. So it was imperative they join with the South. These eight states had the power in deciding the fate of the Confederacy by the side they joined. When Fort Sumter was fired upon they realized a decision must be made soon. One Virginian wrote, “We must either identify with the North or...
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