Georgia Studies Standards (SS8H6): Analyze the Impact of the Civil War & Reconstruction

Georgia Studies Standards (SS8H6): Analyze the impact of the Civil War & Reconstruction on Georgia.

1. Antebellum Era: Explain the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War including: slavery, states’ rights, nullification, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850 and the Georgia Platform, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott case, election of 1860, the debate over secession in Georgia and the role of Alexander Stephens.
2. State the importance of key events of the Civil Warincluding: Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Union blockade of Georgia’s coast, Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and Andersonville.
3. Analyze the impact of Reconstructionon Georgia and other southern states, emphasizing Freedmen’s Bureau; sharecropping and tenant farming, Reconstruction plans, 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Henry McNeal Turner and black legislators and the Ku Klux Klan.

Slavery—legalized institution that dehumanized and oppressed African Americans. While many northern states wrote laws abolishing slavery after the end of the Revolutionary Wary, in the South, slavery grew after the invention of the cotton gin. By 1860 there were 4 million slaves in the South. The agricultural economy of the South became dependent on labor intensive cash crops such as cotton and tobacco and justified the need for slavery. This created a huge polarity in Southern social structure between owners of large plantations (50 + slaves) and yeoman farmers. By 1860, although less than 1% of the population, planters were the wealthiest people in the U.S., but this came at the expense of denying a whole people group any rights or freedoms and capitalizing on the labor of the slave population. With so much invested in slave labor, planters didn’t take any interest in permanent community improvements such as public schools, city infrastructure, transportation systems or technology. Reliance on slavery prevented the South from having a diverse economy. Many historians believe the economy of the South was less prosperous overall because of the institution of slavery.

Abolition—the movement to end slavery.

Underground Railroad— a network of individuals and safe houses responsible for helping thousands escape into freedom. After the passage of then Fugitive Slave Act (1850) this network extended to Canada.

States’ rights—As guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, states have certain rights. During The Antebellum Era, Southerners tended to believea state’s interests should take precedence over the interests of the national government, while Northerners tended to support a stronger federal government.

Sectionalism—the belief by the people in a given region that their ideas and interests are better/more important than those of another region/area.

Nullify—to declare invalid

Missouri Compromise—In 1819, the U.S. was made up of 22 states…11 slave and 11 free. While there was equal representation in the Senate, free states had more representatives in the House due to larger populations. In 1819, the territory of Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state. The Compromise allowed Maine to enter as a free state at the same time as Missouri, thus protecting the balance of power in the Senate. The measure also prohibited slavery north of the 36°30° latitude (the southern border of Missouri).

Nullification Crisis—In 1832 South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union in protest of a high tariff. Andrew Jackson threatened to send the army into South Carolina, but Congress passed a compromise law reducing the tariff over a ten year period. This quelled talks of secession.

Dred Scott case—In 1834 Dred Scott a slave from Missouri, was taken to Illinois (free state) and then Wisconsin (free). Over a decade later, he was returned to Missouri. Scott filed a lawsuit claiming he was free since he lived in a free state for so long. The case went to the Supreme Court. In March of 1857, the Supreme Court ruled (7-2) no black, free OR slave, could claim U.S. citizenship. The Court also ruled that Congress had no right to stop slavery in the territories. This decision deepened the divide between North and South.

Compromise of 1850—After the discovery of gold in 1849, 100,000 people flocked to California. California applied for statehood as a free state.

• The Compromise benefitted the North in several ways: California would be a free state, slave trading would end in D.C., Texas would give up the idea of annexing New Mexico.
• Benefits for the South included: New Mexico and Utah would decide if they would be slave or free, residents of D.C. could keep the slaves they already had and Congress would pass the (Enhanced) Fugitive Slave Act—slaves who ran away to free states would be returned to their owners and stiff penalties would be doled out to those aiding and abetting runaways. (Northerners saw this as a perversion of their states’ rights as they were expected to uphold the laws of slavery when northern states abolished slavery.)

Georgia Platform—Thomas Cobb and Alexander Stephens, Congressmen from Georgia, championed this document, which persuaded reluctant Southerners to adopt the Compromise of 1850 and thus avoid division (or prolong secession).

Kansas-Nebraska Act—With Western expansion, people moved into the territories west of Missouri and Iowa. In 1854, Stephen Douglas of Illinois proposed the dual territories of Kansas and Nebraska with the idea of popular sovereignty. This totally negated components of the Missouri Compromise. Bloody skirmishes broke out between proslavery and free soil groups.

• popular sovereignty—when a territory asked for statehood, the people in the territory could vote on becoming a slave or free state
• Free Soilers—Believed that slavery was not economically viable and would eventually disappear if contained; they also wanted land grants for western settlers for farming.

Election of 1860—Political parties split into four candidates running on varying platforms. Republican Abraham Lincoln from Illinois won the electoral college vote (180 votes) and the popular vote, even though he wasn’t on any of the Southern states’ ballots. (For the first time, a party getting votes from only one section of the nation won the election.)

Debate over secession in Georgia—started immediately after Lincoln’s election. Alexander Stephens argued eloquently against secession. Governor Brown called for a secession convention to be held in January of 1861. (They wanted to see how South Carolina would react.) South Carolina voted on secession on December 20, 1860. After three days of debate, Georgia dissolved their political connection with the U.S.A. Shortly afterwards, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana also voted to secede.

Alexander Stephens—chosen as vice president of the Confederacy. Graduate of UGA. U.S. Senator. Governor of Georgia

Civil War

In March and April of 1861, Confederate forces capture all but four federal garrisons in the South. (Including Fort Pulaski in Savannah.)

Fort Sumter—marked the start of the Civil War. Confederate forces fired on the fort for 36 hours before federal troops surrendered. This Confederate victory prompted Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia to secede from the Union.

By 1862, the Confederate Congress approved conscription (drafting of men to serve in the army.)

The Union followed suit in 1863.

Antietam—September 17, 1862. Maryland. After a string of Confederate victories, General Robert E. Lee wanted to bring the war to the North. (He also hoped to bring Maryland, a slave state, into the CSA and for England and France to recognize the CSA with a major victory on northern soil.) So on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest day of fighting in American history took place. Over 23, 000 lives claimed. Though Union halted Confederate advance toward Washington, D.C., neither side emerged as the decisive victor; however, Lincoln used this Union ‘victory’ to issue his Emancipation Proclamation.

Emancipation Proclamation-An executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln decreeing slaves in rebelling states free; it was meant to cripple the Confederacy and set the rest of the nation up to accept the final abolition of slavery. Its secondary goal was to deter England and France from creating an alliance with the Confederacy.

Gettysburg--After the South had won a series of victories, General Robert E. Lee again wanted to bring the war to the North. Lee hoped a victorious campaign in the North would cause the North to give up and realize that they could NOT keep the South in the Union. During the battle, Lee’s outnumbered army failed to gain the high ground and advantage. After three days of heavy losses, Confederate army retreats from Pennsylvania back to Virginia. (The South never invades again.) This is considered a turning point in the war. After this, the CSA’s strategy to win focused on not giving up and making the Union weary of war. (WIN BY NOT LOSING)

Union blockade (Scott’s Anaconda Plan)—U.S. Navy’s strategyto cripple the Southern economy by obstructing Confederate ports. Initially, with 3,500 miles of coastline, 9/10 blockade runners successfully thwarted the federal Navy, but ultimately the naval blockade was successful as the navy expanded and Confederate ports were taken by federal troops.

• Tybee Island—In early April of 1862, Union forces took Tybee Island, a mile across the Savannah River from Fort Pulaski.
• Fort Pulaski— First battle in Georgia: April 10-11, 1862, located at mouth of Savannah River. Union forces on Tybee Island and the federal navy laid siege to the Confederate occupied garrison. After 30 hours of bombarding (rifled guns used by U.S. Army in warfare for the first time) the Confederates surrendered which strategically closed Savannah as a port.
• Chattahoochee River— On June 11, 1861, the U.S. Navy closed access to the river by maintaining a presence at Apalachicola, Florida.

King Cotton diplomacy—Southern leaders believed the British and French textile mills needed the South’s cotton to keep running. The Confederacy believed that if it stopped selling cotton abroad for a time, England and France would help break the Union blockades.

Chickamauga—(September 1864) Since Chattanooga was a major railroad center and important to the movement of supplies and troops for the Confederacy, it became a Union target. At the foot of Lookout Mountain at the Georgia/Tennessee line (ten miles south of Chattanooga), this battle lasted three days and was the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War with 34,000 casualties. It was the South’s most “decisive victory.” Braxton Bragg defeated the Union troops and forced them back to Tennessee; however, he did not follow up on the Union retreat and this allowed General Ulysses Grant to arrive with a bigger force and recapture Chattanooga and forcing Confederate Bragg and his troops to retreat south to Dalton.

Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign-- A series of battles that took 4 months in order to achieve Union goal of splitting the Confederacy apart. Sherman marched his troops from Chattanooga, Tennessee in May of 1864 down through Georgia towards Atlanta. He captured two major railroad and supply hubs from the Confederacy. In July, the CSA President Jefferson Davis replaced General Joseph Johnston with General John Hood Bell who promised to attack General Sherman. Atlanta was besieged and fell to the federal army on September 2, 1864.

Sherman’s March to the Sea/Savannah Campaign—As part of a “total war” strategy, Union General Sherman uses a ‘lay waste’ campaign in Georgia, leaving a reliable supply line, operating deep within enemy territory and marching his troops in a 300 trek to the coast and scorching a path 60 miles wide on their way. Sherman orders Union troops to forage for food and disrupt the South’s economy through targeted destruction of both military targets as well as transportation modes and civilian property. General Sherman and his troops leave Atlanta on November 15 and arrive in Savannah on December 21.

Andersonville—a prisoner of war camp located in southwest Georgia and known for its deplorable conditions due to overcrowding. Planned to hold 10,000 prisoners in a remote location, the population swelled to more than 30,000. Over 13,000 of the 45,000 Union soldiers who entered this camp died and are buried near the camp. This camp had the highest mortality rate in the war. Captain Wirz was tried for war crimes and executed on November 10, 1865.

Battle of Appomattox Court House—one of the last battles of the Civil War. (April 9, 1865) Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant’s Union Army after Lee abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. This event signaled the end of the war.

Reconstruction

Freedmen’s Bureau--In 1865 the federal government established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to help freed slaves and poor whites with the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. Over time their emphasis shifted to transition and education. They succeeded in setting up 4,000 primary schools, industrial schools for jobs training and teacher-training schools. In addition, missionaries started schools like Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Clark College to give freedmen opportunities at higher education.

Sharecropping–economic system where in exchange for work, landowner provided a house, land, equipment, animals, fertilizer and seeds to sharecropper. In addition, the landowner issued credit to the worker to buy medicine, food, clothing and other supplies. The landowner would receive a share of the crop and cut into sharecropper’s share to pay any debt owed. Sharecroppers rarely had cash and lived in debt to land owner.

Tenant farming—similar to sharecropping, the laborer would rent a house on the landowner’s property and work for a share of the crop. However, the tenant farmer provided items such as equipment, animals, fertilizer and seeds. After harvest, the tenant farmer would have a small profit.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan—Focused on returningSouth gracefully; 1. Southerners would be pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance. 2. When 10% of voters had taken the oath, the state could rejoin the Union and form a state government.

Johnson’s Reconstruction plan—President Johnson “beefed up” Lincoln’s reunion requirements. Additionally, Southern states had to:

•Approve (ratify) the 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery)

•Nullify their ordinances of secession

•Promise to repay money borrowed during the war.

13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution—abolished slavery

14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution--explicitly established the status of blacks as citizens through a natural right.

15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution—gave suffrage to black men.

Ku Klux Klan—initially established as a social club for Confederate veterans, the KKK morphed into a terrorist organization that used fear, intimidation and violence to continue the oppression of freedmen and those helping freedmen actualize their rights.

What happened to make the capital of Georgia be moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta?

Henry McNeal Turner—

• Missionary for African Methodist Episcopal Church
• Organized First Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops (was chaplain); involved in many battles.
• Helped organize Georgia’s Republican Party.
• Served in Georgia’s constitutional convention
• Elected to Georgia’s House of Representatives (1867)
• Expelled by white legislators in 1868 when Democrats “redeemed” Georgia from Republicans
• Received threats from KKK
• Appointed postmaster of Macon by President Ulysses S. Grant but sabotaged by racists.
• Briefly reclaimed legislative seat in 1870, but denied reelection
• Served as a pastor in Savannah