Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War - Term Paper Example

?SEGMENT 15 Synopsis of General Points and Topics Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth president of the United s, but his election came at one of the most troubling times of the Union, because it secessionist and slavery issues in the South. The opposition splintered into three parties: Southern Democrat, Northern Democrat, and Constitutional Union. After Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded. These states formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as its president. One month later, when Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard fired on Union-defended Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the American Civil War began. President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to crush the rebellion. Northern states rapidly reacted and rallied against Lincoln, while Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas supported and joined the Confederacy instead. In July, Gen. Irvin McDowell led the Union forces to defeat the Confederate forces in Richmond. On the 21st, the Union forces fought a Confederate army near Manassas, but they were overcome. During the beginning of the war, a group of “Peace Democrats,” also called copperheads by its critics, suggested a peaceful resolution by presenting a truce with the South, and establishing a constitutional convention to amend the U.S. Constitution and to proclaim States' rights. The Unionists disregarded the proposal. The copperheads also publicly criticized Lincoln's belief that breaking the U.S. Constitution was needed to save it. In 1862, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus all over the nation and had many copperhead democrats arrested, because he felt that the State Courts in the North West would not convict people like the copperheads. He decreed that all persons, who daunted enlistments or engaged in treacherous practices, would be subjected to Martial Law. Lincoln also already drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. The victory of the Union forces at Antietam allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This freed slaves in the South and made slavery as one of the central issues of the war. In June 1863, Confederate Robert E. Lee moved to the north towards Pennsylvania with Union troops following them. After the defeat on Chancellorsville, Lincoln commanded Gen. George Meade to capture the Army of the Potomac. On July 1, these two armies clashed at Gettysburg, PA. The fighting lasted for three days; Lee’s forces were crushed and they retreated. A few days after, Grant besieged Vicksburg and opened the Mississippi to shipping. This divided the South into two and decreased access to critical resources. In the summer of1863, Gen. William Rosecrans and his Union troops went to Georgia, but tasted defeat at Chickamauga. They fled to the north, but experienced further defeat at Chattanooga. Grant was instructed to save them, and he amassed victories at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The next spring, Grant left and turned over leadership to Gen. William Sherman. Sherman went south and became successful in taking Atlanta, and then his forces marched to Savannah. Once getting to the boundaries of the sea, they pushed the Confederate forces until their commander, Gen. Joseph Johnston, capitulated at Durham, NC on April 18, 1865. In March 1864, Grant commanded all Union armies and dealt with Lee at the east. On April 1865, Lee was forced to abandon the city and go to the west. Grant took Richmond in the process. On April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Summary of Gettysburg Address On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln conveyed the Gettysburg Address to the public in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Through this speech, Lincoln commemorates the sacrifices of those who died to preserve the Union. In a very short speech, Lincoln reminded the public why the war had to be fought and how the Union won the Civil War. He stressed that the war is not about quashing the Confederacy rebellion per se. More than that, it is about the promotion of equality and freedom for all. We should not use the word “Confederacy” in reference to the South during the Civil War. I strongly believe that the South was a group of rebels, who wanted to undermine the legitimate authority of the United States. The “Confederacy” wants its own government to preserve an inhumane socio-economic system that rested on slavery. It is not fighting an oppressive federal government at all. The Confederates may think that they are fighting for something righteous, but their leaders are more bent on preserving slavery and their political interests, and there is nothing romantic and noble in that kind of aspiration. SEGMENT 16 Synopsis of General Points and Topics In December 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed his Reconstruction Plan. It was called the Ten Percent plan, where he declared that as soon as any seceded state created an acceptable decision on the subject of slavery, and if at least 10% of its voters took oaths of loyalty to the Constitution, they would be allowed to join the Union once more. Radical Republicans disagreed with Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan, because it did not guarantee equal civil rights for freed slaves, and it did not sufficiently punish the rebels. Congressional Republicans provided their own Reconstruction Plan through the Wade-Davis Bill. This bill necessitates each state to eliminate slavery and to renounce their acts of secession. It also stresses that a majority, rather than 10 percent, of voters, should take an oath of allegiance, before their state could be readmitted to the Union. Lincoln rejected the Wade-Davis Bill, because he was not yet committed to any single approach to Reconstruction. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and the new president, Andrew Johnson, made his own Reconstruction Plan. He stressed that after the ratification of the 13th Amendment, Southern states would be automatically re-admitted into the Union. His plan angered the Radical Republicans and impeachment proceedings were launched against the new president. The South did not want to end slavery and racial discrimination. In Mississippi, they formed the “Black Codes,” or legal codes that refused to give African Americans the right to buy or even rent land. The more severe codes did not grant African Americans the right to bear arms, to conduct meetings after work, and to marry whites. On December 1865, despite these Black Codes, the States ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolishes slavery. To assert the rights of all racial groups, the States also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It lists the rights of citizens of the United States, including the right to make contracts, sue, provide evidence in court, and purchase and sell property. In June 1866, Congress proposed the 14th Amendment for Ratification. This guarantees the citizenship of African Americans. President Johnson asked southern legislatures to refuse the amendment. By 1868, only eight northern states allowed African Americans to vote. In February 1869, Congress proposed the 15th Amendment, which stopped the states from depriving a citizen suffrage, because of race, color, or earlier condition of servitude. The Amendment is ratified in March 1870. In the election of 1876, the Republicans submitted their support for Rutherford B. Hayes, the governor of Ohio, while the Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden, the governor of New York. The preliminary returns signified a Tilden victory, as the Democrats took over the swing states of Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York. By 12 midnight of Election Day, Tilden had 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. However, the Republicans did not accept the results and blamed the Democrats of using physical intimidation and bribery to put off African Americans from voting in the South. In order to garner southern conservative support for Republican Rutherford Hayes's inauguration as president, the Republican Party consented to remove all federal troops from the South, which ended the Reconstruction. Summary of 14th and 15th Amendment The 14th Amendment provides an extensive definition of national citizenship, and overturned the Dred Scott case, which excluded Blacks from being treated as American citizens. The 14th Amendment requires the states to give equal protection under the law to all persons, not just to citizens, within their jurisdictions. The 15th Amendment provides that governments in the United States may not stop a citizen from voting because of his/her race, color, or prior condition of servitude. How would you have handled Reconstruction? I could have handled the Reconstruction by trying to find a compromise among the Radicals, the Republicans and the Democrats. I will propose a majority-based oath of allegiance, because this is critical to the unity of the states. As for the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, I will make sure first that I have rallied enough support in the South by promoting the use of machines instead of slaves, so that the South will change planting and production patterns. This way, they will not see these amendments as threats to their economic status quo. I will also facilitate the conduct of inter-racial gatherings, so that racist whites will slowly see that the blacks are human beings like them. Read More