GENERAL CURRICULUM TEST OBJECTIVE : 0006 Understand major developments in the history of the United States from precolonial times to the present.
As the United States was being established and its foundations put together, unity was a goal. The drafting, ratifying and implementing of the Constitution united 13 different, independent states into a Union under one central goverment. A number of compromises were made in an effort to unify the different states, but a number of issues remained unsettled. One of the most critical was the issue of slavery. The failure to settle this issue led to a rise in sectionalism, or devotion to the interests of a region over the entire group.
As the country expanded in size westward, the issue was hotly debated. Compromises continued to be made, but situations continued to bring the issue to the surface. Knowledge of these compromises will help you understand how the country moved toward civil war.
The "three-fifiths" compromise that was part of the Constitution was reached because of the debate over decisions about representation and taxes based on the number of slaves living in the state. The southern region wanted the representation to be determined by the number of slaves but not the amount of tax collected, and the northern region wanted the opposite. The compromise was that three-fifths of the total number of slaves would be counted for both taxes and determining representation. An agreement was also made regarding slave trade and taxes over a 20 year period. As time passed during these decades, cotton was becoming increasing important in the primarily agricultural southern region and the institition of slavery had become more firmly established.
As the country grew, state by state, each was admitted as either a free or slave state. In 1819, after Alabama was admitted as a slave state, there were 11 of each. Then Missouri asked to be admitted as a slave state and concerns over an imbalance led to The Missouri Compromise which admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. In 1850, a series of laws called The Compromised of 1850, were proposed to address this issue of balancing free and slave states. California was admitted as a free state, New Mexico and Utah were added as territories, and slavery was abolished within the District of Columbia. Also as a concession to southerners the citizens of territories would decide whether they would be free or slave upon admission to the Union. Stricter measures were put in place regarding the capture of runaway slaves.
When Kansas and Nebraska were being considered for statehood, the issue was debated again. The resulting compromise was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It nullified a provision in the earlier Missouri Compromise that had banned slavery in the area; instead, the citizens within Kansas and Nebraska would be allowed to decide for themselves. Conflict resulted and the violence led to Kansas being known as "Bleeding Kansas" at this time.
In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down an explosive decision. The issue at hand was whether a slave, in this case Dred Scott, living in a free state could become a free man. The Supreme Court decided that no slaves had rights of citizenship and thus could not sue in state or federal court. Also the court said that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because the legislature did not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories. This was called the Dred Scott Decision.
Further fueling the problem was the rise of industrialism and the need for the south to create industries which the north was also developing rapidly. Debates over tarrifs on goods from other countries led to differences of opinion within the Congress.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. He was elected by getting the majority of electoral votes, but not the majority of popular votes. He was opposed to expanding slavery, but was not an abolitionist. However, his election upset many in the southern region.
Growing sectionalism and disputes over economic and political issues ultimately resulted in southern states seceding, or leaving the union, which the northern states saw as a violation of the national unity contract. South Carolina was the first state to secede, in 1861, firing upon the federal fort at Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. In 1863, Lincoln issued The Emancipation Proclamation indicating that slaves living in states in rebellion were freed.
It is important the understand the reasons and goals for fighting the war. The Confederacy (the South) wanted to be independent, govern themselves, and preserve slavery. The Union (the North) wanted to restore the union and reunitify the country. Ulysses Grant was the primary general for the Union army and Robert E. Lee was the primary general for the Confederacy. After many battles, loss of life, and much destruction, the war ended. On April 9, 1865 Lee formally surrendered to Grant in Virginia. Three days after the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated. The period following the war is called Reconstruction.
As The Civil War drew to a close, President Lincoln had plans for how to rebuild the country, particularly the southern region, after the war. His assassination led to the promotion of the Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, into the role of President and it was under his leadership that the period of Reconstruction, or rebuilding, began. However, after Lincoln's death, the policies of reconstruction were much harsher than was his intent. Military governors were appointed to oversee the operations of the rebel states. The Republican Congress passed a variety of amendments to the Constitution:
13th Amendment (1865) - outlawed slavery throughout the United States.
14th Amendment (1868) - made Blacks American citizens
15th Amendment (1870) - gave Black Americans the right to vote and made it illegal to deny anyone the right to vote based on race
The reaction to these amendments by some white Southerners who were now in economic and social chaos included the formation of secret societies, such as the Ku Klux Klan, whose purpose was to fight the new political system and to terrorize Blacks, keeping them from voting and from getting equality.
In 1877 when the last federal military troops left the southern states, Reconstruction officially ended. Reconstruction had limited success with the establishment of public schools for Blacks and the ability to vote by Black citizens. However, change came slowly. Many former slaves became sharecroppers who were still bound economically to the landowners. Also opportunists from the northern states came south to take advantage of the newly freed slaves. These opportunists were known as "carpetbaggers".
Resources:
http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war
http://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/civil-war-timeline.htm
http://www.nps.gov/resources/story.htm?id=189
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