unit three: the civil war era
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Unit Three: The Civil War Era. 1850-1880. Historical, Social, and Cultural Forces. 1. The Path to War A. Expansion into West brought up quest of expansion of slavery. Will new territories be slave or free states? B. North wanted to prohibit. South thought rights would be violated - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Unit Three: The Civil War Era
1850-1880
1. The Path to War
A. Expansion into West brought up quest of expansion of slavery. Will new territories be slave or free states?
B. North wanted to prohibit. South thought rights would be violated
C. Compromise 1850 i. Senator Henry Clay admitted California as a free state. ii. Fugitive Slave Act- mandated the return of enslaved
Africans who had fled to the North and penalized individuals who helped them escape
iii. Temporary solution
Historical, Social, and Cultural Forces
2. Antislavery Movement
A. Most free-state legislatures passed laws to block it
B. Underground Railroad became more active C. 1852- Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s
Cabin told of cruelty of slavery and the fight for freedom. It brought life of slaves to public view like never before
3. Secession
A. 1860- Lincoln ran for President B. Lincoln opposed spread of slavery
Anti-slavery- no spread of slavery. Not abolish. Abolitionist- do away with slavery
C. South thought he would abolish it D. Dec. 1860- South Carolina seceded from Union E. By April, 1861, eleven states made up the
Confederate States of America F. April 12, 1861- Confederate forces fire on Fort
Sumter in South Carolina, starting the Civil War
4. War
A. South had lots of West Point grads- early advantage B. Union grew stronger, weakened the South C. To win the war, Union Gen. Grant attacked
resources in South as well as Confederate forces D. Lincoln assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John
Wilkes Booth E. 600,000 deaths F. Southern economy destroyed G. 13th Amendment became law in December 1865,
officially ending slavery in the entire nation
5. Reconstruction
A. It would take years to rebuild and repair the South, grant rights to those who had been enslaved, and readmit the Southern states to the Union
B Civil Rights Act in 1866- and then the 14th Amendment- redefining citizenship to include African American and requiring their equal protection under the law
C. After Reconstruction, new South was similar to pre-Civil War South: White Southern Democrats returned to power, and African Americans lost many of their civil rights
1. Cultures of slaves shaped by their struggle
against slavery 2. Primary documents that depict war-time era 3. Poetic Revolution- Whitman/Dickinson’s new
styles and subjects
Things to Notice from This Unit
The Spirituals
Enslaved Africans combined traditional African music with Christian hymns to create spirituals, or songs of salvation and religious beliefs. Much of the imagery was drawn from the Bible.
These “sorrow songs” were created by anonymous artists and transmitted by word of mouth
Many songs had duel meaning: religious faith and hunger for freedom
Many songs followed a call-and-response pattern
Big Idea 1. Resistance to Slavery
Songs told Biblical stories to communicate hope Along with singing while working and
worshiping, some songs were also encoded messages since speaking was often forbidden- “Follow the drinking gourd”- Big Dipper Egypt- South or the state of bondage Promised land or heaven- North or freedom
The spirituals became a part of American pop culture and paved the way for other musical forms including blues and jazz
Examples of Three Spirituals
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” 1. 2.
“Go Down, Moses” 1.
“Keep Your Hand on the Plow” 1.
“Follow the Drinking Gourd” “Wade in the Water”
Slave Narratives
The stories of life in slavery, escape from bondage, and life as a free person Intended to recruit Northerners to the abolitionist cause
Williams Wells Brown, Solomon Northup, and Sojourner Truth sold tens of thousands of copies of their life stories
Not only provided glimpses of the horrors of slavery, but also contradicted the claims of slave owners
Slaves could be seen as people rather than property
Frederick Bailey was born on a Maryland
plantation When eight, he worked as a house servant for
the Auld family in Baltimore Mrs. Auld taught Frederick how to read.
Husband forbade it and F. continued his education on his own
Escaped to freedom at age 20 and changed his last name to Douglass to avoid capture
Frederick Douglass
1845 he wrote his autobiography. Because he identified his slave owner, he sailed to Great Britain to avoid capture
Returned home in 1847 and started publishing a newspaper. The paper’s masthead read” Right is of no Sex– Truth is of no Color.”
Lincoln appointed him one of his advisers Revised and republished his autobiography as My
Bondage and My Freedom in 1855 and then again as Life and Times of Frederick Douglass in 1882.
One of the most important chronicles of the enslaved person’s experience
1. Benevolent- doing or desiring to do good;
kind 2. Depravity- The state of being morally bad or
corrupt 3. Induce- To lead by persuasion or influence 4. Vanquish- To defeat 5. Censure- to express disapproval of; to find
fault with; to blame
From My Bondage and My Freedom
Spent her long life battling slavery and
demanding voting rights for women Nearly six feet tall with a deep, smooth voice
that won devoted supporters Born into slavery and escaped at age 29
Sojourner Truth
Believed she saw visions and heard messages sent
from God. In about 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth (from Isabella) meaning that she would become a sojourner, or visiting traveler, spreading the truth of God
Gave her most famous speech, “And Ain’t I a Woman?” to agitate for women’s rights and abolition
Mini Biography Unveiling
On the 2nd day of the 1851 Ohio Women’s
Rights Convention, a number of male ministers spoke, insisting that women were too weak and intellectually inferior to vote. One man gave religious reasons against women’s suffrage.
This speech is her answer to these critics
“And Ain’t I a Woman?”
Speech was not written or rehearsed, many
versions have survived These are not her exact words, but her spirit 6. Oblige- to make grateful or indebted; to do
a favor or service of
Speech cont.
Revolution or treason?
1. Accounts of war, change, and sympathy for both sides
2. Lincoln’s Vision and Words
Big Idea 2. Nation Divided
Symbol of Southern and American dignity Father was a cavalry commander during the
Revolutionary War, a governor of Virginia, and friend to G. Washington
Lincoln asked him to command the Union forces. Unwilling to fight against his state, he declined and resigned his position in the U.S. Army.
He then joined the Confederate forces and took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862
Robert E. Lee
“Letter to His Son” by Robert E. Lee
Letter expressing dismay at the state of the Union. Calls civil war “evil” but fears it is likely 7. Perusal- the process of examining carefully 8. Anarchy- the absence of government 9. Array- to place in proper or methodical order 10. Contend- to argue, dispute
Read together Page 372 #s 2-6 Write a paragraph together using all 10 vocab
words we’ve used so far
“Bitter Bierce” did not trust people, governments,
business, or churches Born into an impoverished Ohio farm family. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bierce enlisted in
the Ninth Indiana Volunteers and fought in several important battles
Suffered a severe head wound and later described the bullet “crushed my skull like a broken walnut.”
Disappeared in Mexico around 1914. Death still remains a mystery
Ambrose Bierce
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
11. Protrude- to stick out; to project 12. Adorn- To make beautiful; to decorate 13. Ardently- Passionately; enthusiastically 14. Assent- to express agreement 15. Poignant- sharp; severe; causing emotional
or physical anguish
Initially wanted to limit slavery and preserve
Union Was pressured to make war a campaign against
slavery The Gettysburg Address
Agrees dedication of a cemetery is fitting because of what has been accomplished. The living should dedicate themselves to “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” 16. Consecrate- to set apart as sacred; to make or
declare holy 17. Perish- To pass from existence; to disappear
Abraham Lincoln
1. Whitman
A. Whiteman found poetry in lives of everyday people; no subject too commonplace
B. Used his own experiences as reporter, teacher, laborer, Civil War nurse to create poetry
C. Style is marked by long, rollicking lines written in free verse—poetry based on the irregular rhythms of speech
D. Thought of all his poems as one long poem expressing his view of world
Big Idea 3. A Poetic Revolution
E. His poetry reflected sympathy for the
struggle of the Union F. Nursed both North and South soldiers G. Lincoln was his hero H. Emerson was one of his earliest supporters I. His most famous /popular collection of poetry:
Leaves of Grass
Whitman’s World:
“I Hear America Singing”“When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer”
Whitman on the War“A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and
Dim”“Beat! Beat! Drums!”
2. Emily Dickinson
A. Observed life from her window B. A recluse C. Wrote 1,775 poems- few published in her lifetime D. Her poems do not place the reader on the battlefield
like Whitman’s do D. Themes about moments and feelings in people’s
lives- love, nature, eternity, loneliness, death (brought irony and keen observation on these topics)
E. Unconventional style- odd use of punctuation, especially dashes, and short, clipped lines that took rhythmic influence from hymns
F. American nonconformist and poet of rare purity
Various poetry by Dickinson
18. Interpose- To intrude, intervene, or to put oneself between
19. Affliction- great suffering, distress, or its cause