The Civil War & Reconstruction

“Why a Lincoln Presidency Meant War”

With sectional strife over slavery’s expansion westward at an all time high, Americans go into the 1860 electoral season divided.

By the end of the year, Lincoln will be elected and South Carolina will secede from the Union, and the U.S. will be on a path toward civil war.

Neither of these events was a foregone conclusion but we can look to some major political issues concerning Civil War era Americans and the actions of individuals and groups to understand why the Civil War came when and how it did.

Election of 1860

Demographics 1860

The Democratic Party remains a national party, with support in the North and in the South. Both sectional factions are anxious about the rise of the Republican Party and its strong opposition to slavery in the western territories. However, they remain divided over how to handle the opposition to slavery in the West.

Two platforms emerge at the conventionThe federal government must protect slavery in the

territoriesThe Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case

would standTensions between the two result in a disrupted

convention.

Democrats

Southern Democrats agree to nominate John C. Breckinridge

Northern Democrats agree to nominate Stephen A. Douglas

Democrats

Had absorbed the Know-Nothings and Free Soilers.Political lions William Seward and Salmon Chase were

obvious candidates but their abolitionist sentiments would make it more difficult for them to get the support of people who were more opposed to slavery spreading west (they feared they were more radical abolitionist, in the vein of John Brown, than they were anti-slavery).

Abraham Lincoln, who had established himself as someone who opposed slavery’s existence but accepted its constitutional legality and opposed its extension westward, was an unlikely contender.

Lincoln built his political reputation over several decades of work, especially with his debates with Stephen A. Douglas.

Republicans

Lincoln-Douglas DebatesLincoln-Douglas debates

occurred throughout 1858.Lincoln won most of the

ideological points on the problems of slavery generally and in the western territories particularly, but he lost the Senate election to Douglas.

Lincoln went on to est himself as GOP contender by sketching out his opposition to slavery expanding westward.

This started what became his path to the White House.

In the Cooper Institute speech Lincoln laid out his agenda.

He opposed John Brown’s raid and made a point to distance himself from abolitionists.

He declared his opposition to slavery in the western territories but accepted its constitutional legality in existing states.

He argued for conciliation between the sections.At the Republican convention, Lincoln and others

decided to sketch out a platform that sidestepped hot and divisive issues and focused on getting elected by campaigning on a priority to stop slavery from spreading into the western territories.

The Rise of Abraham Lincoln

Former members of the

American Party (aka

the Know Nothings)

mobilized to form a

new fourth party.

This party avoided such

issues as slavery and

focused on adherence

to the Constitution,

support for the Union,

and existing laws.

They nominated John

Bell.

Constitutional Union Party

On the Eve of the Civil War

Political cartoons

such as this

illuminate the ways

that ideas about race

and sex factored into

the 1860 election.

Dred Scott is

depicted in the

center, Breckinridge

with President

Buchanan, Lincoln is

dancing with a black

woman, John Bell

with a supposed

Native American,

Douglas with a

“squatter.”

Lincoln is elected president of the U.S. in 1860 with little support from many of the slaveholding states in the Lowcountry and deep South.

Angered over his election and concerned that he will either end slavery or stop its expansion, slaveholders begin to discuss secession from the Union. They argue that if the U.S. government intervenes with slavery that the government will violate the rights of the individual states and the property rights of slaveholders inherent to the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, and the establishment of the Constitution.

The Path to Civil War

Do the people of the South really believe that a Republican administration would interfere with their slaves?...If they do, I wish to assure you…that there is no cause for such fears…You think slavery is right, and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and out to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It is certainly the only substantial difference between us.Abraham Lincoln to Alexander Stephens 12/22/1860

Lincoln tries to assure the slaveholding South that he has no intentions of interfering with their right to own slaves in the states where slavery already exists.

Many members of the slaveholding apparatus do not believe him. They see his insistence on stopping slavery from expanding westward and northerners’ mobilized opposition to slavery as threats that jeopardizes their rights and their livelihood.

They decide to secede from the Union before Lincoln and/or northern elected officials can act.

See this timeline from the Library of Congress for detailed information about secession and the course of the war.

Secession Winter

Contrary to popular myth, with the exception of South Carolina, the seceding states did not leave the Union immediately or easily. This is because many citizens opposed secession generally and without direct provocation particularly.

What is more, white southerners were deeply divided:Fire-breathers—advocated immediate secession.Cooperationists—those who wanted to wait for

provocation.Unionists—those who opposed secession.

Because of these divisions, secessionists had to strategically maneuver their states out of the Union.

Secession Winter

South Carolina declared that the Constitution that the framers created was a compact (or an agreement or contract) with the states and the national government having separate powers.

They argued that northern states’ refusal to accept their constitutionally protected right to own slaves (aiding fugitive slaves, passing personal liberty laws, and electing a president and members of Congress who were opposed to slavery’s westward expansion) represented a violation of the compact, justifying secession.

They often cloaked their movement in the rhetoric of the American Revolution.

South Carolina

In this image, SC governor threatens President James Buchanan if he doesn’t surrender the fort. Buchanan is depicted as asking the governor to wait until he leaves

office.

Secession WinterSome states held conventions but as Stephanie

McCurry (see Confederate Reckoning) and others show, other states used political machinations—playing on racial and gender fears, limiting voting, limiting citizenship rights, vote rigging, violence and intimidation—to maneuver their states out of the Union.

Even within this climate, most electoral processes were really close, illuminating the diversity of opinion.Two key demographics—yeomen farmers and non-

slaveholding whites, many of whom did not necessarily have as big of a stake in slavery’s existence and its extension westward as did many of the fire-breathing planter class.

Order of Secession

South Carolina December 20, 1860

Mississippi January 9, 1861

Florida January 10, 1861

Alabama January 11, 1861

Georgia January 19, 1861

Louisiana January 26, 1861

Texas February 1, 1861

Virginia April 17, 1861

Arkansas May 6, 1861

North Carolina May 20, 1861

Tennessee June 8, 1861

As the outgoing president,

Buchanan tried to avoid war

without getting too involved.

He admonished abolitionists

for “causing” the crisis.

He denied the legitimacy of

secession because the federal

government had taken no

action.

He refused to hand over

federal properties as South

Carolina had demanded.

This gave Congress time to

act.

James Buchanan

Secession leaders argued that secession was a done deal but not everyone felt that way.

Proposed Compromises:Enforcement of Fugitive Slave Law;Repeal of Personal Liberty (legislation passed by several

northern states that prohibited state officials from helping to return runaway slaves to their masters);

Constitutional amendment to protect the South against any further Congressional interference with slavery;

Allow territories-turned states to make decisions on slavery for themselves

President-elect Lincoln was prepared to accept most of the compromises but he held firm on slavery’s extension into the western territories.

Congress Tries to Avoid War

Crittenden’s Proposed Compromise

Slavery prohibited north of 36*30’ line

Congress forbidden to abolish slavery in places under its jurisdiction under in slave states

Congress could not abolish slavery in Washington, D.C.

Congress could not interfere with or prohibit interstate slave trade

Congress would provide full compensation to owners of fugitive slaves not returned by northern states or municipalities

No further amendment of the Constitution could change these previous agreements or allow Congress to interfere with or prohibit slavery

Crittenden Compromise

As Eric Foner shows in The Fiery Trial, many northern members of Congress worked for months to avoid full secession.

They offered a variety of resolutions included such concessions as a constitutional amendment declaring that Congress could not interfere with slavery.

Lincoln agreed to most concessions because he understood that slavery was protected for the states by the Constitution. However, the institution had no constitutional protection in the western territories and Lincoln was firm in his opposition to slavery extending there. What is more, he was equally firm in his insistence that southerners respect the results of the 1860 election and that they did not have the right to secede.

Secessionists see Lincoln’s refusal to compromise on these matters as further justifying their right to secede.

Secession Winter

In February, political figures gathered to try to halt secession and avert war. Several factors undermined their effort:Missing from this gathering were representatives from

what would be many of the seceding states (note that by this time SC, MS, FL, AL, LA, GA, and TX had seceded);

The lateness of their mobilization;Opposition from both southern secessionists and

northerners who argued “let them go!”Republicans’ seeming inability to recognize the

seriousness of the threat of further secession and warDespite their inability to avoid war, the conference

revealed the extent of support border states had for remaining in the Union.

Peace Conference, 1861

Meeting in Montgomery on February 4, 1861 to form a new nation, create a constitution, and elect officials.

Analyzing the rhetoric of speeches and secession documents, Stephanie McCurry summarizes their mission as—creating a slaveholding republic that protected the interests of white men to own human property.She bases this argument on the very narrow idea of who

constituted “the people” of the Confederacy and the policies and practices instituted to protect slavery. Indeed, most of the arguments re: “states’ rights” were centered around protecting slavery from interference.

The CSA Constitution resembled the U.S. Constitution expect it had specific language supporting slavery.

Confederate States of America

Long and distinguished military

and political career.

Advocate of states’ rights and

filibustering schemes in Cuba

and Nicaragua.

He opposed the secession

movement but when called to

serve as president of the CSA

he did.

He was elected with great

fanfare but over the course of

the war, his support among his

people declined.

After the war, he would be

tried, imprisoned, and released.

Jefferson Davis

We have entered upon the career of independence [because]…we have vainly endeavored to secure tranquility, and to obtain respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separation…Jefferson Davis, President of the CSA, 2/18/1861

Our new government is founded upon…the idea…that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the CSA, 3/21/1861

[The Northern states are engaged] in a persistent and organized system of hostile measures against the rights of the owners of slaves in the Southern States.Jefferson Davis, President of the CSA, 4/29/1861

Davis, Stephens, and other firebreathers revert to the constitutional principles of “states’ rights” to explain their actions. Neo-Confederates use the postwar apologies and explanations as the basis for their states’ rights arguments.

Confederates’ clear articulation of slavery’s role in secession would

disappear after they lose the war and slavery is

abolished.

See Charles B. Dew’s Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War.

To get a comprehensive sense of the causes of secession, all

one needs to do is examine the records from the state

secession commissions and the ordinances of secession.

Opposed secession and

argued that as president he

had to maintain authority

against disunion.

He was opposed to slavery

on principle but accepted its

constitutional legality in the

U.S.

He was not an abolitionist.

Like many anti-slavery men,

Lincoln was opposed to

slavery spreading into the

western territories largely

because it undercut the

sociopolitical opportunities

of working class white men.

Abraham Lincoln

In your hands, my dissatisfied countrymen, not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address, 3/4/1860

At his first inauguration Lincoln

declared that the “only

substantial difference” between

Confederates and Unionists was

about slavery.

Secessionists did not believe

that Lincoln and his

administration would not

interfere with slavery. They

painted him as an abolitionist

who supported racial equality.

Secessionists believed that their

fate was tied to their ability to

move westward. So Linc0ln’s

opposition to slavery’s spread

was a deal breaker.

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln, like Buchanan, refused to surrender to Confederates the federal government’s forts (or the post offices, hospitals, custom houses, and other public buildings).

To avoid war, Lincoln did not repossess federal property seized by Confederates.

This issue came to a head at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Rather than abandon federal property during a rebellion, Lincoln authorized the provisioning of the fort. Confederates eventually fired on the fort, forcing Anderson to surrender it, igniting the war.

Battle over the Forts

Major Robert Anderson

Fort Sumter, which

was still occupied

by Major Robert

Anderson but

being harassed by

Confederates,

became the test of

whether the USA

would defend its

property from the

CSA.

Men at the fort

faced dwindling

supplies.

Fort Sumter

Before the firing.

Lincoln

authorized the re-

supplying of the

fort.

Confederates

fired on the fort,

forcing Anderson

to abandon it.

The image

depicts the CSA’s

bombardment of

the fort in 1861.

Fort Sumter

Outbreak of WarLincoln responds to the

firing on Fort Sumter by calling for 75,000 men to suppress the insurrection, which was virtually a declaration of war.Lincoln gets the

volunteers but when free African Americans volunteer for service, the president declines.

This action becomes the catalyst for VA, AR, NC, and TN to secede.

Pro-Union Rally in NYC, April 20, 1861

This image

depicts a CSA

mob’s attack on

Union soldiers in

Baltimore. In

titling the piece

“The Lexington of

1861,” Currier

and Ives are

reflecting

contemporary

rhetoric on both

sides that the war

is similar to the

American

Revolution.

War begins

Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware were the four slaveholding states that did not secede. Their decisions would be crucial to both sides.

They were generally opposed to secession and their economies and populations leaned toward the UnionThey had smaller populations of enslaved people;Slavery was not as critical to their existence. Indeed, the

institution was declining;They were more modern and urban than their more

southern counterparts;Unionists (rather than secessionists) dominated the political

landscape and they steered their states away from the secession movement.

Lincoln would do whatever was in his power to keep these states from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.

Border States

Birthplaces of both Lincoln and Davis.Slavery is very important to residents but slaveholders did

not dominate the political scene.The state’s other social and political ties were stronger re:

the Union—many Kentuckians had relocated to other northern states.

The state declares itself neutral in the secession movement but this was hard to maintain in a state where people chose sides and when both sides estd military camps within its borders.When Confederate forces seized Columbus, the state

requested federal protection and remained within the Union.Confederate forces within the state tried to form a rump

government and tensions over slavery’s continued existence would make Kentuckians waiver but ultimately, the state remained a Union state.

Kentucky

Like Kentucky, Maryland’s location and its continued support for slavery make it crucial to both the CSA and the USA.

The majority of the population opposed secession and slaveholders in the state would balk at any wartime measure of emancipation.

Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus (against illegal imprisonment) from DC to Philly, which angered Marylanders.Tensions between Maryland and the USA came to a

head in ex parte Merryman.Support for the Union was ultimately proven via the

election of candidates who supported the Union.

Maryland

Surrounded by Union states and with a very small population of enslaved people, Delaware constituted less of a threat for leaving the Union than were the other border states.

Very strong Union sentiment in the state results in it remaining in the USA.

Delaware

Unlike, Delaware, Missouri’s location and political economy made it more susceptible to secession.

Tensions over slavery’s existence dated back not only to the Missouri Compromise but more recently to the Kansas-Nebraska battles.

The state’s population remained divided on secession.Guerilla warfare broke out, leading Union officials to

intervene to maintain order.A shadow Confederate government mobilized and the

struggle for control over the state continued.The more than 100,000 Missouri men who enlisted in the

Union Army and the approximately 30,000 men who enlisted for the Confederate Army illustrates the general Union-leaning sentiment in the state.

Missouri

Union supporters in the western part of Virginia seceded and created West Virginia.

West Virginians had long opposed slaveholders’ domination over the states’ affairs and they were opposed to Virginia’s secession.

In 1862, they maneuvered themselves out of Virginia and the Confederacy.

Congress passed legislation admitting West Virginia to the Union over the opposition of Unionists in the Virginia.

West Virginia

The decision of these states to remain in the Union granted more geographic space as well as manpower and war matériel to the Union.

Lincoln would do whatever was in his power to keep these states from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.

Border States

Looking at the rhetoric of secessionists in newspapers, journals, diaries, letters, political speeches, AND the ordinances of secession, we can see that the mission of the Confederate States of America was to preserve political economy rooted in slavery and extending right of slaveholders to carry human property into the west.

They used language suggesting that they wanted to build upon what the U.S. founders created by creating a republic that protected slavery.

Although “states’ rights” did appear in the rhetoric, hearkening back to John C. Calhoun, the primary right about which they were concerned states being able to protect was those governing slavery.

See for example Gary Gallagher’s The Confederate War & Stephanie McCurry’s Confederate Reckoning.

Confederate Agenda & Motivation

Looking at the rhetoric of Unionists in newspapers, journals, diaries, letters, political speeches, we can see that the mission of the United States of America was to preserve the Union by suppressing the rebellion and returning the seceded states to the Union. The mission was not to end slavery.When Civil War Americans used the phrase

“Union,” they meant a democratic republic built on the principles of “free labor, economic opportunity, and a broad political franchise they considered unique in the world.”See Gary Gallagher’s The Union War, especially 6.

Union Agenda & Motivation

Though Civil War Americans from both sides understood and said that secession was the reason for the war, they all knew that slavery was at the heart of secession (read the secession declarations if you have any doubts).

Yet whites on both sides of the conflict argued that the war had nothing to do with African Americans. Indeed, when black men volunteer to serve in the Union Army, Lincoln rejects them. When abolitionists call on Lincoln to use the abolition of slavery as a tool for quickly winning the war, he rejects them too. It will take more than a year of fighting and with no end in sight for Lincoln to change his mind.

Outbreak of War

David Tod

When black

Ohioans volunteer

to serve, they are

rejected.

Ohio Governor

Tod’s response

reflects

widespread beliefs.

Don’t you know…

that this is a white

man’s government;

that white men are

able to defend and

protect it? When

we want you

colored men we

will notify you.

Frederick Douglass

Douglass embodies

African Americans’

opposition to

Lincoln’s failure to

strike against

slavery and to

authorize black

enlistment.

To fight against

slaveholders without

fighting against slavery, is

but a half-hearted

business, and paralyzes

the hand engaged in it…

Fire must be met with

water…War for the

destruction of liberty

must be met with war for

the destruction of slavery.

Both free and enslaved African Americans rejected the rhetoric of white men such as David Tod and the idea that the war was only about secession (stripped of anything relating to slavery).

Free blacks mobilized drilling companies.Enslaved people’s understanding of this reality

guides their mass exodus from plantations, farms, urban factories, businesses, and homes.

Enslaved people will not only seek out Union forces, they will provide service as guides, spies, informants, and servants.

Outbreak of War

Was the war avoidable? Yes. Americans on both sides could have continued to reach

compromises in the vein of the Northwest Ordinance, the compromises of 1787, the Missouri Compromise, the Compromises of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

South Carolina didn’t have to use Lincoln election to the presidency as cause for secession, her state’s leaders could have waited for him to act directly against slavery.

Lincoln could have taken more seriously the threat of secession and authorized a constitutional amendment allowing slavery to extend into the West.

Indeed, the actions proposed by Congress during the secession winter could have averted war. Unfortunately, the political brokers on both sides would not concede enough to their opponents.

None of these counterfactuals occurred. So, after several decades of fighting over slavery’s expansion and a decade of intense political fighting, the Civil War began.

Outbreak of War

David Herbert Donald, et al eds., The Civil War and Reconstruction;

Jean Baker, The Politics of Continuity; William Barney, The Road to Secession & The Secessionist

Impulse;Gabor S. Boritt, ed., Why the Civil War Came;Daniel Crofts, Reluctant Confederates;Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial and Free Soil, Free Land, and Free

Men;Gary Gallagher, The Union War & The Confederate War;Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning;Mark Neely, The Last Best Hope of Earth;Charles Dew, Apostles of Disunion;Mark Summers, The Plundering Generation;Ralph Wooster, The Secession Conventions of the South;

Sources & Recommended Reading

Slave Populations: http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_census_1860.htm Census Image: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/12/11/map-of-the-last-u-s-slave-census-1860/ 1860 Election Map: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-antebellum/5331.

Crittenden Compromise: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/how-lincoln-undid-the-union/ John Bell: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/JBell.jpg/245px-JBell.jpg Abraham Lincoln: http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/lincpix/linc-2.jpg Stephen A. Douglas: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2009/06/stephenarnolddouglas.jpg Political Quadrille: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661605/ James Buchanan: http://bradnehring.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/james-buchanan-0808-lg-17794534.

jpg Map of secession: http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/united_states_secession_1860.htm Jefferson Davis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis Lincoln: Alexander Stephens: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Alexander_Stephens.jpg Inauguration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln's_first_inaugural_address Robert Anderson: http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/12/hh12b.htm Fort Sumter before firing: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/upon-the-points-of-our-swords/ and after:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/at0042b.1s.jpg South Carolina’s Ultimatum: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/war-in-the-cabinet/ David Tod: http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=382 Frederick Douglass: http://maap.columbia.edu/place/38.html Pro-Union rally in NYC:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/the-great-sumter-rally-in-union-square/. Lexington of 1861: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/shots-heard-round-the-world/

Images

Confederate Ascendancy;Campaigns from 1861-1862;

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