SECESSION AND WAR
The Confederate Bombardment of Fort Sumter, 1861
Unit
Overview
As
the country prepared for the presidential election of 1860, the relationship
between the North and the South continued to deteriorate. For many southern whites, it marked a
critical moment. Events at Harper’s
Ferry encouraged fears throughout the South of a slave rebellion led by
northern abolitionists. When the
Republican Party, which included a number of well-known antislavery activists,
took a strong stand against the spread of slavery into the western territories,
southerners saw it as a major threat to their way of life. When Lincoln won the White House, the South
believed that it had no choice but to secede from the Union. Let’s see how it all happened.
Violence
in the Senate
By
the mid-1850s, Congress found itself deeply divided on the question of
slavery. A growing number of senators
and representatives took extreme positions on the issue. Proslavery and antislavery radicals delivered
fiery speeches on the floor of the House and Senate. Sometimes, they verbally denounced and
insulted their colleagues for their views.
These attacks were often very personal.
In the summer of 1856, anger over these types of statements led to a violent
episode in the U.S. Capitol.
Senator
Charles Sumner, a well-known
abolitionist from Massachusetts, spoke before the Senate and condemned the
actions of the proslavery forces in Kansas.
At the same time, he criticized several southern senators and repeatedly
targeted Senator Andrew Butler of
South Carolina throughout the address.
Two days later, Preston Brooks,
a member of the House of Representatives and Andrew’s cousin, entered the
Senate chamber. He approached Senator
Sumner, who was working at his desk.
Representative Butler drew his cane and struck the unsuspecting senator
over the head. After repeated blows,
Sumner, unconscious and bleeding, fell to the floor. He was hospitalized and did not return to the
Senate for three years. Preston Brooks
was tried in the District of Columbia where he was fined $300.00 but served no
time in jail.
Representative
Brooks resigned from the House of Representatives and gave the citizens of his
home district in South Carolina an opportunity to elect someone else. Although not all southerners approved of his
actions, voters in a special election agreed to return Preston Brooks to
Congress. Newspapers across the country
carried the details of the story, and most Americans formed definite opinions
concerning the Sumner-Brooks affair. Brooks
was a hero to many southerners, who viewed defense of one’s family as
honorable. Most northerners, even those
who were not strong abolitionists, were outraged.
Go to Questions 1 through 3.
Trouble
at Harper’s Ferry
Bleeding
Kansas and the Brooks-Sumner affair were not the only events that increased the
tension between the North and the South during the late 1850s. Violence also erupted in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, located today in West Virginia. John
Brown, responsible for the deaths of five proslavery supporters in Kansas,
planned to start a widespread slave revolt with the goal of freeing African
Americans in the South. A group of
northern abolitionists gave Brown $4,000 to finance the scheme. On October 16, 1859, John Brown with eighteen
followers put his idea in motion by raiding a federal arsenal in Harper’s
Ferry. Because the structure housed a
large supply of weapons and ammunition, the abolitionist leader hoped to arm
the slaves and to pull off the rebellion.
He and his followers took several hostages and barricaded themselves in
the engine house next to the armory. Learn
more about John Brown’s Raid by watching the video listed below.
To
Brown’s disappointment, his forces were easily defeated. The Virginia militia, federal troops and
local citizens stormed the engine house and captured the raiders. Brown was tried and convicted of murder and
treason. He was executed by hanging for
these crimes on December 2. In the
North, some antislavery supporters, including several influential Republicans,
condemned Brown’s use of violence.
Others, however, called him a hero and a martyr, a term for someone who gave his life for an important
cause. For southerners, the event seemed
to be part of a major conspiracy not only to abolish slavery but to take away
their rights and to ruin their economy.
When they learned that the abolitionists had funded Brown’s plans,
southern anger reached a new level of intensity. Their fury was also directed against the
Republican Party since many northern abolitions were members. As the presidential election of 1860
approached, Americans wondered if it was possible to keep the Union together.
The Engine House at Harper's Ferry National
Park
Go to Questions 4 through 6.
The
Election of 1860
In
the months before the presidential election of 1860, political parties held
conventions and chose their candidates.
Because of disagreements over slavery and the future of the Union, this
was not an easy process. Eventually, the
four candidates, listed in the graphic below, emerged.
On Election
Day, Abraham Lincoln won a clear
majority in the Electoral College and the presidency. When it came to the popular vote, however,
only 40% of the ballots cast were for the Republican contender. Although he won every state in the North,
Lincoln received little support from the Border States and none from the
South. In fact, several southern states
refused to put his name on the ballot. Even though Republicans promised to leave
slavery where it already existed, southerners had no faith in their
pledge. On December 20, South Carolina
called a special convention, and its members approved the secession of the state from the Union.
Go to Questions 7 and 8.
A
Last-Minute Compromise?
In
spite of bitter sectional disagreements, some Americans still hoped to preserve
the Union. As South Carolina met to
debate the secession question, congressional leaders in Washington D.C. worked
frantically to hammer out a workable compromise. On December 18, Kentucky Senator John Crittenden suggested the addition
of a group of amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Crittenden’s plan protected slavery by
extending the old Missouri Compromise line across the continent. This was totally unacceptable to Republicans
because they had just won the presidential election by promising to keep
slavery out of all western territories.
Leaders in the South had no interest in discussing any form of
compromise and continued their plans for secession.
Go to Questions 9
The
Formation of the Confederacy
Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi followed South Carolina’s
example and seceded from the Union in January of 1861. Representatives from these states and South
Carolina assembled in Montgomery, Alabama to form a new nation called the Confederate States of America. They named Jefferson Davis, a former senator from Mississippi, as their
president and wrote a constitution. This
document emphasized states’ rights and legalized slavery. The delegates also justified their right to
leave the Union. They stressed that all
states had become part of the United States voluntarily and should be permitted
to leave voluntarily. The convention
claimed that the U.S. Constitution was a contract and that Congress had
violated that agreement by denying citizens their property or, in other words,
the right to own slaves in all lands controlled by the federal government.
Americans
had mixed reactions to the departure of the southern states. President
Buchanan, who remained in office until Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration on
March 4, sent a message to Congress when the news of South Carolina’s secession
reached Washington D.C. He said that the
southern states had no right to secede but added that he had no power to stop
them. In the South, many citizens
celebrated with parades and parties, but some worried about the
consequences. In the North, a few
determined abolitionists declared that they preferred to see the southern
states leave the Union than to compromise again on slavery. For the most part, however, northerners
believed that the Union had to be preserved even if it required the use of
military force.
People
in all areas of the country anxiously awaited to hear what the new president
would say in his inaugural address.
Would Abraham Lincoln take a hard line in respect to the southern states
or offer gentler tone? In fact, his
speech included both concepts. Lincoln
made it clear that the United States would not accept secession, would hold
onto its properties in the South and would continue to enforce its laws. At the same time, he pleaded with the
southern states to reconsider their decision.
Read an excerpt from Lincoln’s speech quoted in the graphic below.
Go to Questions 10 through 16.
Fort
Sumter
The
South soon challenged President Lincoln’s pledge to maintain control of federal
property below the Mason-Dixson Line.
Although Confederate forces seized several forts in the South, Lincoln
did not want to start a war over their capture.
On March 5, 1861, the day following his inauguration, the new president
received a message from Major Robert
Anderson, commander of Fort Sumter, a U.S. military instillation
located on an island off the coast of Charleston,
South Carolina. The dispatch
informed the President that the Confederates had demanded the surrender of the
fort and warned that Union soldiers within the complex were low on
supplies. This put Abraham Lincoln in a
difficult position. If he agreed to the
surrender of the fort, it would appear that he was accepting the South’s right
to secede. A defense of the fort,
however, would likely start a war.
Fort Sumter before the Confederate
Bombardment: 1860
On April
6, President Lincoln contacted Francis
Pickens, South Carolina’s governor, to let him know that unarmed Union
ships carrying necessary supplies would soon be arriving at Fort Sumter. He stressed that the vessels would not unload
additional soldiers or weapons unless the Confederates fired. Governor Pickens advised President Jefferson
Davis and his Cabinet of the situation.
They ordered General P.G.T.
Beauregard, commander of South Carolina’s Confederate troops, to attack
Fort Sumter before the Union ships, already delayed by high seas, arrived. Although they held out for over thirty-three
hours, Major Anderson had little choice but to surrender. On April 14, the American flag over Fort
Sumter was replaced with a Confederate one.
President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to defend the Union. At the same time, Tennessee, Arkansas, North
Carolina and Virginia joined the Confederacy.
The Border States, including Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware,
continued to allow slavery but remained in the Union. Nonetheless, their populations were divided
over which side to support. The Civil
War was underway.
Go to Questions17 through 19.
North
vs South
The
North and the South had significant advantages and disadvantages when the war
began. The North had a larger population
from which to draw soldiers and a better banking system to finance the war
effort. The U.S. Navy remained loyal to
the Union and gave the North the option of blockading southern ports. The North had factories that could produce
uniforms, shoes, blankets and tents. Northern industries included 95% of the
country’s ironworks that were essential for making cannons and railroad
track. Northerners could transport
troops, supplies and food along its 22,000 miles of railroad lines with greater
efficiency than the South, whose railroad network consisted of 9,000
miles. The North also benefitted by
having a strong, national government. The
southern dedication to the principle of states’ rights resulted in a central
government with very little authority.
At times, this made it difficult to conduct the war effectively.
The
South, however, had its strengths. For
the North to win the war, it had to invade the Confederacy, defeat its army and
conquer a hostile population.
Southerners, who were united in their cause, were fighting on their own
land. They knew and understood the
terrain and the climate much better than their northern counterparts. When the war started, the South’s military
leadership was superior to the North’s.
Military training was a tradition for the sons of southern
planters. Some chose one of the South’s
seven military academies; others went north to attend the United States
Military Academy at West Point, located in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Although they were officers in the United
States Army, Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, J.E.B. Stuart and other West
Point graduates from the South chose to fight for the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate
States of America, was also a graduate of West Point and was regarded as a
Mexican War hero. Southerners were quick
to point out that Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, had served just two
months in the Illinois militia and had seen very little action.
Aerial View of the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point:
Southerners
expected to have the support of Great Britain and other European nations that
purchased their cotton. They believed
that this would give them the edge that they needed to win the war. To emphasize the importance of their product,
they cut off the sale of cotton on the word market in an attempt to shut down
textile factories abroad. Cotton growers
reasoned that unemployed workers would push their governments to support the
Confederacy. In spite of their
advantages and disadvantages, both sides were confident of a quick victory in
1861. The North and the South were
equally unprepared for length and the devastation of the war.
Go to Questions 20 through 25
What
Happened Next?
When
the American Civil War began, both sides were confident of a quick
victory. By 1862, however, Americans
realized that the conflict would be long and deadly. Before moving on to the next unit, review the
names and terms found in Unit 33; then, answer Questions 26 through 35.
Go to Questions 26 through 35.
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| Unit 33 The Causes of the Civil War |
| Unit 33 The Abolitionists: John Brown |
| Unit 33 What's the Big Idea? Worksheet |