Period 5 Key Concept 5.3: Civil War and Reconstruction

Reasons for Union Victory

• Early Confederate Successes
  • Battle of Bull Run: Proved war wouldn't be over quickly.
  • Peninsula Campaign: Union defeat.
• Southern Advantages
  • Defensive war strategy; only needed to avoid defeat.
  • Fighting on familiar territory with local support.
  • Motivation: Defending slavery, state rights, and southern lifestyle.
  • Veteran military leaders like Robert E. Lee.
• Union Advantages
  • Greater industrial resources and manufacturing capacity.
  • Larger population for more soldiers.
  • Naval strategies such as the Anaconda Plan (blockade).
  • Emergence of Union military leaders like Sherman and Grant.
  • Key victories: Antietam (prevented foreign intervention), Gettysburg, Vicksburg.

Changes in War Purpose

• Emancipation Proclamation
  • Announced after Antietam.
  • War focus shifted from secession to ending slavery.
  • Strengthened North’s moral cause.
  • Prevented European intervention.
  • Increased African American enlistment in Union Army.

Mobilization and Economic Impact

• Conscription Laws

  • Both North and South drafted soldiers.
  • Unfair to the poor: $300 man substitute in North, 20 Negro Law in South.
  • Draft riots, notably in NY (1863).

• Economic Measures

  • Tariff laws, National Bank Act, Homestead Act.
  • Emancipation Proclamation to fund Northern war effort.

Political Opposition

• Union

  • Lincoln faced challenges, e.g., suspension of habeas corpus.
  • Opposition from various political groups.

• Confederacy

  • Jefferson Davis struggled with resources and states' rights.

Reconstruction Policies

• Presidential vs Congressional Reconstruction

  • Johnson’s vetoes of Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bill of 1866.
  • Congress overrides vetoes, Reconstruction Act of 1867.
  • Division of South into military districts, new requirements for state readmission.

• Impeachment of Johnson

  • Tenure of Office Act leads to Johnson dismissing Edwin Stanton.
  • First presidential impeachment; Johnson not convicted.

Radical Reconstruction

• Short-term Successes

  • Union gradually reunited.
  • Political opportunities for former slaves (e.g., Hiram Revels).

• Challenges

  • Black Codes: Restricted African Americans’ rights.
  • Sharecropping system perpetuated exploitation.

Decline of Reconstruction

• Southern Resistance and Violence

  • Ku Klux Klan, Redeemer governments.

• North’s Waning Resolve

  • Economic focus (Panic of 1873).
  • Election of 1876 and Compromise of 1877 end Reconstruction.

Reconstruction Amendments

• 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery.

• 14th Amendment: Citizenship and equal protection under the law.

• 15th Amendment: Black male suffrage.

• Long-term Impact

  • Amendments laid groundwork for future civil rights.
  • Used in 1950s-60s civil rights movement.

Women's Rights Movement

• Opposition to the 15th Amendment by leaders like Susan B. Anthony, due to exclusion of women.

---

Additional Resources:

• For more detailed insights, refer to suggested videos on Civil War and Reconstruction.