Lecture on American History

Free Labor Ideology

• Free Labor vs. Slave Labor
  • Discussion on the contrasting systems of labor
  • Emphasis on the virtues of free labor: social mobility, industry, self-discipline

The Life of Dred Scott

• Key Issues
  • Debate over the right to slave property in territories
  • Question of African-American citizenship
• Chief Justice Roger Taney’s Decision
  • Federal government cannot ban slavery
  • African-Americans could not be citizens
  • Missouri Compromise declared unconstitutional
• Northern Reaction
  • Widespread opposition and heightened tensions

John Brown at Harpers Ferry (October 1859)

• Motivation: Claim of aiming to free slaves
• Debate: Was it terrorism or justified action?
• Election of 1860
  • Candidates: Lincoln (Republican) vs. Douglas (Northern Democrat) vs. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) vs. Bell (Constitutional Union)

Lincoln’s Election and the Onset of Civil War

• Timeline: Elected November 1860; takes office March 1861
• Secession
  • States: SC, MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX, followed by VA, AR, NC, TN
  • Formation of the Confederate States of America
• Fort Sumter
  • April 12, 1861: War begins

Union vs. Confederate Advantages

• Union
  • Population: 22.5 million
  • Industrial and financial strength
  • Superior transportation infrastructure
• Confederacy
  • Experienced military officers
  • Home field advantage, fighting on familiar territory
  • Strong morale driven by independence

Military Strategies

• Union Strategy: "Anaconda Plan"
  • Naval blockade to restrict Confederate exports
• Confederate Strategy
  • Defensive tactics and quick frontal attacks
  • Major Battle: Gettysburg, 1863

Conclusion of Civil War

• Appomattox, April 8, 1865
  • Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant
• Lincoln’s Assassination
• 13th Amendment (December 1865)
  • Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude

Reconstruction Era

• Reconstruction as an Unfinished Revolution
  • 13th Amendment: Abolishment of slavery
  • Freedpersons' new rights and challenges
  • The role of the Freedmen’s Bureau
  • Failures in land redistribution
  • Rise of sharecropping

Political and Social Changes

• Andrew Johnson’s Reconciliation Policies
  • Easier pardons for former Confederates
  • Emergence of Black Codes
  • Radical Reconstruction
  • Military occupation and the Civil Rights Act of 1866
  • 14th (1868) and 15th (1870) Amendments

Challenges and Backlash

• White Northern Attitudes
  • Disinterest and perceptions of "Carpetbaggers"
• Political Shift and the End of Reconstruction
  • Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency and limits of radicalism
  • 1874: Democrats regain control of the House
  • Compromise of 1876: Official end of Reconstruction
  • Rise of the "Redeemers" and return to "Home Rule" in the South