End of Jacksonian Era:

− Whig party -develops in the end of Jacksonian democracy

− named after the British party of Whigs (vs the Tories).
− The Whigs always were anti-monarchical and wanted to limit the king and increase the
power of the House of Commons
− It was named so because it wanted to limit the powers of “King Andrew (Jackson)”.
They felt that he was extending his powers as President way past Constitutional limits.
− The heads of this party were: Clay, Webster, Calhoun.
− The Whigs believed in states rights but not to the position of ruin of the Union.
− This party was very loosely organized – it was basically just everyone who hated
Jackson was in this party. Calhoun eventually moves further away from the Whig
party because he wanted more states rights (so he supported secession).
Whig Party Beliefs:
1) They were generally in favor of Clay's American System
1. Support for a high tariff to protect American industries and generate revenue for the federal
government
2. Maintenance of high public land prices to generate federal revenue
3. Preservation of the Bank of the United States to stabilize the currency and rein in risky state
and local banks
4. Development of a system of internal improvements (such as roads and canals) which would
knit the nation together and be financed by the tariff and land sales revenues.
2) Favors increased improvements in already existent states rather than expansion in the west.
3) Favored increased Northern industrialization (high tariffs)
Election of 1836:
− The Whigs tried to secure the election by running a bunch of people on their ticket. If their plan
had worked, no one candidate would get a majority in the Electoral college so the election
would be thrown to the House. Their, Clay is still Speaker of the House and had a great
influence over the House. He would be able to throw the election to the Whig candidate he saw
most fit.
− However, Jackson's successor (Van Buren) secures the election by a narrow margin. He won
because he won in the South and the West (because he was a Democrat, and those were the
Democratic strongholds) and his he got New York which had the most electoral votes.
− This is a Pyrrhic victory for the Democrats because even though they won, Van Buren is
unable to solve the issues Jackson avoided. There was also great Economic instability
during his term.
Panic of 1837:
− Caused by land over speculation.
− It was so disastrous – there were grain riots.
Mexican-American Relations:
− Porfirio Diaz (President of Mexico)
 “poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.”
− He's talking about the lack of fortune in Mexico
− Mexico, at this point, is also very not stable. There is four presidents in Mexico. The

1
 President of Mexico is saying that it is even less awesome because it is next to super
democratic and strong United States.
− On July 4th, 1845, the United States annexed Texas.
 Most historians point this single event to the cause of the war. The actual cause was the
spread of the ideal of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the idea that white men had
to spread democracy because it was their God given right.
James Polk (Democrat):
 expansionist
 Santa Anna (leader of Mexico) wants the Rio Grand to be the border of Mexico and the
United States
 Texas, to Mexico, was a “province in rebellion”
 was able to annex Texas because the Texans felt more apart of the United States.
 He sends future president General Zachary Taylor to the border of disputed territory
− Polk says he does this because there he sees a threat of Mexican invasion in the North of
Texas
− He's a bad liar, because the Mexicans can't get their act together and have four
presidents, so they have better things to deal with.
− He does this without approval of Congress; on a foreign territory as a “defensive force”;
it was clearly offensive
 he sends General John Fremont to Mexican California; he escapes Mexican arrest and
builds a U.S fort in Mexican California
 Polk authorizes the Purchase of Mexican territory of California, New Mexico, and the
disputed part of Texas Taylor was in for $25 million; about a billion today
− However, even though Mexico needs this money, there is a strong nationalist feeling and
it does not want to give up so much of its territory
 In the Spring 1846, Polk wished on a star and his dreams came true when California
declared rebellion against Mexico in the Bear Flag Revolt.
− It calls itself the Bear Flag Republic. You can see it in their flag today.
− Zachary Taylor marches into Texas disputed territory
− May 13, 1846, Congress declares war on Mexico
− (Polk won Congress because of his nationalist and expansionist sentiment)
− Many are against the war, John Quincy Addams (now representing Mass. In
congress) thinks its unconstitutional
− Abraham Lincoln is worried that if the territories are won, would they be slave or
not?

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 − This is the Whig parties stance because they wanted slavery to gradually die and
this would just reopen the question. They viewed it as a pro-slavery war.
− Henry David Thoreau refuses to pay a tax that supports the war and ends up in jail,
writes “Civil Disobedience”
3 Campaigns:
− California – Fremont and Kearney
− Central Northern Mexico – Zachary Taylor
− Vera Cruz – Winfield Scott occupies this chief port of Mexico and then goes to occupy
Montaray and Mexico City
Mexico surrenders in 1848
Mexican advantages
The war is fought almost entirely on Mexican
territory
The American army is outnumbered in almost
every battle. (However, the Americans “out-gun”
them by having a major artillery advantage
Results:
− US gets everything it wants in the Treaty of Guadelupe-Heraldo (1848)
− Mexican Cession: Alto and Baja California; Nuevo Mexico; Texas formal and the Rio
Grande becomes the official border
− America payed $18,250,000 anyway because Mexico lost so much
− deadliest conflict in America faced so far
− 10% casualty rate
− the Mexican government lost half their land
Opponents of the War, like Emerson realized that “most of the great feats are results of nefarious
reasons”
The War was a Blessing and a Curse:
− the question of a slavery is opened
− the new artillery advantages and training the generals had was ground for Civil War
− Many of the great names in the Civil War got their start in this war, like Captains Jackson,
Robert E. Lee and Grant and Lieutenant Colonel Davis
− North and South become more divided
− New Mexico and Utah are admitted as slave states
− California is a free state

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The Slaveholders' Union?
− Americans desired human freedom – yet nothing allows Congress to delegate on slavery in the
Constitution
− not completely pro slavery but anti-antislavery. Wants to let it die for the purpose of
maintaining a Union
− by 1780s slavery was dying but slavery become profitable with the invention of the
cotton gin.
Northern and Southern Strengths
Union Strengths Southern Strengths
Numerical population (22 million vs Southern 9 Commanders (Lee, the most brilliant general of
million, of which 4 million were slave) the time, turned down Commander of the Union
Army for his state and became the Commander of
the Army of Virginia)
Diversified Economy and more wealth Fighting for the way of life and power of
nullification and secession; they had a clear goal
and the North's fluctuated throughout the war
Industry (easier to provide for the war) all of the
Southern economy would equal 1/4th of New
York's
Ken Burns, The Civil War
Wilmer Mclean – the war started in his backyard with Bull Run and then he moved and it ended in his
parlor when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse *that sucks
− 600,000 men of the 3,000,000 enrolled died, 2% of the population died
− 1861-1865 was a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America and defined Americans
The Cause:
Slaves:
− 4 out of 100 were expected to see 60
− blacks created their own culture that yearned to be free
− the compromise of slavery was never solved
− 1 out of 7 southerners are slaves in 1860
− Eli Whitney's cotton gin increases slavery
− Abolition movement:
− Garrison's The Liberator calls for abolition of slavery
− Wendell Phillips

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 − Frederick Douglass (half black – wrote an autobiography)
− Harriet Tubman (Black Moses)
− Southerners refuse to acknowledge the sin of slavery
− 1820s antislavery societies were more numerous in the South
− Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831 sent a wave of hysteria sweeping over the south
− in 1832 they cried nullification
− The southerners drove through the House the Gag Resolution which required all antislavery
appeals to be tabled without debate
− There was a Planter Aristocracy: the south was more of oligarchy – government by a few. There
was a select coterie of 1,733 families who owned more than 100 slaves each, and this select
group provided all the political and social leadership.
− There was a huge gap between rich and poor
− the big got bigger, small smaller; tend to over speculate in land and slaves made the
economy awful because it was a one-crop economy unlike the diversified North; it was
generally discouraged by competition of slave labor so they hated immigrants (who then
went to the North, giving it a bigger population)
− 25% of the white southerners owned slaves
− whites without slaves had no direct stake in the preservation of slavery, yet supported it
because they had hope that they would become rich
− Legal importation of African slaves ended in 1808 when Congress outlawed it, but there were
still a lot of blacks because masters praised blacks who reproduced
− they were the primary form of wealth in the South
− most were concentrated in the “black belt” of the Deep South – South Carolina – Georgia
to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (Lower Mississippi 75% black)
− Black marriages were not legally recognized and they could be separated if sold; big on
community; Church was a mixture of Christian and African elements; avoided marriage
between first cousins; denied an education because reading brought ideas; universally
pined for freedom;
− Denmark Vesey's rebellion in Charleston SC, 1822
− Nat Turner slaughtered 60 Virginians
Free Blacks
− traced back to the revolutionary days where some men freed their slaves, or men who purchased
their freedom , or mulattoes – children of a white master with a black mistress slaveholder
prohibited from working in certain occupations and from testifying against whites in courts
− competed for menial jobs
− Anti-black feeling was stronger in the North than the South

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Abolition:
− American Colonization Society in 1822 founded the Republic of Liberia on the West African
coast; Monrovia was its capitol – named after President Monroe; but most blacks had been
partially Americanized and did not want to go over to the strange land
− Second Great Awakening opened many minds to the evils of slavery
− Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin raised the abolitionist movement (including
overseas, where Queen Victoria wept at it)
− Sojourner Truth – a freed black woman
− These political abolitionists backed the Liberty Party in 1840, the Free Soil party in 1848, and
the Republican party in the 1850s
1834 – Lewis Tappan's New York house was demolished because he was a complete abolitionist
1837 – Alton, IL's Reverend Elijah Lovejoy was shot because of his views that he printed on slavery.
− the first white man killed over slavery
Abraham Lincoln called for the restriction (not abolition) of slavery, his wife, Mary Todd's father was a
slaveholder.
Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom's Cabin, which demonstrates the horrors of slavery.
Kansas-Nebraska Act: Kansas and Nebraska can decide whether they are slave or not; Kansas
explodes with violence
− Woods believes that it was not as explosive as people believed it to be. Political killings were
only about 1/3 of the total violent deaths during the period , from 157 violent deaths only 56
appear to have something to do with slavery.
− The anti-slavery Kansas Government proposed state constitution that would have forbidden
even free blacks to enter the state
− Republicans Party, created in 1854, were a sectional party of the Whigs – favored free-soil and
high protective tariffs; Abraham Lincoln first Republican presidential. Northeners favored land
giveaways by the federal government while Southerners believed federal lands should be sold
Dred Scott Decision – Chief justice Taney rules that Dred Scott, a slave, did not get freedom even
though his master took him to a free state.
− this meant that states had to honor one anther's laws; ruined the concept of a “free-soil state”
− Dred Scott should have been freed (Wood's prospective) – James Sommersett escaped when his
master brought him along a business trip in England; Chief Justice Lord Mansfield in
Sommersett's Case (1772) argued that slavery was an institution so odious and contrary to
natural law that it could only exist by statute and Sommersett should be released.
− By Tane's reasoning the Missouri Compromise had always been unconstitutional
John Brown – wanted to destroy slavery
− Oct 16, 1859, Harper's Ferry, he took hostages and killed a free black and killed 5 pro-slavery
men.

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 − Targeted five families (who didn't own slaves) but were loyal to the “wrong” Kansas faction;
Southeners grew concerned about their safety in their Union
− Tried for treason; hanged Dec 2, 1859
− Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson loved him and believed he was unjustly hanged
− Confederate army begins
Buchanan becomes president and Democrats split on slavery
1860, Abraham Lincoln does not want slavery to spread; on the Republican ticket; 40% vote for him
and not even on the ticket in ten southern states.

− South Carolina calls for secession from the Union; Southerners were not excited about Lincoln
− 33 States in the Union when Lincoln was elected
− 27 states remain in the Union when he is sworn in
− South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas
− North is determined to keep the Union together
Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America (CSA))
− Dixie is the National anthem of the Confederacy
− Secretary of War; Mississippi Senator from Kentucky; graduate of West Point; Captain in
the Mexican War
Constitution of the Confederate States of America:
− president has a 6 year term and the right to veto
− transcontinental slave trade is outlawed

7
General Winfield Scott (hero of the Mexican War) wants Lee as the leader of the Union army
4:30 AM April 12th, 1861
− Beauregard (CSA) opens fire on Fort Sumter
− Anderson (Beauregard's instructor in West Point) defends Sumter
− 34 hours long; only a Confederate horse dies
− decided that Virginia would secede
− Tennessee, North Carolina and Arkansas join
Grant – failed at everything; a drunk
Robert E. Lee was offered to be commander of the Union army but chose Virginia
− Lincoln sent troops to keep the border states loyal and suspended habeus corpus
− made war on secession not slavery
Manassas/1st Battle of Bull Run, Virginia (July 16th, 1861)
McDowell (Union) Beauregard (CSA)
Union victory seemed sure so people came to watch
Jackson held his army there like a “Stonewall” - got his nickname
Beauregard orders a counterattack and the Union army fell apart
93 killed; 5000 northern casualties
Great Skedaddle – North has to return to Confederate Win
Washington after their fail

McClellan (Little Mac) takes over the “Army of the Potomac”

- he was a superb organizer and drillmaster, and he injecxted splendid morale. He was a perfectionist
and overcautious so he did nothing.
The Union has a proposed three part attack:
1) get Richmond (Confederate Capitol – would weaken Southern morale and basically end the
war)
2) Kentucky and Tennessee (The Underbelly of the South) which opens up the pathway to go all
the way to Georgia
3) get control of the Mississippi so the Navy could blockade supplies to South.
Northern Cause of the War changes:
− (1861) protection of the Union
− (1862) emancipation of the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
− (1863) total abolition (Gettysburg Address)

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 − Lincoln views it as suppressing a rebellion and wants to subdue rebellious states
− Garrison and others believes it as a war on slavery
− Davis views it as protecting states rights
− Butler (Union) believes that the Confederates are a nation, unlike Lincoln. He was not
following the Fugitive Slave Law and claimed he was right because the Confederates were a
different country so the law didn't stand.
Southern Cause is always: self-determination
2/3rd Soldiers in the North and South said they were fighting for patriotism. Northern soldiers were
fighting to preserve what their ancestors had made: The Union. Southerners were fighting for the real
legacy of the founding fathers: the principle of self-government, Southern soldiers compared the
South's struggle against the US government to their struggle against Britain.
Cherokees supported the Confederacy, which gladly took their support and promised them more land.
the Five Civilized Tribes : Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaw, Creeks and Seminoles. The Southerners
sought only to repel the invaders from their soil and governing themselves.
Total War:
− Butler (Union) ordered the women of New Orleans to be used as prostitutes;
− Sherman (Union) and his march to the sea, destroying houses and farmland of all crops for
years to come
− total war wasn't normal or morally acceptable in the nineteenth century
− William Lloyd Garrison (super abolitionist) favored the secession of the North (to lure slaves
from the South and make the slave system untenable)
The Union Plan:
1) slowly suffocate the South by blockading its coast
2) liberate the slaves and undermine the very economic foundations of the old south
3) cut the Confederacy in half by seizing control of the Mississippi River backbone
4) chop the Confederacy to pieces by sending troops through Georgia and the Carolinas
5) capture its capital at Richmond
6) do everything to grind the enemy into submission
Peninsular Campaign(Spring 1862:):
− McClellan (Union) has an amphibious assault hoping to capture the New Confederate capitol of
Richmond, Virginia
− In the 7 day battle, Lee pushes his army to sea that McClellan has to retreat
− Jackson sent to Shenandoah Valley (Virginia) and pushed the Army of the Potomac back to
Washington
− the war would have quickly ended if McClellan had succeeded in capturing Richmond

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 − the nature of the war changes and it becomes a war of attrition : a war that mainly just tries to
wear down the enemy by even attacking civilians
Monitor vs Merrimack (Virginia) Battle of the Ironclads (1862)
− The South was blockaded so Britain could not ship anything to the South and southern goods
were sky high
− the Merrimack(renamed Virginia), Confederate's ironclad ship versed the Monitor (the
Cheese box on the Ocean referring to how quickly it was constructed) battled it out off the
coast of Virginia
− the Monitor takes out the Merrimack leaving the South with no ironclad
Ulysses S. Grant (US Grant/ Unconditional Surrender Grant)
− failure at everything he tried except his marriage
− Ohio native; lived in Galena, IL
− after serving as a Lieutenant in the Mexican-American War, Grant enlisted in the Union Army.
He went from field commander to general because the Union was desperate for generals.
− Serves mainly in the Western theater
Fort Donelson, Kentucky (1862)
Grant (Union) Floyd (CSA)
Union Victory; get the fort
Confederates plead for surrender, but Grant will only accept terms of Unconditional Surrender; he gets
the nickname “Unconditional Surrender Grant”
Lincoln can depend on Grant because he
understands that the nature of this war is a war of
attrition - the military strategy of wearing down
the enemy by continual losses in personnel and
material

1862:
Shiloh, Tennessee (1862)
(ironically, Shiloh is derived from the Hebrew word for peace)

Union Confederacy
Grant, Buell Johnston, Beauregard
13,000 losses – Grant has higher losses because he 11,000 losses
has more soldiers so he is able to order them as he
pleases without much though of survival rate
25% survival rate

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 the casualties combined would be more than all the losses America had in any war before then
The casualty rate is so high because generals did not use tactics that included the advanced weaponry
Union Victory

Second Battle of Bull Run, Virginia (1862)

Pope (Union) Lee (CSA)
Had only experience in the Western theater of Confederate Victory emboldens Lee to invade
warfare, he didn't know what to do Maryland, a border state

Antietam, Maryland (1862)

McClellan vs Lee
Lee invaded the North for several reasons:
1. Lee wanted to force Lincoln to sign a peace treaty
2. Lee wanted to fuel Northern discontent with war and bring demands for peace
3. Lee wanted to capture Washington and by doing so, he could end the Civil War and cut all the
costly casualties

Results: stalemate, but called Union Victory

Antietam is important because it:
Emboldens Lincoln to announce Geographically, it took place in Britain and France refuse to
the Emancipation Proclamation the border state of Maryland, recognize the Confederate States
(which really frees no slaves, but which strengthens their loyalty to of America as a nation.
it changes the motivations of the the Union – they see the
war) confederates are shoeless;
starving and retreating so they
best stick with the Union.
Emancipation Proclamation:
− “Where he could free the slave he wouldn't; where he freed the slaves he couldn't”
− styled lengthy because of the style of 19th century writing (Dickens got paid by the word)
− Lincoln issues the proclamation as an executive order: military objective. He sees that it is
his right because he is Commander and chief of the army and navy.
− The war is now focused on emancipation of the slaves
− The passing of the Proclamation was mostly political because Lincoln saw the blacks as a
burden: he wouldn't know what to do with them, he couldn't arm them because the South
would capture them and then get more arms for themselves when they sell them into
slavery, had to feed them more than the soldiers. He did not do it for morality. Europe
would accept them more because Europe had already abolished slavery. The Emancipation
mostly strengthened the morality of the Union Cause. It really had no effect on slavery in
the Union, and it ensured the loyalty of the border states.

11
 − Jefferson Davis saw that Lincoln was a hypocrite in passing the Proclamation because a
year before he said it was unlawful to free the slaves and had agreed it was a white
man's war. The Proclamation undermined the Confederacy's authority because it called
them states in rebellion and did not recognize them as a country.
− Southern slaves marched north
− This opened the door for black service in the Union army
− 180,000 black troops enlisted in the Union army; 38,000 died; 23 received the
Congressional medal of honor
− Lincoln soon expressed that black regiments were necessary in winning the war.
Fredericksburg, Virginia (1862)
Hooker (Union) Lee (CSA)
McClellan's replacement
Total victory for the CSA, the Union army abandons Virginia

Chancellorsville, Virginia (1863)

Burnside (Union) Lee (CSA)
Hooker's replacement
At a complete disadvantage numerically
Confederate victory,
even though they were severely outnumbered by the Union army
Called “Lee's masterpiece”
However, “Stonewall” Jackson is killed by
friendly fire

Summer 1863
− Lee invades Pennsylvania
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (July 1-3, 1863)
Meade (Union) Lee (CSA)
1st major victory for the Union in a pitched battle in the Eastern theater of the war
Not decided until the last day, July 3rd, when Pickett's charge (CSA) and the Union was able to resist
− Lee realizes the South is on a decline
While Grant is busy shooting through the Western Theater, Farragut secures the Mississippi by sea.
Both meet at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Vicksburg, Mississippi (July 4, 1863)
Grant (Union) Pemberton (CSA)

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 Union secures and occupies Vicksburg
Union army and Navy tighten control over the South with control of the Mississippi
Carolinas and Georgia are now exposed to Union attack - “The Underbelly of the South”

Summer 1863- Spring 1865

− War of attrition and Lee starts guerrilla warfare (hit, duck, and run)
Autumn 1863
− Gettysburg Address
− uncharacteristically short (about a minute and a half)
− Lincoln says the cause is noble which alludes to abolition of slavery
− it is not logical because Lincoln says that the Union cause was self determination,
however, the cause of the South has always been self-determination, so the Union is
really fighting for anti-self determination.
1864:
Election year:
Union Party War Democrats Peace Democrats
A new party; Lincoln did not run Supported the war but hated 1861-1863 people become peace
under the “Republican Party” Lincoln democrats – people who want
because he chose southern peace with the South, but hate
Democrat Andrew Jackson as Lincoln
his Vice President to hopefully
garner some of the votes from
War Democrats
Won a major Electoral Victory Ran McClellan (a general who Concerned with Mississippi river
Lincoln had dismissed from because the Midwestern farmers
being leader of the Army of the needed it
Potomac)
Got a lot of votes because of a A lot of people voted for them Wanted Northwestern states to
series of war victories: but did not get an electoral secede and join the South to get
majority access to the Mississippi
Mobile Bay, Alabama Called the Copperheads
(Farragut) secures the port of
Mobile Bay
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Clement L Vallandingham (Ohio)
(Sheridan) “Man without a nation” -
campaigned in Canada because
he doesn't want Lincoln to jail
him for treason

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Atlanta, Georgia (Sherman) Get 8 – 10% of the vote

Sherman's March to the Sea (Georgia) Nov – Dec 1864

Total war – a new concept; war is not only against soldiers but civilians
William Tecumseh Sherman - “war is Hell”
believes that his total war efforts will end the war more quickly
and then it will not last as long as it needs it too (Probably saving more people)
Burned everything to the ground
The goal is to defeat Lee, who is hiding somewhere in Virginia.
Wilderness Campaign (1864-1865) – the bloodiest year of the war
Cold Harbor, Virginia (June 3rd, 1864)
Grant (Union) Lee (CSA)
Meade (Union)
In 2 minutes, 7,000 are dead which surpasses the rate of casualties of D-Day (WWII)
Union Victory Lee is worn down and starved
In February 1845, Lincoln met with Confederate representatives aboard a Union Ship at Hampton
Roads, Virginia to talk of peace; he could accept nothing short of Union and emancipation and the
South were stubbornly fixed on independence
Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia (April 9th, 1865; Palm Sunday)
Grant (Union) Lee (CSA)
Lee surrenders in Wilmer Mclean's front parlor;
only war to be ever ended with a handshake
Aftermath of the War:

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 − the SS Sultana, a steamship, was loaded up at Vicksburg Mississippi with Union freedmen; it
caught fire and over 1200 died which made it the worst US maritime disaster
− $15 billion war
− 600,000 men died in action or of disease and over a million were killed or wounded seriously
− nation lost the cream of its young manhood and potential leadership
− nullification and secession were laid to resist
− Two years after the Civil War ended, the English Reform Bill of 1867 was passed in which
Britain became democratic
− All rebel leaders were pardoned by President Johnson in 1868
− In the South, cities like Charleston, Richmond, and Atlanta were gone, economic life was
halted, inflation was rampant, transportation was gone, agriculture was crippled by Sherman
and the non existing slave-labor system
− many blacks were emancipated and re-slaved, all masters were eventually forced to recognize
freedom
− 25,000 blacks from Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi went to Kansas; churches like Baptist
Church and African Methodist Episcopal Church grew in size
− blacks were Emancipated
Redeemers
− a party of people in the South that wanted to go back to the ways before the war with slavery; a
lot of their members were members of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) – a band of whites that
terrorized blacks in the South by violence
Ex Parte Millegan (1866)
− no civilians to be tried in military courts
− it would be unfair, because military courts could disband Habeus corpus, and ex confederate
leaders would have an easier time to be tried under their peers versus Union generals.
Lincoln's Assassination
− John Wilkes Booth, an actor, was not happy with the outcome of the war so so he devised a plan
to kill Lincoln; his friend Paine would stab Secretary of State Seward and his other friend
Asarad would shoot Vice President Johnson as they enjoyed a British comedy “Our American
Cousin” at Ford's Theater in D.C. On April 14th, 1865 (Good Friday – isn't it blasphemous to go
see a comedy on Good Friday?)
− Paine stabs Seward; Asarad backs out; Booth shoots Lincoln and breaks his leg as he hops on
stage yelling either “the south is avenged!!” or “sic semper tyrranis” (Death to tyrants)
− Lincoln is dead on April 15th, 1865
− Blacks were screwed with Lincoln's death
− Lincoln and his son who died while he was in office are sent on a 1600 mile train ride back

15
 to Springfield, IL (The way he came)
− two future presidents saw the train ride (Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt)
− the casket lay in Philadelphia for a while where he once said that he'd rather be assassinated
than lose the Union
− laid to rest at Oak Ridge cemetery, Springfield IL
− Booth is trapped inside a tobacco barn and he either gets the choice of being captured of shot
and he looks at his hands and says “useless, useless” and gets shot.
Andrew Johnson
− Born to impoverished parents in North Carolina and orphaned early – never attended school but
was apprenticed as a tailor at 10
− refused to secede with his own state (Tennessee) which landed him on the Union party ticket
(even though he was a democrat) in 1864
− Lincoln needed support from the War Democrats
− was hated by the Radical Republican Congress
Reconstruction:
− There was no side that had purely good intention
− Lincoln who believed that the South was in rebellion (had never seceded) had a moderate stance
on Reconstruction when he formulated the 10 Percent Plan in March 1865 – which said that if
10 percent of the state and ex Confederate leaders swore to the Union they would be readmitted
− Johnson accepted this, but added that anyone with over $20,000 needed too – this goes back
to how he grew up in abject poverty (orphaned, no education)
− The Radical Republicans feared that the Southern and Northern Democrats would come
together and come to power in the Congress; before the war republicans had such a great
majority in both houses that they could override everything Johnson said; now, there were NO
southern Republicans, and since blacks were not counted as 3/5th of a person anymore, they
gained 12 electoral votes in the south.
− They created more hostility and regional conflict
− Radical Republicans wanted the Wade- Davis Bill which required 50 percent to swear back
(Lincoln pocket vetoed)
− Charles Sumner (Senate, Mass.) and Thaddeus Stevens (House, Penn.) believed that the South
seceded and were a foreign territory; enforced it with troop presence
− anyone in the South representatives were not allowed in the houses; Constitution allows this
(but on an individual basis)
− Freedman's Bureau:
− created by Radical Republicans; vetoed by Jackson; overrode by a greatly Republican
congress

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 − a welfare agency that provided food for freedmen and white refugees; taught blacks how to
read (greatest accomplishment)
− it was really corrupt in places; gave back little land to blacks, collaborated with planters in
expelling blacks from towns and made them sign labor contracts to work for former masters
− expired in 1872
− Johnson did not veto bills having rights for Black (like the Freedman's bureau) because he hated
blacks, they were unconstitutional
− Civil Rights Act of 1866:
− Johnson was not against the rights of blacks, but at this point all the states in the
Confederacy were not back in the Union yet and he did not want to pass anything without
their approval
Elections of 1866: Johnson wanted to get rid of the Radical Republican congress so he went around
“swingin' round the circle” or otherwise, speeches that advocated for democrats and accused the
Radicals of having planned anti-black riots and murder in the South. The Republicans, however had a
great majority in the North because of their passing of tariffs. They spread the idea that if Johnson's
lenient Reconstruction plan were allowed to stand, disloyal Southern congressmen would vote to
repudiate the debt- leaving the US bond holders with only worthless paper. They forced their program
upon the South by an evasion of issues and clever use of propaganda in an election where a majority of
the voters would have supported Johnson's policy had they been given a chance to express their
preference on an issue squarely faced.”
− 14th amendment was never constitutionally ratified (the 14th amendment has been screwing
over Conservatives today; like in California; where California must give welfare to illegal
aliens)
− reversed the Dred Scott decision that had declared blacks as not Americans
− 10 of the 11 states of the former Confederacy refused to ratify because the not exact
wording of the amendment would come back to screw them (Tennessee did it just to please
the North)
− the North refused to not let them ratify and ruled them with Reconstruction Act of 1867
which lead to Military Reconstruction (1867) – dividing the south in military districts
with general leaders and replacing their state governments - until they adopted it
− Johnson condemned the
Reconstruction legislation
− This was not only
unconstitutional, but
contradictory on the part of
the Republicans. The
Republicans set up military
governments in the South in
order to ratify the
amendment, but by setting up

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 these governments it said that these states had not a legal government. Not having a
legal government would exclude itself from ratifying an amendment, so there was no
point to it
− Two Republicans from Oregon provided the thin margin by which the amendment
passed but they were removed in the same session because they had been illegally
elected – their seats given to Democrats who voted against the amendment; their votes
were not allowed to stand so the amendment stood.
− New Jersey rescinded their votes but it was not allowed to stand.
− racist southerners and conservative ideas hindered the South's redemption
− women had played a prominent part in the abolitionist movement but did not get the right to
vote
− The Republicans took for granted that freed slaves would vote Republican
− Radical Republican Stevens conceded that the votes of the freed slaves were necessary in order
to bring about “perpetual ascendancy to the Party of the Union” - that is, the Republican Party
− Radical Republicans believed the South was out of the Union and not entitled to congressional
representation, strongly suggested that the North's motives win going to the war were not about
slavery, but about power.
− Reconstruction was viewed so negatively in the South, that after Atlanta was burned, The South
was excited when Chicago was in flames (Karma)
− Black codes were passed by the South which sought to restore pre-emancipation system of race
relations
− were essentially based on Northern vagrancy laws and other restrictive legislation that was
still on the books when the Reconstruction Acts were drawn up
− Northern laws were more harsh in their terms than anything in the South
− the situation of wandering blacks across the South was leading to crime, fear and
violence (the Black codes were justifiable)
− Tenure of Office Act of 1867: overrode a presidential veto; forbade the president to remove
Cabinet members without the consent of the Senate (had in mind secretary of war Edwin
Stanton from Lincoln's Cabinet)
− brilliant move on the Radical Republican's part because Johnson was screwed either way; if
he stood by it - Stanton was safe; if he defied it he could be impeached
− Johnson dismissed Stanton - later the House impeached him (Chief Justice Taft declared
in Myers v US that the Tenure of Office Act was invalid in 1926.
Impeachment of Johnson (1868)
− House votes 126 to 47 to impeach Johnson after he violated the Tenure of Office Act by
dismissing Edwin M. Stanton from his Cabinet position
− By a margin of only one vote, on May 16th, 1868, Johnson was given the verdict of not-guilty in

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 the Senate
Purchase of Alaska (1867)
− Russians wanted to sell Alaska to America to strengthen their relationship with America, and
ally them against their enemy of Britain
− Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska for $7.2 million
− bought it because turning down Russia would be bad, and it was rumored to be full of gold
and great luxuries
Most Conservative transition into integration into By Date:
the Union:
Redeemers 13th amendment (1865)
Lincoln and Johnson 10 percent plan 10 Percent Plan (1865)
Andrew Johnson Freedman's Bureau (1865)
Ex Parte Milligan (1866) Civil Rights Act (1866)
th
13 amendment Ex Parte Milligan (1866)
Freedman's Bureau 14th Amendment (1868)
Civil Right's Act of 1866 Military Reconstruction (1868)
14th Amendment Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1868)
Military Reconstruction 15th Amendment (1870)
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
15th Amendment
Thaddeus Stephens
Charles Sumner
Most Radical

List of the Presidents so far:

1 George Washington (1789-97)
2 John Adams, 1797-1801 (Federalist)
3 Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9 (Democratic Republican)
4 James Madison, 1809-17 (Democratic Republican)
5 James Monroe, 1817-25 (Democratic-Republican)
6 John Quincy Adams, 1825-29 (Democratic-Republican)
7 Andrew Jackson 1829-37 (Democrat)
8 Martin Van Buren, 1837-41 (Democrat)

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9 William Henry Harrison, 1841 (Whig)
10 John Tyler1841-45 (Whig)
11 James Knox Polk, 1845-49 (Democrat)
12 Zachary Taylor, 1849-50 (Whig)
13 Millard Fillmore, 1850-53 (Whig)
14 Franklin Pierce, 1853-57 (Democrat)
15 James Buchanan, 1857-61 (Democrat)
16 Abraham Lincoln, 1861-65 (Republican)
17 Andrew Johnson, 1865-69 (Democrat/National Union)
18 Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-77 (Republican)

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