America in the 1860s and 1870s 4 America in the 1860s and 1870s In 1860 America was a land torn apart by the issue of slavery In November of that year Abraham Lincoln a tall intense lawyer from Springfield Illinois was elected president of the United States A thoughtful and highly intelligent man Lincoln ran as the presidential candidate of the new Republican Party Founded in the mid 1850’s this party opposed the expansion of slavery into the U S territories west of the Mississippi River The South hated and feared Lincoln Many southerners were convinced he would try to destroy slavery even though he believed and had stated over and over again that he had no legal authority as president to end slavery in states where it already existed Lincoln’s election led to one southern state after another to secede or withdrawal from the Union Washington Territory Oregon Unorganized Territory Minnesota New Hampshire Vermont Maine Nebraska Territory Wisconsin Michigan New York Utah Territory California Kansas Territory New Mexico Territory Indian Territory Iowa Missouri Arkansas Indiana Ohio Illinois Kentucky Tennessee Mississippi Alabama Georgia Texas Louisiana Pennsylvania D C Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Florida Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey Delaware Maryland Free States Slave States Territories Conflict over the issue of slavery caused southern states to secede from the Union in the 1860s Citizens of Charleston watch as Confederate troops bombard Fort Sumter on April 12 1861
America in the 1860s and 1870s 6 Slaves on a cotton plantation talk about escaping to freedom in the 1800s By 1860 slavery had practically disappeared from the North But the slave system still flourished in the South where the economy was dependent upon the cotton rice tobacco and sugar grown on large plantations worked by slaves In contrast the North’s economy was based on small farms and businesses In general white northerners did not support equality for slaves but most believed slavery was wrong And almost all believed the South had no right to break up the Union Most white southerners on the other hand believed not only that slavery was necessary for their economic survival but also that it was morally right and actually good for the slaves themselves The entire southern way of life they believed rested on the continuation of slavery Civil War SIV-uhl WAWR The conflict between the Union and the 11 southern states that made up the Confederacy fought between 1861 and 1865 In 1860 slaves in the South had no power to free themselves or even to discuss their situation with their owners They had no rights at all and the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision in 1857 said in effect that a slave had no consideration as a citizen with the same rights as whites Slaves hoped and waited for Jubilee the day of freedom which they fervently believed would soon come A Decade of War and Peace Despite Lincoln’s pleas in April 1861 southern forces bombarded the Union fortress of Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston South Carolina With this act the Civil War began During the next four years more than 600,000 Americans died fighting other Americans the highest American death toll of any war before or since When the war ended in April 1865 the South and its economy lay in ruins The North on the other hand emerged from the war a prosperous and thriving region
America in the 1860s and 1870s 7 The Civil War Soldier The average soldier during the Civil War was usually a temporary volunteer Unlike the armies of Europe where soldiers were professionals millions of ordinary men from many different professions made up the Union and Confederate armies Some were farmers others factory workers and some had their own businesses Slaves and freed slaves served on both sides of the war Later in the war both the North and the South began drafting men into their armies But most of the forces of both sides continued to be men who volunteered to fight Men enlisted for many different reasons Some southerners did so to defend slavery Other southerners enlisted to defend their states and towns from invasion by the Union army In the beginning most volunteers in the North enlisted to defend the Union and were not trying to end slavery But as the war progressed many Union soldiers saw the horrible and ugly conditions of slavery up close as their armies crossed the South Marcus Spiegel a German-born Jew who enlisted in an Ohio regiment witnessed the cruelties of slavery when his unit went into Louisiana Spiegel who at first did not want to fight to end slavery changed his mind writing that Since I am here I have learned and seen more of what the horror of slavery was than I ever knew before The Union army set 18 years as the minimum age for enlistment However many boys under 18 wanted to get away from home and were able to enlist sometimes with the help of the recruiting officer who would pretend not to know that a young man was underage Henry C Matrau for example was only 14 years old when he enlisted in a Wisconsin unit in 1862 The enlistment officers laughed and winked at one another as the boy stuffed papers in his shoes to make himself look taller Even knowing he was under 18 they allowed him to enlist Some 10,000 boys under age 18 enlisted legally as drummer boys and musicians But perhaps as many as 800,000 enlistees were underage some as young as 14 or 15 The Confederate army also had many underage boys who like their counterparts in the North were eager to leave home and find adventure in the army and in combat The average soldier in the Civil War paid the ultimate price of war Some 600,000 soldiers died most of diseases such as pneumonia whooping cough diphtheria and infections from wounds received in battle The casualties during the Civil War exceeded the casualties of all other American wars combined
