Since winning their independence and ratifying their Constitution, the United States of America began expanding across North America through purchase, conquest, forced migration and genocide, bringing in new territories to the Union.
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Since its colonial times America saw huge trade in slaves from Africa as these people were bought and sold as property. After independence, the states in the North looked against slavery, many believing into be contradictory to the ideas of a republic. The importing of slaves to theUS was prohibited in 1808, but the internal slave trade in the southern states continued strongly. With the invention of the cotton gin, used forquickly and easily processing cotton, the cotton industry took off in the South,fuelled by slave labour. The northern states had become more industrialisedand people worked on a basis of Free Labour; being paid to work by an employer. The southern states hadn't industrialized, relying on agriculture,the slave trade, and the cotton industry for the economy. The presidential election of 1860 saw the rise of the new Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln who proposed banning slavery in all the American territories to stop it spreading.
People in the South saw this as a move towards the eventual abolitionof slavery in all of the states. After Lincoln's election, the southern stateswere ready to leave! There were attempts to compromise on slavery, but they wererejected and thus, seven of the southern states declared their secession from theUnited States and became the Confederate States of America, with its capital inMontgomery, Alabama. The North and indeed unionists in the South saw this as illegal,believing the Founding Fathers establishing a perpetual union! Alongwith the conflict of ideology towards slavery, there was also strongnationalism between the northern and southern states; the South worrying theywould become proverbial slaves to the industrial North. James Buchanan, who wasstill President at this point, didn't want to aggravate the South and start a war,but Confederacy forces began to capture federal forts in their territories.
Lincoln was sworn in as president on March 4th, 1861 and he insisted on the perpetualUnion and any secession was legally void. He wasn't going to enforce federal lawwhere it wasn't wanted, but he would use force to maintain federal property. TheConfederacy offered pay for the property, but Lincoln wouldn't treat with them asit would give some recognition to the Confederate government. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, ordered the surrender ofFort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, but negotiations didn't work. Confederateforces bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12 1861 which sparked the beginning of theCivil War. This attack rang across the northern states, rallying them togetheragainst the Confederacy, believing it to be a minority ofsecessionists in the South, but that was not the case! Lincoln called for 75,000troops to fight! He began ordering more and more troopssouth to recapture the federal buildings which were falling to the Confederacy.
U.S. war veteran and military leader Robert E. Lee was offered command of theUnion Army but he declined, refusing to fight against his native state Virginia,as its sympathies lay with the Confederacy. Refusing to send troopsagainst their neighbours, slave states Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee andArkansas actually joined the Confederacy, with the Capitol getting moved toRichmond, Virginia. Some Native American tribes in the Indian Territories sidedwith the Confederacy, becoming their allies, hoping for support from theConfederacy. That paid off... [ahem] Other border states, Maryland,Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri were slave states, but were against boththe South's secession and fighting against the South, so they tried to remain neutral. As Union soldiers from the North moved towards Maryland, anti-Lincoln protestorsrioted! Lincoln declared martial law in Maryland and Union naysayers wereimprisoned, otherwise Washington DC could be surrounded by Confederate states! Feeling forgotten by the Union, the Arizona Territory seceded and laterjoined the Confederacy. As more states left the Union, US Congress stated thatthe war was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery! Some slaves began fleeingtheir owners to reach the northern states, but when they got there, they wereheld as wartime contraband and put to work for the Union! General WinfieldScott came up with the Anaconda plan to blockade the South and weaken theConfederacy without bloodshed, but people demanded Richmond be taken back! The oddswere very much on the Union side as it had the greater population. Just underhalf of the Confederacy's population were slaves and the slave owners weren'tgonna arm them anytime soon! In July 1861, the Union Army began to advance intoVirginia, but met Confederacy forces at Bull Run near Manassas in the firstmajor battle of the war! Although initially successful, the Union forceswere stopped by General Thomas Jackson who gained the nickname "Stonewall"Jackson because of his stern defence.
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The famous Rebel Yell of the ConfederateArmy drove the Union back to Washington. George McClellan would become General-in-chief to whip the Union Army into shape! This war was not going to be as short asexpected! This war was the first fully industrial war where railways, telegrams,armoured ships and improved weapons came into play. The cotton industry in thesouth was being crippled by the Union's blockade. The Confederacy forces hopedthat the countries of Europe would step in, supporting the South, being avidcustomers of slave-made cotton, but Europe found its cotton elsewhere andlet the Americans sort out their differences! The British although developed small blockade runners to continuetrading for cheap cotton from the South, which just about kept the South's economygoing for a little while. With the absence of the southerners from the USSenate, the House Republicans were able to bring many bills previously blockedby southerners, including income tax which would help fund the war. Kentuckyended its neutrality in favour of the Union when it was invaded by Leonidas*Polk's Confederacy forces. At the end of 1861, splinter governments of Missouriand Kentucky joined the Confederacy, but held little sway in those states. In 1862,the Union forces chose to move in on multiple fronts through Virginia,Kentucky, and up the Mississippi. In Missouri, Confederacy forces were drivenout early. Ulysses S Grant pushed through Kentucky, capturing fort Henry and FortDonelson, opening up the Tennessee River. Accepting only unconditional surrenderfrom the Confederates, he became known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant and was ahero to the Union. The blockaded Confederacy knew they couldn't match theUnion's fleet, so they developed ships with iron hulls and began convertingtheir smaller fleet into ironclads. When the CSS Virginia went up against thewooden Union fleet, it decimated them, but the following day, the Union's firstironclad, the USS Monitor, arrived and the Battle of the Ironclads was fought to adraw, but it revolutionised naval warfare forever! Wooden warships were nowredundant! In April, as the Union moved further into Tennessee, the Confederacyled a surprise attack in Shiloh, pushing Union forces to the river, but as theUnion Navy arrived, Grant's forces mounted a counter-attack and won a bloody battleand decisive victory against the Confederacy.
Meanwhile in Northern Virginia, Union forces under George McClellan had beenmoving very slowly towards Richmond. They were ultimately forced to retreat afterthe Seven Days Battle by General Robert E Lee's superiorly numbered forces. Union forces under John Polk tried to push south again... and failed again! Confident after their victories, Confederacy forces invaded the North, General Lee pushing into Maryland on September 5th. Two weeks later, Lee'sforces met McClellan's at the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day inUnited States history, ending in Confederacy retreat. In December, newMajor General Ambrose Burnside once again pushed for Richmond, but washeavily defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg. Frederick Douglass, a former slave and well-travelled social reformer, had beencampaigning for the abolition of slavery, that that's what this war was trulyabout! In January 1863, Lincoln brought about the Emancipation Proclamation, anexecutive order that led to the freeing of three million slaves in theConfederate States. Many African- Americans joinedthe Union Army to fight against slavery. The Union went through a few differentgenerals in the East, unable to defeat General Lee's forces. Despite beingoutnumbered 2:1, Lee was victorious at Chancellorsville, althoughhe did lose Stonewall Jackson to friendly fire.West Virginia separated from Virginia. As General Lee madeanother push into the North, Major General George Meade took charge of theUnion forces and they fought for three days in July at the Battle of Gettysburg,the bloodiest battle of the war, with huge losses on both sides. Lee retreatedbut Meade was not able to capture their forces. This battle was the turning pointof the war as the Confederacy threat was never as great. The draft laws in theNorth weren't popular and riots broke out in New York.
Many got into this warfor ideological reasons; some for the adventure or simply to defend theirhome, but the horrors of war changed many of their minds. In the West, Grantcaptured Vicksburg, the last Confederacy stronghold on the Mississippi. The Unionnow had complete control of the Great River and effectively split Confederacyforces in two. Texas was cut off from the Confederacy but under General KirbySmith, they managed to hold up strong defences and a self-sufficient economy! In November, Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg and recalled back to the foundation ofthe United States, how all men are created equal and how this nation shallhave a new birth of freedom! Grant relieved besieged Union forces atChattanooga, pushing Confederacy forces out of Tennessee, leaving Union forceslooking at the heartland of the Confederacy! With the start of 1864, Grantwas made commander of all Union armies by Lincoln. They decided upon a hugecoordinated campaign pushing into the Confederacy from all directions. Grant pushed his forces down through Virginia towards the Confederacy capital Richmond, fighting Lee's army along the way, . It wasa war of attrition! Despite setbacks for the Union, Grant pushed on, driving Lee toRichmond and close by Petersburg. Lee moved to defend Petersburg as it was therailway supply line for the capital.
Grant dug trenches and a ten month siegeensued. Meanwhile Union forces under William Tecumseh Sherman moved fromChattanooga and captured Atlanta, Georgia in September 1864. Other Union forcesswept along the Shenandoah Valley, fighting the other remaining ConfederateArmy, ultimately defeating them. That November, Abraham Lincoln was re-electedpresident, defeating Democrat candidate GeorgeMcClellan. Sherman marched his army through Georgia towards Savannah,destroying industry, infrastructure and civilian property along the way; themarch to the sea! Sherman captured Savannah on December 21st and offered it as aChristmas present to the newly elected Lincoln. The Confederate Army ofTennessee was also defeated in Nashville. Only the army in North Carolinaand Lee's besieged Army in Petersburg were all that remained to fight for theConfederacy. At the start of 1865, the 13th amendment to the US Constitution toabolish slavery was approved by the US Congress. Change was happening! Withadvancing Union reinforcements, Lee ultimately evacuated Petersburg andRichmond. Union forces secured the city. Outnumbered and outgunned, General Leesurrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9th 1865. Grant would not arrestthe Confederate Army and they could keep their sidearms and horses.
News of the surrender spread and celebrations erupted in Washington! On April 14th theStars and Stripes was raised over Fort Sumter where it all began! That evening, Abraham Lincoln went to a play with his wife in Ford's Theatre. There, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth and later died. Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. Throughout May, the remainderof the Confederacy forces surrendered and the Civil War ended. The States ofAmerica were united once more. Over 700,000 people died in this war, thedeadliest war in American history. In December 1865 the Thirteenth Amendmentwas ratified and slavery was officially abolished. Grant would become presidentin 1869. Life would go on. The United States endured, although divisionsremained in the minds of many. Racism didn't end with slavery. (Much of) the RepublicanParty abandoned civil rights for African Americans in favor of big business. The20th century saw black communities segregated from white communities,especially in the Deep South. It wouldn't be until the 1950s and 60s that many people stood together to demand equal rights for people of colour.
Today racismis still an element in the lives of many; sometimes bubbling below the surface,sometimes not so much.
Hello, my name is Sanjib kumar biswas. I'm a 29 year old self-employed, history lover.
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