1861-1865

- Large middle class / capitalists and banking

- Manufactured and controlled the ships that

exported cotton produced in the South

- Puritan work ethics prevailed: daily long working

hours, six days a week

- Puritans perceived leisure and games as a

waste of time

- Women active and hardworking: doctors,

writers, poets, religious activists
- Small middle class, large population of slaves

- Depended on slaves to produce the cotton

demanded by Great Britain

- Dislike Puritan work ethics, the less work the

better

- Like drinking, fox hunting, horse riding and

dueling

- Women were not active: usually slaves did all

the housework
- Population: large 22 million (A)

- 90% of industrial goods manufacturing (A)

- Efficient railroad system (A)

- Controlled the navy, which could be

used to blockade south ports and shut
down the southern economy (A)

- Had to fight an offensive war:

long supply lines, unfamiliar territory (D)
 Excellent generals, for instance: Robert E. Lee (A)

 Excellent riders, hunters that were familiar with climate

and territory (A)

 Farmers were better fighters than factory workers (A)

 Profitable economy based on cotton exports (A)

 Population: short 9 million, including 3.5 million slaves (D)

 Had to import industrial goods (D)

 The South needed an alliance: Great Britain was
the ideal allied. Its industry depended on the
South “Cotton Kingdom"...but GB was cautious,
did not want to get involved:
 GB had stockpiled cotton as the conflict was
escalating. They had also identified other
source of supply (Madras, India)
 Most GB workers who lost their jobs in cotton
factories had been able to find work in the
new munition factories that were mostly
supplying the North
 Most GB citizens resented slavery (abolished
by 1834)
 GB crop failures had led to increased grain
trade with the North
 A GB ship was intercepted by the North with South
“Ambassadors” on its way from the South to GB
 The North resented GB interference, leading some to
call for war. However, Lincoln simply neutralized the
situation by releasing the ship and the southern
"agents"
 GB had also sold several ships to the South, namely
the “Florida” and the “Alabama”, they had sunk many
North ships
 It freed the
slaves only in
states that have
seceded from the
Union.
 It did not free
slaves in border
states.
 It was
proclaimed on
January 1, 1863
 Lee realized that the South was in dire straits and decided that it was
crucial to attack the North on its own territory
 July 1-3, 1863 - BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, Pennsylvania
 Confederate heavy bombardment; however, Union held firmly
 on July 3, General Pickett led 15,000 Confederate soldiers across open
fields - Union soldiers hold them and forced them down
 Lee was defeated and retreated to Virginia
 Gettysburg is the largest battle in the history of the Western hemisphere.
 Over 100, 000 people died in 3 days It was the last time the South
invaded the North.
 That from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion
-- that we here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died in vain -- that this
nation, under God, shall have a new birth
of freedom -- and that government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall
not perish from the earth.
Abe Lincoln
 July 4, 1863 - another Union victory - VICKSBURG
 Won by U.S. Grant, cut South in 1/2 and gave the
Union control of Mississippi River
 Grant was then given control of all Union armies 
began a "scorched earth" policy to defeat the South
 General Sheridan was given the mission to turn the
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia into a dessert
 General Sherman was given the task of taking
Atlanta; his "March through Georgia" saw total
destruction from Atlanta to Savannah
 April 3, 1865 - Grant took Richmond, Virginia
(final blow to Lee's army)
 Lee surrenders on April 9, 1865 at
APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE
 All Confederate troops were forced to take an
oath of loyalty to U.S.
 Otherwise, terms of surrender were lenient,
Lincoln didn't want a humiliated South and
wanted to avoid further conflicts
 issue of states' rights now "solved"- fed. gov't
had asserted its status
 The Civil has been the bloodiest war
in the US history

 618,000 US soldiers died in the Civil War

 116,000 US soldiers died in WWI
 405,000 US soldiers died in WWII
 58,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam
 2,200 US soldiers died in Afganistan
 4,500 US soldiers died in Irak
 EFFECTS OF CIVIL WAR
 Creation of a single, large, unified country
 Abolition of slavery
 increased power to federal government, killed
the issue of states rights
 The U.S. now an industrial nation
 A much stronger sense of nationalism
 West lands increasingly opened to settlement
 South was economically and physically
devastated, w/ the plantation system
crippled...thus Reconstruction (rebuilding
the U.S. was needed) - but a deep hatred of
the North remained for many years..
 Memorial Day

 After the Civil War, people on their free will

started decorating the graves of the soldiers that
died during this war
 General John Logan in 1868 designated May 30
as Decoration Day, with the purpose that people
had a designated date to decorate the graves
 Then, Congress in 1971 changed the name to
Memorial Day and made it a Holiday to be held
the last Monday of May.
 The main difference is that now all the US wars
are included so that people can honored the
soldiers that died while servicing their country
From Decoration Day (Civil War)
1868 to Memorial Day (All wars)
1971