Dual credit US history chapter 14

Assignment 14

1. Andrew Johnson- A political leader of the nineteenth century. He was vice president in 1864 and became president when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. He was an honest man but an unfortunate President. He is one of the two presidents that have been impeached. The House of Representatives charged him with illegally dismissing a government official. The senate tired him and he was acquitted by only one vote. He grew up in poverty and opened a tailor shop in Tennessee. He was a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1840’s-50’s.
2. Thaddeus Stevens- A republican leader and one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives. He was chairman of the house ways and means committee and a witty speaker. He led the Radical Republican faction of the party in the 1860’s. He was an opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans. He was in opposition with the President, Andrew Johnson. He was the party leader who dominated the house from 1861 until his death. He wrote much of the financial legislation that paid for the American Civil War.
3. Bureau of Refugees- Freedman, and Abandoned Lands- An agency of the war department set up in 185. It assisted freed slaves in obtaining relief, land, jobs, fair treatment and education. This was a major step of the government in taking responsibility for relief. It had its own courts, established schools and dealt out aid.
4. “Twenty Negro Law”- A part of the Second Conscription Act passed in 1862 during the American civil war. It exempted from military service one white male for every twenty slaves on a southern plantation. Or for two or more plantations within five miles of each other that had twenty or more slaves. The purpose was to oversee ownership of who would ensure discipline over the slaves and keep up with production. It was regarded as discrimination in non-slaveholding families. This was a reaction to Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation that was issued three weeks earlier. It contributed to the oft-repeated adage of the war being “a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight”.
5. Vicksburg- It as the final major military action of the American Civil War. In Mississippi, a strong fort that overlooked the river. Grant surrounded the fort and began a siege. On July 4 it surrendered. This gave the North control of the Mississippi River.

Question 1 Each the South and the North thought each other were weak and thought the war would quickly resolve in a resolution. The initial strategies of both sides were to minimize actual fighting. The South was purely in defensive mindset. The North however was relying on their Anaconda Plan; which depended on sending an overpowering force down to the Mississippi to divide the South in two, meanwhile the Navy would seal off the South from supplies. Even with this plan they wanted the least amount of land battles as possible. The Union had the advantage going into the Civil War. The North had greater industrial capacity, railroads, canals, food, ships, as well as four times as many white residents as the South. However, the Confederates had military advantages. It allowed them to wage a defensive war. Their troops would move from one point to another whereas the Union had to move around the perimeter. The Union had poor leadership during the war. Abraham Lincoln, the president of the Union, had little military experience. Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy was the opposite; he had been in the Mexican War and had a wide knowledge of war. The Confederacy also had Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General, who had a huge amount of experience under his belt. The Union generals were significantly younger and lacked war experience. Strategies had to shift drastically however after January 1863 when Lincoln made his Emancipation Proclamation. It ruled out compromise that would end the war and bring the South back into the Union with slavery. Both knew that the spring would bring the climax of the war. The war now became more political behind the lines of battle. The North began winning battles, the Confederacy had a hard time keeping their troops fighting. The Union passed acts that made it more attractive to join the army. In May of 1863 the Union created the Bureau of Colored Troops. African American men rushed to enlist. The turning point in the war happened when the North had victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address gained force and resonance throughout the North. Ulysses S. Grant gained charge of all Northern forces. The Confederates were overwhelmed by the odds in 1864 however they made a plan to inflict the most damage possible to the Union so they might elect someone willing to bring the war to an end. However the war grounded to a halt in 1865 with the assassination of Lincoln and the surrender of Lee. The North lost 365,000 men to the war and the south 260,000. The Southern economy collapsed and cities were ash. The North however had a jumpstart to the economy with greenbacks, bonds and national banking system.

Question 2 Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address talks about how one-eighth of the whole population are colored slaves and that they have a constituted peculiar and powerful interest. He viewed American slavery as an offense that is in the power of God. He understands the war affected both the South and North and believes that slavery needs to be removed however he doesn’t have a sense of urgency. He also writes in his Last Speech in April 11, 1865 that his main priority is to get the seceded states back into the union. He respects the Southern states and believes that getting those states back will be the best for the United States. Thaddeus Stevens’ Speech of December 18, 1865 agrees with the President about the Southern states. He believes that the Southern states are dead at the moment and need the Union to breathe into them; which will bring them back to their former position. Stevens agreed with Lincoln’s view on slavery, however he wanted to get results faster than Lincoln did. The Politics of Andrew Johnson expresses concern about the Southern Homestead Act; which opened public land in the South to blacks and loyal whites. However, it was a dismal failure. Plantations monopolized the best land in the South and federal land was few and poorly managed. Black families wanted to take advantage of the act however the largest amount of land went to whites. Johnson saw through the South’s attempt to appease the African Americans. Different political approaches and visions influenced the clash between Johnson and Stevens. Stevens, a radical Republican, didn’t agree with Johnson’s view on slavery.