Unit Three: The Civil War Era

Unit Three: The Civil War Era

1850-1880

1. The Path to War

A. Expansion into West brought up quest of expansion of slavery. Will new territories be slave or free states?

B. North wanted to prohibit. South thought rights would be violated

C. Compromise 1850 i. Senator Henry Clay admitted California as a free state. ii. Fugitive Slave Act- mandated the return of enslaved

Africans who had fled to the North and penalized individuals who helped them escape

iii. Temporary solution

Historical, Social, and Cultural Forces

2. Antislavery Movement

A. Most free-state legislatures passed laws to block it

B. Underground Railroad became more active C. 1852- Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s

Cabin told of cruelty of slavery and the fight for freedom. It brought life of slaves to public view like never before

3. Secession

A. 1860- Lincoln ran for President B. Lincoln opposed spread of slavery

Anti-slavery- no spread of slavery. Not abolish. Abolitionist- do away with slavery

C. South thought he would abolish it D. Dec. 1860- South Carolina seceded from Union E. By April, 1861, eleven states made up the

Confederate States of America F. April 12, 1861- Confederate forces fire on Fort

Sumter in South Carolina, starting the Civil War

4. War

A. South had lots of West Point grads- early advantage B. Union grew stronger, weakened the South C. To win the war, Union Gen. Grant attacked

resources in South as well as Confederate forces D. Lincoln assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John

Wilkes Booth E. 600,000 deaths F. Southern economy destroyed G. 13th Amendment became law in December 1865,

officially ending slavery in the entire nation

5. Reconstruction

A. It would take years to rebuild and repair the South, grant rights to those who had been enslaved, and readmit the Southern states to the Union

B Civil Rights Act in 1866- and then the 14th Amendment- redefining citizenship to include African American and requiring their equal protection under the law

C. After Reconstruction, new South was similar to pre-Civil War South: White Southern Democrats returned to power, and African Americans lost many of their civil rights

1. Cultures of slaves shaped by their struggle

against slavery 2. Primary documents that depict war-time era 3. Poetic Revolution- Whitman/Dickinson’s new

styles and subjects

Things to Notice from This Unit

The Spirituals

Enslaved Africans combined traditional African music with Christian hymns to create spirituals, or songs of salvation and religious beliefs. Much of the imagery was drawn from the Bible.

These “sorrow songs” were created by anonymous artists and transmitted by word of mouth

Many songs had duel meaning: religious faith and hunger for freedom

Many songs followed a call-and-response pattern

Big Idea 1. Resistance to Slavery

Songs told Biblical stories to communicate hope Along with singing while working and

worshiping, some songs were also encoded messages since speaking was often forbidden- “Follow the drinking gourd”- Big Dipper Egypt- South or the state of bondage Promised land or heaven- North or freedom

The spirituals became a part of American pop culture and paved the way for other musical forms including blues and jazz

Examples of Three Spirituals

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” 1. 2.

“Go Down, Moses” 1.

“Keep Your Hand on the Plow” 1.

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” “Wade in the Water”

Slave Narratives

The stories of life in slavery, escape from bondage, and life as a free person Intended to recruit Northerners to the abolitionist cause

Williams Wells Brown, Solomon Northup, and Sojourner Truth sold tens of thousands of copies of their life stories

Not only provided glimpses of the horrors of slavery, but also contradicted the claims of slave owners

Slaves could be seen as people rather than property

Frederick Bailey was born on a Maryland

plantation When eight, he worked as a house servant for

the Auld family in Baltimore Mrs. Auld taught Frederick how to read.

Husband forbade it and F. continued his education on his own

Escaped to freedom at age 20 and changed his last name to Douglass to avoid capture

Frederick Douglass

1845 he wrote his autobiography. Because he identified his slave owner, he sailed to Great Britain to avoid capture

Returned home in 1847 and started publishing a newspaper. The paper’s masthead read” Right is of no Sex– Truth is of no Color.”

Lincoln appointed him one of his advisers Revised and republished his autobiography as My

Bondage and My Freedom in 1855 and then again as Life and Times of Frederick Douglass in 1882.

One of the most important chronicles of the enslaved person’s experience

1. Benevolent- doing or desiring to do good;

kind 2. Depravity- The state of being morally bad or

corrupt 3. Induce- To lead by persuasion or influence 4. Vanquish- To defeat 5. Censure- to express disapproval of; to find

fault with; to blame

From My Bondage and My Freedom

Spent her long life battling slavery and

demanding voting rights for women Nearly six feet tall with a deep, smooth voice

that won devoted supporters Born into slavery and escaped at age 29

Sojourner Truth

Believed she saw visions and heard messages sent

from God. In about 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth (from Isabella) meaning that she would become a sojourner, or visiting traveler, spreading the truth of God

Gave her most famous speech, “And Ain’t I a Woman?” to agitate for women’s rights and abolition

Mini Biography Unveiling

On the 2nd day of the 1851 Ohio Women’s

Rights Convention, a number of male ministers spoke, insisting that women were too weak and intellectually inferior to vote. One man gave religious reasons against women’s suffrage.

This speech is her answer to these critics

“And Ain’t I a Woman?”

Speech was not written or rehearsed, many

versions have survived These are not her exact words, but her spirit 6. Oblige- to make grateful or indebted; to do

a favor or service of

Speech cont.

Revolution or treason?

1. Accounts of war, change, and sympathy for both sides

2. Lincoln’s Vision and Words

Big Idea 2. Nation Divided

Symbol of Southern and American dignity Father was a cavalry commander during the

Revolutionary War, a governor of Virginia, and friend to G. Washington

Lincoln asked him to command the Union forces. Unwilling to fight against his state, he declined and resigned his position in the U.S. Army.

He then joined the Confederate forces and took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862

Robert E. Lee

“Letter to His Son” by Robert E. Lee

Letter expressing dismay at the state of the Union. Calls civil war “evil” but fears it is likely 7. Perusal- the process of examining carefully 8. Anarchy- the absence of government 9. Array- to place in proper or methodical order 10. Contend- to argue, dispute

Read together Page 372 #s 2-6 Write a paragraph together using all 10 vocab

words we’ve used so far

“Bitter Bierce” did not trust people, governments,

business, or churches Born into an impoverished Ohio farm family. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bierce enlisted in

the Ninth Indiana Volunteers and fought in several important battles

Suffered a severe head wound and later described the bullet “crushed my skull like a broken walnut.”

Disappeared in Mexico around 1914. Death still remains a mystery

Ambrose Bierce

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

11. Protrude- to stick out; to project 12. Adorn- To make beautiful; to decorate 13. Ardently- Passionately; enthusiastically 14. Assent- to express agreement 15. Poignant- sharp; severe; causing emotional

or physical anguish

Initially wanted to limit slavery and preserve

Union Was pressured to make war a campaign against

slavery The Gettysburg Address

Agrees dedication of a cemetery is fitting because of what has been accomplished. The living should dedicate themselves to “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” 16. Consecrate- to set apart as sacred; to make or

declare holy 17. Perish- To pass from existence; to disappear

Abraham Lincoln

1. Whitman

A. Whiteman found poetry in lives of everyday people; no subject too commonplace

B. Used his own experiences as reporter, teacher, laborer, Civil War nurse to create poetry

C. Style is marked by long, rollicking lines written in free verse—poetry based on the irregular rhythms of speech

D. Thought of all his poems as one long poem expressing his view of world

Big Idea 3. A Poetic Revolution

E. His poetry reflected sympathy for the

struggle of the Union F. Nursed both North and South soldiers G. Lincoln was his hero H. Emerson was one of his earliest supporters I. His most famous /popular collection of poetry:

Leaves of Grass

Whitman’s World:

“I Hear America Singing”“When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

Whitman on the War“A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and

Dim”“Beat! Beat! Drums!”

2. Emily Dickinson

A. Observed life from her window B. A recluse C. Wrote 1,775 poems- few published in her lifetime D. Her poems do not place the reader on the battlefield

like Whitman’s do D. Themes about moments and feelings in people’s

lives- love, nature, eternity, loneliness, death (brought irony and keen observation on these topics)

E. Unconventional style- odd use of punctuation, especially dashes, and short, clipped lines that took rhythmic influence from hymns

F. American nonconformist and poet of rare purity

Various poetry by Dickinson

18. Interpose- To intrude, intervene, or to put oneself between

19. Affliction- great suffering, distress, or its cause