U.S. Civil War- Secession & Event-Causes

Learning Lincoln On-line

FROM-- SET TWO, CIVIL WAR STUDIES

Abraham Lincoln Commander & Chief: Political Issues & Commanding the War-- How the Civil War Started-- Secession and Events

PART ONE-INTRODUCTION HOME PAGE

PART TWO- EVENTS BEFORE THE INAUGURATION

PART THREE- THE BATTLE OF FORT SUMTER

PART FOUR- THE FIGHTING BEGINS

PART FIVE- LINCOLN RUNNING THE "WAR MACHINE"

PART SIX- THE WAR ENDS

PART SEVEN- ASSASSINATION/ FREEDOM

To be used with Lincoln's Command Page

American Civil War Fact Box From Wikipedia

Battle of Gettysburg, Union Captain John Tidball's artillery, Confederate prisoners, ironclad USS Atlanta, ruins of Richmond, Virginia, Battle of Franklin

Date	April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865 (4 years, 3 weeks and 6 days)
Location	Southern United States, Northeastern United States, Western United States, Atlantic Ocean
Result	Union victory: Dissolution of the Confederate States U.S. territorial integrity preserved Slavery abolished Beginning of the Reconstruction era Passage and ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States

Belligerents

United States

Confederate States

Commanders and leaders

UNITED STATES (UNION)

Abraham Lincoln (Commander-in-Chief)

Ulysses S. Grant

William Tecumseh Sherman

George B. McClellan

and others...

CONFEDERATE STATES

and others...

Strength

2,200,000:

698,000 (peak)

750,000–1,000,000:

360,000 (peak)

Casualties and losses

110,000+ killed in action/died of wounds
230,000+ accident/disease deaths
25,000–30,000 died in Confederate prisons
365,000+ total dead
282,000+ wounded
181,193 captured

Total: 828,000+ casualties

94,000+ killed in action/died of wounds
26,000–31,000 died in Union prisons
290,000+ total dead
137,000+ wounded
436,658 captured

Total: 864,000+ casualties

50,000 free civilians dead
80,000+ slaves dead (disease)
Total: 616,222–1,000,000+ dead

1. Enslavement of Black People Controversy-- The Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people.

2. Fort Sumter Attacked- War Breaks Out-- War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States.

3. Loyalists vs. States Rights States-- The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.

4. 1861- Confederate States of America Organized-- Of the 34 U.S. states in February 1861, seven Southern slave states were declared by partisans to have seceded from the country, and a Confederate States of America was organized in rebellion against the U.S. Constitutional government.

5. Kentucky & Missouri Remain Union (Confederate Representation Remains)-- The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in eleven states, and it claimed the additional states of Kentucky and Missouri by assertions from native secessionists fleeing Union authority, but without territory or population therein; these states were given full representation in the Confederate Congress throughout the Civil War.

6. Deleware & Maryland Remain Union-- The two remaining slave states, Delaware and Maryland, were invited to join the Confederacy, but nothing substantial developed due to intervention by federal troops.

7. Commander-in-Chief Powers-- Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Commander in Chief clause, states that "[t]he President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States."

8. Expansive Power of the President?-- The questions of whether and to what extent the President has the authority to use the military absent a Congressional declaration of war have proven to be sources of conflict and debate throughout American history. Some scholars believe the Commander-in- Chief Clause confers expansive powers on the President, but others argue that if even if that is the case, the Constitution does not define precisely the extent of those powers.

9. Civilian Supremacy over Military-- These scholars tend to construe the Clause narrowly, asserting that the Founders gave the President the title to preserve civilian supremacy over the military, not to provide additional powers outside of a Congressional authorization or declaration of war.

10. Official Declarations of War by Congress-- The Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress has declared war on 11 occasions, including its first declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812. [Note: Congress approved its last formal declaration of war during World War II. Since that time it has agreed to resolutions authorizing the use of military force and continues to shape U.S. military policy through appropriations and oversight.]

11. Did the American Civil War Require an Official Declaration of War?-- Two Perspectives (Opinions about this question): From a northern perspective, there was no "war" as against a foreign power, so no declaration was necessary and was to be avoided at all costs since the simple act of declaring war would necessarily recognize the independence of the southern states - the very thing they were fighting to prove wasn't so.

12. Causes of States Secession & a Summary List of Cause-Events that Led to the U.S. Civil War from Wikipedia. Click the blue link and read details

CAUSES OF STATES SECESSION

o 2 Territorial crisis

o 3 States' rights

o 4 Sectionalism

o 5 Protectionism

o 6 Nationalism and honor

o 7 Lincoln's election

CAUSE-EVENTS OF CIVIL WAR

Lincoln's War Politics

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