The Confederate States of America
Concerning the Confederate States of America, Representative Corrine Brown stated, “Southern states in the Confederacy were not ready to give up their fight to secede or give up their way of life, which was made possible in large part by the blood, sweat, and tears of African slaves.” The Confederate States of America was a group of eleven states that seceded from the Union as a result of conflicting opinions of what a state’s rights were. The Confederacy was characterized by three major events, its formation, its part in the Civil War, and Reconstruction of the South following the war.
The rivalry between the Northern and Southern states was nothing new, and several compromises were agreed to in order to
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Lee knew that the South needed another victory in order for that to happen. In June 1863, Lee marched 70,000 men into Pennsylvania near Gettysburg. President Lincoln sent General George Meade to meet Lee at Gettysburg, and the two armies clashed on July 1, 1863 (Grussendorf, 217). The battle lasted for three days and claimed the lives of over 7,000 men. When the dust cleared, they discovered that the Confederate flag had fallen (Grussendorf, 218). The Battle of Gettysburg was the last time that General Lee had the forces to launch a full-scale assault on the Union (Encyclopedia Britannica vol. 4, …show more content…
only Congress could control the readmission of the Southern states, and it was now up to them to direct Reconstruction (Grussendorf, 223).
When Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, what was once the Confederacy was divided into five military districts with an officer over each of them. If a state wanted to be readmitted, it had to ratify the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, making slavery illegal and freed slaves, or freedmen, citizens of the United States (Grussendorf, 224).
During the election of 1877, there was a dispute over the electoral votes. The Democrats agreed to allow the Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes to become President, but only under certain conditions. With what became known as the Compromise of 1877, Hayes would become the president; but all troops must be removed from the South; Hayes must appoint at least one Southerner to his Cabinet; and federal money must be given to help the South’s economy recover from the turmoil of Reconstruction. Reconstruction in the South ended with the Compromise of 1877 (Grussendorf,
The Military Reconstruction Act divided the South into five military districts under federal control and imposed strict requirements on Southern states in order for them to be re-admitted to the Union, including ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and new state constitutions in compliance with the U.S. Constitution. The other two Acts limited Johnson's power to interfere with Congressional Reconstruction. The Command of the Army Act required Johnson to issue all military orders through the General of the Army (at that time General Ulysses S. Grant) instead of dealing directly with military governors in the South. The Tenure of Office Act required the consent of the Senate for the President to remove an officeholder
To the Radical Republicans, Johnson's plan seemed no better than Lincoln's because it failed to address the needs of former slaves in three prominent areas: land, voting rights, and protection under the law. Confederates states, however, readily committed to the conditions put forth in the Presidential Reconstruction plan, and were readmitted to the Union. A few years later, the Reconstruction Act of 1867 was passed, which did not recognize the governments formed under Lincoln and Johnson's plans. Through the Reconstruction Act, Tennessee was the only former Confederate State recognized as having been readmitted to the Union because it had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. In order for the rest of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union through the Reconstruction Act, each state had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, also. The Republicans introduced the Fifteenth Amendment after the election of 1868 because they feared that Pro-Confederate Southern whites might try to place limits on black suffrage. In order to prevent this, the Fifteenth Amendment states that no one can be kept from voting because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Through the different plans that were proposed by the three different Presidents in office during the Reconstruction period, the Thirteenth,
Congress comes in to play in December 1865. The Congress was made up mostly of Republicans and they refused to let past Confederates to take their seats in Congress at this time. This marked the beginning of Radical Reconstruction or sometimes known as Congressional Reconstruction. The president and the congress did not agree on many issues. Congress overrode President Johnson on the Civil Rights Act of 1866, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. The Fourteenth Amendment spelled out rights of both black and white citizens as equal. It prolonged Federal powers for the enforcement of civil rights. States that approved the Fourteenth Amendment were considered reconstructed, and Tennessee did so. President Johnson advised other southern states to oppose doing this. Congress passed many laws to limit President Johnson’s powers. They passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which set new
As tensions between the North and the South rose on the issues of slavery and states’ rights, numerous compromises were proposed to ease the conflict. Such compromises included the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Crittenden Compromise. These compromises had intentions of defining where slavery was permitted and clarifying states’ rights. They were only temporary fixes to a more pressing issue. Between the Missouri Compromise and the Crittenden Compromise, a series of events changed the political atmosphere of the United States and prevented any more compromises on the institution of slavery from being passed.
The differing interests between the North, South, and the West began to become clearer over time. However, I believe that many of these crucial issues were addressed head on during Jackson’s presidency, but that was only the beginning. Compromises were made to prevent the splitting of the Union, consequently, these topics, the Indian Removal Act of 1830, South Carolina are Nullification Crisis, the Bank War, and slavery were the most controversial. Thus, once these contrary world views had dominated the sectional compromises were no longer possible.
Government had brought the seceded Southern states back into the Union, and they ended slavery and they tried their best to protect newly emancipated the slaves. But they rebuilt the nation after a lot more four years of fighting. The reconstruction occurred in 2 phases, the Presidential Reconstruction was very lenient in order Southern states to rejoin the Union quickly, this was initiated by President Lincoln but was carried out by President Andrew Johnson. The Congressional Reconstruction was stricter and protected rights from former slaves and they kept Confederate leaders from regaining power. But, before the Civil War Lincoln proposed his 10% Plan, which was lenient and allowed the Confederate states could re-enter the Union when, 10% of their population had sworn an Oath of Loyalty and they ratified the 13th Amendment ending all slavery. But, the Radicals in Congress had rejected his plan because, it did not protect ex-slaves and didn’t keep them from regaining power, they also wanted to have 50% of the population to swear to an oath of loyalty. But, the states could come back once they ratified the 13th amendment. But, the southern passed black codes in order to keep African- Americans from getting any land, jobs, voting rights, and also protection under the law. Finally, in 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau had been established and offered assistance to former slaves and to protect their new
After abolition of slavery, new challenges became present; one of them, the readmission of the Southern states was required into the Union. " The goal of Reconstruction was to readmit the South on terms that were acceptable to the North-full political and civil equality for blacks and denial of the political rights of whites who were the leaders of the secession movement" (Wormser, 2002). Easier said than done, reconstruction, in the sense originally though by President Lincoln took many years to become a reality due to a series of issues. The "Black codes" permitted, although dubious, displayed the resistance of the South, this and the lack of opportunities for blacks to owe land, as well as the obstacles they encountered to vote
As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their
Northerners and Southerners argued weather the state would allow slavery. Southerners and Northerners wanted equal representation in Congress between the slave states and free states. This was one of the first significant debates that was a precursor to the Civil War. What was the result of the Missouri Compromise? The north and south agreed that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and Maine would become a free state.
According to the (Crittenden Compromise document) The compromise had six amendments and four resolutions that ultimately favored the south. This compromise told northern states that they had to follow the fugitive slave act, most northerners followed the new compromise. It also said that slavery could not be banned in states where it already exists. Southerners loved this compromise because it was not interfering with slave trading. However, The civil war could not have been avoided because of the election of 1860. According to the (chart of election of 1860) When president lincoln was elected southerners were furious! Seven states left the union, and tensions grew even higher. Some southerners would have bonfires with lincoln's fake body because of what had happened. During the election 9 states did not have lincoln on the ballot, mostly southern states. The civil war could not have been avoided because of the election of
To many southerners, The Confederate Flag is a symbol of southern heritage and the strength of their ancestors. However, the placement of this flag on Texas government issued license plates has created much backlash. Some southerners take offense to the flag. They view the flag as a representation of hatred and white supremacy. According to Rev. George V. Clark, the flag “Represents hate, something that has made people feel less than human.” Although groups such as, The Sons of Confederate Veterans, see the flag in a positive light, the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, supports the rejection of the plates. Since it is such a delicate topic, he believes it is best not to “be scraping old wounds.” The nine other states that continue to provide
So many people are talking about whether or not the Confederate Flag is racist, and whether or not it should be banned in the U.S. Why are so many people even considering it? The Confederate Flag is definitely not racist. It represents a time of racism and discrimination, but does that truly mean that the flag itself is racist? Just because the flag represents the Confederate States of America, the slave states, it doesn’t mean that the flag is blatantly racist. The flag is only a symbol, a piece meant to represent that time.
The election of Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession.[74] Efforts at compromise, including the "Corwin Amendment" and the "Crittenden Compromise", failed. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. The slave states, which had already become a minority in the House of Representatives, were now facing a future as a perpetual minority in the Senate and Electoral College against an increasingly powerful North. Before Lincoln took office in March 1861, seven slave states had declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederacy.
Confederate States of America, the name adopted by the federation of 11 slave holding Southern states of the United States that seceded from the Union and were arrayed against the national government during the American Civil War.
The Compromise of 1877 was a deal made by Republicans as well as Democrats secretly made to resolve issues stemming from the presidential election of 1876, when both parties came to a realization that the outcome of the Presidential race hinged largely on disputed returns from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina which are at the time the only three states in the South with reconstruction-era Republican governments still in power (Miller, 2013). It