Surrender and immediate aftermath

   

http://www.rampartsofcivilization.com/?__&paged=19

                 By the end of 1863, rebel forces, civilians, and traders had had enough with the war. The southern plantations were failing because they had no foreign customers to sell to with the blockade. The armies were destroyed by sicknesses and lack of supplies. Many rebels deserted because of poor standards. Many confederate leaders over generated money and so the people's money was worth less with inflation. The war officially ended when on September 20, 1864 with Johnson's surrender, but most knew it was over when Lee surrendered earlier in April. The union let just about all southern rebels go free except for a couple generals that were in charge, like Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens.

Andersonville

                Andersonville was one of the South's biggest prisons, if not the biggest. The rebel officers would issue small rations for the men, but only once a day. The prisoners had little to look forward to but this. The prisoners also couldn't have much firewood, just some small twigs to heat up and boil food. The prison camp's standards were terrible, and the mortality rate showed this. About to 30-50 northern prisoners died a day. There was very low morality and most men felt deserted because the northerners just left them there. Many died and few survived to be eventually freed at the end of the war.

https://www.advrider.com/andersonville/now

Sherman's Atlanta campaign and march to the sea

              General Grant, now with a foothold and supply line in Georgia, decided to send in his friend General Sherman to ravage all of Georgia and South Carolina. This new battle tactic was to burn and destroy cities, towns, and houses in in order to demoralize southerners, and want for the war to stop. Not only this, but it would take away one of the South's crown jewels, Atlanta. They would tear up the confederate rail lines in Atlanta, and effectively ruin the South’s rail road complexes. This campaign would also secure Lincoln's reelection coming up in 1864. After General Sherman secured Atlanta, he burned 30% of it to stop it from being reused for military purposes, and went away. He continued this tactic, now called total war, throughout his long march to Savanna. He claimed Savanna peacefully, only because it immediately surrendered. After taking Savanna, he continued north into South Carolina, where his men were even more brutal in his new total warfare tactic.

http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/grimsley1/dialogue/long_shadow.htm

Chickamauga and Chattanooga and the Union blockade

 After confederate forces retreated to Chickamauga, the union seized control of Chattanooga. The union decided to confront the rebels at Chickamauga, the first real battle of the civil war in Georgia. The union was repelled, but at a steep price of about 20,000 casualties, a high number for the less populous southern army. The confederate general decided to rest up his exhausted and demoralized troops before pouncing on the union. The union retreated to Chattanooga where it was blockaded until Grant was able to open up a supply line. After this, Chattanooga became a foothold and a supply line for union armies in Georgia. The union also decided to blockade Georgia's, and the rest of the confederacy's, coast line. This was so the southern armies couldn't receive much needed supplies for the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga

Gettysburg

              By 1863, the Confederacy was slowing down. Farms in the south were failing because of the increasing amount of escaping slaves and the fact that it was impossible to export products of high demand with the Union's blockade of southern ports. Because of this, they also couldn't receive any, now exhausted, supplies, and because of this soldier’s morale went down and increasingly deserted the army. Lee hoped that a win in the north could gain foreign recognition to aid the needy south. On July 1, 1863 the two major forces met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This proved to be the bloodiest battle of the war with over 50,000 casualties and deaths. Lee's army was repelled and retreated to Virginia. It was a major win for the north and it devastated Lee's already battered army. It was the turning point of the war, and the union gained the upper hand after that.

http://froggyradio.com/content/polly-woggs-pond/post/150th-anniversary-battle-gettysburg

Antietam and the Emancipation Proclomation

             

               After Lee's major victory at the second battle of Bull Run, he decided to invade the north and get another big victory. If he got this huge victory, Brittan and France would've recognized the Confederacy as its own country. And if this happened, than the countries could send extra troops, supplies, and more to help the south. It would also send a crushing blow to the North’s morale and war efforts. Unfortunately for him, one of his commanders dropped Lee's battle plan, and it got picked up by McClellan. He found out that Lee split his forces and wanted to invade the north. This gave them a huge advantage. The 2 forces met at Sharpsburg, Maryland in the bloodiest single day of combat in the entire war. Over 22,000 were either killed or wounded. The confederate forces were repelled, and McClellan didn't pounce on the rebels to gain ground. Although it was a tie, it hugely boosted the union soldiers. After this draw, Lincoln thought it was time to free the slaves. He wanted to wait for the right time to free them because he was scared that he might lose the Border States, upset the constitutional rights of the people, and other less important reasons. He ended up freeing the slaves with his famous Emancipation Proclamation. He only freed the slaves in the rebelling states to keep the Border States on his side. It was a momentous decision and it ended up helping the north because of all the freed slaves that signed up for the north.

http://thecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com/post/39389925382/150th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-antietam

Confederate and union strengnths and weaknesses and first battles

          The confederation and union had very diverse economies, strengths, and weaknesses. The union strengths at the time of the civil war were their huge population, strong industries to support the war, blacks to fight with them, railroads, telegrams, a good navy, and more. Their weaknesses included bad generals, the fact that they had to invade the south, and more. The south's strengths included amazing generals, moralized troops defending their homeland, and better armies. Their weaknesses were that they had fewer troops, missed some opportunities to win, were less technologically advanced, had worse weaponry, and more. Although the strengths and weaknesses gave the north a slight advantage, both sides thought themselves superior. Fort Sumpter was a union outpost controlling the Charleston river port. Rebel forces overtook the fort and freed themselves. This angered the northerners and caused many of them to sign up for the war. Many southerners also signed up to "whoop" the northerners. Northern forces met southerners standing at Bull Run creek, which gave it its name. The two forces clashed along this river for a very bloody battle. This demoralized the troops on both sides and gave signs that the war was going to be a long one.   

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-battle-of-bull-run-confederate-everett.html

Election of 1860, secession of Georgia, and Alexander Stephens role.

              In 1860 there was the presidential election. Running for office was northerner and republican Abraham Lincoln and 3 other southerners. Abraham Lincoln ended up winning even though he did not even get 50 percent of majority vote. Another obstacle was that 10 southern states didn't even put his name on their ballot for election. This showed southerners the huge population difference between the north and south. A big problem for the south was that Lincoln was a republican, and most likely would take away their biggest strength, slaves. By the time Lincoln was put into power, 7 southern states had already seceded. In his inaugural speech he stated that he would reunite the nation. In 1861 Georgia's secession convention took place. As all other southern states voted, Georgia voted to secede. Unlike other states, it was not unanimous, or even close to it. Alexander Stephens, a Georgian, was chosen to be the confederacy's vice president. This is because he originally wanted to stay in the union but eventually changed his mind. He was there to show his reasoning to other southerners unsure about the idea. This gave Georgia a big honor in the confederacy.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8319858/Abraham-Lincoln-wanted-to-deport-slaves-to-new-colonies.html

Dred Scott case

             In 1855, a slave and his master moved up north for work. The slave, Dred Scott, worked diligently under his master for 2 full years before a question came into his mind. He was living in the north, where slaves were supposedly free. He ended up trying to sue his master for his freedom in 1857. This case reached the supreme court before a decision was made. The chief justice and other supreme court rulers decided that: no he would not be freed because he was a slave and not a citizen, and only citizens can sue. This angered northerners very much because it officially meant that slavery could exist even where it was outlawed. It also raised a heated public debate on the constitutionality of this ruling.


http://105.wikispaces.com/Landmark3

Kansas-Nebraska Act

              In the 1830's, 40's, and 50's many new states were being admitted into the union. The Kansas-Nebraska territory wanted to join the union too. In 1854, Congress then decided to nullify the 36 30 line rule and allow new states and territories to choose for themselves whether to be slave or free. This scared the north and the abolitionists because it meant slavery could now spread west. In the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, battles were fought over slavery and the nation was once again divided over the issue.   

http://storiesofusa.com/american-civil-war-timeline-battlefields-1854-1865/

Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, and Georgia Platform

              In the late 1840's, gold was discovered in California. Many men, women, and families flocked to California to try their luck. This caused the territory of California to be the fastest growing territory, and soon had enough people to be a state. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the 36 30 line. The north wanted California to join as a free state, but the south argued that it was partially under the 36 30 line. In the end, a compromise was reached. California was admitted a free state. Texas gave up land and received 10 million dollars for it. The slave market in the capital was abolished. And the south's main goal was given, the fugitive slave act. It required free citizens of the north to help return runaway slaves to their owners in the south, denied jury trials, and created more federal agents to enforce law. This was a huge success for the south. Now any northerner who didn't return escaped slaves could be sued. A major repercussion though was that it bolstered the abolitionist movement. It made the abolitionists angry and redouble their efforts.

http://tkampra.blogspot.com/2013/03/missouri-compromise-of-1850.html#!/2013/03/missouri-compromise-of-1850.html

States rights, sectionalism, and nullification

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/lesson_29_notes_sec_ho.htm

               During the pre-civil war period, the American nation was dividing in many aspects. It was dividing economically, the south being much more reliant on agriculture. It was dividing politically in that Southerners wouldn't even put northern candidates on the ballot. But above all it was dividing morally and socially. Most northerners thought slavery was against their religion and sought to abolish it. On the other hand, the southern economy was almost entirely based on slavery. Other differences separating these 2 different regions include a higher northern population, bigger and more industrialized cities in the north, a more equal distribution of wealth in the north, opposed to the south's extremely rich, but few, plantation owners, and many other differences. So instead of being loyal to one country, the nation was split between regions causing sectionalism. Because of this, many states, predominately southern states, started believing that the needs of a state should come before the needs of a nation, an idea called states rights. So when congress approved a high tax on imported goods, South Carolina nullified it, they basically refused the tax. This caused the president to send troops to South Carolina to reinforce the tax. War almost broke out, but it showed southerners that they couldn't do what they wanted.  

Missouri Compromise

              In the year of 1820, Missouri wanted to become a slave state of the union. At the time, there was a very delicate balance of senate members in congress between slave and free states. This equality was wanted because if one side gained majority, it could decide the pressing situation of slavery for the whole nation. Northerners didn't want Missouri to be let into the union as a state because it would upset the balance. Southerners, on the other hand, wanted to gain majority in congress with a new slave state's help, Missouri. In the end, a compromise was reached. Missouri would be admitted a slave state, but Massachusetts would be split apart and a new free state would form, Maine. They also decided the 36 30 line rule. It meant that all future states above the line had to be free, and below were to be slave. 

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM812H_Missouri_Compromise_36_30_Enid_Oklahoma