July 13th, 2009. For those of you who would like to assess your mastery of Chapter 1, I have placed a multiple choice exercise on your Work Schedule link on the right.
Anyone who is taking AP U.S. History next year and who has not yet signed out the text materials and who has not picked up a summer packet, needs to see me right away to pick up same. Thank you.
New students - I would like you to look at the table of contents of your textbook - do this on a regular basis. As you see the 'big picture' of American history, the details will assume a logical and easily retrievable position within that 'big picture.' Try it!
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all pictoral, mapping, and sketch images are from Wikopedia
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution
The Civil War Amendments - the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments - were proposed by a Republican congress in its attempt to protect the new freedmen from actions of newly reconstructed southern states. Today let's focus on the 13th Amendment - the legal mechanism that finally outlawed slavery in the United States. Contrary to the misconception of many, the Emancipation Proclamation only freed those slaves that were located in areas in a state of rebellion against the Union on January 1, 1863. Blanket emancipation did not come until the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which took place in December, 1865. Lincoln supported the proposed Amendment (proposed in January, 1865) but did not live to see it become ratified.
This work (the 13th Amendment) is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.
The Era of the American Cowboy
The American cowboy has his origins in spanish Mexico - much of the cowboy's clothing and equipment was of spanish derivation.
The era of the American cowboy took place immediately before and after the Civil War. It featured the life and the lore of the cowboy, long hard days, roundups, long cattle drives, Texas longhorn cattle, open range grazing, railheads, and stockyards, among other things. The beef business became big business with the help of the railroads. The roundups would take place in Texas, and the cattle would be driven to railheads in places such as Abeline, Kansas. From there, the cattle would be shipped by railroad to meat processing plants - Chicago being a central location for same. After processing, the meat would be shipped by rail to eastern cities.
Finally, the era of the American cowboy came to an end in the 1880s, with the advent of barbed wire, which was used by landowners to fence their cattle in. This, along with overgrazing of range lands, and a devastatingly brutal winter of 1886-1887 in which many cattle starved or froze to death, brought about the end of the era.
Painting "Herd Quitters" by Charles Marion Russell
Abraham Lincoln giving his second inaugural, March 4, 1865
"...With malice toward none, with chairty for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." - Abraham Lincoln, March 4th, 1865
Part of the greatness of our 16th president was his ability to exercise compassion and strength, within the context of high principle. When the end of the war would come one month later at Appomattox, Grant followed the insturctions that Lincoln had given him and Sherman shortly before at their last war conference. Lincoln had ordered that when the end came, "I want no one punished." Following this command, Grant gave Lee generous terms - all that was required of the Confederates was that the foot soldiers lay down their guns and go home. It was April - spring planting time - so Grant let them keep their horses to get their crops planted.
One of the ultimate American tragedies was the loss of Lincoln and its conseqent affect on Reconstruction.
Alexander Gardner (1821-1882), photographer. Library of Congress Charles Marion Russell (1864–1926)
And the end had come - Richmond lay in ruins, April, 1865
After Grant's forces broke through at Petersburg on April 2nd, his forces crossed the James River and moved on to the Confederate capital at Richmond, where the Confederates had left him a burned, devastated city. Wanting to deny Union forces the the munitions stored in the city, the fleeing Confederates torched it, igniting an explosive conflagration that left essentially nothing but burned and exploded ruins. After Petersburg fell, Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government boarded a train to Danville, Virginia, where they reestablished the remnants of the Confederate government. Lincoln said "I want to see Richmond", and at great danger to himself walked what was left of the streets, being greeted by black citizens as a hero and liberator. He went to Davis' evacuated office, and sat in Davis' chair in Davis' office. Tragically, Lincoln only lived six days after the surrender at Appomattox, as he was shot on April 14th at Ford's Theater, and died early the next morning. His death cast a pall over the difficult days that lay ahead in the Reconstruction era. The loss of Lincoln's leadership, fairness, and compassions was a great tragedy for the South as well as the North.
"Ruins in Richmond" Damage to Richmond, Virginia from the American Civil War. Albumen print. Russell, Andrew J., photographer. Library of Congress
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, field commander of Union forces (left), and Gen. Robert E. Lee (right), Confederate commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and Confederate ground forces
The carnage of the Wilderness Campaign in 1864 was staggering. In these battles taking place during May and June of 1864, Union forces lost approximately 50,000 men. In spite of these horrific casualities, the Wilderness Campaign (also known as Grant's Overland Campaign) is considered a Union victory because it culminated in the siege of Petersburg, which was the last obstacle between Grant and Richmond.
During the Wilderness Campaign, Lee had been able to predict Gant's movements from the Wilderness (in the vicinity of the old Chancellorsville battlefield from the year before), to Spotsylvania, to Cold Harbor, as Grant' s forces made left-flanking actions against Lee's lines. At Cold Harbor, approximately 7,000 Union troops fell in about twnety minutes. Grant was losing men though that he could replace, and Lee was losing men that he could not replace. After Cold Harbor, Lee thought that Grant's next move would be on Richmond. Grant surprised Lee when Union forces crossed the James River and attacked the important railroad junction of Petersburg, south of Richmond. Both sides dug in for a siege that would turn out bloody and brutal and last until April, 1865. When the Confederate lines at Petersburg fell, the Confederates evacuated and burned Richmond. The war would come to a quick end thereafter, with Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox on April 9th, 1865.
Union General U.S. Grant (top left), Confederate General Braxton Bragg (top center), and the National military cemetery at Chattanouga, with Lookout Mountain in the backgroud
After the Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, Confederate troops under Braxton Bragg occupied the high ground around Chattanouga, TN, besieging Union General William Rosecran's and his troops in the city in the process. Grant, the commander of Union forces in the western theater, broke the siege in November, 1863, and in the process scored notable victories at Lookout Mountain (above, right) and Missionary Ridge. Chattanouga would be one of Grant's crowning achivements. After the Union victory there, Tennessee would be used as a launching point for Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's conquests of key Union objectives in the deep south - most notably the rail and industrial center at Atlanta, which he would capture in September, 1864, and in the process assure the reelection of Abraham Lincoln.
The Transcontinental Railroad is completed (center) - May 10th, 1869, Promontory Point, Utah
The Transcontinental Railroad Act was one of the most important pieces of Civil War legislation that Congress acheived durign the war and in the absence of the southern states. Enacted in 1862, the Act provided for the joining of east and west by rail. The Union Pacific Railroad built from east to west, and the Central Pacific embarbed from California eastward. The golden spike that finally joined the two (depicted above, right) is now on display at Stanford University.
Building the Transcontinental Railroad was exceedingly dangerous work. Chinese laborers - some of whom are depicted on the right above - were a major source of labor for the Central Pacific construction. Among the most dangerous tasks that these workers performed was blasting through the Sierra Madre Mountains.
The Declaration of Indpendence - a new nation is born, declaring that 'all men are created equal.'
Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, made a motion on June 7th, 1776, that the thriteen colonies should now and forever, be free and independent states. A committee of five was selected by the Congress, to draft a declaration of independence - Robert Livingston, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. The committee gave Jefferson the duty of developing the draft. Lee's motion was passed on July 2nd, 1776. After debate in Congress over Jefferson's draft, the final version was signed (according to most historians) on August 2nd, 1776, rather than July 4th, 1776.
The Declaration provided the political and philisophical justification for declaring independence. It was based on the natural rights of man philosphy reflected in John Locke's social contract theory, popularized in England and Europe during the Englightenment. The Declaration also listed several grievance against King George III, and declared American independence and the unity of the signatories.
Today, July 3rd, marks the 146th anniversary Pickett's Charge, the culminating battle at the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was the turning point in the American Civil War.
Grant breaks the siege at Vicksburg - July 4th, 1863
After a seven week siege, Confederate forces under Gen. John C. Pemberton (above right) surrendered Vicksburg (above center) to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (above left) on July 4th, 1863, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River, and splitting the Confederacy in-two. Grant's brilliant though bloody success in the Western theater would result in his elevation to field command of all Union forces. Coming a day after the Union victory at Gettysburg, these two Union victories turned the tide of the war. The Union objective (from the Annaconda Plan) to capture the Mississippi River had now been acheived with the capture of Vicksburg, and Lee's army would always be on the defensive after the Confederate loss at Gettysburg. Though the Confederates would fight on doggedly for about another year and a half, it would be against essentially insurmountable odds after Gettysburg and Vicksburg. At this point, the only thing that really could defeat the Union was the Union itself - and it didn't.
The Battle of Gettysburg - the turning poing of the Civil War, and the high-water mark of the Confederacy
General Lee (above, left) would not listen to the advice of his high command, and insisted on making Pickett's Charge on the third day of the Battle - July 3rd, 1863. General George Pickett, (above, right) led the doomed Confederate assault on Cemetery Ridge on that hot July afternoon. The Union line held, with only a brief, small breach at "the angle" (above, center.) The casualties at Gettysburg were the largest of any battle in the history of the Western Hemisphere.
With Lee's army essentially wrecked, he woud fight on the defensive for the remainder of the war. The next day, July 4th, 1863, Confederate forces holding Vicksburg on the Mississippi River surrendered to U.S. Grant after a 49 day siege, and in the process gave the Union control of the Mississippi River. Though the war would not be over almost two more years, Gettysburg and Vicksburg turned the tide forever against the Confederacy.
Lincoln and Gen. McClellan confer at Sharpsburg, MD, after the Battle of Antietam - September, 1862
Though the Battle of Antietam became the all important Union victory that gave Lincoln the political clout to issue the preliminary emancipation proclamation, it was a lost opportunity to end the war. Though the human cost of Antietam was huge - 23,000 casualties in one day, the bloodiest day in American military history - it helped to seal the fate of the Confederacy. With the issuance of the emancipation proclamation, it became highly unlikely that the Confederacy would receive diplomatic recognition from a European power. In issuing the proclamation, Lincoln had elevated the Union purpose in the Civil War to a moral plane. It thus became a war about human dignity and freedom, and not just a war about the role of federal power vs. states' rights in a federal system. Because the working classes in Europe feared that slavery would threaten their jobs, it became politically untenable for European governments to recognize or support the Confederacy after the preliminary emancipation proclamation. Supporting the Confederacy would be viewed by European workers as supporting slavery, thus effectively precluding European intervention.
As for McClellan, Lincoln permanently relieved him of command of the Army of the Potomac after Antietam. In allowing Lee to escape across the Potomac after the battle, and in his failure to attack before the battle (when he was aware that Lee's army was temporarily split into five pieces) McClellan had squandered two chances to end the war. As a result, the war would grind on for another two and a half bloody years.
Union General George B. McClellan, and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, commanders at the Peninsula Campaign during the Civil War, 1862
After frustrating Lincoln greatly with his reluctance to engage the enemy, Army of the Potomac commander George McClellan mounted an amphibious assault aimed at capturing Richmond in the spring of 1862. When Johnston was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks (the Battle of Seven Pines) he was replaced by the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia - General Robert E. Lee. With his new position as overall commander of Confederate forces, Lee began an offensive strategy that resulted in a series of battles from June 25th to July 1st, known as the Battle of the Seven Days (or the Seven Days Battles.) Taken together, Lee totally out-generaled McClellan, and chased him off the peninsula (between the York and the James Rivers), as the Union forces withdrew in retreat back to Washington. This was a devastating blow to the Union cause at the time, and demonstrated the military genious of Robert E. Lee. It was the experience of the Peninsula Campaign that convinced Lincoln that the Union strategy to win the war must now include emancipation, though he did not announce it at that time.
On Monday, we will have our Second Period exam, which by the way reminds me of the "Second" Great Awakening - what was it, when was it, and how was it different from the first Great Awakening?
Chief Justice Earl Warren administers the oath of office to John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961.
Among many of our fine speeches given during our spring projects was the JFK inaugural, in which Kennedy inspired Americans with his call to arms - "[a]sk not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." At forty three years of age, Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to the presidency. His youthful vigor and bold call to action inspired a nation that had grown somewhat restless with the paternal, grandfatherly leadership of Eisenhower in the 1950s. A decorated WWII veteran and a Cold Warrior, Kennedy embraced the challenges of our nation at a dangerous moment in history. During his tenure in office the world would reach its level of greatest danger during the Cold War - the Cuban Missile Crisis (October, 1962) - and live to tell about it. Though his presidency only lasted about a thousand days, it came at a most critical time in American history, and thus takes its place as one of the more important administrations.
The one and only Thomas Jefferson (painting by Rembrandt Peale, 1800)
Some of our discussions today in periods 4 and 8 focused on Thomas Jefferson, and the "second American Revolution" (as he referred to his election to the presidency in 1800.) The enigmatic Jefferson was a master of the spoken and written word. He was a brilliant lawyer and statesman, who wrote so beautifully about the natural rights of man, and yet owned slaves. He was a strict constructionist, yet became the ultimate loose constructionist with the Louisiana Purchase. Despite these contradictions, he is irrefutably one of the most important political thinkers and statesmen in the founding era and the early national period.
Monday is a "G" (1, 2, 6, 5, 7, 8) day, which by the way reminds me of the "G"reat Depression - what was Hoover's answer to this problem, and later what was Franklin Roosevelt's answer to this problem?
Abraham Lincoln in 1846 or 1847
Lincoln served just one term (two years) in Congress - in the House of Representatives, elected in 1846. His single term coincided with the Mexican American War (1846-1848). His famous "spot resolutions" put the U.S. government to its proof on the issue of whether or not U.S. soldiers were killed on United States soil. Lincoln contended that the better argument was that the U.S. soldiers were killed on Mexican soil, and thus the United States was engaging in war with Mexico when it lacked the moral and legal justification to do so. Ever the lawyer and thinker, Lincoln emerged as powerful Whig voice, and would later become the same for the Republican party after its founding in 1854. He became a national spokesman for the Republican party in his opposition to popular sovereignty, and would be catapulted to the national stage as a result of his performance in the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. Two years later he would be elected president, and lead the nation through the tumultuous Civil War.
Friday is an "F" day (and the first day of senior exams), which by the way reminds me of Robert "F"ulton - what did he invent, and why was it important in the context of the evolving sections of the nation in the early 19th century?
a.
Henry Clay - architect of the American System
Today in 8th period students chose the American System for our starter - a good opportunity to review! The American System was the brainchild of Henry Clay of Kentucky, and called for the following: a primarily protective tariff, a system of roads and canals to unite the evolving sections of the nation, a second National Bank, and a common currency. President Monroe vetoed federal funding for the American System, but funding for it was provided by the states. And, as you know, it took place primarily during the James Monroe years (elected in 1816, and reelected in 1820), thus taking place during the Era of Good Feelings.
Thursday is an "E" (2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5) day, which by the way reminds me of well, look above, the Era of Good Feelings! What was it, and why was it "Good"?
William Tecumseh Sherman
General Sherman applied the concept of "total war" on his "March to the Sea" and beyond. A close friend of U.S. Grant, Sherman provided the victories in the South (most notably in Atlanta) that helped turn the tide of the war in favor of the Union in 1864. Though Gettysburg was the turning point of the war (1863), it was Sherman's breakthrough at Atlanta that probably elected Lincoln to another term in 1864.
Wednesday is a "D" day, which by the way reminds of, well, "D" Day - review our little blurb below!
Liberation!
Liberation came to Paris on August 19th, 1944, as Allied forces freed the city from the grip of the Nazis. The full liberation of Europe would have to wait until April 30th, 1945, when Soviet and Allied forces defeated Germany.
Tuesday is a "C" day, which by the way reminds me the Fundamental Orders of "C"onnecticut - what was it, and of what significance was it?
D-Day - June 6, 1944
Today is the fifty-fourth anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing at Normandy, France and the beginning of the liberation of Europe. It was the largest amphibious invasion in history, with 160,000 troops making up the invasionary force. The landings took place along a fifty mile stretch of beach. The five landing sectors were known as Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The mission was known as Operation Overlord, and was commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later became our thirty-fourth president in 1953. Operation Overlord finally concluded when allied forces crossed the River Seine on August 19th.
Monday is a "B" day, which by the way reminds me of the Battle of the "B"ulge - when was it, and what was it's significance to the end of World War II?
Look at our latest inspirational speech - Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural, March 4, 1865
Keep practicing your writing, everyone - it is clear to me that most of us are better thinkers than we are writers. We can close the gap between thinking and writing, if we keep working on it! Lets always remember our basic sturcture for our essay - opening paragraph with thesis statement, then the body - with supporting evidence, and finally your well-stated conclusion.
Mr. Jones
Want some inspiration from history? There is plenty to be found, and as a new feature on our website we will be periodically featuring famous events, speeches, etc. from our past that strike such a chord within us. Please go to the Pirmary Documents link, and scroll-down to Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural. Notice the elements of firmness yet compassion. What does this speech reveal about Lincoln that you identified about him from the Gettysburg Address, and from his instructions to Grant for the surrender at Appomattox - "I want no one punished"?