1. 11.1 – The Civil War Begins

4. South Carolina’s Declaration of Causes of Secession
12/1860 South Carolina’s fire-eaters (pro-slavery extremists) passed an ordinance of secession, citing the following causes behind this decision:
Abolitionist propaganda
The Underground Railroad
Personal Liberty Laws
The Republican Party

5. The Baltimore Plot
There was an alleged conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln en-route to Washington D.C. (PA-MD)
“Flight of Abraham” Harper’s Weekly

6. Order of Secession Deep South: South Carolina Mississippi Florida
Alabama
Georgia
Louisiana
Texas

7. Order of Secession The Upper South: Virginia Arkansas North Carolina
Tennessee

8. Buchanan's Inaction
Lame-duck President James Buchanan claimed that secession was unconstitutional, but he did nothing to prevent it.

9. The Confederate Constitution
Preamble
“We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity — invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God — do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States of America.”

10. The Confederate Constitution
Section 9 - Limits on Congress, Bill of Rights
“The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.”

11. The Politics of the Border States
Lincoln had to keep the Border States in the Union by making gestures toward accepting slavery.
Lincoln’s First Inaugural:
“I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”
Border States / Slave Population
Maryland (8%)
Delaware (1.6%)
Missouri (11%)
Kentucky (24%)
West Virginia*

12. Lincoln’s Cabinet: Team of Rivals
Attorney General: Edward Bates
Secretary of State: William Henry Seward
Secretary of War: Edwin Stanton
Secretary of Treasury: Salmon Chase

13. Fort Sumter

14. Fort Sumter

15. Fort Sumter Federal fort Located in Charleston Harbor (SC)
South Carolina demands Union Major Robert Anderson surrender the fort
Lincoln’s Options:
Surrender
Attack
Re-Supply
4/12/1861 – The Civil War begins with the bombardment of Fort Sumter

16. Strengths Union Confederacy Population (2x1) Navy
Railroad tracks (71%)
Firearms production (97%)
Industrial capacity
The North could feed, clothe, arm and transport more soldiers than the Confederacy
Fighting a defensive war (a tie is a win)
Passionate for the cause
Average soldier had some military experience / owned a weapon
Talented army officers (Robert E. Lee)
“Cotton is King”
Jefferson Davis (?)

17. Gen. Robert E. Lee

18. Virginia’s Secession
Virginia was by far the most populated and industrialized southern state
Its location was vital to both the Union and Confederacy
4/17/1861 – Virginia seceded following Fort Sumter
Robert E. Lee, “I have been unable to make up my mind to raise my hand against my native state, my relatives, my children, my home.”

20. Strategies Union Confederacy 1.) Blockade southern ports
Anaconda Plan
1.) Blockade southern ports
2.) Seize the Mississippi River
3.) Take Confederate Capital (Richmond, VA)
Defensive
Wear down the Union population’s stomach for war