Civil War test important events

In this blog post, I'm going to highlight events that I thought was important in the Civil War section, and give a brief synopsis on the topic. 

Chapter 20

Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas

When Senator Steven A. Douglas promised to bring Kansas and Nebraska in to the states, he promised the South that it would become slave state after popular sovereignty. However, northerners and southerners alike visited the polls, and no one knew who was really in charge. It led to a lot of violence between factions from people like John Brown.

Division of the Democrats

As the Republicans were becoming more unified in the North, Democrats split dramatically between Northern and Southern Democrats in the years leading up to the Civil War, effectively destroying the party.

Dred Scott decision

When slave Dred Scott challenged the legitimacy of him being owned, it reached the Supreme Court, who said that the Federal Government could not control slavery in any territories.

Harper Ferry Raid

Radical Republican John Brown was tired of all attempts to compromise, and with a small band of men, attacked Harper Ferry. His end goal was to free the slaves, but he was captured and put on trial before he got close to that far. The raid further split the North and South.

Chapter 21

Fort Sumter

When Federal Fort Sumter was put under siege in the South, Lincoln had to do something to save them. So, when he sent supplies to the fort, and the Southerners fired on the ships, the blame of firing the first shots in the war was on the south.

Confederate ships in Britain

The North discovered that the British were building rams for the South in one of their shipyards. So, they demanded the building be stopped or else they would declare war. Great Britain stepped down, thus ending the threat of British help for the Confederate.

Chapter 22

Seven Days' Battles

In one of McClellan's advances towards Richmond, he was turned back by Lee and Stonewall Jackson just outside of Richmond. In this battle they managed to eat them off an finish McClellan's advance into Virginia.

Antietam

After McClellan's failed advance towards Richmond, Lee chased him all the way back to Maryland. McClellan's soldiers luckily found a copy Lee's battle plans. The two Armies met at Antietam, where the Federal troops managed to turn away the Confederate soldiers.

Emancipation Proclamation

After Antietam, Lincoln declared slaves in all of the Confederate states to be free. Although this didn't free anyone, it did make the war clearly about slavery, driving Britain and France away from the war.

Gettysburg

In 1863, Lee attempted to break the stalemate with one last strike. He first won Chancellorsville. He then drove his troops towards the entrenched Federal Army at Gettysburg, but in an extremely bloody three days, he was driven back to Virginia.

Vicksburg

As Grant was making his way down the Mississippi river to take control of western trade routes, he ran into the impenetrable, fortified Vicksburg. He brought his troops on a long circle around, and then laid siege them. He took the fort and had total control over the West.

Sherman's march to the sea

After most of the Confederate military was beaten, the Federal Army had to destroy the morale of the Southern people. Sherman and his troops marched from Chattanooga to Savannah without any supply lines, and burning everything in his path.

Assassination of Lincoln

Immediately after the war, President Lincoln was assassinated by pro-Southern John Wilkes Booth. It created a divide between North and South, and left Andrew Johnson in charge of the Executive branch.

Chapter 23

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

President Johnson was a democrat, where as Congress was controlled heavily by Radical Republicans. He tried to stop a lot of the legislation Congress passed, and when he broke one of the laws they used to curb his power, they impeached him. However, he remained in office because the vote did not pass in the House of Representatives

Black Codes

Right after the war in the South, many laws were passed that were specifically targeted towards black people that were meant to keep them under their control.

Civil Rights Bill/ 14th Amendment

After the outrage in the North over the Black Codes and the States denying blacks the right to vote in the South, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill and 14th Amendment. They were used to give equal rights to black people, but it did not stop Jim Crow segregation.