Key Terms/Ideas
Ft. Sumter
New York Draft Riot
Homestead Act
- April 12, 1861
- Site of the opening engagement of the Civil War. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, and had demanded that all federal property in the state be surrendered to state authorities. Major Robert Anderson concentrated his units at Fort Sumter, and, when Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, Sumter was one of only two forts in the South still under Union control. Learning that Lincoln planned to send supplies to reinforce the fort, on April 11, 1861, Confederate General Beauregard demanded Anderson's surrender, which was refused. On April 12, 1861, the Confederate Army began bombarding the fort, which surrendered on April 14, 1861. Congress declared war on the Confederacy the next day.
New York Draft Riot
- July 1863, north, just after the Battle at Gettysburg. Mobs of Irish working-class men and women roamed the streets for four days until federal troops suppressed them. They loathed the idea of being drafted to fight a war on behalf of slaves who, once freed, would compete with them for jobs. The riot lynched several African Americans and burned down black homes, businesses, and even an orphanage. It was the bloodiest riot in American history. Only the arrival of the federal troops halted the violence
Homestead Act
- Passed in 1862, it gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years. The settler would only have to pay a registration fee of $25, government land given to small farmers, encouraged westward migration
- This was an act passed by Congress in 1861 to meet the cost of the war. It raised the taxes on shipping from 5 to 10 percent however later needed to increase to meet the demanding cost of the war. This was just one the new taxes being passed to meet the demanding costs of the war. Although they were still low to today's standers they still raked in millions of dollars, congress had an easier time passing the tariff because the south wasn't there to protest
- an act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes
Key People
William H. Seward
- Senator from New York.
- Senator who was for antislavery
- Very religious
- Would not compromise.
- Later became the major rival of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency.
- When Lincoln won the presidency, he became the secretary of state for him.
- Had a nickname called "Higher Law" due to his religious beliefs in Christianity/ believed religion was above the constitution, purchased alaska from russia = sewards folly
- An American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War from 1862-1865.
- His effective management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory.
- A Confederate general during the American Civil War
- Most well-known Confederate commander after General Robert E. Lee.
- His military career includes the Valley Campaign of 1862 and his service as a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee.
- Confederate pickets accidentally shot him at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, which the general survived, albeit with the loss of an arm to amputation.
- Died of complications of pneumonia eight days later.