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In the year 1838, 16,000 Native Americans were marched over 1,200 miles of rugged land. Over 4,000 of these Indians died of disease, famine, and warfare. The Indian tribe was called the Cherokee and we call this event the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears happened when Hernando De Soto took his adventures to America.

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The 'Indian Problem'

White Americans, particularly those who lived on the western frontier, often feared and resented the Native Americans they encountered: To them, American Indians seemed to be an unfamiliar, alien people who occupied land that white settlers wanted (and believed they deserved).

Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this "Indian problem" was to simply "civilize" the Native Americans. The goal of this civilization campaign was to make Native Americans as much like white Americans as possible by encouraging them convert to Christianity, learn to speak and read English and adopt European-style economic practices such as the individual ownership of land and other property (including, in some instances in the South, enslaved persons).

In the southeastern United States, many Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokee people embraced these customs and became known as the "Five Civilized Tribes."

Did you know? Indian removal took place in the Northern states as well. In Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, the bloody Black Hawk War in 1832 opened to white settlement millions of acres of land that had belonged to the Sauk, Fox and other native nations.

But the Native Americans' land, located in parts of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, was valuable, and it grew to be more coveted as white settlers flooded the region. Many of these whites yearned to make their fortunes by growing cotton, and often resorted to violent means to take land from their Indigenous neighbors. They stole livestock; burned and looted houses and towns; committed mass murder; and squatted on land that did not belong to them.

Worcester v. Georgia

State governments joined in this effort to drive Native Americans out of the South. Several states passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their territory.

In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations "in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force."

Even so, the maltreatment continued. As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court's rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would "[fall]...still born." Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory.

Indian Removal Act

Andrew Jackson had long been an advocate of what he called "Indian removal." As an Army general, he had spent years leading brutal campaigns against the Creeks in Georgia and Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida-campaigns that resulted in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of acres of land from Indian nations to white farmers.

As president, he continued this crusade. In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the federal government the power to exchange Native-held land in the cotton kingdom east of the Mississippi for land to the west, in the "Indian colonization zone" that the United States had acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase. This "Indian territory" was located in present-day Oklahoma.

The law required the government to negotiate removal treaties fairly, voluntarily and peacefully: It did not permit the president or anyone else to coerce Native nations into giving up their ancestral lands. However, President Jackson and his government frequently ignored the letter of the law and forced Native Americans to vacate lands they had lived on for generations.

Trail of Tears

In the winter of 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw became the first nation to be expelled from its land altogether. They made the journey to Indian Territory on foot (some "bound in chains and marched double file," one historian writes), and without any food, supplies or other help from the government.

Thousands of people died along the way. It was, one Choctaw leader told an Alabama newspaper, a "trail of tears and death."

The Indian-removal process continued. In 1836, the federal government drove the Creeks from their land for the last time: 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for Oklahoma did not survive the trip.

Treaty of New Echota

The Cherokee people were divided: What was the best way to handle the government's determination to get its hands on their territory? Some wanted to stay and fight. Others thought it was more pragmatic to agree to leave in exchange for money and other concessions.

In 1835, a few self-appointed representatives of the Cherokee nation negotiated the Treaty of New Echota, which traded all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi - roughly 7 million acres - for $5 million, relocation assistance and compensation for lost property.

To the federal government, the treaty (signed in New Echota, Georgia) was a done deal, but a majority of the Cherokee felt betrayed. Importantly, the negotiators did not represent the tribal government or anyone else. Most Cherokee people considered the Treaty of New Echota fraudulent, and the Cherokee National Council voted in 1836 to reject it.

John Ross

"The instrument in question is not the act of our nation," wrote the nation's principal chief, John Ross, in a letter to the U.S. Senate protesting the Treaty of New Echota. "We are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people." Nearly 16,000 Cherokees signed Ross's petition, but Congress approved the treaty anyway.

By 1838, only about 2,000 Cherokees had left their Georgia homeland for Indian Territory. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while his men looted their homes and belongings.

Then, they marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian Territory. Whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way. Historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the journey.

Legacy of the Trail of Tears

By 1840, tens of thousands of Native Americans had been driven off of their land in the southeastern states and forced to move across the Mississippi to Indian Territory. The federal government promised that their new land would remain unmolested forever, but as the line of white settlement pushed westward, "Indian Country" shrank and shrank. In 1907, Oklahoma became a state and Indian Territory was considered lost.

A 2020 decision by the Supreme Court, however, highlighted ongoing interest in Native American territorial rights. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that a huge area of Oklahoma is still considered an American Indian reservation.

This decision left the state of Oklahoma unable to prosecute Native Americans accused of crimes on those tribal lands - only federal and tribal law enforcement can prosecute such crimes. (A later 2022 Supreme Court decision rolled back some provisions of the 2020 court finding.)

The Trail of Tears - actually a network of different routes - is over 5,000 miles long and covers nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Today, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail is run by the National Park Service and portions of it are accessible on foot, by horse, by bicycle or by car.

Sources

Trail of Tears. NPS.gov.
Trail of Tears. Museum of the Cherokee Indian.
The Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears. North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The Treaty That Forced the Cherokee People from Their Homelands Goes on View. Smithsonian Magazine.
Justices rule swath of Oklahoma remains tribal reservation. Associated Press.
Justices limit 2020 ruling on tribal lands in Oklahoma. Associated Press.

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Trail of Tears: Definition, Date & Cherokee Nation - HISTORY

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The Trail of Tears was the deadly route Native Americans were forced to follow when they were pushed off their ancestral lands and into Oklahoma by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

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The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.

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Source

An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi [excerpt]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives . . . That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove there . . .

And be it further enacted, That in the making of any such exchange or exchanges, it shall and may be lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made, that the United States will forever secure and guaranty to them, and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them; and if they prefer it, that the United States will cause a patent or grant to be made and executed to them for the same . . .

And be it further enacted, That upon the making of any such exchange as is contemplated by this act, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such aid and assistance to be furnished to the emigrants as may be necessary and proper to enable them to remove to, and settle in, the country for which they may have exchanged; and also, to give them such aid and assistance as may be necessary for their support and subsistence for the first year after their removal.

And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such tribe or nation to be protected, at their new residence, against all interruption or disturbance from any other tribe or nation of Indians, or from any other person or persons whatever.

And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to have the same superintendence and care over any tribe or nation in the country to which they may remove, as contemplated by this act, that he is now authorized to have over them at their present places of residence . . .

And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of giving effect to the Provisions of this act, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated.

Approved, May 28, 1830

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Indian Removal Act (1830) - Immigration History

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An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi [excerpt] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives . . .

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The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. This founding document, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government.

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The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.

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Although James Madison was the youngest member of the Continental Congress, his leadership was a critical factor in the development of American government. Madison proposed the Virginia Plan, he authored some of the Federalist Papers, and he wrote the Bill of Rights.

The first national election occurred in 1789. Along with President Washington, voters elected a large number of supporters of the Constitution. In fact, almost half of the ninety-one members of the first Congress had helped to write or ratify the Constitution.

Not surprisingly, given Anti-Federalists' opposition to the strong new central government, only eight opponents of the Constitution were sent to the House of Representatives. Most Anti-Federalists concentrated their efforts in state politics.

Protection of Individual Rights

An immediate issue that the new Congress took up was how to modify the Constitution. Representatives were responding to calls for amendments that had emerged as a chief issue during the ratification process. Crucial states of Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York (among others) had all ultimately supported the Constitution - but only with the expectation that explicit protections for individual rights would be added to the highest law of the land. Now that supporters of the Constitution controlled the federal government, what would they do?

The legal tradition of having a precise statement of individual rights had deep roots in Anglo-American custom. So it's not surprising that the first Congress amended the Constitution by adding what became known as the Bill of Rights.

Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

James Madison, now a member of Congress from Virginia, once again took the leading role crafting proposed amendments that would be sent to the states for approval. Madison skillfully reviewed numerous proposals and examples from state constitutions and ultimately selected nineteen potential amendments to the Constitution.

As one might expect, the nationalist Madison took care to make sure that none of the proposed amendments would fundamentally weaken the new central government. In the end, ten amendments were ratified in 1791.

Ten Amendments

These first ten amendments to the Constitution became known as the Bill of Rights and still stand as both the symbol and foundation of American ideals of individual liberty, limited government, and the rule of law. Most of the Bill of Rights concerns legal protections for those accused of crimes.
Rights and Protections Guaranteed in the Bill of Rights

Amendment

Rights and Protections

First

Freedom of speech

Freedom of the press

Freedom of religion

Freedom of assembly

Right to petition the government

Third

Protection against housing soldiers in civilian homes

Fourth

Protection against unreasonable search and seizure

Protection against the issuing of warrants without probable cause

Fifth

Protection against

trial without indictment

double jeopardy

self-incrimination

property seizure

Sixth

Right to a speedy trial

Right to be informed of charges

Right to be confronted by witnesses

Right to call witnesses

Right to a legal counsel

Ninth

Rights granted in the Constitution shall not infringe on other rights.

Tenth

Powers not granted to the Federal Government in the Constitution belong to the states or the people.

For instance, the fourth through eighth amendments provide protection from unreasonable search and seizure, the privilege against self-incrimination, and the right to a fair and speedy jury trial that will be free from unusual punishments.

The First Amendment, perhaps the broadest and most famous of the Bill of Rights, establishes a range of political and civil rights including those of free speech, assembly, press, and religion.

The last two amendments, respectively, spell out that this list of individual protections is not meant to exclude other ones, and, by contrast, set forth that all powers claimed by the federal government had to be expressly stated in the Constitution.

The Full Text of the Bill of Rights

While the Bill of Rights created no deep challenge to federal authority, it did respond to the central Anti-Federalist fear that the Constitution would unleash an oppressive central government too distant from the people to be controlled.

By responding to this opposition and following through on the broadly expressed desire for amendments that emerged during the ratification process, the Bill of Rights helped to secure broad political support for the new national government. A first major domestic issue had been successfully resolved.

Understanding the Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights remains an active force in contemporary American life as a major element of Constitutional law. The meaning of its protections remains hotly debated. For example, the privilege to bear arms to support a militia, which appears in the second amendment, produces significant political controversy today.

More sweepingly, the extension of the Bill of Rights to protect individuals from abuse not only by the federal government, but also from state and local governments remains an unsettled aspect of Constitutional interpretation.

Originally, the protections were solely meant to limit the federal government, but with the fourteenth amendment's guarantee in 1868 that no state could deprive its citizens of the protections in the Bill of Rights this original view began to be expanded. To this day the Supreme Court has not definitively decided if the entire Bill of Rights should always be applied to all levels of government.

A More Perfect Union: The Creation of the U.S. Constitution
Looking for some in-depth analysis to tie all of this history together? The National Archives and Records Administration provides an excellent recap of the turbulent series of debates and compromises that culminated with the states' final ratification of the Constitution. If you're interested specifically in the Bill of Rights, stick to the last few sections, but if you have time, read it all - it's worth it!

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ACLU Briefing Paper - The Bill of Rights
We're all familiar enough with the who, what, when, and where of the Bill of Rights. But what about the why? Why did the American people, in particular, want guarantees about their liberty? Why did the ideal of democracy threaten the very ideal of liberty? And why wasn't the Bill of Rights really put into practice for the first 130 years of its existence? In this informative, easy-to-read essay, the American Civil Liberties Union attempts to answer some of these questions.

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Liberty! Chronicle of the Revolution
Extra, extra, read all about it! Congress adds a Bill of Rights to the Constitution! With this faux-newspaper article from 1791, you can get a sense of the tremendous negotiations that surrounded the birth of the Bill of Rights. In the end, it was little more than the product of much haggling and many compromises between supporters of a strong central government and those concerned about individual liberties. What was all the fuss about?

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George Mason and the Bill of Rights
Most people don't know much about the man Thomas Jefferson called "the wisest man of his generation," but George Mason was largely responsible for the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. This site explores the contributions made by this influential southern antifederalist leader who preferred to keep his nose out of politics, but who fought passionately for his beliefs on the occasions when he did enter the governmental fray.

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A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences. -Thomas Jefferson to James Madison
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One of the Constitution's great strengths is its ability to amend itself. The first Constitutional Amendments were proposed shortly after the Constitution itself. Larely focussed on protecting individual liberties, the first 10 Amendments, ratified in 1791, are known today as the Bill of Rights

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World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from July 28, 1914-November 11, 1918. It was also known as the Great War. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated 8.5 million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war.

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The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors.

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Great Depression: Causes, Definition & Dates | HISTORY

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The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in world history. Learn about the Dust Bowl, New Deal, causes of the Great Depression, a Great Depression timeline more.

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The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once. But on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

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Women's Rights Movement Begins

The campaign for women's suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. During the 1820s and '30s, most states had extended the franchise to all white men, regardless of how much money or property they had.

At the same time, all sorts of reform groups were proliferating across the United States- temperance leagues, religious movements, moral-reform societies, anti- slavery organizations-and in many of these, women played a prominent role.

Meanwhile, many American women were beginning to chafe against what historians have called the "Cult of True Womanhood": that is, the idea that the only "true" woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family.

Put together, all of these contributed to a new way of thinking about what it meant to be a woman and a citizen of the United States.

Seneca Falls Convention

In 1848, a group of abolitionist activists-mostly women, but some men-gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the problem of women's rights. They were invited there by the reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.

Most of the delegates to the Seneca Falls Convention agreed: American women were autonomous individuals who deserved their own political identities.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident," proclaimed the Declaration of Sentiments that the delegates produced, "that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

What this meant, among other things, was that they believed women should have the right to vote.

Civil Rights and Women's Rights During the Civil War

During the 1850s, the women's rights movement gathered steam, but lost momentum when the Civil War began. Almost immediately after the war ended, the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment to the Constitution raised familiar questions of suffrage and citizenship.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, extends the Constitution's protection to all citizens-and defines "citizens" as "male"; the 15th, ratified in 1870, guarantees Black men the right to vote.

Some women's suffrage advocates believed that this was their chance to push lawmakers for truly universal suffrage. As a result, they refused to support the 15th Amendment and even allied with racist Southerners who argued that white women's votes could be used to neutralize those cast by African Americans.

In 1869, a new group called the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They began to fight for a universal-suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Others argued that it was unfair to endanger Black enfranchisement by tying it to the markedly less popular campaign for female suffrage. This pro-15th-Amendment faction formed a group called the American Woman Suffrage Association and fought for the franchise on a state-by-state basis.

Gallery: The Progressive Campaign for Suffrage

This animosity eventually faded, and in 1890 the two groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the organization's first president.

By then, the suffragists' approach had changed. Instead of arguing that women deserved the same rights and responsibilities as men because women and men were "created equal," the new generation of activists argued that women deserved the vote because they were different from men.

They could make their domesticity into a political virtue, using the franchise to create a purer, more moral "maternal commonwealth."

This argument served many political agendas: Temperance advocates, for instance, wanted women to have the vote because they thought it would mobilize an enormous voting bloc on behalf of their cause, and many middle-class white people were swayed once again by the argument that the enfranchisement of white women would "ensure immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained."

Did you know? In 1923, the National Woman's Party proposed an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited all discrimination on the basis of sex. The so-called Equal Rights Amendment has never been ratified.

Winning the Vote at Last

Starting in 1910, some states in the West began to extend the vote to women for the first time in almost 20 years. Idaho and Utah had given women the right to vote at the end of the 19th century.

Still, southern and eastern states resisted. In 1916, NAWSA president Carrie Chapman Catt unveiled what she called a "Winning Plan" to get the vote at last: a blitz campaign that mobilized state and local suffrage organizations all over the country, with a special focus on those recalcitrant regions.

Meanwhile, a splinter group called the National Woman's Party founded by Alice Paul focused on more radical, militant tactics-hunger strikes and White House pickets, for instance-aimed at winning dramatic publicity for their cause.

World War I slowed the suffragists' campaign but helped them advance their argument nonetheless: Women's work on behalf of the war effort, activists pointed out, proved that they were just as patriotic and deserving of citizenship as men.

Finally, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. And on November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted in elections for the first time.

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Women's Suffrage - The U.S. Movement, Leaders & 19th Amendment

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The women's suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

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The 1954–1968 civil rights movement in the United States was preceded by a decades-long campaign by African Americans and their like-minded allies to end legalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial segregation in the United States.

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The feminist movement (also known as the women’s liberation movement, the women’s movement, or simply feminism) refers to a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label of feminism and the feminist movement.

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The feminist movement (also known as the women's liberation movement, the women's movement, or simply feminism) refers to a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label of feminism and the feminist movement. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities, and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country, to opposition to the glass ceiling in another.

Feminism in parts of the western world has gone through three waves. First-wave feminism was oriented around the station of middle- or upper-class white women and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism is continuing to address the financial, social and cultural inequalities and includes renewed campaigning for greater influence of women in politics and media. In reaction to political activism, feminists have also had to maintain focus on women's reproductive rights, such as the right to abortion.

First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought, that occurred within the time period of the 19th and early 20th century throughout the world. It focused on legal issues, primarily on gaining women's suffrage (the right to vote).

During the First Wave, there was a notable connection between the slavery abolition movement and the women's rights movement. Frederick Douglass was heavily involved in both movements and believed that it was essential for both to work together in order to attain true equality in regards to race and sex.

The first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York (now known as the Seneca Falls Convention) from July 19-20, 1848, and advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". While there, 68 women and 32 men-100 out of some 300 attendees, signed the Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments. The principal author of the Declaration was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who based it on the form of the United States Declaration of Independence. She was a key organizer of the convention along with Lucretia Coffin Mott, and Martha Coffin Wright. Charlotte Woodward, alone among all 100 signers, was the only one still alive in 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment passed. Woodward was not well enough to vote herself.

Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity and thought that first began in the early 1960s in the United States, and eventually spread throughout the Western world and beyond. In the United States the movement lasted through the early 1980s.

Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on suffrage and overturning legal obstacles to gender equality ( e.g., voting rights, property rights), second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a wide range of issues: sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and official legal inequalities. Second-wave feminism also drew attention to domestic violence and marital rape issues, establishment of rape crisis and battered women's shelters, and changes in custody and divorce law. Its major effort was the attempted passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the United States Constitution, in which they were defeated by anti-feminists.

In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approved the combined oral contraceptive pill, which was made available in 1961. This made it easier for women to have careers without having to leave due to unexpectedly becoming pregnant. The administration of President Kennedy made women's rights a key issue of the New Frontier, and named women (such as Esther Peterson) to many high-ranking posts in his administration.

In 1963 Betty Friedan, influenced by Simone De Beauvoir's book "The Second Sex," wrote the bestselling book "The Feminine Mystique" in which she explicitly objected to the mainstream media image of women, stating that placing women at home limited their possibilities, and wasted talent and potential. The perfect nuclear family image depicted and strongly marketed at the time, she wrote, did not reflect happiness and was rather degrading for women. This book is widely credited with having begun second-wave feminism. Watch this video about the success and impact of Friedan's book:

Third-wave feminism refers to several diverse strains of feminist activity and study, whose exact boundaries in the history of feminism are a subject of debate, but are generally marked as beginning in the early 1990s and continuing to the present. The movement arose partially as a response to the perceived failures of and backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, and the perception that women are of "many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and cultural backgrounds". This wave of feminism expands the topic of feminism to include a diverse group of women with a diverse set of identities.

Further Research

Watch the following documentary to learn more about how the portrayal of women and women's roles has evolved since the 1950s.

Self-Check: Gender

You'll have more success on the Self-Check, if you've completed the four Readings in this section.

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The feminist movement (also known as the women's liberation movement, the women's movement, or simply feminism) refers to a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label of feminism and the feminist movement.

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World War II was fought between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allied Powers (Britain, United States, Soviet Union, France). Most of the countries in the world were involved in some way. It was the deadliest war in all of human history with around 70 million people killed.

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World War II: Summary, Combatants & Facts

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World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Rising to power in an unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi Party) rearmed the nation and signed treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. Hitler’s invasion of Poland drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. The majority of the world’s countries eventually formed two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Axis.

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The 13 colonies were originally controlled by Great Britain. Great Britain wanted colonies in North America to increase trading opportunities, create new jobs, and bring in revenue from colonial workers and goods. By 1775, they had around 2.5 million people. These 13 colonies rebelled and eventually founded the United States of America.

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You've likely heard of the 13 original colonies, but how much do you know about them? When were they created, why were they created, how did they gain their independence, and which states did they become? In this guide, we cover all the important and interesting facts about the 13 colonies, including the official name of each colony, when it was founded, and the role it played up to and during the Revolutionary War. We also give background on the colonies and explain how they eventually became independent states.

What Were the 13 Colonies?

A colony is an area that is under the control of another country. In this case, the 13 colonies were located in North America, and they were controlled by Great Britain. Britain had an extensive history of colonization, and it wanted colonies in North America for multiple reasons, including to increase their trading opportunities, create new jobs, and bring in revenue from colonial workers and goods.

By 1775, the thirteen colonies had a population of roughly 2.5 million people. Many of them had been born in the colonies and considered themselves "American." After some failed colonies, such as those at Roanoke Island, and the split of Carolina into the colonies of North Carolina and South Carolina, there were at this point 13 colonies. It was these 13 colonies that rebelled against Great Britain and eventually founded the United States of America (see the final section for more information on how this happened).

The 13 Original Colonies

Below are the original thirteen colonies, separated into three groups based on location: New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. For each colony, we include its official name, the year it first became a colony of England, and the year it became a crown colony (which meant it was officially controlled by the British government, unlike regular colonies which sometimes had more ability to self-rule). There's also additional information on how each colony was founded and the role it played during the Revolutionary War.
The states that were part of the 13 original colonies are colored red on this 13 colonies map. Source: Wikimedia commons
New England Colonies

First established at Plymouth, Massachusetts by the Pilgrims, the New England Colonies were some of the earliest colonies, and t hey were primarily populated by British Puritans.
Massachusetts
Plymouth Colony, the first establishment along the shores of Massachusetts Bay, was founded in 1620, and the number of settlers in the area continued to grow steadily after its founding. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1628 and developed a large merchant fleet. Both of these colonies became part of the Providence of Massachusetts Bay when it became a crown colony in 1692. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, as well as during it, Massachusetts was a key colony, and many major events occurred there, including the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the battles of Bunker Hill, Concord, and Lexington.
Rhode Island
Colonists expelled from Massachusetts Bay due to their religious beliefs were the first people to settle Rhode Island. They founded Providence as a site of religious freedom. In 1774, Stephen Hopkins, a Rhode Island politician, introduced a bill that prohibited the importation of slaves into the colony. It became the first anti-slavery law in the colonies.
Connecticut
Previously settled by the Dutch, Connecticut became a colony for British and colonial Puritans. The Connecticut Colony was an early defier of England's control and mobilized over 40,000 soldiers for the Revolutionary War.
New Hampshire
Named after the English county Hampshire, New Hampshire was settled as early as 1623. In 1638, colonist John Wheelwright was banished from Massachusetts colony and founded Exeter in what would later become New Hampshire. From 1641 to 1679, the Providence of New Hampshire was ruled by its fellow colony of Massachusetts.
Source: Wikimedia commons
Middle Colonies

The British got much of this area, now called the Mid-Atlantic, by capturing it from the Dutch. The fertile soil of these colonies allowed them to grow crops, particularly grains. Strong timber, iron, and shipbuilding industries helped make these colonies major trade centers. They were also the most diverse, both ethnically and religiously, of all the British colonies.
New York
Formerly the Dutch province of New Netherland, New York was awarded to England during the Second Dutch-Anglo War and was renamed for the Duke of York. It was a major battleground during the Revolutionary War, and the final evacuation of the British Army from New York and return of General George Washington's army in 1783 was the cause of a massive parade and celebration.
New Jersey
Another part of New Netherland that was surrendered to the British in 1664, the Providence of New Jersey was split in two (East Jersey and West Jersey) before becoming a single royal colony in 1702. During the Revolutionary War, General Washington and his army spent much of their time in New Jersey, and it was Trenton, NJ they attacked after the famous crossing of the Delaware River.
Pennsylvania
Founded by British Quaker William Penn, Pennsylvania became a major economic and political center of the colonies. Famous colonial Pennsylvanians include Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, and it was in Philadelphia that both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed.
Delaware
Before 1776, this colony was known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware, and it was governed by the Province of Pennsylvania from 1682 until 1701. On December 7th, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the US Constitution.

Southern Colonies

Located in what is now considered the Southern United States, the Southern Colonies had economies based heavily on the cash crops of cotton, rice, and tobacco. They also had significantly higher numbers of slaves than most of the other colonies.
Maryland
The colony's first ruler was the English Lord Baltimore, who established it as a haven for English Catholics. During the lead up to the Revolutionary War, Maryland staged a tea party similar to the more famous one which took place in Boston.
Virginia
Jamestown, settled in 1607, was the first lasting British colony in North America; after it became a crown colony, expansion continued rapidly. Many of the most famous leaders of the Revolutionary War, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, came from Virginia, and it had one of the largest populations of the colonies. The final battle of the war was fought at Yorktown, Virginia, where the British surrendered in 1781.
North Carolina
North Carolina was the site of the failed Roanoke Colony, the first attempt at a permanent English settlement in North America. It was originally called the Province of Carolina, until it was split into the Provinces of North Carolina and South Carolina in 1712. The colony was a major site of tobacco cultivation.
South Carolina
After being split from the Province of Carolina in 1712, South Carolina became one of the wealthiest colonies in North America, due in part to its large cotton plantations and rice cultivation, so South Carolinian colonists were especially offended by the taxes Great Britain imposed on them. A significant amount of fighting during the Revolutionary War occurred within South Carolina, totaling over 130 battles.
Georgia
After gaining control of the area from the Spanish in the 1720s, the English established Georgia as a new colony in 1732. It was the last of the 13 original colonies to be established. Its first leader was British General James Oglethorpe, who hoped to create a haven for English people who had been imprisoned for debt. The cities of Savannah and Augusta especially saw heavy fighting during the Revolutionary War.

How Did the Colonies Gain Their Independence?

The 13 original colonies' first major act of independence was forming the Stamp Act Congress in 1765. At this meeting, colonial leaders rejected the tax because they had no representatives in British Parliament (creating the phrase "no taxation without representation). Tensions between Great Britain and the colonies steadily increased, fueled by incidents such as the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773. The British hit back by passing a series of punitive laws and restricting self-government in the colonies.

In late 1774, a group of Patriot leaders at the Continental Congress meeting set up their own government to resist Great Britain, and, on April 19, 1775, the first battles of the Revolutionary War were fought at Lexington and Concord. During the war, each of the 13 colonies formed a Provincial Congress to lead them, now that they no longer accepted the laws of Great Britain.

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies declared themselves free and independent states at the Second Continental Congress by signing the Declaration of Independence. The Revolutionary War ended at Yorktown in October 1781, when Americans captured the British army there. On September 3, 1783, representatives from Great Britain and American signed the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the conflict and established America's complete separation from Great Britain.

Summary: Thirteen Colonies

The 13 colonies were the group of colonies that rebelled against Great Britain, fought in the Revolutionary War, and founded the United States of America. Here's the 13 colonies list:

Connecticut

Delaware

Georgia

Maryland

Massachusetts Bay

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Virginia

What's Next?

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The 13 Original Colonies: A Complete History

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You've likely heard of the 13 original colonies, but how much do you know about them? When were they created, why were they created, how did they gain their independence, and which states did they become?

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The American Revolution is also called United States War of Independence or the American Revolutionary War. (1775-1783) The North American colonies won political independence from Great Britain to form the United States of America.

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also called:

United States War of Independence or American Revolutionary War

What was the American Revolution?

How did the American Revolution begin?

What were the major causes of the American Revolution?

Which countries fought on the side of the colonies during the American Revolution?

How was the American Revolution a civil war?

American Revolution, (1775-83), insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain's North American colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and a large and influential segment of its North American colonies that was caused by British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after having long adhered to a policy of salutary neglect. Until early in 1778 the conflict was a civil war within the British Empire, but afterward it became an international war as France (in 1778) and Spain (in 1779) joined the colonies against Britain. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, which provided both official recognition of the United States and financial support for it, was engaged in its own war against Britain. From the beginning, sea power was vital in determining the course of the war, lending to British strategy a flexibility that helped compensate for the comparatively small numbers of troops sent to America and ultimately enabling the French to help bring about the final British surrender at Yorktown.

Land campaigns to 1778

Americans fought the war on land with essentially two types of organization: the Continental (national) Army and the state militias. The total number of the former provided by quotas from the states throughout the conflict was 231,771 men, and the militias totaled 164,087. At any given time, however, the American forces seldom numbered over 20,000; in 1781 there were only about 29,000 insurgents under arms throughout the country. The war was therefore one fought by small field armies. Militias, poorly disciplined and with elected officers, were summoned for periods usually not exceeding three months. The terms of Continental Army service were only gradually increased from one to three years, and not even bounties and the offer of land kept the army up to strength. Reasons for the difficulty in maintaining an adequate Continental force included the colonists' traditional antipathy toward regular armies, the objections of farmers to being away from their fields, the competition of the states with the Continental Congress to keep men in the militia, and the wretched and uncertain pay in a period of inflation.

By contrast, the British army was a reliable steady force of professionals. Since it numbered only about 42,000, heavy recruiting programs were introduced. Many of the enlisted men were farm boys, as were most of the Americans. Others were unemployed persons from the urban slums. Still others joined the army to escape fines or imprisonment. The great majority became efficient soldiers as a result of sound training and ferocious discipline. The officers were drawn largely from the gentry and the aristocracy and obtained their commissions and promotions by purchase. Though they received no formal training, they were not so dependent on a book knowledge of military tactics as were many of the Americans. British generals, however, tended toward a lack of imagination and initiative, while those who demonstrated such qualities often were rash.

Because troops were few and conscription unknown, the British government, following a traditional policy, purchased about 30,000 troops from various German princes. The Lensgreve (landgrave) of Hesse furnished approximately three-fifths of that total. Few acts by the crown roused so much antagonism in America as that use of foreign mercenaries.

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American Revolution | Causes, Battles, Aftermath, & Facts

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American Revolution (1775-83), insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain's North American colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and many North American colonists.

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The Declaration of Independence was written one year into the American Revolutionary War. The main author was Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence was the document written to explain the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain to for the United States of America.

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Declaration of Independence for Kids | American History Explained

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The United States bought 828,000 square miles of territory from France in 1803. This purchase doubled the size of the U.S. The Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. 15 more states were created.

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Table of Contents

1. France in the New World

2. Louisiana Territory Changes Hands

3. Louisiana Purchase Negotiations

4. Legacy of the Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. What was known at the time as the Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

France in the New World

Beginning in the 17th century, France explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in the region.

By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the present-day United States than any other European power: from New Orleans northeast to the Great Lakes and northwest to modern-day Montana.

In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana during the next three decades.

Louisiana Territory Changes Hands

In 1796, Spain allied itself with France, leading Britain to use its powerful navy to cut off Spain from America. And in 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return the Louisiana Territory to France.

Reports of the retrocession caused considerable unease in the United States. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been moving westward into the Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans.

U.S. officials feared that France, resurgent under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, would soon seek to dominate the Mississippi River and access to the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to U.S. minister to France Robert Livingston, President Thomas Jefferson stated, "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans...we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation."

Livingston was ordered to negotiate with French Finance Minister Barbé-Marbois for the purchase of New Orleans.

Louisiana Purchase Negotiations

France was slow in taking control of Louisiana, but in 1802 Spanish authorities, apparently acting under French orders, revoked a U.S.-Spanish treaty that granted Americans the right to store goods in New Orleans.

In response, Jefferson sent future U.S. president James Monroe to Paris to aid Livingston in the New Orleans purchase talks. In mid-April 1803, shortly before Monroe's arrival, the French asked a surprised Livingston if the United States was interested in purchasing all of Louisiana Territory.

It's believed that the failure of France to put down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable British naval blockade of France - combined with French economic difficulties - may have prompted Napoleon to offer Louisiana for sale to the United States.

Negotiations moved swiftly, and at the end of April the U.S. envoys agreed to pay $11,250,000 and assume claims of American citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000. In exchange, the United States acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land.

The treaty was dated April 30 and signed on May 2. In October, the U.S. Senate ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France transferred authority over the region to the United States.

Legacy of the Louisiana Purchase

The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was among Jefferson's most notable achievements as president. American expansion westward into the new lands began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial government was established.

Jefferson soon commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to explore the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years after the Louisiana Purchase agreement was made, the first state to be carved from the territory - Louisiana - was admitted into the Union as the 18th U.S. state.
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Louisiana Purchase - Definition, Facts & Importance | HISTORY

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The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 introduced about 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France into the United States, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. Explore the facts about this important acquisition and its lasting legacy on Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

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The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 - May 9, 1865) was fought between the union states (north) and the confederate states (south). The main cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. It is the deadliest military conflict in American history.

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American Civil War

Clockwise from top:

Belligerents

United States

Confederate States

Commanders and leaders

Abraham Lincoln X
Ulysses S. Grant
and others...

Jefferson Davis
Robert E. Lee
and others...

Strength

2,200,000[b]
698,000 (peak)[3][4]

750,000-1,000,000[b]
360,000 (peak)[3][6]

Casualties and losses

110,000+ † / (DOW)

230,000+ accident/disease deaths[7][8]

25,000-30,000 died in Confederate prisons[3][7]

365,000+ total dead[9]

Total: 828,000+ casualties

94,000+ † / (DOW)[7]

26,000-31,000 died in Union prisons[8]

290,000+ total dead

Total: 864,000+ casualties

50,000 free civilians dead[10]

80,000+ slaves dead (disease)[11]

Total: 616,222[12]-1,000,000+ dead[13][14]

The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 - May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which had been formed by states that had seceded from the Union. The cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.

Decades of political controversy over slavery were brought to a head by the victory in the 1860 U.S. presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery's expansion into the western territories. Seven southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and forming the Confederacy. The Confederacy seized U.S. forts and other federal assets within their borders. Four more southern states seceded after the war began and, led by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy asserted control over about a third of the U.S. population in eleven states. Four years of intense combat, mostly in the South, ensued.

During 1861-1862 in the Western Theater, the Union made significant permanent gains-though in the Eastern Theater the conflict was inconclusive. The abolition of slavery became a Union war goal on January 1, 1863, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in rebel states to be free, which applied to more than 3.5 million of the 4 million enslaved people in the country. To the west, the Union first destroyed the Confederacy's river navy by the summer of 1862, then much of its western armies, and later seized New Orleans. The successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg. Western successes led to General Ulysses S. Grant's command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions. This led to the fall of Atlanta in 1864 to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, followed by his March to the Sea. The last significant battles raged around the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Confederates abandoned Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant following the Battle of Appomattox Court House, setting in motion the end of the war.

A wave of Confederate surrenders followed. On April 14, just five days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln was assassinated. On May 26, the last military department of the Confederacy, the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, effectively surrendered, but the conclusion of the American Civil War lacks a clear end date, and Appomattox is often symbolically referred to. Small confederate ground forces continued surrendering past the May 26 surrender date until June 23. By the end of the war, much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed, especially its railroads. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million enslaved black people were freed. The war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in an attempt to rebuild the country, bring the former Confederate states back into the United States, and grant civil rights to freed slaves.

The Civil War is one of the most extensively studied and written about episodes in U.S. history. It remains the subject of cultural and historiographical debate. Of particular interest is the persisting myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The American Civil War was among the first wars to use industrial warfare. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, the ironclad warship, and mass-produced weapons were all widely used during the war. In total, the war left between 620,000 and 750,000 soldiers dead, along with an undetermined number of civilian casualties, making the Civil War the deadliest military conflict in American history. The technology and brutality of the Civil War foreshadowed the coming World Wars.

Causes of secession

Status of the states, 1861

Slave states that seceded before April 15, 1861

Slave states that seceded after April 15, 1861

Border Southern states that permitted slavery but did not secede (both KY and MO had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments)

Union states that banned slavery

The reasons for the Southern states' decisions to secede have been historically controversial, but most scholars today identify preserving slavery as the central reason, in large part because the seceding states' secession documents say that it was. Although some historical revisionists have offered additional reasons for the war, slavery was the central source of escalating political tensions in the 1850s. The Republican Party was determined to prevent any spread of slavery to the territories, which, after they were admitted as free states, would give the free states greater representation in Congress and the Electoral College. Many Southern leaders had threatened secession if the Republican candidate, Lincoln, won the 1860 election. After Lincoln won, many Southern leaders felt that disunion was their only option, fearing that the loss of representation would hamper their ability to enact pro-slavery laws and policies. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln said that:

slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.

Disagreements among states about the future of slavery were the main cause of disunion and the war that followed. Slavery had been controversial during the framing of the Constitution, which, because of compromises, ended up with proslavery and antislavery features. The issue of slavery had confounded the nation since its inception and increasingly separated the United States into a slaveholding South and a free North. The issue was exacerbated by the rapid territorial expansion of the country, which repeatedly brought to the fore the question of whether new territory should be slaveholding or free. The issue had dominated politics for decades leading up to the war. Key attempts to resolve the matter included the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, but these only postponed the showdown over slavery that would lead to the Civil War.

The motivations of the average person were not necessarily those of their faction; some Northern soldiers were indifferent on the subject of slavery, but a general pattern can be established. As the war dragged on, more and more Unionists came to support the abolition of slavery, whether on moral grounds or as a means to cripple the Confederacy. Confederate soldiers fought the war primarily to protect a Southern society of which slavery was an integral part. Opponents of slavery considered slavery an anachronistic evil incompatible with republicanism. The strategy of the anti-slavery forces was containment-to stop the expansion of slavery and thereby put it on a path to ultimate extinction. The slaveholding interests in the South denounced this strategy as infringing upon their constitutional rights. Southern whites believed that the emancipation of slaves would destroy the South's economy, because of the large amount of capital invested in slaves and fears of integrating the ex-slave black population. In particular, many Southerners feared a repeat of the 1804 Haiti massacre (referred to at the time as "the horrors of Santo Domingo"), in which former slaves systematically murdered most of what was left of the country's white population-including men, women, children, and even many sympathetic to abolition-after the successful slave revolt in Haiti. Historian Thomas Fleming points to the historical phrase "a disease in the public mind" used by critics of this idea and proposes it contributed to the segregation in the Jim Crow era following emancipation. These fears were exacerbated by the 1859 attempt of John Brown to instigate an armed slave rebellion in the South.

Abolitionists

Uncle Tom's Cabin, authored by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852, helped enlighten the public to slavery's evil and contributed to increased American opposition to it. According to an apocryphal story, when Lincoln was introduced to Stowe at the White House, his first words were, "So this is the little lady who started this Great War."[37][38]

The abolitionists-those advocating the end of slavery-were active in the decades leading up to the Civil War. They traced their philosophical roots back to Puritans, who believed that slavery was morally wrong. One of the early Puritan writings on this subject was The Selling of Joseph, by Samuel Sewall in 1700. In it, Sewall condemned slavery and the slave trade and refuted many of the era's typical justifications for slavery.

The American Revolution and the cause of liberty added tremendous impetus to the abolitionist cause. Even in Southern states, laws were changed to limit slavery and facilitate manumission. The amount of indentured servitude dropped dramatically throughout the country. An Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves sailed through Congress with little opposition. President Thomas Jefferson supported it, and it went into effect on January 1, 1808, which was the first day that the Constitution (Article I, section 9, clause 1) permitted Congress to prohibit the importation of slaves. Benjamin Franklin and James Madison each helped found manumission societies. Influenced by the American Revolution, many slave owners freed their slaves, but some, such as George Washington, did so only in their wills. The number of free black people as a proportion of the black population in the upper South increased from less than one percent to nearly 10 percent between 1790 and 1810 as a result of these actions.

The establishment of the Northwest Territory as "free soil"-no slavery-by Manasseh Cutler and Rufus Putnam (who both came from Puritan New England) would also prove crucial. This territory (which became the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota) doubled the size of the United States.

In the decades leading up to the Civil War, abolitionists, such as Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Frederick Douglass, repeatedly used the Puritan heritage of the country to bolster their cause. The most radical anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator, invoked the Puritans and Puritan values over a thousand times. Parker, in urging New England congressmen to support the abolition of slavery, wrote, "The son of the Puritan ... is sent to Congress to stand up for Truth and Right." Literature served as a means to spread the message to common folks. Key works included Twelve Years a Slave, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, American Slavery as It Is, and the most important: Uncle Tom's Cabin, the best-selling book of the 19th century aside from the Bible.

A more unusual abolitionist than those named above was Hinton Rowan Helper, whose 1857 book, The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It, "[e]ven more perhaps than Uncle Tom's Cabin ... fed the fires of sectional controversy leading up to the Civil War." A Southerner and a virulent racist, Helper was nevertheless an abolitionist because he believed, and showed with statistics, that slavery "impeded the progress and prosperity of the South, ... dwindled our commerce, and other similar pursuits, into the most contemptible insignificance; sunk a large majority of our people in galling poverty and ignorance, ... [and] entailed upon us a humiliating dependence on the Free States...."

By 1840 more than 15,000 people were members of abolitionist societies in the United States. Abolitionism in the United States became a popular expression of moralism, and led directly to the Civil War. In churches, conventions and newspapers, reformers promoted an absolute and immediate rejection of slavery. Support for abolition among the religious was not universal though. As the war approached, even the main denominations split along political lines, forming rival Southern and Northern churches. For example, in 1845 the Baptists split into the Northern Baptists and Southern Baptists over the issue of slavery.

Abolitionist sentiment was not strictly religious or moral in origin. The Whig Party became increasingly opposed to slavery because it saw it as inherently against the ideals of capitalism and the free market. Whig leader William H. Seward (who would serve as Lincoln's secretary of state) proclaimed that there was an "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and free labor, and that slavery had left the South backward and undeveloped. As the Whig party dissolved in the 1850s, the mantle of abolition fell to its newly formed successor, the Republican Party.

Territorial crisis

The Mexican-American War and its aftermath was a key territorial event in the leadup to the war. As the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo finalized the conquest of northern Mexico west to California in 1848, slaveholding interests looked forward to expanding into these lands and perhaps Cuba and Central America as well. Prophetically, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that "Mexico will poison us", referring to the ensuing divisions around whether the newly conquered lands would end up slave or free. Northern free-soil interests vigorously sought to curtail any further expansion of slave territory. The Compromise of 1850 over California balanced a free-soil state with a stronger federal fugitive slave law for a political settlement after four years of strife in the 1840s. But the states admitted following California were all free: Minnesota (1858), Oregon (1859), and Kansas (1861). In the Southern states, the question of the territorial expansion of slavery westward again became explosive. Both the South and the North drew the same conclusion: "The power to decide the question of slavery for the territories was the power to determine the future of slavery itself." Soon after the Utah Territory legalized slavery in 1852, the Utah War of 1857 saw Mormon settlers in the Utah territory fighting the US government.

By 1860, four doctrines had emerged to answer the question of federal control in the territories, and they all claimed they were sanctioned by the Constitution, implicitly or explicitly. The first of these theories, represented by the Constitutional Union Party, argued that the Missouri Compromise apportionment of territory north for free soil and south for slavery should become a constitutional mandate. The failed Crittenden Compromise of 1860 was an expression of this view.

The second doctrine of congressional preeminence was championed by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. It insisted that the Constitution did not bind legislators to a policy of balance-that slavery could be excluded in a territory, as it was in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, at the discretion of Congress. Thus Congress could restrict human bondage, but never establish it. The ill-fated Wilmot Proviso announced this position in 1846. The Proviso was a pivotal moment in national politics, as it was the first time slavery had become a major congressional issue based on sectionalism, instead of party lines. Its support by Northern Democrats and Whigs, and opposition by Southerners, was a dark omen of coming divisions.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas proclaimed the third doctrine: territorial or "popular" sovereignty, which asserted that the settlers in a territory had the same rights as states in the Union to allow or disallow slavery as a purely local matter. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 legislated this doctrine. In the Kansas Territory, political conflict spawned " Bleeding Kansas", a five-year paramilitary conflict between pro- and anti-slavery supporters. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas as a free state in early 1860, but its admission did not pass the Senate until January 1861, after the departure of Southern senators.

The fourth doctrine was advocated by Mississippi Senator (and soon to be Confederate President) Jefferson Davis. It was one of state sovereignty ("states' rights"), also known as the "Calhoun doctrine", named after the South Carolinian political theorist and statesman John C. Calhoun. Rejecting the arguments for federal authority or self-government, state sovereignty would empower states to promote the expansion of slavery as part of the federal union under the U.S. Constitution. These four doctrines comprised the dominant ideologies presented to the American public on the matters of slavery, the territories, and the U.S. Constitution before the 1860 presidential election.

States' rights

A long-running dispute over the origin of the Civil War is to what extent states' rights triggered the conflict. The consensus among historians is that the Civil War was not fought about states' rights. But the issue is frequently referenced in popular accounts of the war and has much traction among Southerners. Southerners advocating secession argued that just as each state had decided to join the Union, a state had the right to secede-leave the Union-at any time. Northerners (including pro-slavery President Buchanan) rejected that notion as opposed to the will of the Founding Fathers, who said they were setting up a perpetual union.

Historian James McPherson points out that even if Confederates genuinely fought over states' rights, it boiled down to states' right to slavery. McPherson writes concerning states' rights and other non-slavery explanations:

While one or more of these interpretations remain popular among the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other Southern heritage groups, few professional historians now subscribe to them. Of all these interpretations, the states'-rights argument is perhaps the weakest. It fails to ask the question, states' rights for what purpose? States' rights, or sovereignty, was always more a means than an end, an instrument to achieve a certain goal more than a principle.

States' rights was an ideology formulated and applied as a means of advancing slave state interests through federal authority. As historian Thomas L. Krannawitter points out, the "Southern demand for federal slave protection represented a demand for an unprecedented expansion of Federal power." Before the Civil War, the Southern states supported the use of federal powers to enforce and extend slavery, as with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. The faction that pushed for secession often infringed on states' rights. Because of the overrepresentation of pro-slavery factions in the federal government, many Northerners, even non-abolitionists, feared the Slave Power conspiracy. Some Northern states resisted the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. Historian Eric Foner states that the act "could hardly have been designed to arouse greater opposition in the North. It overrode numerous state and local laws and legal procedures and 'commanded' individual citizens to assist, when called upon, in capturing runaways." He continues, "It certainly did not reveal, on the part of slaveholders, sensitivity to states' rights." According to historian Paul Finkelman, "the southern states mostly complained that the northern states were asserting their states' rights and that the national government was not powerful enough to counter these northern claims." The Confederate Constitution also "federally" required slavery to be legal in all Confederate states and claimed territories.

Sectionalism

Sectionalism resulted from the different economies, social structure, customs, and political values of the North and South. Regional tensions came to a head during the War of 1812, resulting in the Hartford Convention, which manifested Northern dissatisfaction with a foreign trade embargo that affected the industrial North disproportionately, the Three-Fifths Compromise, dilution of Northern power by new states, and a succession of Southern presidents. Sectionalism increased steadily between 1800 and 1860 as the North, which phased slavery out of existence, industrialized, urbanized, and built prosperous farms, while the deep South concentrated on plantation agriculture based on slave labor, together with subsistence agriculture for poor whites. In the 1840s and 1850s, the issue of accepting slavery (in the guise of rejecting slave-owning bishops and missionaries) split the nation's largest religious denominations (the Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches) into separate Northern and Southern denominations.

Historians have debated whether economic differences between the mainly industrial North and the mainly agricultural South helped cause the war. Most historians now disagree with the economic determinism of historian Charles A. Beard in the 1920s, and emphasize that Northern and Southern economies were largely complementary. While socially different, the sections economically benefited each other.

Protectionism

Owners of slaves preferred low-cost manual labor with no mechanization. Northern manufacturing interests supported tariffs and protectionism while Southern planters demanded free trade. The Democrats in Congress, controlled by Southerners, wrote the tariff laws in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, and kept reducing rates so that the 1857 rates were the lowest since 1816. The Republicans called for an increase in tariffs in the 1860 election. The increases were only enacted in 1861 after Southerners resigned their seats in Congress. The tariff issue was a Northern grievance. However, neo-Confederate writers have claimed it as a Southern grievance. In 1860-61 none of the groups that proposed compromises to head off secession raised the tariff issue. Pamphleteers from the North and the South rarely mentioned the tariff.

Nationalism and honor

Perceived insults to Southern collective honor included the enormous popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin and abolitionist John Brown's attempt to incite a slave rebellion in 1859.

Lincoln's election

Mathew Brady's Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, 1860

The election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. However, Lincoln would not be inaugurated until five months after the election, which gave the South time to secede and prepare for war in the winter and spring of 1861.

According to Lincoln, the American people had shown that they had been successful in establishing and administering a republic, but a third challenge faced the nation: maintaining a republic based on the people's vote, in the face of an attempt to destroy it.

Outbreak of the war

Secession crisis

The election of Lincoln provoked the legislature of South Carolina to call a state convention to consider secession. Before the war, South Carolina did more than any other Southern state to advance the notion that a state had the right to nullify federal laws, and even to secede from the United States. The convention unanimously voted to secede on December 20, 1860, and adopted a secession declaration. It argued for states' rights for slave owners in the South, but contained a complaint about states' rights in the North in the form of opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act, claiming that Northern states were not fulfilling their federal obligations under the Constitution. The "cotton states" of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed suit, seceding in January and February 1861.

The first published imprint of secession, a broadside issued by the Charleston Mercury, December 20, 1860

Among the ordinances of secession passed by the individual states, those of three-Texas, Alabama, and Virginia-specifically mentioned the plight of the "slaveholding states" at the hands of Northern abolitionists. The rest make no mention of the slavery issue and are often brief announcements of the dissolution of ties by the legislatures. However, at least four states-South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas-also passed lengthy and detailed explanations of their reasons for secession, all of which laid the blame squarely on the movement to abolish slavery and that movement's influence over the politics of the Northern states. The Southern states believed slaveholding was a constitutional right because of the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution. These states agreed to form a new federal government, the Confederate States of America, on February 4, 1861. They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries with little resistance from outgoing President James Buchanan, whose term ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan said that the Dred Scott decision was proof that the South had no reason for secession, and that the Union "was intended to be perpetual", but that "The power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union" was not among the "enumerated powers granted to Congress". One-quarter of the U.S. Army-the entire garrison in Texas-was surrendered in February 1861 to state forces by its commanding general, David E. Twiggs, who then joined the Confederacy.

As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, Republicans were able to pass projects that had been blocked by Southern senators before the war. These included the Morrill Tariff, land grant colleges (the Morrill Act), a Homestead Act, a transcontinental railroad (the Pacific Railroad Acts), the National Bank Act, the authorization of United States Notes by the Legal Tender Act of 1862, and the ending of slavery in the District of Columbia. The Revenue Act of 1861 introduced the income tax to help finance the war.

In December 1860, the Crittenden Compromise was proposed to re-establish the Missouri Compromise line by constitutionally banning slavery in territories to the north of the line while guaranteeing it to the south. The adoption of this compromise likely would have prevented the secession of the Southern states, but Lincoln and the Republicans rejected it. Lincoln stated that any compromise that would extend slavery would in time bring down the Union. A pre-war February Peace Conference of 1861 met in Washington, proposing a solution similar to that of the Crittenden compromise; it was rejected by Congress. The Republicans proposed an alternative compromise to not interfere with slavery where it existed but the South regarded it as insufficient. Nonetheless, the remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy following a two-to-one no-vote in Virginia's First Secessionist Convention on April 4, 1861.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president. In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, that it was a binding contract, and called any secession "legally void". He had no intent to invade Southern states, nor did he intend to end slavery where it existed, but said that he would use force to maintain possession of federal property, including forts, arsenals, mints, and customhouses that had been seized by the Southern states. The government would make no move to recover post offices, and if resisted, mail delivery would end at state lines. Where popular conditions did not allow peaceful enforcement of federal law, U.S. marshals and judges would be withdrawn. No mention was made of bullion lost from U.S. mints in Louisiana, Georgia, and North Carolina. He stated that it would be U.S. policy to only collect import duties at its ports; there could be no serious injury to the South to justify the armed revolution during his administration. His speech closed with a plea for restoration of the bonds of union, famously calling on "the mystic chords of memory" binding the two regions.

Complicating Lincoln's attempts to defuse the crisis were the actions of the new Secretary of State, William Seward. Seward had been Lincoln's main rival for the Republican presidential nomination. Shocked and embittered by this defeat, Seward agreed to support Lincoln's candidacy only after he was guaranteed the executive office that was considered at that time to be the most powerful and important after the presidency itself. Even in the early stages of Lincoln's presidency Seward still held little regard for the new chief executive due to his perceived inexperience, and therefore Seward viewed himself as the head of government or " prime minister" behind the throne of Lincoln. In this role, Seward attempted to engage in unauthorized and indirect negotiations that failed. However, President Lincoln was determined to hold all remaining Union-occupied forts in the Confederacy: Fort Monroe in Virginia, Fort Pickens, Fort Jefferson and Fort Taylor in Florida, and Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Battle of Fort Sumter

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is located in the middle of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Its status had been contentious for months. Outgoing President Buchanan had dithered in reinforcing the Union garrison in the harbor, which was under command of Major Robert Anderson. Anderson took matters into his own hands and on December 26, 1860, under the cover of darkness, sailed the garrison from the poorly placed Fort Moultrie to the stalwart island Fort Sumter. Anderson's actions catapulted him to hero status in the North. An attempt to resupply the fort on January 9, 1861, failed and nearly started the war then and there. But an informal truce held. On March 5, the newly sworn in Lincoln was informed that the Fort was running low on supplies.

Fort Sumter proved to be one of the main challenges of the new Lincoln administration. Back-channel dealing by Secretary of State Seward with the Confederates undermined Lincoln's decision-making; Seward wanted to pull out of the fort. But a firm hand by Lincoln tamed Seward, and Seward became one of Lincoln's staunchest allies. Lincoln ultimately decided that holding the fort, which would require reinforcing it, was the only workable option. Thus, on April 6, Lincoln informed the Governor of South Carolina that a ship with food but no ammunition would attempt to supply the Fort. Historian McPherson describes this win-win approach as "the first sign of the mastery that would mark Lincoln's presidency"; the Union would win if it could resupply and hold onto the Fort, and the South would be the aggressor if it opened fire on an unarmed ship supplying starving men. An April 9 Confederate cabinet meeting resulted in President Davis's ordering General P. G. T. Beauregard to take the Fort before supplies could reach it.

At 4:30 am on April 12, Confederate forces fired the first of 4,000 shells at the Fort; it fell the next day. The loss of Fort Sumter lit a patriotic fire under the North. On April 15, Lincoln called on the states to field 75,000 volunteer troops for 90 days; impassioned Union states met the quotas quickly. On May 3, 1861, Lincoln called for an additional 42,000 volunteers for a period of three years. Shortly after this, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina seceded and joined the Confederacy. To reward Virginia, the Confederate capital was moved to Richmond.

Attitude of the border states

US Secession map. The Union vs. the Confederacy.

Union territories not permitting slavery

(One of these states, West Virginia, was created in 1863, while KY and MO had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments)

Union territories that permitted slavery (claimed by Confederacy) at the start of the war, but where slavery was outlawed by the U.S. in 1862

Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky were slave states whose people had divided loyalties to Northern and Southern businesses and family members. Some men enlisted in the Union Army and others in the Confederate Army. West Virginia separated from Virginia and was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863.

Maryland's territory surrounded the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and could cut it off from the North. It had numerous anti-Lincoln officials who tolerated anti-army rioting in Baltimore and the burning of bridges, both aimed at hindering the passage of troops to the South. Maryland's legislature voted overwhelmingly (53-13) to stay in the Union, but also rejected hostilities with its southern neighbors, voting to close Maryland's rail lines to prevent them from being used for war. Lincoln responded by establishing martial law and unilaterally suspending habeas corpus in Maryland, along with sending in militia units from the North. Lincoln rapidly took control of Maryland and the District of Columbia by seizing many prominent figures, including arresting 1/3 of the members of the Maryland General Assembly on the day it reconvened. All were held without trial, with Lincoln ignoring a ruling on June 1, 1861, by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, not speaking for the Court, that only Congress (and not the president) could suspend habeas corpus (Ex parte Merryman). Federal troops imprisoned a prominent Baltimore newspaper editor, Frank Key Howard, Francis Scott Key's grandson, after he criticized Lincoln in an editorial for ignoring Taney's ruling.

In Missouri, an elected convention on secession voted decisively to remain within the Union. When pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne F. Jackson called out the state militia, it was attacked by federal forces under General Nathaniel Lyon, who chased the governor and the rest of the State Guard to the southwestern corner of the state ( see also: Missouri secession). Early in the war the Confederacy controlled the southern portion of Missouri through the Confederate government of Missouri but was largely driven out of the state after 1862. In the resulting vacuum, the convention on secession reconvened and took power as the Unionist provisional government of Missouri.

After Virginia's secession, a Unionist government in Wheeling asked 48 counties to vote on an ordinance to create a new state on October 24, 1861. A voter turnout of 34 percent approved the statehood bill (96 percent approving). Twenty-four secessionist counties were included in the new state, and the ensuing guerrilla war engaged about 40,000 federal troops for much of the war. Congress admitted West Virginia to the Union on June 20, 1863. West Virginia provided about 20,000-22,000 soldiers to both the Confederacy and the Union.

The Civil War was a contest marked by the ferocity and frequency of battle. Over four years, 237 named battles were fought, as were many more minor actions and skirmishes, which were often characterized by their bitter intensity and high casualties. In his book The American Civil War, British historian John Keegan writes that "The American Civil War was to prove one of the most ferocious wars ever fought". In many cases, without geographic objectives, the only target for each side was the enemy's soldier.

Mobilization

As the first seven states began organizing a Confederacy in Montgomery, the entire U.S. army numbered 16,000. However, Northern governors had begun to mobilize their militias. The Confederate Congress authorized the new nation up to 100,000 troops sent by governors as early as February. By May, Jefferson Davis was pushing for 100,000 soldiers for one year or the duration, and that was answered in kind by the U.S. Congress.

When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in January 1863, ex-slaves were energetically recruited by the states and used to meet the state quotas. States and local communities offered higher and higher cash bonuses for white volunteers. Congress tightened the law in March 1863. Men selected in the draft could provide substitutes or, until mid-1864, pay commutation money. Many eligibles pooled their money to cover the cost of anyone drafted. Families used the substitute provision to select which man should go into the army and which should stay home. There was much evasion and overt resistance to the draft, especially in Catholic areas. The draft riot in New York City in July 1863 involved Irish immigrants who had been signed up as citizens to swell the vote of the city's Democratic political machine, not realizing it made them liable for the draft. Of the 168,649 men procured for the Union through the draft, 117,986 were substitutes, leaving only 50,663 who had their services conscripted.

In both the North and South, the draft laws were highly unpopular. In the North, some 120,000 men evaded conscription, many of them fleeing to Canada, and another 280,000 soldiers deserted during the war. At least 100,000 Southerners deserted, or about 10 percent; Southern desertion was high because, according to one historian writing in 1991, the highly localized Southern identity meant that many Southern men had little investment in the outcome of the war, with individual soldiers caring more about the fate of their local area than any grand ideal. In the North, " bounty jumpers" enlisted to get the generous bonus, deserted, then went back to a second recruiting station under a different name to sign up again for a second bonus; 141 were caught and executed.

Historian Elizabeth D. Leonard writes that, according to various estimates, between five hundred and one thousand women enlisted as soldiers on both sides of the war, disguised as men.: 165, 310-11  Women also served as spies, resistance activists, nurses, and hospital personnel. Women served on the Union hospital ship Red Rover and nursed Union and Confederate troops at field hospitals.

Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor, served in the Union Army and was given the medal for her efforts to treat the wounded during the war. Her name was deleted from the Army Medal of Honor Roll in 1917 (along with over 900 other Medal of Honor recipients); however, it was restored in 1977.

Clashes on the rivers were melees of ironclads, cottonclads, gunboats and rams, complicated by naval mines and fire rafts.

Battle between the USS Monitor and Merrimack

The small U.S. Navy of 1861 was rapidly enlarged to 6,000 officers and 45,000 sailors in 1865, with 671 vessels, having a tonnage of 510,396. Its mission was to blockade Confederate ports, take control of the river system, defend against Confederate raiders on the high seas, and be ready for a possible war with the British Royal Navy. Meanwhile, the main riverine war was fought in the West, where a series of major rivers gave access to the Confederate heartland. The U.S. Navy eventually gained control of the Red, Tennessee, Cumberland, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. In the East, the Navy shelled Confederate forts and provided support for coastal army operations.

The Confederacy experimented with the submarine CSS Hunley, which did not work satisfactorily, and with building an ironclad ship, CSS Virginia, which was based on rebuilding a sunken Union ship, Merrimack. On its first foray, on March 8, 1862, Virginia inflicted significant damage to the Union's wooden fleet, but the next day the first Union ironclad, USS Monitor, arrived to challenge it in the Chesapeake Bay. The resulting three-hour Battle of Hampton Roads was a draw, but it proved that ironclads were effective warships. Not long after the battle, the Confederacy was forced to scuttle the Virginia to prevent its capture, while the Union built many copies of the Monitor. Lacking the technology and infrastructure to build effective warships, the Confederacy attempted to obtain warships from Great Britain. However, this failed, because Great Britain had no interest in selling warships to a nation that was at war with a stronger enemy, and doing so could sour relations with the U.S.

Union blockade

By early 1861, General Winfield Scott had devised the Anaconda Plan to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible, which called for blockading the Confederacy and slowly suffocating the South to surrender. Lincoln adopted parts of the plan, but chose to prosecute a more active vision of war. In April 1861, Lincoln announced the Union blockade of all Southern ports; commercial ships could not get insurance and regular traffic ended. The South blundered in embargoing cotton exports in 1861 before the blockade was effective; by the time they realized the mistake, it was too late. " King Cotton" was dead, as the South could export less than 10 percent of its cotton. The blockade shut down the ten Confederate seaports with railheads that moved almost all the cotton, especially New Orleans, Mobile, and Charleston. By June 1861, warships were stationed off the principal Southern ports, and a year later nearly 300 ships were in service.

Blockade runners

The Confederates began the war short on military supplies and in desperate need of large quantities of arms which the agrarian South could not provide. Arms manufactures in the industrial North were restricted by an arms embargo, keeping shipments of arms from going to the South, and ending all existing and future contracts. The Confederacy subsequently looked to foreign sources for their enormous military needs and sought out financiers and companies like S. Isaac, Campbell & Company and the London Armoury Company in Britain, who acted as purchasing agents for the Confederacy, connecting them with Britain's many arms manufactures, and ultimately becoming the Confederacy's main source of arms.

Economic impact

To fight an offensive war, the Confederacy purchased arms in Britain and converted British-built ships into commerce raiders. Purchasing arms involved the smuggling of 600,000 arms (mostly British Enfield rifles) that enabled the Confederate Army to fight on for two more years and the commerce raiders were used in raiding U.S. Merchant Marine ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Insurance rates skyrocketed and the American flag virtually disappeared from international waters. However, the same ships were reflagged with European flags and continued unmolested. After the war ended, the U.S. government demanded that Britain compensate it for the damage done by blockade runners and raiders outfitted in British ports. Britain partly acquiesced to the demand, paying the U.S. $15 million in 1871 only for commerce raiding.

Although the Confederacy hoped that Britain and France would join them against the Union, this was never likely, and so they instead tried to bring the British and French governments in as mediators. The Union, under Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward, worked to block this and threatened war if any country officially recognized the existence of the Confederate States of America. In 1861, Southerners voluntarily embargoed cotton shipments, hoping to start an economic depression in Europe that would force Britain to enter the war to get cotton, but this did not work. Worse, Europe turned to Egypt and India for cotton, which they found superior, hindering the South's recovery after the war.

Lincoln's administration initially failed to appeal to European public opinion. At first, diplomats explained that the United States was not committed to the ending of slavery, and instead repeated legalistic arguments about the unconstitutionality of secession. Confederate representatives, on the other hand, started off much more successful, by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for liberty, their commitment to free trade, and the essential role of cotton in the European economy. The European aristocracy was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed. European government leaders welcomed the fragmentation of the ascendant American Republic." However, there was still a European public with liberal sensibilities, that the U.S. sought to appeal to by building connections with the international press. As early as 1861, many Union diplomats such as Carl Schurz realized emphasizing the war against slavery was the Union's most effective moral asset in the struggle for public opinion in Europe. Seward was concerned that an overly radical case for reunification would distress the European merchants with cotton interests; even so, Seward supported a widespread campaign of public diplomacy.

U.S. minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams proved particularly adept and convinced Britain not to openly challenge the Union blockade. The Confederacy purchased several warships from commercial shipbuilders in Britain ( CSS Alabama, CSS Shenandoah, CSS Tennessee, CSS Tallahassee, CSS Florida, and some others). The most famous, the CSS Alabama, did considerable damage and led to serious postwar disputes. However, public opinion against slavery in Britain created a political liability for British politicians, where the anti-slavery movement was powerful.

A December 1861 cartoon in Punch magazine in London ridicules American aggressiveness in the Trent Affair. John Bull, at right, warns Uncle Sam, "You do what's right, my son, or I'll blow you out of the water."

War loomed in late 1861 between the U.S. and Britain over the Trent affair, which began when U.S. Navy personnel boarded the British ship Trent and seized two Confederate diplomats. However, London and Washington were able to smooth over the problem after Lincoln released the two men. Prince Albert had left his deathbed to issue diplomatic instructions to Lord Lyons during the Trent affair. His request was honored, and, as a result, the British response to the United States was toned down and helped avert the British becoming involved in the war. In 1862, the British government considered mediating between the Union and Confederacy, though even such an offer would have risked war with the United States. British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston reportedly read Uncle Tom's Cabin three times when deciding on what his decision would be.

The Union victory in the Battle of Antietam caused the British to delay this decision. The Emancipation Proclamation over time would reinforce the political liability of supporting the Confederacy. Realizing that Washington could not intervene in Mexico as long as the Confederacy controlled Texas, France invaded Mexico in 1861. Washington repeatedly protested France's violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Despite sympathy for the Confederacy, France's seizure of Mexico ultimately deterred it from war with the Union. Confederate offers late in the war to end slavery in return for diplomatic recognition were not seriously considered by London or Paris. After 1863, the Polish revolt against Russia further distracted the European powers and ensured that they would remain neutral.

Russia supported the Union, largely because it believed that the U.S. served as a counterbalance to its geopolitical rival, the United Kingdom. In 1863, the Russian Navy's Baltic and Pacific fleets wintered in the American ports of New York and San Francisco, respectively.

Eastern theater

The Eastern theater refers to the military operations east of the Appalachian Mountains, including the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the coastal fortifications and seaports of North Carolina.

Background

Army of the Potomac

1. McClellan would lead the main thrust in Virginia towards Richmond.

2. Ohio forces would advance through Kentucky into Tennessee.

3. The Missouri Department would drive south along the Mississippi River.

4. The westernmost attack would originate from Kansas.

Army of Northern Virginia

The primary Confederate force in the Eastern theater was the Army of Northern Virginia. The Army originated as the (Confederate) Army of the Potomac, which was organized on June 20, 1861, from all operational forces in Northern Virginia. On July 20 and 21, the Army of the Shenandoah and forces from the District of Harpers Ferry were added. Units from the Army of the Northwest were merged into the Army of the Potomac between March 14 and May 17, 1862. The Army of the Potomac was renamed Army of Northern Virginia on March 14. The Army of the Peninsula was merged into it on April 12, 1862.

When Virginia declared its secession in April 1861, Robert E. Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his desire for the country to remain intact and an offer of a senior Union command.

Lee's biographer, Douglas S. Freeman, asserts that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1, 1862. However, Freeman does admit that Lee corresponded with Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston, his predecessor in army command, before that date and referred to Johnston's command as the Army of Northern Virginia. Part of the confusion results from the fact that Johnston commanded the Department of Northern Virginia (as of October 22, 1861) and the name Army of Northern Virginia can be seen as an informal consequence of its parent department's name. Jefferson Davis and Johnston did not adopt the name, but it is clear that the organization of units as of March 14 was the same organization that Lee received on June 1, and thus it is generally referred to today as the Army of Northern Virginia, even if that is correct only in retrospect.

On July 4 at Harper's Ferry, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson assigned Jeb Stuart to command all the cavalry companies of the Army of the Shenandoah. He eventually commanded the Army of Northern Virginia's cavalry.

George B. McClellan, a Union Army general and, later, governor of New Jersey

In one of the first highly visible battles, in July 1861, a march by Union troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell on the Confederate forces led by Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard near Washington was repulsed at the First Battle of Bull Run (also known as First Manassas).

The Union had the upper hand at first, nearly pushing confederate forces holding a defensive position into a rout, but Confederate reinforcements under Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad, and the course of the battle quickly changed. A brigade of Virginians under the relatively unknown brigadier general from the Virginia Military Institute, Thomas J. Jackson, stood its ground, which resulted in Jackson receiving his famous nickname, "Stonewall".

Upon the strong urging of President Lincoln to begin offensive operations, McClellan attacked Virginia in the spring of 1862 by way of the peninsula between the York River and James River, southeast of Richmond. McClellan's army reached the gates of Richmond in the Peninsula Campaign.

Also in the spring of 1862, in the Shenandoah Valley, Stonewall Jackson led his Valley Campaign. Employing audacity and rapid, unpredictable movements on interior lines, Jackson's 17,000 troops marched 646 miles (1,040 km) in 48 days and won several minor battles as they successfully engaged three Union armies (52,000 men), including those of Nathaniel P. Banks and John C. Fremont, preventing them from reinforcing the Union offensive against Richmond. The swiftness of Jackson's men earned them the nickname of " foot cavalry".

The Northern Virginia Campaign, which included the Second Battle of Bull Run, ended in yet another victory for the South. McClellan resisted General-in-Chief Halleck's orders to send reinforcements to John Pope's Union Army of Virginia, which made it easier for Lee's Confederates to defeat twice the number of combined enemy troops.

Emboldened by Second Bull Run, the Confederacy made its first invasion of the North with the Maryland Campaign. General Lee led 45,000 troops of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River into Maryland on September 5. Lincoln then restored Pope's troops to McClellan. McClellan and Lee fought at the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest single day in United States military history. Lee's army, checked at last, returned to Virginia before McClellan could destroy it. Antietam is considered a Union victory because it halted Lee's invasion of the North and provided an opportunity for Lincoln to announce his Emancipation Proclamation.

When the cautious McClellan failed to follow up on Antietam, he was replaced by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. Burnside was soon defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, when more than 12,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded during repeated futile frontal assaults against Marye's Heights. After the battle, Burnside was replaced by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

Hooker, too, proved unable to defeat Lee's army; despite outnumbering the Confederates by more than two to one, his Chancellorsville Campaign proved ineffective, and he was humiliated in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory. Gen. Stonewall Jackson was shot in the left arm and right hand by accidental friendly fire during the battle. The arm was amputated, but he died shortly thereafter of pneumonia. Lee famously said: "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm."

Gen. Hooker was replaced by Maj. Gen. George Meade during Lee's second invasion of the North, in June. Meade defeated Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 to 3, 1863). This was the bloodiest battle of the war and has been called the war's turning point. Pickett's Charge on July 3 is often considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy because it signaled the collapse of serious Confederate threats of victory. Lee's army suffered 28,000 casualties (versus Meade's 23,000).

Western theater

The Western theater refers to military operations between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, including the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as parts of Louisiana.

Background

Army of the Tennessee and Army of the Cumberland

The primary Union forces in the Western theater were the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Cumberland, named for the two rivers, the Tennessee River and Cumberland River. After Meade's inconclusive fall campaign, Lincoln turned to the Western Theater for new leadership. At the same time, the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg surrendered, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River, permanently isolating the western Confederacy, and producing the new leader Lincoln needed, Ulysses S. Grant.

The Union's key strategist and tactician in the West was Ulysses S. Grant, who won victories at Forts Henry (February 6, 1862) and Donelson (February 11 to 16, 1862), earning him the nickname of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, by which the Union seized control of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Nathan Bedford Forrest rallied nearly 4,000 Confederate troops and led them to escape across the Cumberland. Nashville and central Tennessee thus fell to the Union, leading to attrition of local food supplies and livestock and a breakdown in social organization.

In April 1862, the Union Navy captured New Orleans. "The key to the river was New Orleans, the South's largest port [and] greatest industrial center." U.S. Naval forces under Farragut ran past Confederate defenses south of New Orleans. Confederate forces abandoned the city, giving the Union a critical anchor in the deep South. which allowed Union forces to begin moving up the Mississippi. Memphis fell to Union forces on June 6, 1862, and became a key base for further advances south along the Mississippi River. Only the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, prevented Union control of the entire river.

Bragg's second invasion of Kentucky in the Confederate Heartland Offensive included initial successes such as Kirby Smith's triumph at the Battle of Richmond and the capture of the Kentucky capital of Frankfort on September 3, 1862. However, the campaign ended with a meaningless victory over Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell at the Battle of Perryville. Bragg was forced to end his attempt at invading Kentucky and retreat due to lack of logistical support and lack of infantry recruits for the Confederacy in that state.

The one clear Confederate victory in the West was the Battle of Chickamauga. After Rosecrans' successful Tullahoma Campaign, Bragg, reinforced by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps (from Lee's army in the east), defeated Rosecrans, despite the heroic defensive stand of Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas.

Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, which Bragg then besieged in the Chattanooga Campaign. Grant marched to the relief of Rosecrans and defeated Bragg at the Third Battle of Chattanooga, eventually causing Longstreet to abandon his Knoxville Campaign and driving Confederate forces out of Tennessee and opening a route to Atlanta and the heart of the Confederacy.

Trans-Mississippi theater

Background

Nathaniel Lyon secured St. Louis docks and arsenal, led Union forces to expel Missouri Confederate forces and government.

The first battle of the Trans-Mississippi theater was the Battle of Wilson's Creek (August 1861). The Confederates were driven from Missouri early in the war as a result of the Battle of Pea Ridge.

Extensive guerrilla warfare characterized the trans-Mississippi region, as the Confederacy lacked the troops and the logistics to support regular armies that could challenge Union control. Roving Confederate bands such as Quantrill's Raiders terrorized the countryside, striking both military installations and civilian settlements. The "Sons of Liberty" and "Order of the American Knights" attacked pro-Union people, elected officeholders, and unarmed uniformed soldiers. These partisans could not be entirely driven out of the state of Missouri until an entire regular Union infantry division was engaged. By 1864, these violent activities harmed the nationwide anti-war movement organizing against the re-election of Lincoln. Missouri not only stayed in the Union but Lincoln took 70 percent of the vote for re-election.

Numerous small-scale military actions south and west of Missouri sought to control Indian Territory and New Mexico Territory for the Union. The Battle of Glorieta Pass was the decisive battle of the New Mexico Campaign. The Union repulsed Confederate incursions into New Mexico in 1862, and the exiled Arizona government withdrew into Texas. In the Indian Territory, civil war broke out within tribes. About 12,000 Indian warriors fought for the Confederacy and smaller numbers for the Union. The most prominent Cherokee was Brigadier General Stand Watie, the last Confederate general to surrender.

Lower Seaboard theater

Background

The Lower Seaboard theater refers to military and naval operations that occurred near the coastal areas of the Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) as well as the southern part of the Mississippi River (Port Hudson and south). Union Naval activities were dictated by the Anaconda Plan.

Several small skirmishes were fought in Florida, but no major battles. The biggest was the Battle of Olustee in early 1864.

Pacific Coast theater

The Pacific Coast theater refers to military operations on the Pacific Ocean and in the states and Territories west of the Continental Divide.

Conquest of Virginia

At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made Grant commander of all Union armies. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac and put Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in command of most of the western armies. Grant understood the concept of total war and believed, along with Lincoln and Sherman, that only the utter defeat of Confederate forces and their economic base would end the war. This was total war not in killing civilians but rather in taking provisions and forage and destroying homes, farms, and railroads, that Grant said "would otherwise have gone to the support of secession and rebellion. This policy I believe exercised a material influence in hastening the end." Grant devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the entire Confederacy from multiple directions. Generals George Meade and Benjamin Butler were ordered to move against Lee near Richmond, General Franz Sigel (and later Philip Sheridan) were to attack the Shenandoah Valley, General Sherman was to capture Atlanta and march to the sea (the Atlantic Ocean), Generals George Crook and William W. Averell were to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia, and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks was to capture Mobile, Alabama.

Grant's Overland Campaign

These dead soldiers-from Ewell's May 1864 attack at Spotsylvania-delayed Grant's advance on Richmond in the Overland Campaign.

Grant's army set out on the Overland Campaign intending to draw Lee into a defense of Richmond, where they would attempt to pin down and destroy the Confederate army. The Union army first attempted to maneuver past Lee and fought several battles, notably at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. These battles resulted in heavy losses on both sides and forced Lee's Confederates to fall back repeatedly. At the Battle of Yellow Tavern, the Confederates lost Jeb Stuart.

Sheridan's Valley Campaign

Grant finally found a commander, General Philip Sheridan, aggressive enough to prevail in the Valley Campaigns of 1864. Sheridan was initially repelled at the Battle of New Market by former U.S. vice president and Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge. The Battle of New Market was the Confederacy's last major victory of the war and included a charge by teenage VMI cadets. After redoubling his efforts, Sheridan defeated Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early in a series of battles, including a final decisive defeat at the Battle of Cedar Creek. Sheridan then proceeded to destroy the agricultural base of the Shenandoah Valley, a strategy similar to the tactics Sherman later employed in Georgia.

Sherman's March to the Sea

The Peacemakers by George Peter Alexander Healy portrays Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and Porter discussing plans for the last weeks of the Civil War aboard the steamer River Queen in March 1865. (Clickable image-use cursor to identify.)

Meanwhile, Sherman maneuvered from Chattanooga to Atlanta, defeating Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John Bell Hood along the way. The fall of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, guaranteed the reelection of Lincoln as president. Hood left the Atlanta area to swing around and menace Sherman's supply lines and invade Tennessee in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign. Union Maj. Gen. John Schofield defeated Hood at the Battle of Franklin, and George H. Thomas dealt Hood a massive defeat at the Battle of Nashville, effectively destroying Hood's army.

Leaving Atlanta, and his base of supplies, Sherman's army marched, with no destination set, laying waste to about 20 percent of the farms in Georgia in his " March to the Sea". He reached the Atlantic Ocean at Savannah, Georgia, in December 1864. Sherman's army was followed by thousands of freed slaves; there were no major battles along the march. Sherman turned north through South Carolina and North Carolina to approach the Confederate Virginia lines from the south, increasing the pressure on Lee's army.

The Waterloo of the Confederacy

End of the war

Initially, Lee did not intend to surrender but planned to regroup at Appomattox Station, where supplies were to be waiting and then continue the war. Grant chased Lee and got in front of him so that when Lee's army reached the village of Appomattox Court House, they were surrounded. After an initial battle, Lee decided that the fight was now hopeless, and surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on April 9, 1865, during a conference at the McLean House In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of peacefully restoring Confederate states to the Union, Lee was permitted to keep his sword and his horse, Traveller. His men were paroled, and a chain of Confederate surrenders began.

On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln died early the next morning. Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, was unharmed, because his would-be assassin, George Atzerodt, lost his nerve, so Johnson was immediately sworn in as president. Meanwhile, Confederate forces across the South surrendered as news of Lee's surrender reached them. On April 26, 1865, the same day Sergeant Boston Corbett killed Booth at a tobacco barn, General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered nearly 90,000 troops of the Army of Tennessee to Major General William Tecumseh Sherman at Bennett Place near present-day Durham, North Carolina. It proved to be the largest surrender of Confederate forces. On May 4, all remaining Confederate forces in Alabama, Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, and Mississippi under Lieutenant General Richard Taylor surrendered.

The Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, was captured at Irwinville, Georgia on May 10, 1865.

On May 13, 1865, the last land battle of the war was fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas.

On May 26, 1865, Confederate Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, acting for General Edmund Kirby Smith, signed a military convention surrendering the Confederate trans-Mississippi Department forces. This date is often cited by contemporaries and historians as the end date of the American Civil War. On June 2, 1865, with most of his troops having already gone home, technically deserted, a reluctant Kirby Smith had little choice but to sign the official surrender document. On June 23, 1865, Cherokee leader and Confederate Brig. Gen. Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender his forces.

On June 19, 1865, Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger announced General Order No. 3, bringing the Emancipation Proclamation into effect in Texas and freeing the last slaves of the Confederacy. The anniversary of this date is now celebrated as Juneteenth.

The naval portion of the war ended more slowly. It had begun on April 11, 1865, two days after Lee's surrender, when President Lincoln proclaimed that foreign nations had no further "claim or pretense" to deny equality of maritime rights and hospitalities to U.S. warships and, in effect, that rights extended to Confederate ships to use neutral ports as safe havens from U.S. warships should end. Having no response to Lincoln's proclamation, President Andrew Johnson issued a similar proclamation dated May 10, 1865, more directly stating the premise that the war was almost at an end ("armed resistance...may be regarded as virtually at an end") and that insurgent cruisers still at sea and prepared to attack U.S. ships should not have rights to do so through use of safe foreign ports or waters and warned nations which continued to do so that their government vessels would be denied access to U.S. ports. He also "enjoined" U.S. officers to arrest the cruisers and their crews so "that they may be prevented from committing further depredations on commerce and that the persons on board of them may no longer enjoy impunity for their crimes". Britain finally responded on June 6, 1865, by transmitting a June 2, 1865 letter from Foreign Secretary John Russell, 1st Earl Russell to the Lords of the Admiralty withdrawing rights to Confederate warships to enter British ports and waters but with exceptions for a limited time to allow a captain to enter a port to "divest his vessel of her warlike character" and for U.S. ships to be detained in British ports or waters to allow Confederate cruisers twenty-four hours to leave first. U.S. Secretary of State William Seward welcomed the withdrawal of concessions to the Confederates but objected to the exceptions. Finally, on October 18, 1865, Russell advised the Admiralty that the time specified in his June 2, 1865 message had elapsed and "all measures of a restrictive nature on vessels of war of the United States in British ports, harbors, and waters, are now to be considered as at an end". Nonetheless, the final Confederate surrender was in Liverpool, England where James Iredell Waddell, the captain of the CSS Shenandoah, surrendered the cruiser to British authorities on November 6, 1865.

Legally, the war did not end until August 20, 1866, when President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation that declared "that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America".

Union victory and aftermath

Map of Confederate territory losses year by year

The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering contention today. The North and West grew rich while the once-rich South became poor for a century. The national political power of the slaveowners and rich Southerners ended. Historians are less sure about the results of the postwar Reconstruction, especially regarding the second-class citizenship of the freedmen and their poverty.

Confederates did not need to invade and hold enemy territory to win but only needed to fight a defensive war to convince the North that the cost of winning was too high. The North needed to conquer and hold vast stretches of enemy territory and defeat Confederate armies to win. Lincoln was not a military dictator and could continue to fight the war only as long as the American public supported a continuation of the war. The Confederacy sought to win independence by outlasting Lincoln; however, after Atlanta fell and Lincoln defeated McClellan in the election of 1864, all hope for a political victory for the South ended. At that point, Lincoln had secured the support of the Republicans, War Democrats, the border states, emancipated slaves, and the neutrality of Britain and France. By defeating the Democrats and McClellan, he also defeated the Copperheads, who had wanted a negotiated peace with the Confederate States of America.

Some scholars argue that the Union held an insurmountable long-term advantage over the Confederacy in industrial strength and population. Confederate actions, they argue, only delayed defeat. Civil War historian Shelby Foote expressed this view succinctly:

I think that the North fought that war with one hand behind its back .... If there had been more Southern victories, and a lot more, the North simply would have brought that other hand out from behind its back. I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that War.

A minority view among historians is that the Confederacy lost because, as E. Merton Coulter put it, "people did not will hard enough and long enough to win." However, most historians reject the argument. McPherson, after reading thousands of letters written by Confederate soldiers, found strong patriotism that continued to the end; they truly believed they were fighting for freedom and liberty. Even as the Confederacy was visibly collapsing in 1864-65, he says most Confederate soldiers were fighting hard. Historian Gary Gallagher cites General Sherman, who in early 1864 commented, "The devils seem to have a determination that cannot but be admired." Despite their loss of slaves and wealth, with starvation looming, Sherman continued, "yet I see no sign of let-up-some few deserters-plenty tired of war, but the masses determined to fight it out."

Also important were Lincoln's eloquence in rationalizing the national purpose and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause. The Emancipation Proclamation was an effective use of the President's war powers. The Confederate government failed in its attempt to get Europe involved in the war militarily, particularly Great Britain and France. Southern leaders needed to get European powers to help break up the blockade the Union had created around the Southern ports and cities. Lincoln's naval blockade was 95% effective at stopping trade goods; as a result, imports and exports to the South declined significantly. The abundance of European cotton and Britain's hostility to the institution of slavery, along with Lincoln's Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico naval blockades, severely decreased any chance that either Britain or France would enter the war.

Historian Don Doyle has argued that the Union victory had a major impact on the course of world history. The Union victory energized popular democratic forces. A Confederate victory, on the other hand, would have meant a new birth of slavery, not freedom. Historian Fergus Bordewich, following Doyle, argues that:

The North's victory decisively proved the durability of democratic government. Confederate independence, on the other hand, would have established an American model for reactionary politics and race-based repression that would likely have cast an international shadow into the twentieth century and perhaps beyond."

Scholars have debated what the effects of the war were on political and economic power in the South. The prevailing view is that the southern planter elite retained its powerful position in the South. However, a 2017 study challenges this, noting that while some Southern elites retained their economic status, the turmoil of the 1860s created greater opportunities for economic mobility in the South than in the North.

Casualties

The war resulted in at least 1,030,000 casualties (3 percent of the population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths-two-thirds by disease-and 50,000 civilians. Binghamton University historian J. David Hacker believes the number of soldier deaths was approximately 750,000, 20 percent higher than traditionally estimated, and possibly as high as 850,000. A novel way of calculating casualties by looking at the deviation of the death rate of men of fighting age from the norm through analysis of census data found that at least 627,000 and at most 888,000 people, but most likely 761,000 people, died in the war. As historian McPherson notes, the war's "cost in American lives was as great as in all of the nation's other wars combined through Vietnam."

Based on 1860 census figures, 8 percent of all white men aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6 percent in the North and 18 percent in the South. About 56,000 soldiers died in prison camps during the War. An estimated 60,000 soldiers lost limbs in the war.

Of the 359,528 Union Army dead, amounting to 15 percent of the over two million who served:

110,070 were killed in action (67,000) or died of wounds (43,000).

199,790 died of disease (75 percent was due to the war, the remainder would have occurred in civilian life anyway)

24,866 died in Confederate prison camps

9,058 were killed by accidents or drowning

15,741 other/unknown deaths

In addition, there were 4,523 deaths in the Navy (2,112 in battle) and 460 in the Marines (148 in battle).

After the Emancipation Proclamation authorized freed slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States", former slaves who escaped from plantations or were liberated by the Union Army were recruited into the United States Colored Troops regiments of the Union Army, as were black men who had not been slaves. The U.S. Colored Troops made up 10 percent of the Union death toll-15 percent of Union deaths from disease and less than 3 percent of those killed in battle. Losses among African Americans were high. In the last year and a half and from all reported casualties, approximately 20 percent of all African Americans enrolled in the military died during the Civil War. Notably, their mortality rate was significantly higher than that of white soldiers. While 15.2% of United States Volunteers and just 8.6% of white Regular Army troops died, 20.5% of United States Colored Troops died.

The United States National Park Service uses the following figures in its official tally of war losses:

Union: 853,838

110,100 killed in action

224,580 disease deaths

275,154 wounded in action

211,411 captured (including 30,192 who died as POWs)

Confederate: 914,660

94,000 killed in action

164,000 disease deaths

194,026 wounded in action

462,634 captured (including 31,000 who died as POWs)

Analyzing the number of dead by using census data to calculate the deviation of the death rate of men of fighting age from the norm suggests that at least 627,000 and at most 888,000, but most likely 761,000 soldiers, died in the war. This would break down to approximately 350,000 Confederate and 411,000 Union military deaths, going by the proportion of Union to Confederate battle losses.

Deaths among former slaves has proven much harder to estimate, due to the lack of reliable census data at the time, though they were known to be considerable, as former slaves were set free or escaped in massive numbers in an area where the Union army did not have sufficient shelter, doctors, or food for them. University of Connecticut Professor Jim Downs states that tens to hundreds of thousands of slaves died during the war from disease, starvation, or exposure and that if these deaths are counted in the war's total, the death toll would exceed 1 million.

Losses were far higher than during the recent defeat of Mexico, which saw roughly thirteen thousand American deaths, including fewer than two thousand killed in battle, between 1846 and 1848. One reason for the high number of battle deaths during the war was the continued use of tactics similar to those of the Napoleonic Wars at the turn of the century, such as charging. With the advent of more accurate rifled barrels, Minié balls, and (near the end of the war for the Union army) repeating firearms such as the Spencer Repeating Rifle and the Henry Repeating Rifle, soldiers were mowed down when standing in lines in the open. This led to the adoption of trench warfare, a style of fighting that defined much of World War I.

Emancipation

Abolition of slavery in the various states of the United States over time:

Abolition of slavery during or shortly after the American Revolution

The Northwest Ordinance, 1787

Gradual emancipation in New York (starting 1799, completed 1827) and New Jersey (starting 1804, completed by Thirteenth Amendment, 1865)

The Missouri Compromise, 1821

Effective abolition of slavery by Mexican or joint US/British authority

Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1861

Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1862

Emancipation Proclamation as originally issued, January 1, 1863

Subsequent operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863

Abolition of slavery by state action during the Civil War

Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864

Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865

Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution, December 18, 1865

Territory incorporated into the US after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment

Abolishing slavery was not a Union war goal from the outset, but it quickly became one. Lincoln's initial claims were that preserving the Union was the central goal of the war. In contrast, the South saw itself as fighting to preserve slavery. While not all Southerners saw themselves as fighting for slavery, most of the officers and over a third of the rank and file in Lee's army had close family ties to slavery. To Northerners, in contrast, the motivation was primarily to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery. However, as the war dragged on, and it became clear that slavery was central to the conflict, and that emancipation was (to quote from the Emancipation Proclamation) "a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing [the] rebellion," Lincoln and his cabinet made ending slavery a war goal, culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation angered both Peace Democrats ("Copperheads") and War Democrats, but energized most Republicans. By warning that free blacks would flood the North, Democrats made gains in the 1862 elections, but they did not gain control of Congress. The Republicans' counterargument that slavery was the mainstay of the enemy steadily gained support, with the Democrats losing decisively in the 1863 elections in the Northern state of Ohio when they tried to resurrect anti-black sentiment.

Emancipation Proclamation

Slavery for the Confederacy's 3.5 million blacks effectively ended in each area when Union armies arrived; they were nearly all freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. The last Confederate slaves were freed on June 19, 1865, celebrated as the modern holiday of Juneteenth. Slaves in the border states and those located in some former Confederate territory occupied before the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by state action or (on December 6, 1865) by the Thirteenth Amendment. The Emancipation Proclamation enabled African Americans, both free blacks and escaped slaves, to join the Union Army. About 190,000 volunteered, further enhancing the numerical advantage the Union armies enjoyed over the Confederates, who did not dare emulate the equivalent manpower source for fear of fundamentally undermining the legitimacy of slavery.

During the Civil War, sentiment concerning slaves, enslavement, and emancipation in the United States was divided. Lincoln's fears of making slavery a war issue were based on a harsh reality: abolition did not enjoy wide support in the west, the territories, and the border states. In 1861, Lincoln worried that premature attempts at emancipation would mean the loss of the border states, and that "to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game." Copperheads and some War Democrats opposed emancipation, although the latter eventually accepted it as part of the total war needed to save the Union.

At first, Lincoln reversed attempts at emancipation by Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Generals John C. Frémont (in Missouri) and David Hunter (in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) to keep the loyalty of the border states and the War Democrats. Lincoln warned the border states that a more radical type of emancipation would happen if his plan of gradual compensated emancipation and voluntary colonization was rejected. But compensated emancipation occurred only in the District of Columbia, where Congress had the power to enact it. When Lincoln told his cabinet about his proposed emancipation proclamation, which would apply to the states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, Seward advised Lincoln to wait for a Union military victory before issuing it, as to do otherwise would seem like "our last shriek on the retreat". Walter Stahr, however, writes, "There are contemporary sources, however, that suggest others were involved in the decision to delay", and Stahr quotes them.

Lincoln laid the groundwork for public support in an open letter published in response to Horace Greeley's "The Prayer of Twenty Millions". He also laid the groundwork at a meeting at the White House with five African American representatives on August 14, 1862. Arranging for a reporter to be present, he urged his visitors to agree to the voluntary colonization of black people, apparently to make his forthcoming preliminary Emancipation Proclamation more palatable to racist white people. A Union victory in the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, provided Lincoln with an opportunity to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and the subsequent War Governors' Conference added support for the proclamation.

Lincoln's moderate approach succeeded in inducing the border states to remain in the Union and War Democrats to support the Union. The border states, which included Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and Union-controlled regions around New Orleans, Norfolk, Virginia, and elsewhere, were not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation. Nor was Tennessee, which had come under Union control. Missouri and Maryland abolished slavery on their own; Kentucky and Delaware did not. Still, the proclamation did not enjoy universal support. It caused much unrest in what were then considered western states, where racist sentiments led to a great fear of abolition. There was some concern that the proclamation would lead to the secession of western states, and its issuance prompted the stationing of Union troops in Illinois in case of rebellion.

Since the Emancipation Proclamation was based on the President's war powers, it applied only in territory held by Confederates at the time it was issued. However, the Proclamation became a symbol of the Union's growing commitment to add emancipation to the Union's definition of liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation greatly reduced the Confederacy's hope of being recognized or otherwise aided by Britain or France. By late 1864, Lincoln was playing a leading role in getting the House of Representatives to vote for the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which mandated the ending of chattel slavery.

Reconstruction

The oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and, among other commitments, to "abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the ... rebellion having reference to slaves ... ", signed by former Confederate officer Samuel M. Kennard on June 27, 1865[363]

The war devastated the South and posed serious questions of how the South would be reintegrated into the Union. The war destroyed much of the wealth that had existed in the South. All accumulated investment in Confederate bonds was forfeited; most banks and railroads were bankrupt. The income per capita in the South dropped to less than 40 percent of that of the North, an economic condition that lasted into the 20th century. Southern influence in the federal government, previously considerable, was greatly diminished until the latter half of the 20th century. Reconstruction began during the war, with the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, and it continued until 1877. It comprised multiple complex methods to resolve the outstanding issues of the war's aftermath, the most important of which were the three " Reconstruction Amendments" to the Constitution: the 13th outlawing slavery (1865), the 14th guaranteeing citizenship to slaves (1868), and the 15th ensuring voting rights to slaves (1870). From the Union perspective, the goals of Reconstruction were to consolidate the Union victory on the battlefield by reuniting the Union, to guarantee a " republican form of government" for the ex-Confederate states, and to permanently end slavery-and prevent semi-slavery status.

President Andrew Johnson, who took office on April 15, 1865, took a lenient approach and saw the achievement of the main war goals as realized in 1865 when each ex-rebel state repudiated secession and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. Radical Republicans demanded proof that Confederate nationalism was dead and that the slaves were truly free. They overrode Johnson's vetoes of civil rights legislation, and the House impeached him, although the Senate did not convict him. In 1868 and 1872, the Republican candidate Ulysses S. Grant won the presidency. In 1872, the "Liberal Republicans" argued that the war goals had been achieved and that Reconstruction should end. They chose Horace Greeley to head a presidential ticket in 1872 but were decisively defeated. In 1874, Democrats, primarily Southern, took control of Congress and opposed further reconstruction. The Compromise of 1877 closed with a national consensus, except perhaps on the part of former slaves, that the Civil War had finally ended. With the withdrawal of federal troops, however, whites retook control of every Southern legislature, and the Jim Crow era of disenfranchisement and legal segregation was ushered in.

Memory and historiography

The Civil War is one of the central events in American collective memory. There are innumerable statues, commemorations, books, and archival collections. The memory includes the home front, military affairs, the treatment of soldiers, both living and dead, in the war's aftermath, depictions of the war in literature and art, evaluations of heroes and villains, and considerations of the moral and political lessons of the war. The last theme includes moral evaluations of racism and slavery, heroism in combat and heroism behind the lines, and issues of democracy and minority rights, as well as the notion of an " Empire of Liberty" influencing the world.

Professional historians have paid much more attention to the causes of the war than to the war itself. Military history has largely developed outside academia, leading to a proliferation of studies by non-scholars who nevertheless are familiar with the primary sources and pay close attention to battles and campaigns and who write for the general public. Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote are among the best known. Practically every major figure in the war, both North and South, has had a serious biographical study.

The memory of the war in the white South crystallized in the myth of the "Lost Cause": that the Confederate cause was just and heroic. The myth shaped regional identity and race relations for generations. Alan T. Nolan notes that the Lost Cause was expressly a rationalization, a cover-up to vindicate the name and fame of those in rebellion. Some claims revolve around the insignificance of slavery as a cause of the war; some appeals highlight cultural differences between North and South; the military conflict by Confederate actors is idealized; in any case, secession was said to be lawful. Nolan argues that the adoption of the Lost Cause perspective facilitated the reunification of the North and the South while excusing the "virulent racism" of the 19th century, sacrificing black American progress to white man's reunification. He also deems the Lost Cause "a caricature of the truth. This caricature wholly misrepresents and distorts the facts of the matter" in every instance. The Lost Cause myth was formalized by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard, whose The Rise of American Civilization (1927) spawned "Beardian historiography". The Beards downplayed slavery, abolitionism, and issues of morality. Though this interpretation was abandoned by the Beards in the 1940s, and by historians generally by the 1950s, Beardian themes still echo among Lost Cause writers.

Battlefield preservation

The first efforts at Civil War battlefield preservation and memorialization came during the war itself with the establishment of National Cemeteries at Gettysburg, Mill Springs and Chattanooga. Soldiers began erecting markers on battlefields beginning with the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The oldest surviving monument is the Hazen Brigade Monument near Murfreesboro in Central Tennessee, built in the summer of 1863 by soldiers in Union Col. William B. Hazen's brigade to mark the spot where they buried their dead following the Battle of Stones River.

In the 1890s, the U.S. government established five Civil War battlefield parks under the jurisdiction of the War Department, beginning with the creation of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland in 1890. The Shiloh National Military Park was established in 1894 in Shiloh, Tennessee, followed by the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1895, and Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1899.

In 1933, these five parks and other national monuments were transferred to the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Chief among modern efforts to preserve Civil War sites has been the American Battlefield Trust, with more than 130 battlefields in 24 states. The five major Civil War battlefield parks operated by the National Park Service (Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, Chickamauga/Chattanooga and Vicksburg) had a combined 3.1 million visitors in 2018, down 70% from 10.2 million in 1970.

Civil War commemoration

The American Civil War has been commemorated in many capacities, ranging from the reenactment of battles to statues and memorial halls erected, to films being produced, to stamps and coins with Civil War themes being issued, all of which helped to shape public memory. These commemorations occurred in greater numbers on the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the war. Hollywood's take on the war has been especially influential in shaping public memory, as in such film classics as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Gone with the Wind (1939), and (2012). Ken Burns's PBS television series The Civil War (1990) is especially well-remembered, though criticized for its historical inaccuracy.

Technological significance

Numerous technological innovations during the Civil War had a great impact on 19th-century science. The Civil War was one of the earliest examples of an " industrial war", in which technological might is used to achieve military supremacy in a war. New inventions, such as the train and telegraph, delivered soldiers, supplies and messages at a time when horses were considered to be the fastest way to travel. It was also in this war that aerial warfare, in the form of reconnaissance balloons, was first used. It saw the first action involving steam-powered ironclad warships in naval warfare history. Repeating firearms such as the Henry rifle, Spencer rifle, Colt revolving rifle, Triplett & Scott carbine and others, first appeared during the Civil War; they were a revolutionary invention that would soon replace muzzle-loading and single-shot firearms in warfare. The war also saw the first appearances of rapid-firing weapons and machine guns such as the Agar gun and the Gatling gun.

In works of culture and art

The Civil War is one of the most studied events in American history, and the collection of cultural works around it is enormous. This section gives an abbreviated overview of the most notable works.

Literature

Video games

References

Bibliography

Beringer, Richard E., Archer Jones, and Herman Hattaway (1986). Why the South Lost the Civil War, influential analysis of factors; an abridged version is The Elements of Confederate Defeat: Nationalism, War Aims, and Religion (1988)

Bestor, Arthur (1964). "The American Civil War as a Constitutional Crisis". American Historical Review. 69 (2): 327-52. doi:10.2307/1844986. JSTOR 1844986.

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American Civil War Clockwise from top: Belligerents United States Confederate States Commanders and leaders Abraham Lincoln X Ulysses S. Grant and others... Jefferson Davis Robert E. Lee and others...

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The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. It required that the United States government intervene to help slave owners regain control of their slaves whether they were in a free state or not.

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Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States in 1860. He was not popular with the southern states because of views on slavery. By the time his inauguration took place, 7 states seceded from the union. On April 12th, 1861, the confederacy fired on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War. In 1863, Abraham abolished slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation. He was assassinated April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth.

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Abraham Lincoln - U.S. President | Mini Bio | BIO

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The Emancipation Proclamation was written by Abraham Lincoln Jan 1, 1863. It said that all persons held as slaves within any state in rebellion against the United States shall be forever free. He didn't end slavery completely, he wanted the confederate states to quit trying to leave the union. Even though he was against slavery, he just didn't believe the constitution gave the federal government the power to abolish it where it already existed.

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Harriet Tubman was the "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. She was born into slavery, escaped, and helped others gain their freedom. She also served as a scout, spy guerrilla soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the civil war. She was considered the first African American woman to serve in the military.

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MLA - Michals, Debra. "Harriet Tubman." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2015. Date accessed.

Chicago - Michals, Debra. "Harriet Tubman." National Women's History Museum. 2015. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman.

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Known as the "Moses of her people," Harriet Tubman was enslaved, escaped, and helped others gain their freedom as a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. Discover more about her on womenshistory.org.

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The abolitionist movement was an organized effort to end the practice of slavery in the U.S. It took place from about 1830 to 1870. The abolitionist used some of the same tactics the British had used to end slavery in Grain Britain. In 1861, slave owning states separated from the U.S. and the Civil War began. The abolitionists told Lincoln that he needed to stop slavery.

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The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States. It was written in 1777, and ratified (made officially valid) in 1781. The Articles of Confederation gave the "new nation" the name, the United States of America.

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The Articles of Confederation - Becoming the United States - Extra History - Part 1

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(The First Industrial Revolution) Before the Civil War, there was a shift from man-made products to machine-made products, such as; the wheel, the Spinning Jenny, and the steam engine. The Industrial Revolution was also a shift in culture and way of life. Many families moved to the city, and both men and women began to work. Slavery and Colonization during this time began to decline due to machine-labor (which is when society began to question the morality of slavery.)

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The Industrial Revolution was one of the most significant 'game-changing' periods in human history. A spark set in the heart of the United Kingdom in mid-1700's would create a wildfire that would engulf the world in a matter of decades.

Supported by the massive increase in crop yield provided by the agricultural revolution, the Industrial Revolution was provided with manpower (and fuel) needed to stoke its furnaces.

The old world ways of feudalism and agrarianism would be cast aside. Birth rates would rise, death rates would fall and near-total employment and regular income would be made possible.

New technologies, new ways of thinking, new jobs and opportunities would open up. Nations that didn't adopt industrialization would quickly become obsolete and fall into obscurity.

Many men, women, and children would leave the relative tranquility of the countryside to move to the burgeoning cities in search of work. This would lead to (relative to today) appalling working and living conditions which would, in turn, influence politics, inter-class relations, and the arts.

Being the first adopter, the United Kingdom would become the most advanced nation in the world for a time. This advantage was quickly capitalized upon leading to the largest empire the world had ever seen.

Other nations, both jealous and inspired, would eventually emulate Britain with the United States overtaking her parent nation as the world's industrial powerhouse by the turn of the 1900s. The lives of millions would never be the same again.

Life was good for a time, but by the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries would soon expose the darker side of humanity.

The following article is intended to act as a guide to the Industrial Revolution and has been written in a frequently asked question (FAQ) format for ease of reference. We have tried to address most of the commonly asked questions about this period of time, but, like the proverbial piece of string, it is not exhaustive.

What was the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution, sometimes termed as the Industrial Age, was a period of immense technological, socio-economic and cultural change. It marks the mass introduction and adoption of power-driven machinery to replace hand tools and concentration of industry into large establishments around the world.

When was the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution (generally agreed to have been the industrialization of the British Isles) began in around 1760 and ended, it is is also generally agreed, in 1914. This period includes both the so-called First and Second phases of the industrial revolution.

Once the revolution has begun in the United Kingdom, it would eventually spread to Europe and the UK's growing colonies very quickly.

Definition of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is widely defined as:-

"The rapid development of [an] industry that occurred in Britain in the late 18th and 19th centuries, brought about by the introduction of machinery. It was characterized by the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods." - Oxford English Dictionary.

Where did the Industrial Revolution happen?

The Industrial Revolution is widely agreed to have begun in around 1760 in England. It would later spread to many other countries around Europe and the world and is an ongoing process today.
RELATED: WHY DID THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION START IN BRITAIN?
Years, Dates and Time Periods of Industrial Revolution

The process of industrialization would quickly spread across Europe and the world and is still ongoing today.

Industrial Revolution Technologies

Industrial Revolution technologies ranged from humble textile manufacturing innovations, like the flying shuttle, to the enormous steam engine driven ocean-going ships of the period.

Although the process began in the cottage industries of England in the mid 17th Century it would soon spread around Europe and the world. In many countries, like France, forward-thinking entrepreneurs, inventors, and industrialists would quickly develop technologies that many take for granted today.

Many of the technologies invented in this period have, literally and figurately, built the modern world.

Industrial Revolution Inventions

Industrial Revolution inventions have come from every country that has undergone the process since the mid 17th Century in England. Most notably amongst them are what we commonly term 'developed nations' today.

Countries like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Russia and, of course, the United States of America, have created an enormous amount of technologies and inventions, thanks to the process which began over 250 years ago.

Several third world countries currently going through this process and are beginning to reap the socio-economic, scientific and technological benefits from it.

The Industrial Age (Era)

The Industrial Age is sometimes used as a synonym for the Industrial Revolution. It is, however, more accurately defined as the period of time between 1760 and the beginning of the 'Information Age' in the late 20th Century.

Like the general definition of the Industrial Revolution, the Industrial Age is characterized by a period of significant changes in the economic and social organization of adopting nations around the world.

It led, in part, to enormous improvements to the quality of life and marked an enormous increase in the wealth of nations and its citizens hitherto never seen before.

Industrial Revolutions - How many Industrial Revolutions took place?

Just how many Industrial Revolutions took place? This can be a somewhat controversial question to answer. Some historians recognize two revolutions with others as classifying as many as six - the last of which we are currently living through.

The answer tends to be a matter of opinion but generally, there are several distinct phases that occurred throughout the 'Industrial Era'.

The first revolution occurred between 1760 and the Early-19th Century and is commonly called as the Industrial Revolution. After this phase, a noticeable decline in macro-invention occurred prior to the so-called Second Industrial Revolution began.

A second phase, or the Second Industrial Revolution, was sparked in the United States just after the Civil War in the latter half of the 19th Century. This is generally considered to have continued on until the start of the First World War in 1914.

First Industrial Revolution

Between this period and the American Civil War, a period of limited large-scale invention occurred, relative to the period preceding it. This era is widely seen as a transition period between the First and the Second Industrial Revolutions.

Where did the First Industrial Revolution start?

When did the First Industrial Revolution start?

The First Industrial Revolution, or the Industrial Revolution, started in 1760 in England, UK.

How did the First Industrial Revolution start?

The First Industrial Revolution started due to the culmination of a series of events prior to 1760 and after it. For example, population growth and the promise of employment pushed more people into cities.

This, in turn, increased demand for products, and luxuries in some cases, as peoples' time was consumed in specialized roles.

Financial institutions and investors began to make, and encourage, more investment risk-taking providing much-needed capital for startups and R&D.

Transportation had also improved considerably. This allowed for easier movement of people and goods throughout the land and around the world.

The United Kingdom's government policies also began favoring free and foreign trade accelerating the eventual onset of the Industrial Revolution.

Second Industrial Revolution

History of the Industrial Revolution

The history of the Industrial Revolution began in 1760 and ended at the start of WW1 in 1914. It would be a period filled with enormous technological, socioeconomic and geopolitical change around the world.

Where did the Industrial Revolution start?

The Industrial Revolution started in England in about 1760.

Why did the Industrial Revolution start in England?

The Industrial Revolution started in England and was the consequence of several factors in Britain at that time. For this reason, there is no single attributing factor but the culmination of a series of developments and events that occurred over time.

These included (but were not excluded to):

The British Isles had plentiful access to key natural resources like coal and iron

Agriculture had steadily grown throughout the 18th Century allowing for good population growth

Larger population provided Britain with a bigger labor market

Britain cultivated an atmosphere of freedom of thought and markets allowing for scientists to dedicate their time to study and allowing entrepreneurs the ability to take risks in new enterprises. This was, in part, the consequence of economic stability and peace 'at home' that led to the development of liberalism (not to be confused with the modern corruption of the term)

Good transportation. Adam Smith was one of the first to recognize this when he observed that the well-developed canals and the plethora of navigable rivers in the British Isles allowed ease of transport of raw materials.

Smith would later write "Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighborhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of all improvements" - Adam Smith: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776.

The United Kingdom, being an island nation and people, are geographically from mainland Europe. This insulated them, in part, from the constant wars on the continent and fostered the need for a strong military and civilian navy.

All of these factors, and others, effectively made Britain of the 17th Century the 'land of opportunity'.

When did the Industrial Revolution start?

The Industrial Revolution started, it is widely agreed, around 1760. Although this is the widely accepted and quoted time, it should be considered as a period of advancement rather than a discrete event.

What is Industrialization?

Industrialization is the process of large-scale adoption and usage of manufacturing with associated development of socio-economic necessary to support it in a given area, society or country.

It is, in effect, the transition from an agrarian society (economy based on agriculture) to an industrial one. This transition necessarily fosters the demand for consumer goods and services as workers incomes rise.

This is often a positive feedback loop with the area's/country's GDP and GNP increasing exponentially over time.

What caused the Industrial Revolution?

The cause of the Industrial Revolution was not a single event but series of contributing factors that combined to make the 'perfect storm' for a revolution to begin.

Broadly speaking, this consisted of just the right mix of the philosophical, economical, societal, technological and geopolitical situation of the times in Great Britain. It was no mere coincidence that the revolution began there at that time.

What exactly started the Industrial Revolution?

What exactly started the Industrial Revolution? As previously mentioned, there was no single cause or event that sparked the Industrial Revolution.

It took the alignment of a collection of factors to 'get the ball rolling'. Britain during the 18th Century was just such a place. Its geography, resources, political policy, national mindset, economics and scientific and technological progress had progressed to such a degree that the revolution was likely inevitable.

Causes of the Industrial Revolution

Causes of the Industrial Revolution include, but are not limited to:

Economic and societal liberalism (socioeconomics)

Large, stable and peaceful population with good food supply

Migration to, and growth of, cities and consumer goods and services

The concentration of required resources in one place

Pre-requisite technology and scientific inquiry were in place

Geopolitical

Good transportation network was in place (navigable rivers and canals)

Political policies encouraged entrepreneurship

Financial institutions and investors started taking risks.

Industrial Revolution Factories

One key event that occurred during the Industrial Revolution was the development of true factories. The first documented one was opened by John Lombe in Derby in around 1721.

This early factory was powered using water and was opened to mass produce silk products. It was built on an island in the River Derwent in Derby and the idea of it came to Lombe during a tour of Italy.

Using the services of architect George Sorocold the new "Factory" was built and employed around 300 people during peak production. It would be the first of many factories the world over.

So successful was Lombe's factory it is believed his untimely death could be due to the jealous machinations of the King of Sardinia who was enraged at commercialization of silk production in the UK.

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

The effects of the Industrial Revolution, like any other enormous change from the status quo, were both positive and negative. The most obvious effect would be the growth of cities into large municipalities and people flocked from the country in search of work.

The contributing factors of increases in income and fall in prices for products, from mass production, eventually meant surplusses in income were possible. This would ultimately lead to the emergence of the concept of professionalism (through the division of labor), and by extension the middle class.

Transportation and communication infrastructure greatly improved throughout this period. This would eventually slash the time taken to transport and deliver people and goods around the world.

Agriculture would also benefit from the revolution allowing for huge increases in efficiency and crop yields. Food surpluses could be achieved which, in part, shrank death rates.

Of course, some effects were also negative (e.g. overcrowding, occupational hazard, pollution and disease from urbanization and poor sanitation).

It has had other less obvious effects on our everyday lives from housework to war.

Impact and Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

The impact of the Industrial Revolution was very positive and negative at the same time. It would ultimately mean that products could be produced faster and cheaper producing enormous changes to the environmental, socioeconomic, and geopolitical nature of a nation.

Despite the revolution providing enormous opportunities for employment, mass migration to cities led to serious overcrowding, disease, and poor sanitation. Factories were also hazardous places to work for men, children and even women.

Despite this, the revolution has, on balance, greatly improved the lives and standards of living for countries citizens over time. Many innovations such as improved transportation, electricity and mass-production reduced the costs for many items including essentials like medicine, heat, and power, to name but a few.

But of course, innovations in warfare would drastically increase the killing potential of weapons. On the other hand, education progressively became available to the poor.

On balance, the Industrial Revolution drastically improved the quality of life of a nation's populace in ways hitherto never seen before. But did produce entirely new swathes of problems for society to tackle issues like child labor, poor air quality, and disease.

Industrial Revolution around the world - List of countries

The following nations, according to the leading economists and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Fact Book, are classified as industrialized or developed countries*:-

*Note (NIC) = Newly Industrialised Countries.

Industrial Revolution in Britain (UK, England)

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain during the 18th Century. It would drive enormous changes to the fortunes of the nation ultimately resulting in the creation of largest empire the world has ever seen.

When did the Industrial Revolution start in England?

The Industrial Revolution is widely agreed to have begun in around 1760 in England.

How did the Industrial Revolution start in England?

Just prior to the mid 18th Century, most people in Britain and around Europe lived and worked in small, rural communities. Global nations were, generally speaking, agrarian in nature and any industry that did exist was small-scale and limited.

Peoples lives were generally miserable with extreme poverty, starvation, and disease commonplace. The people tended to make or produce their own food, clothing, furniture, and tools.

Most industry and manufacturing at this time was conducted in small rural shops or peoples homes (so-called cottage industries) using hard work, hand tools and/or simple machines.

Gradual changes in attitude, freeing up of capital and encouragement of entrepreneurship and technological developments ultimately lit the match that would spark the beginning of the revolution.

The British Isles were also rich in vital resources like iron and coal and, at this time, Britain was growing colonial power.

The political stability and access to raw materials ultimately provided the fuel for the growth in demand for manufactured goods and demand for British goods abroad.

This would ultimately build a demand for British goods that would lead merchants to find the most effective means of production that ultimately led to the development of mechanization and factories commonly associated with this period.

Industrialization in England (Britain)

Prior to the industrial revolution, most 'industry' in Britain and Europe occurred in small foundries or peoples homes.

These 'cottage industries' would be very labor intensive processes with raw materials supplied by merchants and the final products collected later on. This process would prove to be a very inefficient and proved difficult for merchants to regulate and control their cottage industry 'contractors'.

These self-employed workers would often have other commitments and tended to set their own schedules.

Several key innovations would occur in the 18th century that would lead to enormous increases in production efficiency. These included James Hargreaves' spinning Jenny in 1764. This device would prove so successful that by the time of his death around 20,000 units was estimated to be in operation around the UK.

Samual Crompton would later improve on the 'jenny' with his 'spinning mule'. Other key innovations occurred including the invention of the power loom in the 1780's by Edmund Cartwright.

Improvements in the textile industry would quickly spur developments in other fields like the iron industry. Darby developed an early means of cheap and easy cast iron production that would be supplemented, in some cases superseded, by the Bessemer process to produce steel.

Iron and steel became essential materials for the revolution and would be used to make, effectively, everything from cooking appliances to ships.

Thomas Newcomen would kick the revolution into overdrive with his groundbreaking steam engine. This was improved upon by James Watt during the late 1700's that would ultimately lead to the development of steam locomotives and ships characteristic of the period.

Industrial Revolution in the USA (America)

The Industrial Revolution would spread to all corners of the British Empire and would continue in the fledgling United States after their independence in 1776.

When did the Industrial Revolution start in the USA?

The Industrial Revolution started in the USA in the mid to late 1800s, circa 1870. This phase of the larger era of global industrialization is often termed the Second Industrial Revolution.

How did the Industrial Revolution start in the USA?

The Industrial Revolution sometimes called the Second Industrial Revolution, started in the USA for a variety of reasons. There was no single causal event rather, like the first Industrial Revolution, it was the culmination of a series of events over a period of time.

Throughout the 1800's, the face of North America was changing rapidly. Between about 1820 and 1860, the United States saw a period of unprecedented urbanization and rapid territorial expansion.

This would continue apace until domestic political tensions exploded into open civil disorder. This culminated in the commencement of the bloody American Civil War between 1861 and 1865.

The merciful conclusion of this conflict led to a period of enormous socio-economic and technological growth and mass industrialization, called the second (or technological) revolution of the United States.

One of the key industrial processes that would fuel the Second Industrial Revolution was the Bessemer Steel Process, patented in 1856. This would literally and figurately feed the revolution and enabled the rapid expansion of vital transport links like the transcontinental railroads.

This further propelled the speed of industrialization pushing the expansion of utilities like the telegraph, gas and water suppliers and sewers from the big cities to more rural areas.

The enormous expansion of rail and telegraph lines after 1870 allowed unprecedented movement of people and ideas, which culminated in a new wave of immigration to the states. In the same period, new systems were introduced, most significantly electrical power and telephones.

Industrialization in America

Industrialization began in the early 1800's in America and steadily grew until the Civil War. At this time industry was very small scale with hand/manual labor remaining widespread across the nation.

Many businesses served their local communities and lacked access to capital to enable expansion.

After the Civil War, however, things changed forever. Mass adoption of machinery replaced traditional craft manufacture and increased the output of goods exponentially.

A drive for better transportation fuelled the building of the transcontinental railroad fuelling more demand for goods and labor. The growth in demand for goods promoted inventors and entrepreneurs to develop new techniques and technologies and seek investment to grow their businesses.

The new demand for capital investment were fed by banks and other investors who supplied the enormous amount of money needed to build and expand businesses.

Just like the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom, the growth in the industry in the cities led to widescale migration into them. Cities grew faster than ever, changing demographics and the quality of life for millions.

This enormous change from a primarily agrarian society to an industrial one was mainly concentrated in the North. The South would take longer to recover from the devastation of the Civil War and lagged behind from the rest of country economically.

Western expansion had largely burnt out and frontier life was beginning to come to an end. During this period, America's star began to rise and its role in foreign affairs began to change throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s.

It would begin to build up its military strength through this period until it would, ultimately, become the world power we know today.

Industrial Revolution in Europe

The Industrial Revolution in Europe occurred much the same as it had in the United Kingdom albeit slightly later. Inspired by the advancements in technology, wealth and power of the British, other European nations quickly began to import steam engines and seek advice from British engineers and industrialists.

Europe, like the UK and her colonies, would quickly benefit from the process of industrialization and begin to make significant technological and scientific advancements of their own. This would lead to ever increasing 'cross-pollination' of ideas and across Europe and the flowering British Empire.

When did the Industrial Revolution start in Europe?

The Industrial Revolution started in Europe after Watt's steam engines began to be exported to the continent in around 1800. Using the new engines, many European countries like France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden and other Western nations eagerly embraced the process of industrialization.

How did the Industrial Revolution start in Europe?

Similar to its birthplace in the United Kingdom, the Industrial Revolution started in different countries in Europe for a variety of reasons. Although the socioeconomic, geopolitical and natural resources of each nation varied widely, they were all united by their desire to 'catch up' with the growing power of the United Kingdom.

Germany, for example, was a late adopter but by the end of the later 19th Century, it had risen to become a great industrial power.

Industrialization in Europe

Around the turn of the 19th Century, mass export of Watt's steam engine to the continent began to spread industrialization in Europe. The process was accelerated by British engineers and experts who performed consulting roles on the continent to help develop and encourage industrial development throughout this period.

The process of industrialization took different courses and paces depending on the European country in question. This was directly dependent on the local resources, political will and socioeconomic situation in each nation.

For example in France, the Industrial Revolution was heavily delayed by the political upheavals of the French Revolution. Not to mention the tumultuous rule of Napolean Bonaparte in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.

France also lacked the abundant coal resources of other countries like the United Kingdom - this serious hampered the progression of the revolution in the country. Britain also saw the mass adoption of mechanization in most areas of industry and trades, this was not the case in France where its economy relied on handmade produce.

This was also a centrally protected and privileged industry by the government.

In other nations like Prussia, later Germany, a completely different set of circumstances delayed their adoption of industrialization.

Industrial Revolution in Japan

The Industrial Revolution in Japan occurred very differently from the UK, Europe, and America. Although initially forced upon them by American envoys, the Japanese would quickly realize its potential and completely overturned centuries of feudal tradition to become one of the worlds most modern nations.

By embracing industrialization Japan would make itself a world power that would ultimately set them on a collision course with the world's superpowers in the 20th Century.

When did the Industrial Revolution start in Japan?

How did the Industrial Revolution start in Japan?

The Japanese Shogunate was in steep decline in the first half of the 19th Century. Although the Shogunate still continued to command through central bureaucracy and semi-feudal alliances Japan had started to be affected by financial pressures from within and without.

Japan had historically maintained a policy of isolation but growing issues at home and interference from Western powers began to take their toll on Japan. An American Naval squadron under the command of Matthew Perry forced Japan to open up negotiations for trade in 1853.

This lead to domestic internal disputes that would ultimately lead to the dissolution of the Shogunate by proclamation from the Emperor Mutsuhito (Meiji) in 1868. The mighty Samurai would quickly follow with a new centralized administration being formed in the 1870s.

After abolishing feudalism, a Ministry of Industry was created in 1870 to establish overall economic policy and operate certain industries. Model factories were created to provide industrial experience, and an expanded education system offered technical training.

Following the Samurai revolt in 1877, social and political reconstruction of Japan was more or less complete by 1889.

Private enterprise was soon involved in the growing economy, especially in textiles. Entrepreneurs came from all social ranks and by the 1890s, huge industrial combines (called zaibatsu) had been formed.

By the turn of the 20th Century, Japan, freed from its previous shackles of feudalism, had now fully embraced and engaged in its industrial revolution. An event that would soon dictate the history of the 20th Century.

Industrialization in Japan

The process of industrialization in Japan led to a massive reorganization of the nation - politically, militarily, socio-economical and, of course, technologically. A western-style army and navy were commissioned and built, new banks were established, railroad networks and steam vessel dramatically improved transportation and communication across the nation.

Previous restrictions on trades and feudal guilds were abolished and sweeping land reforms were swiftly adopted. All of these changes and many more led to a subsequent boom in Japanese population growth that supplied more labor but put pressure on Japan's resources.

Western culture was widely adopted across the nation, notably Western Fashion, and the government quickly adopted a universal education system stressing the importance on STEM fields.

These changes would ultimately fuel a growing nationalism in Japan and by the 1890's they had officially joined the imperialist powers of the world. This would ultimately lead to conflicts with China for Korea between 1894 and 1895 and Russia in 1904 (again for Korea).

These two victories cemented their place as a new world power at the turn of the 20th Century and brought an Alliance with Britain in 1902.

Throughout this period, domestic unrest between the more traditional older generations and younger, western looking youth was rife. This would ultimately spark a period of political disputes that would see frequent elections, and in some cases, political assassinations.

Complete List of Inventions During The Industrial Revolution

A complete list of inventions created during the Industrial Revolution is out of the scope of this article, it would, after all, fill many large tomes. Despite that many, critically important inventions during this period are still in use today.

Some of the more important inventions throughout this period are as follows:

The Steam Engine

The Flying Shuttle

The Spinning Jenny

The Cotton Gin

The Telegraph

Portland Cement

Modern Roads

Bessemer Process

Steam Locomotives

Power Loom

Water Frame

Tin Can/Canning

The Camera

The Typewriter

The Dynamo

And many more.

Industrial Revolution Facts

- The two commonly cited Primary and Secondary phases of the industrial revolution occurred between 1760 and 1914.

- The First Industrial Revolution began in England in 1760 and continued on until the mid to early 1800s. This period was characterized by the mass adoption of steam technology and iron and the move from agriculture to industry.

- The Second Industrial Revolution commenced after the Amerian Civil War and extended to the start of WW1. This era can be characterized by the development of new technologies like electricity, combustion engines, and steel.

- Even today, there are still some countries that are yet to experience industrialization. These are often referred to as "third world" or "developing" countries today.

- The industrial revolution is intimately linked with the concept of capitalism. Since the inception of both the human quality of life, wealth, life expectancy and other factors like literacy have increased exponentially.

- The industrial revolution was initially driven by the textile industry in the United Kingdom. Developments in this sector would ultimately drive improvements in other industries across the UK.

- By the end of the 19th Century, 8 out of 10 Brits lived in cities. Prior to 1760 85% of the population lived off the land.

- Between 1700 and the year 2000 the Earth's human population grew 10 times.

- Throughout the 1900's, global economy increased by 14 times its previous level.

- Per capita income, throughout the 20th Century, would increase 4-fold compared to previous levels.

Social Effects and Consequences of The Industrial Revolution

The Social Effects and Consequences of the Industrial Revolution were widespread and enormous. Rapid urbanization and every increasing demand for labor led to large portions of the population migrated from the country to the cities.

This movement of people led to serious overcrowding, disease, and poor sanitation prior to infrastructure catching up with needs. Injuries and deaths were also not uncommon in factories as they were hazardous places to work for men, children and even women.

Social structures were also changed forever. New social classes began to emerge people began to specialize in jobs or take risks to start businesses.

This would ultimately lead to the emergence of the industrialist (capitalist), middle class and working classes (sometimes called the proletariat).

On balance, the Industrial Revolution drastically improved the quality of life of a nation's populace in ways hitherto never seen before. But did produce entirely new swathes of problems such as child labor, poor air quality, and disease to tackle.

Social and Cultural Structure During The Industrial Revolution

Social and Cultural Structure during the Industrial Revolution changed significantly during this period. Apart from the landed gentry and royalty, new social classes were formed and society generally reformed into the following:

Working Class,

Middle Class,

Industrialist/Capitalist.

This would have a profound effect on any nation that industrialized. Where feudalism still existed it was quickly overthrown.

Labor system of the Industrial Revolution

The labor system of the Industrial Revolution was much broader than at any time before it. The enormous increase in productivity and the need for labor rapidly swelled the populations of cities from the countryside and included members of the population from young children to women.

Although men, women, and children had long been involved in work in some kind or other since the dawn of the time, the level of intensity, type of work and concentration of workers in one place, was something very new indeed. Also, the division of labor in the workforce would allow for the rise of 'specialist' professional and led to the creation of the ' middle class'.

Despite the less than desirable working conditions of the period, many workers enjoyed a massive increase in, and regular supply of, pay and living conditions compared to their agrarian ancestors.

Working conditions during Industrial Revolution

Working conditions during the Industrial Revolution were far from desirable.

Occupational health and safety were less than ideal during the Industrial Revolution. Work tended to be monotonous and in some cases very dangerous.

Factories tended to be damp, noisy, filthy, poorly ventilated and lit. Long hours were common for men, women, and children who were offered wages commensurate with their level of expertise.

These issues were partially addressed during the mid-19th Century and Unions were founded to help improve the workers' lot. Early health and safety legislation was passed during this time but issues like child labor continued to be an issue up until the 20th Century.

Family Life and Standards of Living during the Industrial Revolution

Family life and standards of living during the Industrial Revolution varied depending on where people were placed in society. For the growing middle classes, living standards began to improve markedly.

More availability of cheaply produced goods allowed some to live like kings compared to their forebears.

For lower-income families who toiled in the factories and lived in the crowded cities living standards were pretty bleak. Most workers were huddled into closely packed, rapidly built, housing with little concern for public health.

These living conditions were perfect breeding grounds for diseases like cholera and typhoid.

Education and Training during the Industrial Revolution

Education and training during the Industrial Revolution were actually widely available. However, for children, it tended to be a paid-for service.

Whilst wealthy families could afford to homeschool via a tutor they were also sent to private schools. Poorer children would be taught in Dame Schools of Church schools.

Often lower-income families would prioritize bringing in an income rather than getting an education, but not always.

In 1883, the British Government passed the "Factory Act" to allocate funds to promote education in schools as well as limit their working hours to a maximum of 9 a day. Money was given to charities who would heavily subsidize tuition.

In 1844, the government-established Ragged Schools Union focused on educating poor children, while the Public Schools Act, created in 1868, brought reform to the public school system in Britain by establishing basic requirements for educational standards.

A similar story bore out in the United States with 50 schools founded in 1837.

Slavery and Colonization during the Industrial Revolution

Slavery and Colonization during the Industrial Revolution began to decline thanks to the massed adoption of machinery to replace human labor.

The increased demand for labor during the early stages of the revolution did increase demand for slaves initially, but this would dramatically fall over time.

Throughout this period, near full employment was achieved and many began to receive regular payments - an almost alien concept at the time. This shined a light on the clear differences between 'free' laborers and indentured slaves - this would eventually force society to consider the morality of the age-old practice of slavery.

This came to a head by 1807 when it was obvious that slavery was a moral abomination and it was abolished in the UK. After this time the British Navy and Government used " aggressive negotiations" to persuade other nations to follow suit and would spend the next 60 years policing slave trade routes around the world.

By 1850, legal factory reforms also restricted the use of child labor.

Urbanization and Housing during the Industrial Revolution

Urbanization and housing during the Industrial Revolution was a defining feature of the period. Mass migration from the countryside to the cities caused their populations to swell.

The process would often begin with the construction of a single or limited number of factories in one region. This would later provide a 'draw' or 'magnet' for other supplementary enterprises that can supply the factory, and its supply chain, directly with goods or provide goods and services to the workers.

This exponential growth in job opportunities further accelerates the 'draw' of people to the area.

These people would need to be housed in some fashion. Before large volumes of cheap and quick housing and tenements could be built slums would become commonplace in cities around industrializing nations.

Such large numbers of people in one place led to the construction of densely packed and cramped housing. These would prove to be ideal places for the spread of disease, as well as, the creation of new social orders.

Housing would vary widely depending on the occupant's means. Those with money often lived in splendor with poorer workers living in small homes with shared toilet facilities.

Housing quality would improve throughout the 19th Century as a number of public health acts were introduced. These would include the construction of sewerage systems and put restrictions on the construction of new homes as well as clearing out and improvement of slum areas.

Population Increase during the Industrial Revolution

Between 1700 and 1750, the population of England was pretty much stable with relatively small growth. As no official records exist for this period precise figures are impossible to calculate but what is clear is that there was a population explosion after around 1750 AD.

Estimates vary but most tend to agree that the population doubled over the century between 1750 and 1850. It is no coincidence that this is the period, more or less, of the first industrial revolution.

This increase in population was the result of various factors, like the revolution itself. This included changes in the legal age of marriage, improvements in health and medicine that decreased child mortality and an increase in birth rate.

Interestingly at this time, Brits married relatively late, if at all, compared to Europe. This was completely changed during the second half of the 18th century. More and younger couples began to tie the knot which, ultimately, led to a dramatic increase in birth rates.

This was, in turn, a direct result of the increase in relative income for much of the population during this period. In short, people could actually afford to start families and have more children.

Despite the fact that cities had become filthy and disease-ridden places to live, death rates actually fell. Improvements to diets, medicine, the introduction of hospitals, and improvements in general living conditions, dramatically improved during the revolution.

Life of women during the Industrial Revolution

The life of women was much the same as the rest of the population wherever industrialization occurred. Huge demands for labor would often see women joining the workforce, albeit in less physically demanded roles (for obvious reasons).

Economic necessity of many women, single and married, led to the need for them to find waged work outside their home. Most of their occupation included domestic service, textile factories, and workshops.

Some would even work in the coal mines.

For some, the Industrial Revolution provided independent wages, mobility and a better standard of living. For the majority, however, factory work in the early years of the 19th century resulted in a life of hardship.

Popular Writers during Industrial Revolution

Popular writers during the Industrial Revolution included political thinkers, philosophers, and the pioneers of science fiction. Like many of the arts, literature was heavily influenced by the Industrial Revolution.

Of the period one of the most influential was Adam Smith with his seminal n Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations published in 1776.

Generally speaking, in Europe, popular literature throughout this period was a reaction to the revolution. Many were concerned about the move away from nature (and its perceived destruction), and wide socioeconomic changes.

The revolution was also partly because of but also a catalyst for the scientific " Enlightenment". This fusion of British and French literature was inspired by the massive explosion in the scientific and technological understanding of the world, the retreat of religious fervor.

Its rise is widely attributed to, and optimized by, the works of great political philosophers like John Locke.

More reactionary literature included the writings of the English Novelist Blake. He would often speak of "dark satanic mills" and other authors like Shelley's Frankenstein would serve as a warning to humanities rapid scientific advancement (and in part gave birth to the Sci-Fi genre).

Other highly influential texts came from Germany in the writing of Goethe and Schiller, and in England in the poetry of Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, and Keats.

This would also be a time of enormous political change with the rise of new philosophies as a reaction to the perceived suffering of the working man. Karl Marx and his patron Freidrich Engels would write their highly inflammatory criticisms of capitalism and industrialization.

This would lead to other influential writers like Charles Dickens with his legendary criticisms of industrialized society at the time - notably Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.

These are, of course, but a few of the many great writers throughout this period.

Popular Artists during the Industrial Revolution

Popular artists during the Industrial Revolution is very broad subject and it is out of the scope of this guide to list them all. You can, however, view a reasonably complete list here.

The period between 1750 and 1914 completely changed the political, economic, societal and artistic landscape of Europe. These changes also influenced how people viewed, read, or heard artistic creations and what they expected from them.

Throughout this period, callbacks to previous forms "from a simpler time" were commonplace as well as the development of new styles. Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Modernism can trace their origin from this time.

The architecture of Europe was one area that changed considerably throughout this era.

By the outbreak of the first world war styles like Classicism that massively dominated at the start of the Industrial Revolution was just a memory in the wake of the dominance of Modernism at the time.

Popular Politicians during the Industrial Revolution

Popular Politicians during the Industrial Revolution or not, would for most seem to be a contradiction in terms today, but, believe it or not, many prominent politicians have garnered widespread respect from the populace in times gone by.

The most notable change on the political landscape during this period was the introduction and growth of classic British Liberalism. This philosophy would spread to Britain's colonies and ultimately lead to the American Revolution and writing of the Declaration of Independence.

In the United Kingdom, two of the most influential politicians ever (and bitter rivals), Sir William Gladstone and Sir Benjamin Disraeli would advocate for massive reforms and lead some of the most productive governments of all time.

Elsewhere the founding fathers of America were held in high regard in their time and are still honored and remembered today.

Political Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

The political consequences of the Industrial Revolution varied around the world. As a general rule, wherever industrialization occurred, the massive advancements in technology fostered a sense of national pride, and identity.

Other political changes included an increase in the colonization of less developed nations, like in Africa. The technological superiority of European nations enabled a far easier expansion into the continent that would have been possible during the Middle Ages.

This was mirrored in the United States, where the technological superiority of the European Americans enabled them to quickly and efficiently spread from East to West across the country. Often to the detriment of the indigenous peoples.

In Japan, their traditional feudal system was cast aside in favor of aligning their politics in a similar fashion to European nations.

Other notable political changes include:

A marked increase in literacy and education also increased political awareness amongst the populace. This would ultimately lead to the development of new political theories from democracy, anarchism to socialism/communism.

The Industrial Revolution would ultimately pave the way for slave and female emancipation. Women's increased representation in the workforce would ultimately fuel political movements for fairer representation in political spheres.

The abolition of slavery is probably the most fundamentally important political changes throughout this period.

Nationalism led to the development of the concept of the citizen rather than the subject. This would ultimately lead to the abolition of feudalism around the world.

World War I and the Industrial Revolution

World War 1 is widely considered to be the end of the Second Industrial Revolution. The ability to mass produce products to very high engineering standards meant that, from a military perspective, things would never be the same again.

Technological development and their manufacture would be greatly accelerated throughout this period. New technologies like aircraft and tanks would be developed and built in huge numbers.

The ability to manufacture en masse artillery pieces and machine guns would mean the first world war would, effectively, descend into industrial-scale mass slaughter on both sides. In fact, the majority of battlefield mortalities during this period was the result of artillery not small arms fire from weapons like the machine gun.

This explains the seemingly counterproductive tendency of troops to walk rather than run or crawl when assaulting enemy positions. Crawling exposed men to artillery, running would mean they might not have the energy to fight the enemy, therefore walking was a logical trade-off.

In conclusion, the enormous death tolls of the first world war were, in part, the product of the manufacturing prowess of the industrialized nations. war and society at large would never be the same again.

World War II and the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is widely agreed to have occurred between 1760 and 1914. As WWII began in 1939 it was, therefore, after the Industrial Revolution.

Colonization, Slavery and the Industrial Revolution

The British Empire and her American Colonies would initially benefit from slavery during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. This was because industrialized regions became magnets for labor leaving the need for additional workers in the factories and on the farms.

The greater efficiency of technology over human labor soon became apparent. Philosophical changes in the 'Anglo-sphere' also began to hold a dim view of slavery across the societal hierarchy.

For this reason, slavery was eventually abolished in the United Kingdom in 1807 after a long period of campaigning lobbying by interest groups. The British would spend the next 60 years policing the seas and persuading other nations to follow suit.

Industrial Revolution Summary

The Industrial Revolution began in in the United Kingdom in the mid-18th Century and quickly spread around the world. It would literally transform the world as everyone knew it at the time.

Some historians like J. Clapham and N. Craft, reasonably argue that rather than a single event, this period of history should be considered more of an evolution or culmination of successive advancements.

Whatever the case may be, this was undoubtedly one of the most rapid periods of change in human history. It is easy for us today to take this period of time for granted, after all, it was several hundred years ago, but the modern world would be very different without it.

The changes it would bring to the world would be both positive and negative.

Birth rates rose, death rates plunged and cities grew to sizes unseen since the Roman Empire. Such enormous increases in population would also create new problems.

Overcrowding was common, disease and poor sanitation a regular everyday occurrence, death and injury part of the working day. This was coupled with long working hours and the conscription of children and women into the workforce to help ends meet.

This era led to revolutionary changes in socioeconomic, geo- and domestic political changes and scientific advancements. New ways of thinking would sprout up.

Classic liberalism emerged leading to the liberal democratic societies once symbolic of the developed western hemisphere as well as the notion of national pride.

Poor living and working conditions would lead to inter-class grievances that would ultimately provide fertile ground for new political theories. It would also significantly influence the arts and produce some of the finest composers, artists, and writers of all time.

This would ultimately lead to the emancipation of slaves of all colors and creeds, women would become equal under the law and children (for the first time in history) would be taken, at least partially, out of the workforce and educated.

The rapid development of technology had its darker side too. It would, ultimately, lead to the industrial scale killing seen in the American Revolutionary Wars and World Wars of the early to mid 20th Century.

Despite the very reasonable criticisms of the period, most historians agree that the Industrial Revolution has been greatly beneficial for mankind in the long run. After all, you wouldn't be able to read this sentence without it having occurred.

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Industrial Revolution - The Ultimate Guide to This Game Changing Period

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The Industrial Revolution was one of the most significant 'game-changing' periods in human history. A spark set in the heart of the United Kingdom in mid-1700's would create a wildfire that would engulf the world in a matter of decades.

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In 1804, Thomas Jefferson ordered Meriwhether Lewis to explore lands west of the Mississippi River. Lewis chose William Clark as his right-hand-man. This 8,000 miles long journey was successful, and gave new insight on geographic, ecological, and social information about undiscovered parts of North America.

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Lewis and Clark: Expedition, Purpose & Facts - HISTORY

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 when Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

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During the territorial expansion of the US in the 1800s, the philosophy of the "Manifest Destiny" was created to justify the removal of Natives and other groups who inhabited these areas. Advocates of the Manifest Destiny stated that it was "destined by God" that the US expand and spread democracy and capitalism.

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Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, is the idea that the United States is destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread

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Some of America's first immigrants were from Europe, and they came over in search of religious freedom.
African slaves were considered immigrants at the time even though they were brought over against their will.
Later, many people from all over the world fled to the United States as it was perceived to be the land of economic opportunity.

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Group of Immigrants Cabinet of American Illustration

In the late 1800s, people in many parts of the world decided to leave their homes and immigrate to the United States. Fleeing crop failure, land and job shortages, rising taxes, and famine, many came to the U. S. because it was perceived as the land of economic opportunity. Others came seeking personal freedom or relief from political and religious persecution, and nearly 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900. During the 1870s and 1880s, the vast majority of these people were from Germany, Ireland, and England - the principal sources of immigration before the Civil War. Even so, a relatively large group of Chinese immigrated to the United States between the start of the California gold rush in 1849 and 1882, when federal law stopped their immigration.

With the onset of hard economic times in the 1870s, European immigrants and Americans began to compete for the jobs traditionally reserved for the Chinese. With economic competition came dislike and even racial suspicion and hatred. Such feelings were accompanied by anti-Chinese riots and pressure, especially in California, for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants from the United States. The result of this pressure was the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in 1882. This Act virtually ended Chinese immigration for nearly a century.

Immigrants entered the United States through several ports. Those from Europe generally came through East Coast facilities, while those from Asia generally entered through West Coast centers. More than 70 percent of all immigrants, however, entered through New York City, which came to be known as the "Golden Door." Throughout the late 1800s, most immigrants arriving in New York entered at the Castle Garden depot near the tip of Manhattan. In 1892, the federal government opened a new immigration processing center on Ellis Island in New York harbor.

Although immigrants often settled near ports of entry, a large number did find their way inland. Many states, especially those with sparse populations, actively sought to attract immigrants by offering jobs or land for farming. Many immigrants wanted to move to communities established by previous settlers from their homelands.

Once settled, immigrants looked for work. There were never enough jobs, and employers often took advantage of the immigrants. Men were generally paid less than other workers, and women less than men. Social tensions were also part of the immigrant experience. Often stereotyped and discriminated against, many immigrants suffered verbal and physical abuse because they were "different." While large-scale immigration created many social tensions, it also produced a new vitality in the cities and states in which the immigrants settled. The newcomers helped transform American society and culture, demonstrating that diversity, as well as unity, is a source of national strength.

To find other documents in Loc.gov relating to this topic, use such key words as immigration or immigrants, or include the names of specific immigrant or ethnic groups, such as German, Irish, Scandinavian, Swedish, Norwegian, or Chinese.

Documents

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Immigration to the United States, 1851-1900 | Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress

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In the late 1800s, people in many parts of the world decided to leave their homes and immigrate to the United States.

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Jefferson Davis was first and only President of the Confederacy during the Civil War. He sought out to avoid Civil War, but ironically was chosen to lead the Confederacy during the Civil War. Before his Presidency, he was in the Army, owned a cotton plantation, was elected to the House of Representatives, and a member of the U.S. Senate.

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Jefferson Davis - First President of the Confederacy | Mini Bio | BIO

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Born and growing up enslaved in Maryland, Douglass would trade food for reading materials. He later set up a secret Sunday school, where he would teach other enslaved people how to read and write. At 20 years old, Douglass escaped from Maryland (slave state), to New York (free state). He began sharing his story and writing, becoming an embodiment of the impacts of slavery. He was later appointed as U.S. Marshal over the District of Columbia by the Senate, and later a presidential advisor.

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(Image credit: George Kendall Warren)

Though he started life as a slave, Frederick Douglass became an abolitionist, orator, writer, statesman and ambassador. He liberated himself in 1838 and in 1845 published his first autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," (The Anti-Slavery Office, 1845). The book, alongside his work for the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, helped him become one of the most famous African American men of his era.

Born into slavery

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born around February 1818, although no records exist of the exact date) in Talbot County, Maryland. His mother was sent away to another plantation when he was a baby, and he saw her only a handful of times in the dark of night, when she would walk 12 miles to visit him. She died when he was seven years old.

Douglass was moved several times throughout his childhood, living on several Maryland farms and in households in the city of Baltimore. Douglass would later claim in his autobiography that his move to Baltimore "laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity."
Related: 4 myths about the history of American slavery
One slaveholder, Sophia Auld, took a great interest in Douglass when he was 12 and taught him the alphabet, but her husband disapproved of teaching slaves to read and write. Eventually, Auld ceased her lessons and hid his reading materials.

But Douglass continued to find ways to learn, trading bread with street children for reading lessons. The more he read, the more tools he gained to question and condemn slavery. By 1834, while working on a new plantation, Douglass set up a secret Sunday school where around 40 slaves would gather and learn to read the New Testament. After neighboring plantation owners became aware of these clandestine meetings, they attacked the group with stones and clubs, permanently dispersing the school.

In 1837, Douglass met Anna Murray, a free Black woman in Baltimore who was five years his senior. The pair quickly fell in love and Murray encouraged him to escape. The following year, in 1838, aged 20, Douglass made his break from the shackles of slavery.

(Image credit: Samuel J. Miller)

Escape and the abolitionist movement

In under 24 hours Douglass traveled from Maryland, a slave state, to New York, a free state, boarding northbound trains, ferries, and steamboats. Along the way, Douglass even disguised himself in a sailor's uniform to avoid detection. Upon setting foot in New York, Douglass was free to decide the direction of his own life for the first time. Murray joined him and they were quickly married, settling on the new name "Douglass." According to his autobiography, the new surname was inspired by Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lady of the Lake."

Moving between abolitionist stronghold towns in Massachusetts, the pair became active members of the church community attended by many prominent former slaves, including Sojourner Truth and later Harriet Tubman.
Related: What shaped Martin Luther King Jr.'s prophetic voice?
By 1839 Douglass was a licensed preacher, a role in which he honed his speaking skills. He was also an active attendee of abolitionist meetings and, at age 23, gave his first anti-slavery speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society Convention in Nantucket.

(Image credit: Public domain, photographer unknown)

As one of few men to have escaped slavery with a willingness and ability to speak about his experiences, Douglass became a living embodiment of the impacts of slavery and an image of Black stature and intellect.

In an interview with , historian David W. Blight, author of "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom," (Simon & Schuster, 2018), claimed that certain white abolitionists "wanted Douglass to simply get up and tell his story, to tell his narrative on the platform. They didn't want him to speak about Northern racism, to take on the whole picture of the anti-slavery movement as much as he did." This strained Douglass' relationships with some other major abolitionists. Nevertheless, Douglass continued to recognize the power of challenging and reshaping harmful caricatures of Black people.

Douglass published his autobiography in 1845. Its subsequent success and acclaim led historian James Matlack to describe it as "the best-known and most influential slave narrative written in America" in a 1960 article from the journal .

As his fame grew - and as threats to his life and freedom from pro-slavery groups also grew, according to a memoir written by his daughter Rosetta Douglass Sprague in a 1923 edition of The Journal of Negro History - Douglass left his family and spent two years touring Ireland and Britain between 1845 and 1847. He spent the trip lecturing and meeting with members of Britain's abolition movement. It was during this time that Douglass gained legal freedom and protection from recapture, with English acquaintances raising the funds to officially buy his freedom.

(Image credit: Library of Congress/Popular Graphic Arts)

He returned to the U.S. with an additional £500 donated by English supporters and used it to set up his first abolitionist newspaper, "The North Star." Alongside this, he and his wife were active in the Underground Railroad, taking over 400 escaped slaves into their home.
Related: Women's suffrage anniversary: Which countries led the way?
Women's suffrage

Douglass was an advocate for dialogue and alliances across ideological divides. Notably, he was a supporter of women's suffrage campaigns and was a close friend of women's suffrage campaigners Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? ...To him, your celebration is a sham.

Frederick Douglass

However, Douglass came into conflict with the women's suffrage movement through his support of the Fifteenth Amendment, passed on Feb. 26, 1869, which gave Black men the right to vote, but not women. Douglass's stance on the Fifteenth Amendment, and the opposition of some women's suffrage campaigners to Black suffrage, caused a rift within the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which broke up in 1869, according to the Arlington Public Library.

Douglass continued to argue in his book "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," (De Wolfe, Fiske & Co. 1892) that the disenfranchisement of women was equally damaging to the United States as the denial of Black citizens' right to vote. "I would give woman a vote, give her a motive to qualify herself to vote, precisely as I insisted upon giving the colored man the right to vote," he wrote.

The "Fourth of July" speech

On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, "What to the slave is the Fourth of July," to the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York.

"I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July!" he said. " What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham."

In the speech, Douglass made the case that positive statements about the U.S. and its independence were an affront to enslaved people, who could not share in the nation's celebration of liberty.

Political career

Douglass published three versions of his life story, in 1845, 1855 and 1881 (with a revised edition in 1892). By the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, he was one of the most famous Black men in the U.S. as well as both an ardent supporter and honest critic of Abraham Lincoln. Later, during the Reconstruction era, Douglass received several political appointments, including President of the Freedman's Savings Bank.

(Image credit: Public Domain)

Douglass supported Ulysses S. Grant's 1868 presidential campaign amid a violent period of backlash against newly emancipated slaves and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Later, in 1889, President Harrison appointed him as the U.S. Minister Resident and Consul-General to Haiti, and the chargé d'affaires to Santo Domingo.

In 1872 he became the first African American to be nominated for vice president of the United States (though without his knowledge or approval).

Later years and legacy

The end of Douglass' life was turbulent. According to the U.S. Library of Congress timeline of his life, he was forced to flee into exile after being accused of collaborating with radical abolitionists who attempted to raid Harpers Ferry in 1859. In 1872, per the New York Times, his home was burned down in an arson attack, causing him to move to Washington, D.C. with his family.
This article was adapted from a previous version published in All About History magazine, a Future Ltd. publication. To learn more about some of history's most incredible stories, subscribe to All About History magazine.
His family life also became a focus of gossip and scandal: According to Smithsonian magazine, he was rumored to have had two affairs with white women while his wife Anna was alive. She died in 1880, and Douglass was married again less than two years later to Helen Pitts, a white suffragist and abolitionist 20 years his junior.

His affairs and controversial second marriage tainted Douglass' reputation. Later accounts like Rosetta Douglass Sprague's memories of her mother cast a sympathetic light on their mother, Anna Douglass, who remained Douglass' most ardent supporter through controversy and infidelity.

Douglass continued touring and traveling, speaking and campaigning into his final days - to his very last moments. After receiving a standing ovation for a speech on women's suffrage in 1895, the 77-year-old Douglass collapsed from a heart attack. Thousands passed by his coffin to pay their respects, and he continues to be honored by countless statues, remembrances and plaques across the globe.

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Frederick Douglass: The slave who became a statesman

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(Image credit: George Kendall Warren) Though he started life as a slave, Frederick Douglass became an abolitionist, orator, writer, statesman and ambassador. He liberated himself in 1838 and in 1845 published his first autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave ," (The Anti-Slavery Office, 1845).

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The Reconstruction Era is the period following the Civil War, where the government attempted to reap the damages of the Civil War and slavery. The Northern vision of Reconstruction was not accepted fully by the South.

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What was the Reconstruction era?

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Transcript

The period after the American Civil War is known as the Reconstruction era, when the United States grappled with reintegrating seceded states into the Union and determining the legal status of formerly enslaved Black Americans.
It's also a time rife with historical misconceptions-and without looking close, it may be hard to determine what really happened.
When was the Reconstruction era?
Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877. It began after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. His successor Andrew Johnson initiated what was called Presidential Reconstruction: the steps taken by the federal government from 1865 to 1867 to ensure that the nation would come back together. The second phase, known as Radical Reconstruction, was led by Congress and sought to secure the political and civil rights of formerly enslaved people. It lasted from 1867 to 1877.
What did Presidential Reconstruction look like?
Led by Johnson, Presidential Reconstruction was extremely lenient to the reintegrated South. All Southern whites, except wealthy landowners and Confederate leaders, received a blanket pardon for secession; most of those who didn't would later receive individual pardons.
As long as they agreed to abolish slavery and pay Confederate debts, Southern governments were allowed to manage their affairs as they pleased, including passing laws that limited the legal rights of Black Americans.
How was Reconstruction received by the American people?
Presidential Reconstruction frustrated many people. White Northern voters in the autumn 1866 congressional elections pressured lawmakers to begin anew, and the period of Radical Reconstruction followed as the new Congress outlined new rules for how Southern states could manage their governments. With voting rights now enforced nationwide for all men regardless of race, Black Southerners and antislavery white Southern allies precipitated the rise of the Republican Party in the former Confederate states.
African Americans were elected to public office throughout the South, some of them winning seats in Congress.
Who opposed Radical Reconstruction?
Many white Southerners, especially those who had been proslavery, were resentful of governments populated by Black Americans.
As multiracial governments passed laws against racial discrimination and segregation, bitter white Southerners spread the myth that Reconstruction was secretly establishing "Black supremacy" over whites.
How did Reconstruction end?
As anti-Reconstruction whites blamed Southern governmental corruption on the exclusion of wealthy white landowners, white Northern Republicans began getting more conservative.
Slowly, Republicans-and thus Black American voters-began losing power in the South. When Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president in 1876, he acknowledged and accepted Democratic control over the South.
By the turn of the century, white Amercicans once again had almost full control. Racial segregation and the disenfranchisement of Black voters were enforced, with no government censure in sight.

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What Happened After the Civil War? | The Reconstruction Era

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Learn more about the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War.

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During the Jim Crow era, one of many unfair laws that were tried in the Supreme Court were Plessy v. Ferguson. Plessy argued against the law that stated African Americans cannot sit in the same railway coach that white passengers can in Louisiana, and Judge Ferguson agreed with the law, so the case went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the "separate but equal" railway coach law is not discriminatory. (The law was later overturned in the Brown v. Board of Education case.)

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Plessy v. Ferguson Summary | quimbee.com

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After slavery was abolished, African Americans still faced many challenges like: segregated schools, facilities, housing, red-lining, and overall minority-targeted ordinances. Segregation is the separation of people into racial or ethnic groups.

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Segregation in the United States - HISTORY