Union Dissolves North&South FaceOff
By: Marisa Mortari
Crittenden Compromise
Since 7 states had seceded from the union, a senator from Kentucky, John J. Crittenden, wrote the Crittenden compromise. The compromise stated that the line "drawn" in the Mississippi compromise be redrawn west through the remaining territories. North of the line, slavery would be illegal, and south of the line slavery would be allowed to expand. Lincoln quickly rejected this. if he would have let slavery expand, many republicans, who supported him, would have been very unhappy with his decision and not supported him anymore. Lincoln did however support the Crittenden's plan only in the part that protected slavery where it already existed.
Immidiate consequences for the fall of Fort Sumter for the Union and border states
- Union lost more states to Confederacy: North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas
- Some border states (Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri) were unable to decide if they should secede or not
- In order to secure border states, Lincoln had to use federal troops to ensure that the states would stay in the union
- Slavery remained legal in slave states that remained in the Union
"A rich man's war and a poor man's fight"
This statement about the civil war meant that everyone was fighting for something.Poor African American men were fighting for their family and their own human rights. The rich southern farmers were fighting to be free from the union and keep their slaves.
Women and African American American men during the war
- About 100 African Americans were commissioned officers
- About 180,000 African American men served in the Union army
Military Experience of the Soldiers during the War
- Recruits from both Union and Confederacy were enthusiastic when they enlisted, but they had little military experience
- Shortages: clothing food, and rifles
- some troops lacked: good shoes & warm coats (confederacy)
- lack of provisions and unsanitary conditions
- deadly diseases (influenza, pneumonia, typhoid fever)
- some soldier went through surgery without pain killers
- worst condition were in POW camps in the north and south
- soldiers had extreme boredom, homesickness and loneliness
Reasons for Northern Democrats and Upper class whites to oppose the war
- Some northerners sympathized with the south-urged peace
- some thought the cost (money and human lives) was too high
- Norther Democrats who sympathized with the south were called Copperheads
- Copperheads limited antiwar activities to speeches and newspaper articles
- Many copperheads were arrested and held without trial