Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is an active group of people who believe in white supremacy, nationalism, and are anti-immigration. They have been expressed historically as the United States' first domestic terrorist group. The KKK is also anti-communist. They don't believe things should be equal for everyone. They believe white people are the supreme and divine race. It has, today, 5,000 to 8,000 members. The first Klan was created in the South in the 1860s. It then went pretty much went away by the early 1870s. Members wear white costumes. They wear robes, masks, and pointy masks to disguise their real identities. The first Klan used public violence. They would burn houses, attack, and kill black people. Most of the time, the bodies were left on the streets. The KKK also didn't want blacks voting. They did everything they could, killing thousands of blacks just weeks before the voting dates. The KKK even started killing, wounding, and threatening whites who were trying to help the blacks vote.

Image From: KKK Website

Henry McNeal Turner and black legislators

Henry McNeal Turner was a minister, a politician, and the first Southern bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He organized new congregations for blacks in Georgia after the Civil War. He was born in free South Carolina where he learned to read, write, and became a Methodist preacher. He joined the church in 1858 in St. Louis, where he became a minister. In the Civil War, Henry was the first black chaplain in the US Colored Troops. After that, he was appointed to the Freedmen's Bureau in Georgia. He lived in Macon and was elected into the Georgia legislature in 1868. There he built many churches. In September of 1868, the legislature kicked out the African-American members of the legislator. These blacks, led by Turner, got the federal government to get them their seats back. Because of the support from all the black legislators (about 69) public education was adopted and started in Georgia. In 1880, Turner was elected the first Southern bishop. Turner then began supporting the emigration of blacks back to Africa.

Image From: Wikipedia

13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

The 13th Amendment said that slavery would not be allowed to exist in the Union. The 14th Amendment said that states couldn't limit the rights of its citizens, they can't take away life, liberty, or property without reason from the law. No man can be denied protection. The 14th Amendment also states that citizenship can be given to all people, no matter their sin color. Due process is the fact that the government has to respect someone's legal rights and how they cannot refuse to give rights to certain people. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution states that all men can vote, no matter the color of their skin or if they had once been a slave. Former slaves were also allowed to get married. They could read and write, some even became political leaders because these Amendments were passed.


Image From: History Tunes

Reconstruction plans

Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction was never able to be carried out because of his death. But from the beginning of the war, Lincoln just wanted the South to come peacefully back into the Union. That is why in his plan, only 10% of the residents in the former Confederacy would have to sign an oath of loyalty saying that they would form a new government and re-enter the Union. Every one in the South would be forgiven and given a pardon, even those who still supported the Confederacy. States would also need to accept the Emancipation Proclamation. Many Republicans thought that Lincoln was being too easy on the rebels. The rebels were considered traitors to their nation after all. So, led by the Radical Republicans, the Wade-Davis bill was passed in 1864. In the plan, 50% of the residents in the South would have to swear the oath to the United States. It didn't make states pass the Emancipation, but left it to the courts to enforce that rule. Andrew Johnson was a democrat from the south who disliked any Southerner born with privileges. He became the next president after Lincoln was assassinated. Under his plan, all high-ranking officials and wealthy land owners had to receive a special pardon to be able to vote or hold office. The new government had to agree to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which made slavery illegal. His plan didn't help freed slaves and it also allowed for Jim Crow laws and Black Codes to exist. According to his plan, all Southern leaders had to be re-elected after they had received their pardons.

Sharecropping/tenant farming

After the Civil War, thousands of slaves and white people didn't have any land because they couldn't afford it. They couldn't purchase seeds, animals, land, or equipment to begin farming again. Farm owners couldn't afford as many workers. The Union had left the South in a terrible economic spot. Most of Georgia's land was burned and damaged, nothing was easy. The owners of the land needed people who wouldn't be paid until the crop was harvested. A lot of landowners turned there land into small sections and started a tenant system. Many of the now free black people became tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Tenant farmers usually paid the owner for the land and the house. They owned all of the crops they planted and made decisions for themselves. After the crop was harvested, the tenants would sell it and with that, he would pay the landowner. Sharecroppers didn't own really anything. They borrowed all of the supplies, land, and livestock they needed from the landowners. Sharecroppers usually had their entire family working in the fields. They had no control over which crops they had to plant or how they got sold. After they harvested the crop, the landowner would sell it and put the money in the sharecroppers account. Most sharecroppers bought everything they needed on credit. They hoped to make enough money in the harvest to pay off the debt. By 1890, one out of every three white farmers were sharecroppers or tenants and three out of four blacks were sharecroppers or tenants.

Image From: Learnnc.org

Freedman's bureau

Freedman's bureau was a way to help freed slaves and poor white people get food, clothing, medical care, and legal advice. It was a major part of Reconstruction in the South. After reconstruction, what were the freed slaves supposed to do? They had no money and usually nothing besides maybe a blanket and the clothes on their back. This was how the US government tried to force the South to give the black people rights. The Freedman's Bureau also helped build schools for blacks who had never been educated. Blacks got blacks many more opportunities to live better and prosper.

Image From: Wikipedia

Andersonville

Andersonville was the Confederate's largest prison camp. The original name for Andersonville was Camp Sumpter. It was located in southwest Georgia. John McElroy and five hundred other men entered the camp together in 1864. Almost 45,000 prisoners were admitted into Andersonville in the 14-months it existed, 13,000 would never see the outside of those gates. The prison was originally built after the Confederates wanted to move some Union soldiers from the prison in Richmond to somewhere far away from the center of the war. They needed somewhere that less soldiers would be needed to guard the prisoners, and raids to free them would be more unlikely. They also needed somewhere that had a lot of food. Andersonville was located 65 miles away from Macon, Georgia, in the middle of nowhere. The town was by a river and was very agriculturally based. It was perfect. The prison ended up being 16 1/2 acres. Construction began in January of 1864. Logs were used to build a stockade, something to keep the prisoners from escaping. Approximately 19 feet away from the stockade was the deadline. Any prisoner who crossed the deadline could be shot by the guards, no questions asked.

Image From: nps.gov

Sherman's March to the Sea

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.
--William Tecumseh Sherman

Sherman's March to the Sea is one of the most controversial aspects of the civil war. Ulysses S. Grant told Sherman to create chaos and to destroy resources that could benefit the Confederacy. Sherman began the Atlanta Campaign in May of 1864. After he captured Atlanta, he marched his army to the sea. On the way to the sea, the soldiers had permission to steal anything they would need from the farms of the Confederates. When he was on the borders of Savannah, he was in charge of fifty to sixty thousand men. He planned to bombard the city. Then, he continued marching up to South Carolina and afterwards, North Carolina.

Image From: Wikipedia

Sherman's Atlanta Campaign

During the summer of 1864 towards the end of the civil war, Union General Sherman fought Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood in battles through north Georgia. Sherman wanted to destroy the Army of Tennessee, cut off supply lines to the Confederacy and capture Atlanta. Sherman failed to destroy the army, but he forced Atlanta to surrender in September of 1864. This greatly helped win votes for Lincoln's re-election and also boosted the soldiers of the Union's morale. Atlanta was now under Union control, and Sherman decided that he was going to march all the way to the sea. In which he would destroy most of the countryside and hurried the coming of the end of the war. Before he left, he ordered that all military supplies in Atlanta be burned. The soldiers got a little out of control and instead, burned the entire city. In which he would destroy most of the countryside and hurried the coming of the end of the war.

Image From: Wikipedia

Union blockade of GA's coast

The Union blockade was issued by Abraham Lincoln on April 19, 1861. The Union's plan was to stop supplies from getting in the South, and also to make it almost impossible for them to export. Some ships tried to make it around the Union's Blockade. These ships were called blockade runners. They were high-speed ships, but they had little capacity for goods on board. Five sixths of the time they were successful. But since they were carrying less cargo, there were less goods that made it into Georgia. Also, traders didn't want to take the chance of having their ship be intercepted. The end result of the blockade was that the Southern economy was failing and less supplies would make it into the country.

Chickamauga

The Battle of Chickamauga was the largest battle in the Western part of the Civil War, the second largest in the war following only Gettysburg. It was the worst loss for the Union in the 'Western Theatre', as they call it. The battle was the end of the Union's Chickamauga Campaign, it was technically a victory for the Confederacy. The Union Army discouraged going further into Georgia at the time. The Union, however, did capture Chattanooga. On the right is a picture of Major General William Rosecrans. His army was the Cumberland Army. He was one of the generals who helped the Union capture Chattanooga, which was a major chess piece in the game of war. Chattanooga was a big railway supply center for the rebels. The Union also had an advantage with the guns they were using, called 'Spencer Rifles'.

Gettysburg

Gettysburg was a battle that lasted for three days. It had the largest amount of casualties in one battle in the entire Civil War. In the battle, the Confederates were losing. They took one last desperate chance, Pickett's Charge. General Pickett led his soldiers to attack the center of the Union lines. It was a bad move. The rebels lost over fifty percent of their men in this one battle command. Gettysburg was a Union victory. If the Confederates had won, they might have won the war. That is how important this battle was. European powers would have probably come to help the rebels if they had won. The fate of the war was decided at this battle. After the battle, Lincoln came and gave his famous speech, The Gettysburg Address. It motivated all of the soldiers in the Union to fight even harder so that these dead did not die in vain.

Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation was put into effect on January 1st, 1863, but it had been in the works for months before. Lincoln first introduced the idea in summer of 1862. Lincoln thought if the slaves were free, the war would end because the South couldn't use slaves as laborers anymore. The only concern was if Lincoln could actually enforce the law and protect the free slaves. The proclamation was first issued a few days after the victory at Antietam. The Proclamation had a huge effect on the war. The Proclamation allowed African-Americans in rebel states to be free, border states were an exception. The Proclamation also allowed free blacks to join the Union army. By the end of the war, 200,000 blacks soldiers had served on the Union side. The Emancipation Proclamation led the way to the 13th Amendment, which officially abolished slavery.

Image from:  Memory.loc.gov

Antietam

The battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day of the civil war. 2,108 Union soldiers died that day, and 10,293 more were missing. In comparison to the bloodiest battle for the US in World War I, the losses of the Union at Antietam were double those of the losses at D-Day. The total of the Union and the Confederate losses was at least nine times the amount lost at D-Day. Confederates lost less men, 10,318 to be exact, Robert E. Lee lost a quarter of his army. At Antietam, Lee failed at his attempt to infiltrate the Union and lost any support he could have gained from Europe if he had succeeded. The War of 1812's casualties, the Mexican War's casualties, and the Spanish-American war's casualties, if combined and doubled, would equal the casualties of the one day in Sharpsburg. The First Texas Infantry lost 82% of its men in a cornfield in those 12-hours in Sharpsburg. This is the highest casualty rate in any Confederate regiment in one battle. This battle led to Lincoln creating the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves in the Confederate states and allowed slaves to fight in battle.

Picture from:  Wikipedia

Secession in GA and Alexander Stephens's Role

The convention for secession in Georgia was held at Milledgeville. Milledgeville was the capitol of Georgia in 1861. There were nicknames for the people who were for secession, and the people who were against. Secessionists wanted to leave the Union asap, while cooperationists were wary of the idea. In the end, the secessionists got what they wanted and Georgia seceded from the Union. Alexander Stephens was a cooperationist. He didn't know what would happen if Georgia seceded, but he knew it would happen eventually. When Georgia seceded, Stephens became Vice President of the Confederacy. Alexander and the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, were very close. But after a while, they became more concerned about military tactics than being best friends who make friendship bracelets and have pillow fights.

The Election of 1860

The candidates in the election of 1860 were Abraham Lincoln (for the republicans), Stephen Douglas and John Breckinridge (for the Democrats, and John Bell (for the Constitutional Union). The Constitution Union only wanted to keep the union intact and didn't have an opinion on slavery. Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery into the new territories. Douglas wanted the people to decide for themselves and Breckinridge wanted to make sure that people could own slaves in new territories. Lincoln and Douglas had debated before over the Mexican War. Douglas and Lincoln were both running for Senate. He lost that election but gained national recognition. An interesting fact about Breckinridge is that he was President Buchanan's VP, therefore being the youngest person to hold office at age 35. Lincoln did not win the popular vote, but he did win the election. That is why the Election of 1860 was so controversial. Southerners didn't think it was fair for him to be president and not win the popular vote.

Photo from:  history1800s.about.com

Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott was born into slavery in Virginia. He then traveled Westwar into St. Louis with his mater, Peter Blow. He stayed with his master for almost thirty years. Then, his mater died, and Scott was sold to an army surgeon named John Emerson. John Emerson was then transferred Wisconsin. There Scott married Harriet Robinson. The Scotts moved back to St. Louis in 1842. A year after tat, Emerson died and the Scotts now belonged to Mrs. Emerson. Dred Scott attempted to buy his freedom from Mrs. Emerson, but she refused. After this, Scott sued her for his freedom in a Missouri court. An interesting fact is that shortly after the case in Missouri court, Mrs. Emerson sold the Scotts to her brother, who lived in New York. Because of this, the Scotts were able to take the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court heard Dred Scotts' case in February of 1856. The decision was made in March of 1857.  The decision said that the Scotts were non-citizens and that they couldn't appear before the court. Also, the decision pretty much canceled the Missouri Compromise. The Dred Scott case allowed slavery in non-slave states.

States' Right, Nullification, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, the GA Platform, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

     States' rights was the idea that the states could have more power. It would also limit the federal powers. This was one difference between the North and South at the start of the civil war. South wanted states' rights because they wanted slavery. It was their main source of income. The North kind of ignored their wishes and made a law to abolish slavery. The South wasn't very accepting, so therefore they nullified this law. Nullification is ignoring the entire law because they believe it is unconstitutional. The Missouri Compromise tried to ease some of the tension between the two opposing sides. It stated that every state over the latitude 35'30' was anti-slavery and every state south of that in the pro-slavery.  The Compromise of 1850 was when California wanted to come into the Union. The compromise included Texas coming into the US and the government paying all of their debt, Texas would also divide, the buying and selling of slaves was not tolerated in D.C, California came to the Union, and the Fugitive Slave Act was created. The Georgia Platform was the meeting in which Georgia decided to secede.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act totally repelled the Missouri Compromise. It let slavery into the North and was a huge cause of the civil war. 

Slavery As a Cause

Slavery, right before the civil war, had been around for a really long time. For the South, it was a huge part of their economy. Meanwhile in the North, there wasn't much slavery going on. Slavery was also frowned upon in the North, but it wasn't given up in the South. The South depended on its slaves, without them their entire economy would crash and burn. Southerners grew up on huge plantations that grew large amounts of crops, such as rice, sugar, cotton, etc. Cotton became the most important after the cotton gin was invented. Hundreds of slaves could be working on one plantation. Conditions were bad. Slaves weren't given much food, clothing, and the majority shared a small cabin with ten or more people. The luckiest slaves were the house servants, if you could even call it lucky. They often lived in the mansion and would develop a closer relationship with the owners. They didn't have to work in the fields. All slaves who did something wrong were punished. Punishments ranged from whipping to execution. It was a tough life to live. In the North,  they didn't have big plantations. It was nearly impossible to grow anything in their soil. They had factories instead. The factory workers were more sympathetic with slaves. They often had bad working conditions. Even though they weren't nearly as bad, it was the first time a white man really knew what some slaves had to cope with. Pay was low, hours were long, workplaces were dangerous, and workers had to follow the expectations of their employers. This lead to anti-slave meetings (such as the one above) and rough edges between the North and South.

(photo from American Memory)