Issues that divided the nation

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Compromises

War Begins

States Divided

Reconstruction

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How the United States Divided

The Lincoln administration regarded Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as Border States, very important because of their geographical positions and questionable in loyalty because of their strong ties to both South and North. Slavery existed in all 4 states. The Border States represented a real problem for President Lincoln. He was sure that these states were the key to a Union Victory and he didn’t want to upset them with talks about emancipation policies. Lincoln was blasted (bullied) by Northern Folks who wanted slavery abolished. He’d have to put up with it until after the war when the 13^th Amendment was passed in 1865, sadly, he died before ever seeing African Americans free. 

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN

• President of the US
• opposed the spread of slavery
• issued the Emancipation Proclamation
• determined to preserve the Union—by force if necessary
• believed the US was one nation, not a collection of independent states
• wrote the Gettysburg Address that said the Civil War was to preserve a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

JEFFERSON DAVIS - Born in Kentucky on June 3, 1808.

President of the Confederate States of America
Jefferson came to the presidency with a lot of experience compared to Lincoln. He was former war secretary and had once been called one of the most effective to hold that position. It was Davis that has been credited for modernizing the U.S. Army. He was a West Point Graduate, a decorated veteran and hero of the Mexican War. Though born in Kentucky, he was a plantation owner in Mississippi and was a progressive slave owner, allowing them to take what food they wanted rather than being rationed. The slaves were also permitted to chose their own names, and their housing was better than standard slave quarters. All this sounds great, but Davis still believed his slaves were property and protected under the constitution.

ULYSSES S. GRANT General of the Union army that defeated Lee (at Appomatox, VA)

Unlike many of his predecessors who were born in log cabins, Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in a small frame cottage along the banks of the Ohio River in a small village named Point Pleasant, to a leather tanner, Jesse Grant and his wife Hannah Simpson Grant on April 27, 1822. Although named Hiram, his family called him by his middle name Ulysses, or Lyss for short.
Grant was very thin during the war, weighing only one hundred and thirty-five pounds. He was a very sparse eater. He hated red meat of any kind, and the sight of blood made him sick. Because of this, he insisted on his meat cooked until it was nearly burned!  He would not eat any kind of fowl (chicken), but did like pork and beans, fruit, and buckwheat cakes.

ROBERT E. LEE Leader of the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederate)

·        Offered command of the Union forces at the beginning of the war but chose not to fight against Virginia (his home state that had seceded)

·        Opposed secession but did not believe that the Union should be held together by force

·        Urged Southerners to accept defeat at end of the war and reunite as Americans  when some wanted to fight on .

THOMAS “STONEWALL” JACKSON -Skilled Confederate General from VA

Here are some little known facts about this very interesting man...Jackson didn't drink, smoke, dance, curse, play cards, or attend the theater. Instead, he strolled around camp handing out Sunday school leaflets. He refused to write a letter that would be in transit on Sunday and he sucked lemons any chance he could get a hold of them. He also napped before battles and believed that the Yankees were devils.
Jackson's heroics are most known at the First Battle of Bull Run . At a moment when both armies were at a stand still, fresh Confederate forces arrived and Jackson issued the order, "Charge, men and yell like the furies!". This was the first Union experience  of the blood-curling, "Rebel Yell".