Civil War 1861-62
|
Profiles
* Political Thought * Colonial Government * Revolution * Constitution * Birth of Party Politics * War of 1812 * James Monroe: "Era of Good Feeling" and Monroe Doctrine * Jacksonian Democracy * Regional Conflict and Compromise * 1860 Election of Abraham Lincoln * Civil War 1861-62 * Civil War 1863-65 * Reconstruction and Impeachment of President Johnson * Gilded Age and Progressive Era * 1912 Election of Woodrow Wilson * 1916 Election and World War I * Women's Suffrage * Depression and 1932 Election of Franklin D. Roosevelt * Prelude to World War II * Pearl Harbor and Mobilization * World War II: European Theater * World War II: Pacific Theater * Atomic Bomb and End of World War II * 1948 Truman-Dewey Election * 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Election * 1964 Johnson-Goldwater Election * Civil Rights Movement * Vietnam: Evolution of the American Role * Vietnam: Kennedy Administration and Intervention * Vietnam: Johnson Administration and Escalation * Vietnam: Nixon, Ford and Fall of South Vietnam * 1968 Humphrey-Nixon Election * Watergate Scandal and Resignation of President Nixon * 1976 Carter-Ford Election * 1980 & 1984 Reagan Elections * Clinton Impeachment * 2000 Bush-Gore Election * War in Iraq * 2008 Obama-McCain Election * 2012 Obama-Romney Election |
Lincoln and his cabinet
Following Lincoln's election in November 1860 with only some 40% of the popular vote, one of his first tasks was to put together his cabinet. As described in the best-selling book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, his choices would include all of his major rivals for the Republican nomination for President in 1860--William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Simon Cameron and Edward Bates. Despite Lincoln's own orders to his close associates that they not make binding commitments for him prior to his nomination at the Republican convention in May 1860, some of these men had been led to believe that they had been promised positions by those they assumed to have the authority to act with Lincoln's approval. The group also represented stark contrasts in personality, ideology and ethics which Lincoln would be forced to balance as crisis faced the Union. This, then, is a story of Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes.... Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Another historian, William Gienapp of Harvard, wrote that Lincoln's ability to manage the disparate group reflected his own self-confidence, a trait little-known upon his election. One reason Lincoln appointed so many rivals to cabinet posts is that he intended to rely on his own judgment rather than that of his advisers.... Confident in his ability to decide on the correct policy, Lincoln never felt bound by the prevailing opinion in the cabinet, and he rarely revealed his thoughts until he had made up his mind. William E. Gienapp, "Abraham Lincoln and Presidential Leadership," in We Cannot Escape History: Lincoln and the Last Best Hope of Earth, James M. McPherson, ed.  Photograph of Lincoln Inauguration March 4, 1861 Image: Library of Congress
January 1861 -- The South Secedes
After Lincoln's election in November 1860, the South Carolina legislature calls a state convention that convenes on December 17, and on December 20 approves a proclamation to remove the state of South Carolina from the union. The secession of South Carolina is followed by that of six more states--Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Four additional states--Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina--delay acting on secession, but eventually join the others to make up the eleven states forming the Confederate States of America February 1861 -- Creation of the Confederacy and seizure of federal property On February 4, at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the seven seceding states adopt the Confederate Constitution, a document patterned after the United States Constitution, but stressing the autonomy of each state. Jefferson Davis is named provisional president of the Confederacy until elections could be held, and on February 18 delivers an Inaugural Address at the Alabama Capitol. On the same day as the start of the Montgomery Convention, a Peace Convention convenes in Washington at the initiation of Virginia, which had deferred acting on secession and was seeking a compromise that would avoid war. On February 11, Lincoln departs by rail from Springfield, Illinois, on his way to his March inauguration in Washington, making stops in various states on the way in which he attempts to reaffirm his desire to avoid war. Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington on February 23, after a plot to assassinate him in Baltimore is discovered. When President Buchanan refused to surrender southern federal forts to the seceding states, southern state troops seized them. At Fort Sumter, South Carolina troops repulsed a supply ship trying to reach federal forces based in the fort. The ship was forced to return to New York, its supplies undelivered. After almost three weeks of deliberation, on February 27 the Peace Convention adopted and sent to Congress six proposed constitutional amendments, including a proposed extension of the Missouri Compromise line west to the Pacific Ocean. It was initially rejected, but on reconsideration, barely passed. Virginia, which had initiated the peace initiative, votes against the provision in the Congress. March 1861 -- Lincoln's Inauguration Lincoln is inaugurated on March 4, and again attempts to reassure the South in his Inaugural Address. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.... Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address April 1861 -- Attack on Fort Sumter President Lincoln advises South Carolina that he plans to to send supplies to Fort Sumter in hopes of avoiding a confrontation, but the state demands that the commander of the fort, Robert Anderson, surrender immediately. After Anderson exhausts his supplies, his offer to surrender is rejected and on April 12, the Civil War begins with shots fired on the fort. Fort Sumter surrenders on April 15. On the same day, Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for Congress to reconvene on July 4 and requesting 75,000 troops to be used in recapturing seized federal property. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas secede, and Richmond is named as the Confederate capital. On April 19, Lincoln proclaims a blockade of ports in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. On April 27, Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus along the line of troop movements between Philadelphia and Washington and extends the blockade to the ports of North Carolina and Virginia. June 1861 -- Death of Stephen Douglas Stephen Douglas dies in Chicago of typhoid fever at the age of forty-eight on June 3. After the firing on Fort Sumter, Douglas had spoken out in support of Lincoln's actions, and had widely toured the Midwest encouraging military enlistments, an effort which evidently weakened his health. Lincoln orders thirty days of mourning. Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri decline to join the Confederacy despite their acceptance of slavery. July 1861 -- First Battle of Bull Run Congress reconvenes on July 4, and the President's war message is forwarded as a formal government document. Union's General-in-Chief Winfield Scott orders General Irvin McDowell to advance on Confederate forces stationed at Manassas Junction, Virginia. McDowell's attack on July 21 results in a Southern victory, with federal troops breaking ranks and retreating in panic toward Washington in the battle later referred to by Southerners as Manassas and by Northerners as the First Battle of Bull Run. General Winfield Scott resigns on July 27. Lincoln names General George B. McClellan as commander of all troops in the Washington vicinity. November 1861 -- McClellan promoted Lincoln expands the scope of McClellan's command to the entire Union army. |
|
