(5) http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=394. Public Domain.
(6) http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~26393~1100064:
Map-of-the-United-States-and-territ?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_
List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:ormando+gray;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort,Pub_Date,
Pub_List_No,Series_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=36&trs=129. Public Domain.
(7) New York Times. http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/no-irish.htm. Public Domain.
(8) http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/09800/09855v.jpg. Public Domain.
(9) http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~236~20060:
Map-of-the-United-States-with-the-c. Public Domain.
(10) Cover Page of the Confessions of Nat Turner. Public Domain.
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Chapter 5
A Nation Divided: The
American Civil War and
Reconstruction
5.1 Lincoln and Race
Abraham Lincoln is remembered as the President who emancipated the slaves, but he also made statements about Blacks that are offensive to modern readers. Read the documents below and decide—was Lincoln
racist? Consider the context in which each statement was made.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Stephen A. Douglas
Source: An excerpt from Stephen A. Douglas’s argument in the first Lincoln-Douglas debate at Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858.
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for a seat in the U.S. Senate. The
two engaged in a series of seven public debates, which attracted national attention. Although
Lincoln lost the election, he became widely known for his views on slavery.
If you desire Negro citizenship, if you desire to allow them to come into the State and settle
with the White man, if you desire them to vote on an equality with yourselves, and to make
them eligible to office, to serve on juries, and to judge your rights, then support Mr. Lincoln
and the Black Republican party, who are in favor of the citizenship of the Negro. For one, I
am opposed to Negro citizenship in any and every form. I believe this government was made...
by White men, for the benefit of White men and their posterity forever...
Mr. Lincoln believes that the Negro was born his equal and yours, and that he was endowed
with equality by the Almighty, and that no human law can deprive him of these rights.
Vocabulary
Posterity future generations
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Questions:
1. What are two things that Douglas warns will happen if Lincoln is elected?
2. Based on this document, what do you think Douglas’s views were on African Americans?
Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Abraham Lincoln
Source: From Abraham Lincoln’s reply to Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858.
I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States
where it exists. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white
and black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will
probably forever forbid their living together in perfect equality, and... I, as well as Judge
Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position. I have never
said anything to the contrary, but there is no reason in the world why the Negro is not entitled
to all the natural rights in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the White man. I agree
that the Negro is not my equal in many respects–certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral
or intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread... which his own hand earns, he is
my equal and the equal of every living man.
Vocabulary
Entitled to have a right
Endowment ability
Questions:
1. Sourcing: Try to picture an outdoor debate in 1858. These debates lasted 3 hours with each
candidate speaking non-stop for at least an hour. Do you completely trust what either candidate will
say in this setting? Why or why not?
2. Close Reading: Carefully read Lincoln’s response to Douglas. On what points is Lincoln willing to agree with Douglas? On what points does he differ from Douglas?
Letter to Mary Speed – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Abraham Lincoln, writing in a letter to Mary Speed, a personal friend, September 27, 1841.
BLOOMINGTON, ILL., September 27, 1841.
MISS MARY SPEED, Louisville, Ky.
….Today, on board a boat, I saw a gentleman who had purchased twelve Negroes in different
parts of Kentucky and was taking them to a farm in the South. They were chained six and
six together. A small iron chain was around the left wrist of each so that the Negroes were
strung together precisely like so many fish upon a trot-line. In this condition they were being
separated forever from the scenes of their childhood, their friends, their fathers and mothers,
and brothers and sisters, and many of them, from their wives and children, and going into
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perpetual slavery... yet amid all these distressing circumstances ... they were the most cheerful
and apparently happy creatures on board. One, whose offense for which he had been sold was
over-fondness for his wife, played the fiddle almost continually; and the others danced, sung,
cracked jokes, and played various games with cards from day to day. How true it is that “God
renders the worst of human conditions tolerable...”
Your sincere friend,
A. LINCOLN.
Vocabulary
Renders makes
Questions:
1. Sourcing: This document is a personal letter from Lincoln to a friend. Does that make you trust the document? Why or why not?
2. What amazes Lincoln about the scene he sees on the boat?
Pictures of Slavery and Anti-Slavery – John Bell Robinson
Source: From Pictures of Slavery and Anti-Slavery: Advantages of Negro Slavery and the Benefits of Negro Freedom Morally, Socially, and Politically Considered by John Bell Robinson, a White pro-slavery spokesperson, Pennsylvania, 1863.
God himself has made them for usefulness as slaves, and requires us to employ them as such,
and if we betray our trust, and throw them off on their own resources, we reconvert them into
barbarians.
Our Heavenly Father has made us to rule, and the Negroes to serve, and if we... set aside his
holy arrangements... and tamper with his laws, we shall be overthrown and eternally degraded,
and perhaps made subjects of some other civilized nation.... Colonization in their native land
of all the Negroes would be so nearly impracticable, that it will never be done... If they could
all be colonized on the coast of Africa, they would fall back into heathenism and barbarism in
less than fifty years.
Vocabulary
Tamper interfere
Degraded disrespected
Heathenism not having a religion
Barbarism not having culture or civilization
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Question:
1. How do Lincoln’s views on slavery compare with John Bell Robinson?
2. Considering all four documents, was Lincoln racist? How do you support your conclusion?
5.2 The New York City Draft Riots
The Union imposed a military draft, in which men between the ages of 18 and 35 were required to join the army. The penalty for disobeying the law was a $300 fine. Many wealthy people were willing to pay that fine rather than risk their lives in the army, so they essentially bought their way out of the draft. Poorer people had no such option, and considered the policy unfair. In 1863, Irishmen in New York City rioted in protest. As you read the following documents, think about how each one portrays the protesters. What
parties do they describe most sympathetically? What parties do you find most sympathetic?
The Reign of the Rabble – New York Times
Source: Excerpts from “The Reign of the Rabble,” New York Times, Wednesday, July 15, 1863.
The colored boarding house on Vandewater Street, was attacked by the rioters about 6 1/2
o’clock P.M., the doors broken open and the windows entirely demolished; nine of the inmates
were injured.
About the same time THOMAS JOHNSON, a colored man, had one of his arms broken by
jumping from the third story window of a house No. 62 Roosevelt-street, while the house was
on fire. He was rescued from the rioters by the police and was taken to the station-house.
MARY WILLIAMS, a colored woman, 24 years old, while being pursued by the infuriated mob,
jumped from a window of No. 74 Roosevelt-street to the pavement, and was terribly injured –
the building was then on fire. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Question:
1. According to this document, what did rioters do during the Draft Riots of 1863?
Facts and Incidents of the Riot – New York Times
Source: Excerpt from “Facts and Incidents of the Riot,” New York Times, July 16, 1863.
At a late hour on Tuesday night the mob, number 4, 000 or 5, 000, made an attack upon the
clothing-store of BROOKS BROTHERS. Sergeant FINNEY was knocked down, beaten on the
head and body with clubs, and afterward shot in the hand by a pistol by one of the rioters. He
is very severely injured, and no hopes are entertained of his recovery….
Looting seems to have been the sole object with the rioters in their attack upon the store.
The fine ready-made clothing was tempting. Fortunately, the Police and the employees of the
establishment successfully stopped the invaders before much property had been stolen. Three
or four persons, whose names could not be confirmed, lost their lives at this place, and many
others were badly injured.
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“The Popular Tumult” – New York Herald
Source: Excerpt from “The Popular Tumult.” New York Herald, Wednesday, July 16, 1863.
THE POPULAR TUMULT
The crowd in one neighborhood turned their attention to the Chinese who live there. The
Celestials [Chinese] had been found guilty of being united to white wives, and their headquarters
were destroyed. The Chinamen escaped, but in some instances their wives have not followed
them.
Question:
1. According to this document, what did rioters do during the Draft Riots of 1863?
The Riots at New York
Source: “The Riots at New York,” Harper’s Weekly, Aug. 1, 1863
SACKING OF A DRUG-STORE
Sated with blood, the rioters now turned their attention to looting. A drug-store close by was
destroyed, the doors and windows being smashed in with clubs and stones. One fellow rushed
out with a closely-packed suitcase, which he opened in the street. The clothes and other things
contained in it were eagerly seized and contended for by boys and women standing around.
There were a number of letters in it, and some documents, which were probably of value to the
owner; but these were savagely torn and trampled under foot by the disappointed plunderers.
A woman sat upon the steps nearby, and read out parts of one of the letters to the cheers of
her lowly companions.
Question:
1. According to this document, what did rioters do during the Draft Riots of 1863?
The Riots at New York
Source: “The Riots at New York,” Harper’s Weekly, Aug. 1, 1863
[ BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM ]
The Orphan Asylum for Colored Children was visited by the mob about four o’clock. Hundreds,
and perhaps thousands of the rioters, the majority of whom were women and children, entered
the premises, and in the most excited and violent manner they ransacked and plundered the
building from cellar to attic. The building was located in the most pleasant and healthy
portion of the city. It was purely a charitable institution. In it there are on an average 600 or
800 homeless colored orphans.
Question:
1. According to this document, what did rioters do during the Draft Riots of 1863?
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Section Questions:
1. All of these documents appeared in New York’s major newspapers at the time. What types of people
do you think read these newspapers? Do these newspapers seem sympathetic to the rioters? Explain.
2. Find 2 quotes to support your claim that the newspaper were or were not sympathetic to the rioters.
3. Find 2 quotes to support your claim that the newspaper were or were not sympathetic to the rioters.
5.3 Emancipation Proclamation
From the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln insisted that the goal was to preserve the union, not to
free the slaves. In part, he took this position to retain the loyalty of the four Border States, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. As the war progressed, the Confederacy used slave labor to supply
their cause—for example, to build fortifications or work in factories—and Lincoln changed his policy. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the first part of the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that in any state that had not returned to the union by the following January 1st, the slaves would be declared free. Then, on January 1, 1963, he issued the document below, following through on his promise. As you read, try to determine why Lincoln freed the slaves. Out of a sincere opposition to slavery? As a strategic move to help win the war and preserve the Union?
The Emancipation Proclamation
Source: The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863(Figure 5.1).
On the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three, all persons held as slaves within any State in rebellion against the United States, shall
be forever free...
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in
me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States... do order and
designate [appoint] the following States as being in rebellion:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, and Virginia.
And I hereby call upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless
in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor
faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons will be received into the armed service
of the United States.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution,
upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor
of Almighty God.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Questions:
1. The Civil War ended in 1865. According to the Emancipation Proclamation, why did Lincoln decide
to free the slaves before the war had even ended?
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67
Figure 5.1
2. Lincoln lists many of states but leaves out the following four slave states: Delaware, Kentucky,
Maryland, and Missouri. These states had slaves but were not part of the Confederacy (they were
not fighting against the Union). What happened to the slaves in these states? You may use your
outside sources to answer this question.
3. Close Reading: Why do you think he calls the act a “military necessity” and “invoke the considerate judgment of mankind” in the last section?
From The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Dou-
glass
Source: Excerpt from The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 1881.
In mid-1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation had been announced, President Lincoln
called Frederick Douglass to the White House to speak with him. Douglass recounts the event
here in his autobiography.
President Lincoln did me the honor to invite me to discuss the best way to induce (persuade)
the slaves in the rebel states to escape. Lincoln was alarmed about the increasing opposition to
the war in the North, and the mad cry against it being an abolition war. Lincoln worried that
an early peace might be forced upon him which would leave all those who had not escaped in
slavery.
I was impressed by this kind consideration because before he had said that his goal was to
save the Union, with or without slavery. What he said on this day showed a deeper moral
conviction against slavery than I had ever seen before in anything spoken or written by him. I
listened with the deepest interest and profoundest satisfaction, and, at his suggestion, agreed
to organize men who would go into the rebel states, and carry the news of emancipation, and
urge the slaves to come within our boundaries....
I refer to this conversation because I think that, on Mr. Lincoln’s part, it is evidence that the
proclamation, so far at least as he was concerned, was not passed merely as a ‘necessity.’
Questions:
1. Sourcing: When did Douglass write this document? When did the meeting and the Emancipa-
tion take place? How might that affect Douglass’s memory of Lincoln and his evaluation of the
Emancipation Proclamation?
2. Contextualization: According to Douglass, what was happening in the North in 1863?
3. Close Reading: According to Douglass, what was Lincoln concerned about?
4. Close Reading: What is Douglass’s conclusion about Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation?
5.4 The Political Cartoons of Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast is perhaps the most famous political cartoonist in American history. He worked for the New York-based weekly magazine Harper’s Weekly. Nast and Harper’s supported the North in the Civil War, taking a liberal and somewhat elitist Republican position. Both of the cartoons below feature a white
female character called ‘Liberty’—a common symbol of the period. What does the symbol remind you of?
Note the dates of the cartoons and the similarities and differences between them.
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Franchise – Thomas Nast
Source: A political cartoon drawn by Nast in 1865. (Figure 5.2).
Vocabulary
franchise The right to vote
Questions:
1. Sourcing: Who drew these cartoons? What magazine were his cartoons published in? What do you know about this magazine?
2. Contextualization: When were the two cartoons drawn? What do you know about this time
period?
3. Sourcing: Think back to the differences between Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans.
Before looking at the cartoons, do you predict this cartoonist would be in favor of Radical Recon-
struction? Why or why not?
4. Describe the African American man in this cartoon. Why do you think he’s on crutches?
5. What is Liberty asking for?
6. What is the message of this cartoon?
Colored Rule in a Reconstructed (?) State - Nast
Source: A political cartoon drawn by Nast in 1874. (Figure 5.3).
Section Questions:
1. In what ways are these cartoons similar?
2. In what ways are these cartoons different?
3. Why might the cartoons have different messages?
4. What do these cartoons tell us about the how the North felt about freedmen during Reconstruction?
5.5 Andrew Johnson vs. Thaddeus Stevens
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, he was succeeded as president by Andrew Johnson, a Tennesseean who sympathized with the South. During debates over Reconstruction—how to treat the freed slaves and
rebuild the South—a group of Radical Republicans in Congress thought Johnson was too kind to the South.
Read the following speeches from Andrew Johnson and Senator Thaddeus Stevens and consider which plan
was more likely to be successful.
Cleveland, Ohio Speech – Andrew Johnson
Source: This campaign speech was delivered on September 3, 1866 in Cleveland, Ohio. Johnson was trying to get people to support his ideas, but he was booed by the crowd of Radical Republicans.
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Figure 5.2: FRANCHISE. AND NOT THIS MAN?
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Figure 5.3: Columbia. (The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards.) “You are Aping the lowest Whites. If you disgrace your Race in this way you had better take Back Seats.”
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Before the Civil War there were 4, 000, 000 black people held as slaves by about 340, 000 people
living in the South. That is, 340, 000 slave owners paid all the living expenses of the slaves.
Then, the war began and the slaves were freed.
Now we come to the [Radical Republicans]. And what do they want? To spend $12, 000, 000 a
year to build schools and find jobs for these freed slaves. We have already spent $3, 000, 000, 000
to set them free and give them a fair chance to take care of themselves -then these [Radical
Republicans] ask for $12, 000, 000 to help them.
Veto of the First Reconstruction Act – Andrew Johnson
Source: This speech was delivered to the United States Congress on March 2, 1867 by Andrew Johnson after he vetoed the First Reconstruction Act, a plan by the Radical Republicans that would have given freedmen the right to vote.
The Radical Republicans also want to force the South to give blacks the right to vote. The
blacks have not asked for the right to vote; most of them have no idea what it means. The
Southern states should not be forced to do anything t
