The American Civil War and Reconstruction: 1861 - 1877

The American Civil War and Reconstruction: 1861 - 1877

Données clés

Faculté	Lettres
Département	Département d’histoire générale
Professeur(s)	Aline Helg
Cours	The United States and Latin America: late 18th and 20th centuries

Lectures

• The Americas on the eve of independence
• The independence of the United States
• The U.S. Constitution and Early 19th Century Society
• The Haitian Revolution and its Impact in the Americas
• The independence of Latin American nations
• Latin America around 1850: societies, economies, policies
• The Northern and Southern United States circa 1850: immigration and slavery
• The American Civil War and Reconstruction: 1861 - 1877
• The United States: 1877 - 1900
• Regimes of Order and Progress in Latin America: 1875 - 1910
• The Mexican Revolution: 1910 - 1940
• American society in the 1920s
• The Great Depression and the New Deal: 1929 - 1940
• From Big Stick Policy to Good Neighbor Policy
• Coups d'état and Latin American populisms
• The United States and World War II
• Latin America during the Second World War
• US Post-War Society: Cold War and the Society of Plenty
• The Cold War in Latin America and the Cuban Revolution
• The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

We are going to show the importance of long-lasting phenomena in understanding history, since the independence of the United States there have been rising tensions between the slave-owning North and the slave-owning South.

The Civil War was the most deadly war in the United States. The Supreme Court played an important role in the development of policy in the United States in order to realize that the evolution of societies and history does not always lead to progress. The freedom, equality, and citizenship that African Americans gained in 1865 would last only a few years and be followed by a veritable flashback to the Civil Rights Movement 100 years later.

Languages

Español Français

The causes of the war

The Abolitionist (blue) and Slavery (red) States in 1861.

Affiche apposée sur les murs de Boston informant la population noire de la présence de policiers traquant les fugitifs en 1851.

During the first half of the 19th century, the gap between the South and the North of the United States widened considerably after the acquisition of Oregon and the new territories taken over from Mexico. The 1850 compromise that was supposed to settle the balance between the slave states and the free states lasted mainly because it included the Fugitive Slave Act, which obliged the federal government to arrest fugitives who fled to the North and return them to their masters in the South. When a slave refugee from the North denounced the unconstitutionality of this law, up to the Supreme Court, which is dominated by judges from the South, concluded that a slave remained a slave even in the states that had abolished slavery.

Starting in 1850, runaway slaves had to flee to Canada because they could be arrested anywhere. This strengthened the abolitionist movement in the north with Fréderic Douglas, a runaway slave, who published his book Fugitive slave. Harriet Stowe publishes Uncle Thom's Cabin, which will sell more than 10 million copies in 10 years for a population of 30 million at the time. This book will upset readers in the North and enrage slavers in the South.

Cette carte de 1854 montre les états esclavagistes (gris), les états abolitionnistes (rouge) et les territoires US (vert) avec le Kansas (non coloré).

In 1854, the question of the balance between slave and free states was reopened by a slave-democrat who pushed through Congress the Kansas - Nebraska Act. This act opened up the plains that had not yet been transformed into states to colonization; in addition, this act decreed that these territories would be able to decide by vote of their inhabitants whether they wanted to be slave or free, bringing the potential frontier of slavery up to Canada.

Daguerréotype de Lincoln par Alexander Gardneren 1863.

Supporters of slavery and abolition will flood into these new territories to obtain a majority in the vote; there are sometimes bloody clashes which further polarise public opinion both in the North and in the South.

The party of the Whigs, the ancestor of the Republican Party in the North, did not resist this crisis, in 1854 it was divided between a fundamentally anti-immigrant American party and a Republican party opposed to slavery, but also to the Irish.

Democrats who were also slaves won the presidential elections of 1856. The gap between southerners and northerners widened with violent incidents that exacerbated the elections.

At this point in the presidential elections of 1860, the Slavery Democrats were unable to nominate a single candidate and split. The new Republican Party introduced Abraham Lincoln, who embodied the American dream because he was born very poor, a self-made man who became a lawyer on his own, and he was going to ally himself with a much more nuanced vice president.

Lincoln was against the extension of slavery to the new territories, which he wanted to reserve for whites only, but at the same time he declared that nothing justified the exclusion of blacks from the natural rights guaranteed by the declaration of independence.

Secession and the outbreak of the Civil War, or Civil War

Animated map of the Secession, the Civil War and the readmission of States.

1860 - 1861

Lincoln was elected in 1860, and for the first time since the founding of the United States there was a president opposed to slavery, but Republicans did not have a majority in Congress and the Supreme Court.

Almost immediately after Lincoln's election, South Carolina convened a convention that almost unanimously decided to remove the state from the Union. Soon Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Texas also voted to secede, forming the Confederacy of American States.

Its constitution is much the same as that of the Union except that it gives supremacy of state law over federal law and makes the abolition of slavery virtually impossible. The president of the confederacy is Jefferson Davis, who quickly formed a cabinet, himself a relatively moderate Democrat, a large Mississippi slave owner, and a veteran general in the Mississippi Army.

1861 - 1863

The United States in the Civil War. In blue, the States of the Union; in light blue, the States of the Union where slavery was allowed. In red, the Confederate States. In white, the territories that were not yet states, essentially under the control of the Union.

Lincoln's inaugural speech did not close the door on secessionists, "We are not enemies, but friends » insisting on the need to keep or regain the Union, but warns that the federal government will react by force if the secessionist states attempt to seize the federal domains which are the military forts and customs posts in the South. The confederates announce that they will defend themselves by force against any federal attack on the territory quickly mobilizing an army of 100,000 volunteers.

Assault on Fort Sanders, by Kurz and Allison, 1891.

The war began at Fort Sanders in South Carolina when the secessionists laid siege to the fort's federal troops, beat them and raised the Confederate flag on the fort. In response, Lincoln mobilized 75,000 men against the South without difficulty.

In the south, four more states entered Confederation, which would strengthen it, but there were slave states that decided to stay in the Union, they chose to be cautious since they were on the border between Confederation and the Union, thus weakening the south since not all the slave states entered Confederation.

In the beginning, the North believed it could win very quickly because it had twice the population of the South, almost all of the country's industrial production was in the North, the railways were well developed and they had enough grain and food for the troops. Almost everywhere, the Union is the strongest except for the percentage of men eligible for service.

Flag of the United States from 1861 to 1863. The southern states are always represented by the number of stars since their secession was considered illegal by the northern states. In 1863, a star was added to represent the new state of West Virginia.

The troops of these two parties are not really organised, in the North they are made up of city-dwellers who are ill-prepared to invade the South, while in the South the men are much more motivated to defend their territory, all the more so as they are rural men, peasants who have a hard life; it is a war that will be both land and sea since the Union is trying to occupy the secessionist border states subjecting the South to an embargo on its ports.

To the great astonishment of the North, the South is responding very well; it is a war unlike any other, because it is the first time in the history of the Western world that so many armies have been launched against each other and also with such destructive weapons, since each battle provokes hecatombes.

War destroys the South more than the North, it is mainly played out in the southern states. In the beginning, the South responds well and even manages to bring the war into slave-free states. It is the countryside that suffers the most destruction and in the South trade with the North is stopped, cotton exports are blocked as a result of the embargo imposed by the North; in the South, goods are scarce and expensive and the inflation rate reaches 7,000%.

The South, which was then profoundly rural, is forced to embark on small-scale substitute industrialisation.

The war undermined certain components of the present ideology, notably patriarchy and the dogma of the white housewife. With the departure for war of 90% of men fit to fight, more and more women are called upon to replace them at the head of farms, plantations and even in government. The war demands the concentration of power in the hands of the president, who must set up a large central administration that nibbles away at the powers of the confederate states.

The rioters start hitting the blacks.

The gap between rich and poor in the South, which was very large at the time, will grow very quickly, as we will soon have to move from voluntary to compulsory recruitment; more and more rich people are avoiding military service by buying poor replacements. They put notices in the newspaper asking to be replaced in the war.

The discontent of the poor reached another peak when a law of confederation decreed that any man who supervised more than 20 slaves was exempt from military service; there was growing talk of a war of the rich being fought by the poor. The sacred union of white Southerners around the defence of slavery and white privilege began to fragment.

The North is less affected economically since it is not the scene of the war except in Pennsylvania, even more so than in the South the military mobilization affects unskilled workers, immigrants and the poor while a whole series of entrepreneurs take advantage of federal needs to inflate prices, lower workers' wages and get rich. More and more women are also replacing men in factories as agriculture is being mechanized to cope with the lack of men's arms. At the same time, the very high mortality rate provoked more and more resistance in the North with a refusal of mobilization, desertion, riots against recruitment; these riots were directed against blacks and particularly in New York in 1863 which caused 105 deaths.

1863 - 1865

Reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1863 est le tournent de la guerre tout d’abord parce qu’en janvier 1863 il y a la fameuse déclaration d’émancipation des esclaves de Lincoln. Cette déclaration n’est en fait que théorique puisqu’elle ne libère pas les esclavages des États esclavagistes restés dans l’Union par contre elle va dénoncer l’action de l’esclavage dans les États de la Confédération.

Ce qui est intéressant de voir est que c’est une déclaration qui va galvaniser les noirs libres du Nord et encourager les esclaves du Sud à s’enfuir en masse pour joindre les armées de l’Union. En tout, 200 000 noirs dont 100 000 esclaves fugitifs s’enrôlent volontairement contre le Sud.

Cela signifie que 20 % des hommes adultes noirs s’enrôlent pour la défense de l’Union et contre l’esclavage. En plus, 40 000 de ces soldats volontaires noirs vont mourir pendant cette guerre.

Leur engagement se fait dans un contexte de racisme très fort, les régiments sont ségrégués, on leur confie les tâches les plus ingrates et les plus risquées tandis que leur solde est inférieur à celui des blancs.

Poster for the Lincoln/Johnson ticket made by Currier and Ives.

Pour ces noirs qui s’engagent, leur participation à la guerre est un moyen de montrer leur humanité, leur égalité et leur plein droit à la citoyenneté. D’ailleurs comme le note Douglas, dans plusieurs États libres le statut légal des noirs s’améliore définitivement après leur service militaire dans la guerre civile.

En même temps en 1863 l’armée de l’Union change de tactique pour passer à une offensive en profondeur à l’intérieur du Sud où elle va désarçonner de plus en plus que les troupes confédérées.

Thure de Thulstrup - L. Prang and Co. - Battle of Gettysburg - Restoration by Adam Cuerden.

La dernière grande bataille de la guerre est à Gettysburg, c’est une bataille énorme en Pennsylvanie ; une bataille terrible ou plus de 20 000 soldats sudistes et nordistes sont tués ou blessés. La guerre va malgré tout continuer jusqu’en 1864 et le Nord affirme de plus en plus sa victoire, mais perd des milliers d’hommes dans chaque bataille.

En 1864, Lincoln est réélu à la surprise générale ; c’est alors que le sud prend la décision de former et d’armer des bataillons d’esclaves pour se battre pour la confédération en échange de la promesse de la liberté.

Finalement en avril 1865 le gouvernement confédéré abandonne et incendie sa capitale de Richmond pour se réfugier au Texas. Le général Lee avec les 25 000 hommes de l’armée sudiste se rend, il n’y a pas de représailles étant seulement renvoyées chez eux.

Cinq jours plus tard, Lincoln est assassiné par un sudiste remettant tout en question la suite de la reconstruction de l’Union.

Avec la fin de la guerre et la défaite, de la Confédération est proclamée l’abolition de l’esclavage, les sudistes battus militairement, affaiblis économiquement doivent affranchir 4 millions d’esclaves. C’est une humiliation supplémentaire que beaucoup n’accepteront jamais.

The Civil War, the deadliest in U.S. history

Charge of the Iron Brigade, near the church of Dunker, on the morning of 17 September 1862 by Thure of Thulstrup.

This civil war is the deadliest in the history of the United States. In all, there were 633,000 dead, 373,000 for the Union forces and 260,000 for the Confederates; all the major battles left thousands of dead on the ground.

The Battle of Antietam left more dead in a single day than the entire War of Independence fought against England, more than 4,000 dead.

It is also the First Photographic War allowing to see the war in photography.

Not only are there deaths, but also many wounded people who are parked in camps with medicine that is not adapted to the weapons used, the doctors amputate the wounded who are dying of infections. There are almost as many deaths from wounds as from the battle, there are also many starvation deaths.

If the wounded are added to the dead, the number of casualties rises to more than 1 million for a total population of 33 million.

• 

  The 127th Ohio Volunteer Regiment, Ohio's first black recruiting regiment, which later became the 5th Infantry Regiment (USCT).

• 

  Military parade of Union troops in 1865 on Pennsylvania Avenue after the victory over the Confederates.

• 

  Uniform of an infantryman of the Union Army (detail of Plate 172, "Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies").

• 

  On October 3, 1862, Abraham Lincoln came to visit General McClellan at his headquarters in Antietam, after the fierce battle he fought against the Confederates on September 17.

• 

  These dead are from Ewell's May 1864 attack at Spotsylvania, delaying Grant's advance on Richmond in the Wilderness.

La Reconstruction : 1865 - 1877

La reconstruction va durer jusqu’en 1877. La reconstruction est le nom donné par Lincoln à la politique du nord pour réintégrer dans l’Union les États sécessionnistes à la fin de la guerre sous certaines conditions.

Ces conditions se résument à l’adoption par ces États de nouvelles constitutions non-esclavagistes mais les forces à adopter de nouveaux amendements constitutionnels à savoir le XIII amendement qui aboli pour toujours l’esclavage, le XIV amendement qui confère la citoyenneté américaine et étend la Bill of Rights aux noirs nés aux États-Unis tout en excluant les États sécessionnistes qui n’ont pas juré fidélité à l’Union, le XV amendement interdit l’exclusion des noirs des droits de vote.

C’est toute la question des noirs et de leur intégration complète dans la nation qui est posée. Dès le début, plusieurs visions s’affrontent qui vont des sudistes extrêmes qui veulent conserver l’esclavage sous forme déguisée, aux républicains qui voudraient transformer le Sud à l’image du Nord et aux radicaux qui voudraient construire une société plus égalitaire pour les noirs et les femmes grâce au suffrage universel, à un État fédéral fort, à l’éducation pour tous, à la liberté d’un travail et à la redistribution d’une partie des terres des planteurs sudistes aux esclaves affranchis et aux pauvres blancs.

Assassinat d'Abraham Lincoln - Gravure de Currier and Ives (1865) De gauche à droite : Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincolnet John Wilkes Booth.

Hormis le fait que l’esclavage est aboli et que les noirs gagnent de nouveaux droits légaux au nord comme au Sud, la reconstruction est un échec.

D’abord parce que Lincoln est assassiné, le vice-président qui le remplace à savoir Andrew Johnson est un démocrate du Sud ouvertement raciste que Lincoln avait choisi afin d’attirer le vote de tous les États frontières.

D’autre part, le Congrès ne siège pas jusqu’à la fin de l’année 1865 ce qui permet à Johnson d’avoir les mains libres, il ne parle pas de reconstruction, mais de restauration. Il se dépêche de pardonner aux sudistes qui retrouvent tous les droits politiques excepté Jefferson qui va faire deux ans de prison.

Très vite, les États sécessionnistes approuvent de nouvelles constitutions leur permettant de réintégrer l’Union et le Congrès.

Ces années surtout de 1865 à 1870 sont les années où les esclaves émancipés du Sud vont participer massivement à la politique faisant des réunions pour proposer des candidats aux élections. Toutefois, ils vont avoir d’énormes difficultés à s’imposer face aux blancs qui rapidement reprennent leurs unions derrière le parti démocrate et mettent en place trois principales stratégies pour restaurer le Sud à leur image :

• la violence et le terrorisme exercé principalement par le Ku Klux Klan ainsi que des émeutes anti-noires.
• la caricature de la loi pour établir des codes noirs qui utilisent des subterfuges afin de limiter la liberté de mouvement et d’expression des noirs et pour les exclure des droits constitutionnels soit pour neutraliser les amendements.
• le rejet de toute réforme agraire avec l’imposition progressive du métayage, c’est-à-dire que des propriétaires de plantations jouissent de lopins de terre contre les deux tiers de leur récolte ; le métayer rentre dans un endettement systématique qui va aussi toucher les pauvres blancs.

Malgré tous, les noirs vont faire un effort énorme pour arriver à construire leur vie libre et indépendante notamment en s’éduquant massivement et en réformant les familles séparées par l’esclavage. Les planteurs blancs réussissent à les dominer, car les noirs même nombreux sont minoritaires presque partout, mais aussi parce que les blancs réformateurs partent rapidement laissant le sud abandonné tandis que le Nord se détache rapidement du sud laissant les anciens esclaves à leur sort.

Annexes

• Alexander, Edward P. Military Memoirs of a Confederate: A Critical Narrative. New York: Da Capo Press, 1993. ISBN 0-306-80509-X. First published 1907 by Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
• Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Fight for Chattanooga: Chickamauga to Missionary Ridge. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1985. ISBN 0-8094-4816-5.
• U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
• National Park Service battle description
• CWSAC report update
• Images de la guerre de Sécession disponibles à la Bibliothèque du Congrès
• La guerre de Sécession : sources primaires
• Les armées de la guerre de Sécession
• Cartes
• Vers la sécession : infographie (cartes) sur le site de l’UIA
• Textes sur la guerre de Sécession : http://hypo.ge-dip.etat-ge.ch/www/cliotexte/html/guerre.de.secession.html.