The Ku Klux Klan

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The Ku Klux Klan, commonly referred to as the KKK, was created in attempt to maintain white supremacy and encourage discrimination against blacks. Created in 1866, this organization gathered to intimidate African Americans. However, blacks were not the only ones affected by this group; any person who tried to help a victim or threatened the Klan's power was threatened with death. Common acts of punishments were mobbing, hangings, and shootings. This racist group extended into most southern states by 1870, and hundreds of men were committing these murders without any legal punishment. In the past, the KKK is a similar situation to the Nazi group during the Holocaust. Both were made up of men committing genocide out of a place of spite and create dark periods in history.

Reconstruction

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After the Civil War the United States of America had lots of cleaning up to do especially in the south. Now that slaves were free, citizens were having to change a lot of their daily routines and slaves were having to find work to build up their own families. Many ex slaves began to become sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Sharecroppers were people who farmed other people's land and gives usually half of their crops to the landowner. Sharecroppers were very poor and rarely had any chance of saving money. Tenant farmers had a little bit of a better chance of making it rather than sharecroppers. Tenant farmers supplied their own equipment or they had their own animals but farmed on someone else's land. Tenant farmers also had to pay back the landowners through cash or portions of their crops. There also were organizations that tried to help and support the black people such as The Freedman's Bureau. The Freedman's Bureau was formed by the Radical Republicans and served to help protect the black people's rights and encouraged them to get educations. Sometimes though they had to get the Federal Government to step in and help. For example, Henry McNal Turner and other black legislators tried to be a part of the Georgia General Assembly but were rejected by the Democrats. The Democrats thought that since they were black they didnt have the right to hold office, but the Federal Government protested and made the Democrats let the black legislators return to their seats.
The main plans for reconstruction was:

1. Return to Union
2. Get the South to take an oath of allegiance
3. Approve 13th, and 14th amendments
4. Nullify the option of secession
5. Place states under military rule

There ended up being three new amendments added: the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. The thirteenth amendment forbid slavery; the fourteenth amendment granted citizenship to all blacks and promised protection under the law, and the fifteenth amendment granted the right to vote for all men no matter what.

Andersonville

During the war the South needed a place to keep all the Union soldiers that the captured and chose to put their prison in Andersonville, Georgia. Andersonville was ideal because it was inland, it had had a large freshwater pond, and it was a safe distance away from all the fighting. Prisoners lived a very hard life in the camp and had many struggles concerning health issues. Water was very unsanitary so the prisoners got very little of it. Also, the rations were small and sometimes given to them raw.

Prisoners lived in shelters made of various materials commonly known as shebangs. Sometimes, to show compassion, prisoners shared their shebangs with each other. The chances of escape for a typical prisoner was little to no chance at all. The only chance they really had was if they were taken outside but even then they were weak and couldn't run very fast so were easily shot down. Today, Andersonville is a large cemetery and averages over 150 burials a year.

Sherman's March to the Sea

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In May of 1864, Sherman made a plan to capture Atlanta. This capture would be beneficial for the North because it insured Lincoln's reelection and would increase the Northern support for the war. Also, it would mean that they could take destroy all the South's major railroad lines which would make it harder for the South to get supplies. His plan was to burn Atlanta then march all the way from there to Savannah, destroying everything in his path. This march was risky because the soldiers would have little to no supplies and no communication with other Union commanders. Historians look at his method of war as "total war" and very personal, because Sherman and his soldiers would raid people's houses and steal all of their crops and anything worth value, right in front of their faces. This march ended up being very successful and on April 26, 1865, Joseph Johnston surrendered to William Sherman.

Union Blockade

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The Union Blockade was when the Union army blocked Georgia's coast. It was set up sort of like the game "Red Rover" where the whole side is blocked and no one can enter. It was mainly focused on Savannah, the South's largest port. This was a very strategic move on the Union's side because they blocked all trade. Now, the South couldn't export or import goods from Europe and began having many food shortages. In 1864, every one in three ships were being intercepted by either Union ships or Union soldiers. Battles also occured along coastlines because of this. One of the bigger ones was at Fort Pulaski, but it only had 365 casualties total. The Union Blockade wasnt very bloody, but very challenging for the South's economy and they suffered horribly.

Two Major Battles

Two of the major battles that happened during the civil war were Gettysburg and Chickamauga. At Gettysburg, the South was winning until the Union kept coming and ended up winning. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the civil war. At Gettysburg, 51,112 casualties occurred overall. This was a Union victory.

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The battle of Chickmauga was pretty even at first but then the South found a hole in the Union's battle line and pushed them back all the way to Chattanooga. This battle showed how strategic the Confederate army was. Chickamauga ended up being a Confederate victory. The battle of Chickamauga ended up leading to Sherman's March across Georgia.

The Bloodiest Day at War

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On September 17, 1862 in Antietam, Maryland, the bloodiest day of the war occurred. There were about 22,000 casualties from that one day. Neither the North nor South necessarily won because no land was acquired by the South. The Union should've won easily because their troops outnumbered the Confederates 2 to 1 and the general, George McClellan, had a copy of the South's battle plans. This battle gave Abraham Lincoln the perfect time to finally issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that all slaves living only in the rebel states were free. The Emancipation Proclamation helped the North because now they had even more people willing to be fight with them and there was a "moral" reasoning behind all the fighting. This one-day battle at Antietam really showed how bloody this war was going to be. Thanks to Alexander Gardner, citizens were also being able to see the effects of the war through some of the many photographs he was able to take at the battle scenes; this was helpful even though they were only pictures which were usually black and white. Nowadays, we can see battle pictures on the television and internet in color and sometimes in motion.

Election of 1860

In the election of 1860, three candidates were running. Two Democratic Party representatives and one Republican Party representative. The republican representitive was Abraham Lincoln. Because there was a split of votes for the Democratic representatives, Abraham Lincoln won. He knew that either the United States would either ban slavery from the whole country, or allow it everywhere. The Southern states were very unhappy about the outcome of the election. The reactions were started by South Carolina when they suceeded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Georgians were split. The secessionists wanted to leave right away while the cooperationists did not. The final desicion ended up being that Georgia suceeded and joined the confederacy along with Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina. The president of the Confederacy was Jefferson Davis and the vice president was Alexander Stephens.

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Alexander Stephens was a cooperationist but knew that there was no way about getting around succession. The reason they hired a cooperationist and a secessionist was to keep order and balance so that everyone felt they were being represented. Davis and Stephens were close at first, but when Stephens became more focused on military efforts, their relationship weakened.

Dred Scott

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott

Dred Scott was a slave who for about three years lived in free states with slave owners, but he never made claims. Then, he and his slave masters were moved to the South. In 1843, the master died leaving Dred Scott with the master's wife. He tried to buy his freedom, but she refused. He then went to his next plan: suing for his freedom. He technically was allowed to sue for his freedom, because he had lived in free land. He tried for his freedom four times, and then decided to bring the case to the US Surpreme Court. The Surpreme Court stated that because Dred Scott was black, he actually did not have the right to sue. They also decided that the Missouri Compremise was unconstitutional, so all states were allowed to have slaves if the citizens voted for it. This increased tension especially with the Northern abolitionists.

Leading Events

Overtime there were many new political disputes causing the tension between the North and South. It started off with the Missouri Compromise. Since the North and South disagreed on the feelings of slavery, they needed a balance of free states and slave states to be fair. Missouri and Maine both wanted to join the union and they could because there were two of them. Missouri was entered as a slave state, and Maine was entered as a free state. Then, the Missouri Compromise line was drawn dividing free states and slave states.
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One of the next disputes was the tariff set on imported goods in 1812. This tariff was set on products from Great Britain such as tea, coffee, sugar, molasses, and other items. Southerners found this tariff to be unfair and believed the government was siding with the North. In response, John Calhoun from South Carolina declared that states should have the right to nullify federal laws. The government disagreed and tensions rose, but eventually, the taxes lowered. Today, states still can not override federal laws under any circumstances. Then, in 1850, California started to become popular because of the gold rush and also wanted to join the Union. The only problem was that if it did join, there would be more free states than slave states. At this time Texas had just won the war against Mexico and also wanted to join, but was in debt. The compromise was that if the USA paid Texas's debt, then Texas could join, but would have to split up into five states which turned into New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Texas. The South was okay with this compromise because it allowed potential for four new states that could become slave states. Tensions were slowly starting to decrease when the Fugitive Slave Act, and Kansas-Nebraska Act came along. The Fugitive Slave Act meant that Northerners had to help slave catchers that were looking for runaway slaves in the North. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the law about having the line between the slave states and free states, which meant that slavery could be allowed in Nebraska and Kansas if citizens voted for it. These both made Northern abolitionists mad, while pleasing Southerners. Kansas soon became known as "Bleeding Kansas"and became a battleground between Northerners and Southerners. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html

Slavery

Slaves had to live through many tough conditions from the day they were born till they died. They got their first task at age 10. In Georgia, most slaves either worked in either cotton or rice plantations or as house servants. House servants were usually treated better than the plantation slaves because house slaves went out in public, and owners did not want their slaves to look bad. Slaves also couldn't get legally married, so when they did, they could be separated from their spouse at auctions. Some owners preferred to keep slave couples together so they could have children which meant more slaves without a cost for owners. Slaves also had many rules to live by. They weren't allowed to learn how to read or write, they couldn't be employed, and if they ever wanted to go anywhere they needed to have a pass signed by their owner, kind of like at school. The consequences were inhumane, including death and public whipping. Some slaves became so angry that they went to the extreme measure. One lady even cut off her own fingers so she wouldn't have to work. Slaves longed for freedom and equality so many started escaping using the underground railroad. The underground railroad consisted of many "stations" which were homes where slaves could hide, rest, eat, and stay before leaving to go further north to the next station. Along the railroad were conductors who were people that helped the slaves get to freedom. One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman who after freeing herself, returned nineteen times to free over 200 people including her whole family.

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