U.S. Population and Slavery Growth: 1830-1860 - Prof. Peter R. Kolchin, Study notes of History of War

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September 2, 2010 U.S. population: 1830 – 12.9 million 1860 – 32.5 million 1880 – 50.2 million Immigrants/decade: 1820s – .1 million 1830s – .5 million 1840s – 1.4 million 1850s – 2.8 million 1860s – 2.1 million 1870s – 2.7 million New States, 1830-80 1830-45 – 1 Northern 3 Southern 1846-60 – 5 N 0 S 1861-80 – 5 N 0 S Percent Urban 1840 – 10.8 1860 – 19.8 1880 – 28.3 Slave trade abolished in 1808 – slave population triples from 1.5 to 4.5 million from 1810-1880 – natural increase – Immigration numbers increase rapidly especially through 1840s and 50s – German, British, and Irish comprised most incoming immigrants – Most Irish moved to cities – Germans went to Midwest – Geographical movement of population – increase in transportation technology > railroads, canals > from east to west from countryside to cities – urbanization – local migration – September 9, 2010 3 paper assignments due throughout the course of the semester and we have to do 2 of them – first paper due Sept 30 - Idea of American experiment – September 23, 2010 NEED TO READ West Virginia vs tide water region – was a victory for slave holding interests – in court – Slave representation – not a full person – Arguments of where state capitals should be – slave holders wanting them to be in plantation areas and those who don’t want them there – Hinting Helper (1857) – non slave holder from hill NC – wrote a book – remarkable critique of slavery not from an abolitionist point of view – argued slavery retarded economic growth – Idea that free blacks held a threat to proposed order – Abolitionism caused a reaction of slave holders that was disproportionate to the actual threat – Surplus of slaves – slavery no longer economical – Shifting political balance with 5 non slave states entering the union between 1845 and 1860 with no slave states entering – 2 ways to defend slavery: Picture a spectrum with d/r on the left and s/c/a on the right - Democratic/racist – practical > socially and economically – religious > gods plan to Christianize the world – racial > make them out to seem evolutionarily inferior > made for labor - Social/Class/aristocratic – isms > reform > social turmoil – free labor leads to a disorderly anarchic set of social relations – Wage slavery – free labor – some thought worse than slavery bc owners didn’t care about their workers at all – October 12, 2010 DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN NOTO FAIL THIS CLASS! Democrats strong in both n and s Sharp differences between n and s wings of party – couldn’t agree – majority report > endorsed by 15 slave states plus ca n or – minority report – doublist northern democrats > didn’t say whether congress had the right but should support the ruling – Dred Scott – decision – Republicans met in Chicago – leading contender William Steward from NY – came in first on the first ballot, lost some on second ballot > voting peaked – Lincoln won third ballot – Douglas and Bell didn’t care about slavery Lincoln hated it and Breckinrridge was all for it – Douglas second in N n S – Douglas won MZ n NJ who split vote – Breckinridge won whole deep S – Secession crisis – election of Lincoln Y not try to win again in 4 yrs? Bc they’re dumb assholes – S thought their interest were going to be harmed by some anti-southern party in presidency – secession wasn’t supported by all southerners – Sectional division of slavery – Sept 20 SC called a convention which unanimously voted for secession – SC only unanimous state – much stronger strong interest among larger part of pop in SC – followed by 6 other states but with some opposition to it > Non slave holding whites of south hill n mountain country in S – When VA secedes WV breaks off from VA – secession Lincoln sworn in March 4 – election in November – President Buchannon does nothing but criticize – Committee of 33 – proposed 13 amendment to Constitution which would have allowed slavery forever and never allowed to be changed forever – Republicans we hardcore free-soil > no extension of slavery – Lincoln won’t interfere with it where it exists but won’t allow its extension – Confederate expressly permitted slavery – instead of 4 yr terms they limited prez to one 6 month term – ppl from Montgomery chose Jefferson Davis and vp Alex Davis – Confederate general someone bombarded ft Sumter – Lincoln sent troops to put down the insurrection – DE MD KY n MZ slave states who didn’t secede – Civil war causation Contemporaries emphasize the war was about slavery – Clash of cultures position Struggle between agricultural south and industrial north – Needless war or blundering generation position – thought war could have been prevented – Growing economic transformation of N growing sectional divergence – territorial expansion > slavery allowed to expand – govt > decentralized power – democratic but very federal – The war and secession are distinct – October 21, 2010 Y soldiers fought – did they know or care or just following orders? Start reading what this cruel war was over – Soldier saw the war as being over slavery – War for slavery is seen as linked to the war of social order/hierarchy – Southerners defending slavery saw themselves as also defending their own freedom and their own material interests – Vast majority of white northerners weren’t abolitionists even if they were opposed to slavery – 1861-62 – Union forces already pushing into southern territory – “slave power” – conspiracy – slaveholders, etc. – More time soldiers spent in the south and came into contact with slavery, the more antislavery the Union soldiers became – Mexican war only a decade and a half before civil war – short easy war for America – fought by small professional army – not much strain on Americans – no draft – American military men in the mid 19th century were raised on a number of precepts – Henri Jomini > wrote a book on art of war > served with Napoleon – New weaponry – rifles that can be reloaded faster – new industrial might of northern part of US made it easier to mobilize resources – Lincoln went through several generals throughout the war – eventually finds Grant and Sherman – Draft – highly inequitable – buy your way out – pay for a replacement – South was the only part of the country that was ravaged by the war – Southerners saw themselves as true descendents of fore-fathers – saw themselves as rightful patriots – Why the north won – and why it took so long – Lincoln – so long as this is a war that is continued to be fought in the old fashion way > small professional armies > the north has no real advantage – most of the best union officers were fighting for the south – south’s defensive advantage – War almost always ends recession – Urging of African Americans to join the North’s war effort – The war is changed with emancipation proclamation from a war for the union to preserve the status quo to a new war for freedom to remake the Union – southerners now proven right about the war being to overthrow southern society – well it didn’t start out that way – Some euro countries had stockpiled cotton – blockade is only partially effective early on – By 1863 – union war machine in full swing and southern economy beginning to decline > fewer and fewer resources – rampant inflation throughout the south – breakdown of entire transportation system – food shortages including some riots in some cities – growing dissention within the confederacy in taxation and centralization needed to sustain the war – south born against centralization, but it was needed for the war – doing so in a way that interfered with the personal interest of southerners – confederate deserters – desertion of huge numbers of slaves to northern lines – south even considered freeing some slaves and having them serve in the army – confederacy on its last legs –