Chapter 18: Renewing the Sectional Struggle, 1848-1854
One might thing that after the Mexican War, the United States would be more united than ever before: after all, we'd beaten an enemy, taken most of their land, and we now had California, which would one day bestow upon us the immortal awesomeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a politician.
One would be wrong, however. Winning the Mexican War actually threatened to split the United States apart like a cheap pair of pants. There were major debates about whether the territory gained in the Mexican Cession ought to be slave or free, and then California screwed things up even more because it existed on both sides of the 36° 30' line of latitude from the Missouri Compromise. Could California be half-slave, half-free? Henry Clay road to the rescue, in the twilight of his life. The hero of the American Congress, the "Great Pacificator," rose and made one more compromise to save the Union (albeit temporarily). The Compromise of 1850 helped to keep the Civil War from starting, even if Stephen Douglas would just go and screw it up four years later with the Kansas-Nebraska Act. |
|
|
Chapter 19: Drifting Toward Disunion, 1854-1861
|
Millard Fillmore didn't do much. Franklin Pierce wasn't a very capable man. And James Buchanan was the quintessential slavery apologist. Had any of these men had a lick of determination, they likely would have kicked off the Civil War prior to its actual start in 1861. But, hey, no one's perfect.
Fortunately (for America; less so for the South), there was a Great Man on the horizon. Abraham Lincoln was a "retired" Congressman in 1854 (he had served one term as a disgruntled Whig in the House of Representatives during the Mexican War, and left Congress because of his frustration over the war) who spent most of time being a lawyer and (presumably) reaching things that were in high cupboards. At any rate, Lincoln will burst onto the scene in 1858, during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and then go one to become the President of the United States by winning the election of 1860. Of course, as much as we love Lincoln today (don't we, Mr. Daniel Day-Lewis?), the South hated Honest Abe when he was elected, and seven states actually seceded from the Union and started a new country, the Confederate States of America, before Lincoln had even been inaugurated President. Southerners aren't the most patient of folks, particularly not the ones that owned slaves. At this point, I feel it's appropriate to point in the general direction of the South and chant, derisively, "Scoreboard, Scoreboard!" |
Chapter 20: Girding for War: The North and the South, 1861-1865
The Civil War was a terrible time. It was even worse if you had to fight in it, as opposed to just being on the periphery. But, like LeVar Burton used to say, you don't have to take my word for it... Ken Burns is way more trustworthy anyway.
|
|
Chapter 21: The Furnace of Civil War, 1861-1865
The Civil War was nasty. That's the best way to explain it. It wasn't a good time at all, and lots of people died, and Americans were killing each other, and someone shot the President in the back of the head. That said, the Civil War also ended slavery, ushered in technological revolutions, and set the stage for the phenomenal growth of the United States for the next 30 years. So it wasn't all bad.
There are lots of videos out there that describe the Civil War in greater detail. Here are two. |
|
|
Chapter 22: The Ordeal of Reconstruction, 1865-1877
After the Civil War, the "Radical" Republican faction in Congress was baying for blood. Deciding that the South hadn't suffered enough (thanks, William T. Sherman), these politicians sought to institute a punishing regime on the South, which became known as "Reconstruction." Andrew Johnson, who vaulted into the Oval Office after John Wilkes Booth shot Abe Lincoln in the back of the head, was himself a Southerner and did not seek to punish the South as much. As a result, Johnson was impeached by the House and was one vote short of getting kicked out of office by the Senate. So, there's that.
Reconstruction eventually took the form of American troops (almost all northerners) occupying the South to enforce the new laws, including the Constitutional Amendments that abolished slavery, guaranteed equal protection under the law, and guaranteed voting rights for all male citizens. This also led to the appearance of the Ku Klux Klan, which was (and remains) terrible, and the end of Reconstruction brought with it institutionalized racism that, in some parts of the American South, is still very deeply ingrained. |
|