Chapter 6: Civil War and Reconstruction

Chapter 6 surveys how the nation grappled with slavery, secession, a bloody war, and the strain of putting the nation back together.

Section 1 describes how intense conflicts over slavery and politics divided the interests of the Northern and Southern states. After the Louisiana Purchase, Northern politicians feared that by adding slave states, the South with its plantation-based economy would have greater representation in the Senate than would the North with its manufacturing-based economy. At the same time, Southerners worried that the immigrants pouring into the North's urban areas would increase Northern representation in the House of Representatives. Compromises attempted to appease both the North and the South, but they only intensified sectionalism. Conflict between North and South seemed inevitable.

Section 2 describes the secession of the Southern states and the Civil War that followed. By the time President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, eleven Southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. In the ensuing war, the Union had the advantages of a large population, transportation systems, and resources for waging a war, while the Confederates had superior military leaders. Ending slavery moved to the center stage as a reason for fighting the war, and free African Americans enlisted and fought to realize this war aim. After four devastating years, the Civil War ended. Lincoln initiated a postwar policy of leniency toward the South, but he never lived to fulfill his plans. Five days after the surrender, Abraham Lincoln became the first President to be assassinated.

Section 3 discusses how politicians attempted to put the nation back together after the war. Andrew Johnson proceeded with Lincoln's plans for Reconstruction. The Radical Republicans in Congress, objecting to Johnson's leniency with the defeated South, passed a series of Reconstruction Acts that replaced the Southern states' governments with military districts and broadened the rights of freed people. The new states' governments brought Republicans to power and African Americans to the polls. However, newly freed African Americans had few economic opportunities or social rights. In the following years, Democrats reestablished control over Southern states' governments and overturned Reconstruction decisions that had advanced the rights of African Americans.