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This Compromise’s goal was to balance the interests of the slaveholding south and the free northern states to prevent secession of southern states. This compromise benefited the north more than it did the south, and it started new talks of secession, lighting the match for a secession that is yet to come. -
Slave states began to secede, starting with South Carolina, then many other slave states like Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed suit. -
Congressional Republicans Rejected Crittendens Recond proposal to ban slavery completely in the north, and allow it completely in the south. This rejection was ordered by Abraham Lincoln himself. -
The south found multiple loopholes in the southern drafting systems- firstly it’s exemption of white men who owned over 20 slaves. Jefferson Davis warned that these exemptions would arouse spirit of rebellion as people would be avoiding military service. The Confederate congress then closed this loophole in 1864.
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Robert E. Lee was looking for victories that would humiliate the north, so he moved his men north and struck north through western Maryland. The attack was a disaster and resulted in Jackson capturing Harpers ferry.
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A copy of Lee’s orders fell into the hands of the Union. But the Union general decided to not take advantage of this and exploit it, allowing Lee’s depleted forces to secure a strong defense on Antietam Creek. The confederates were outnumbered 87000 to 50000. And desperately fought until Jackson came and helped support Lee’s troops, resulting in a confederate victory. But in public Lincoln would claim the battle was a Union Victory. -
The Lincoln Administration had made such an efficient war machine that Henry Adams states that “Little by little, the chaos within Washington DC was turning into a struggle for the confederates instead of a struggle for the Union.”
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Grant had drove down south along the West Bank of the Mississippi, and crossed the river at Vicksburg, There he defeated two confederate armies and laid siege on the city. The union attacks lasted for 6 weeks until Vicksburg Garrison declared surrender in July 1863.
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In June, Lee maneuvered his army north through Maryland into Pennsylvania. The army of the Potomac moved with him. Positioning itself between Lee and Washington DC. On July 1st, the two armies met by accident at Gettysburg. On day one, Lee drove the Unions advance guard to the south of the town. The Confederates had 75000 men and the Union had 90000 men. -
On July 3rd Lee went on the offensive and sent General Pickett on a dangerous charge with 14000 men. They had to charge through a mile of open land which resulted in thousands of the men being killed and injured by heavy artillery fire and mass amounts of riflemen. -
Grant’s war of attrition in Virginia exposed a weakness in the confederacy: Rising class resentment among poor whites.
The mark of the end of the war took place in Virginia, where Grant gained control of a crucial railroad junction at Petersburg and forced lee to abandon Richmond.