#5 AIM: What was the Legacy of the US Civil War?

At the end of the war there was great bitterness on both sides due to the huge loss of life (over 600,000 dead - more than the combined dead of World Wars I & II, Korea & Vietnam) and the destruction of Southern farms & cities. In addition the govt. had spent huge amounts of money to finance the war & to pay interest on loans.

However when General Lee surrendered to General Grant, Grant permitted the defeated Southern soldiers to retain their weapons and horses which he felt they would need to restart their lives. Lee, rather than encouraging his offices & troops to continue to wage a guerrilla war on the Union forces, which could have gone on for many years & caused even greater devastation, ordered his armies to unconditionally surrender.

As the Union Army drove through the South it freed the slaves it encountered. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed those slaves in areas not under the control of the Union, but with the arrival of the Army all slaves, except those in the Border States, were freed. In January 1865, 3 months before Lee’s surrender, the 13^th Amendment was passed, freeing all slaves & slavery was officially ended in the US.

Lincoln’s assassination, 5 days after the war’s end, had a very major effect on the North’s treatment of the South and these effects would last well into the 20^th century. Congress, who was very upset with the South blamed them for starting the war & wanted to punish the South. Lincoln, on the other hand, wanted to “bind the wounds of war”, and begin the healing process. However with Lincoln’s assassination Congress was even more determined to exact revenge o the South. In addition Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, did not have the popularity, charm, or political strength of Lincoln, and was unable to prevent an angry Congress from seeking revenge & punishing the South.

As a result of the war the govt. expanded its power & provided more money to encourage economic growth. The war, through increased govt. spending, increased the size & output of many US factories. The war also created many new millionaires who would now invest to expand their own businesses & to start others.

The South however suffered greatly. Many farms, plantations, towns, & cities were destroyed. Bridges, railroad tracks, farm equipment, tools, farm animals & factories were destroyed, and of course the labor source, slaves, were freed. The Union now had the enormous task of not only rebuilding the South, but to provide for the newly freed slaves, and to try to heal the wounds of the war as the South was reunited into the Union. The task would not be easy or simple and would have huge repercussions on future US history.

HOMEWORK: Read pgs.524 & 525. Read pgs. 530 – 537. Do pg. 533 T & N # 1 – 7. Do pg. 523 ques. 3B & C, & pg. 526 Ques. 10.