A house divided: the Civil War and nineteenth-century America

394 Pages·2019·12.569 MB·English

by  Wells, Jonathan Daniel

A House DiviDeD
Consolidating one of the most complex and multi-faceted eras
in American history, this new edition of Jonathan Wells’s
A House Divided unifies the broad and varied scholarship on the
American Civil War. Amassing a variety of research, this accessible
and readable text introduces readers to both the war and the
Reconstruction period, and how Americans lived during this time
of great upheaval in the country’s history. Designed for a variety of
subjects and teaching styles, this text not only looks at the
Civil War from a historical perspective, but also analyzes its rami-
fications on the United States and American identities through the
present day. This second edition has been updated throughout,
incorporating new scholarship from recent studies on the Civil
War era, and includes additional photographs and maps (now
incorporated throughout the text), updated bibliographies, and a
supplementary companion website.
Jonathan Daniel Wells is Professor of Afroamerican and African
Studies at the University of Michigan.

A House DiviDeD
The Civil War and
Nineteenth-Century America
Jonathan Daniel Wells
Please visit the companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/wells
Second edition published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jonathan Daniel Wells to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Wells, Jonathan Daniel, 1969– author.
Title: A house divided: the Civil War and nineteenth-century
America / Jonathan Daniel Wells.
Description: Second edition. | New York : Routledge, 2016. |
Includes index. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015045911 | ISBN 9781138956841 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781138956858 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315665511 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865. |
United States—History—19th century.
Classification: LCC E468. W45 2016 | DDC 973.7—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015045911
ISBN: 978-1-138-95684-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-95685-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-66551-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Optima
by Keystroke, Neville Lodge, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton
Brief Table of Contents
Introduction: War: The Red Animal xi
Chapter 1 Slavery and the Long-term Roots of the Civil War 1
Chapter 2 The Sectional Crisis, 1830–1850 29
Chapter 3 The 1850s and Secession 59
Chapter 4 The War Begins 90
Chapter 5 Organizing and Mobilizing for War 120
Chapter 6 In the Grip of War 149
Chapter 7 Turning Points 175
Chapter 8 War on the Home Front 207
Chapter 9 The Union Grinds Toward Victory 231
Chapter 10 Union Victory and African American Freedom 258
Chapter 11 Reconstruction Begins 281
vi BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 12 Collapse of Reconstruction 314
Chapter 13 America in the Late Nineteenth Century 338
Index 364
FuLL TABLe oF CoNTeNTs
Introduction: War: The Red Animal xi
Chapter 1 Slavery and the Long-term Roots of the Civil War 1
Slavery Takes Root in Early America 2
Rise of the Slave Trade 6
Slavery and the Constitution 10
The Cotton Boom 11
The Plantation South 13
Divisions Within the South 18
Northern Industrialization 20
Slavery and Sectionalism in the Early Republic 22
Chapter 2 The Sectional Crisis, 1830–1850 29
The Rise of the Second Party System 30
The 1840s, Texas Annexation, and Manifest Destiny 33
The Rise of Abolitionism and the Proslavery Defense 38
Importance of Westward Expansion 47
Crisis and Compromise in the Early 1850s 49
Chapter 3 The 1850s and Secession 59
The Fury over Uncle Tom’s Cabin 60
Continued Controversy Over the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 63
Bloody Kansas 66
A New Political Party 68
The Dred Scott Supreme Court Case 70
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates 72
viii FuLL TABLE OF CONTENTS
John Brown’s Raid 76
The Presidential Election of 1860 79
Secession 83
Lincoln and the Start of the War 85
Chapter 4 The War Begins 90
Importance of Upper South Secession 91
Battles and Military Maneuvering in the Spring and
Summer of 1861 93
Mobilizing for War 95
Military Maneuvering in the West 100
The Eastern Theater in Early 1862 104
Naval Warfare 107
Literary Responses to the Beginning of the Civil War 108
Chapter 5 Organizing and Mobilizing for War 120
Formation of the Confederate Government 121
Organization of the Union and Confederate Military 124
War in the Pacific Coast and Southwest 127
Native Americans in the Civil War 129
Communications and the Telegraph 132
Railroads During the War 135
Lincoln and Race at the Start of the War 138
Port Royal and Other Experiments with Freedom During
the War 143
Chapter 6 In the Grip of War 149
Women and Gender During the War 150
War in the Summer of 1862 156
Emancipation Proclamation 163
Politics and Parties 166
Chapter 7 Turning Points 175
The Eastern Theater in Early 1863 176
Ethnicity and Immigrants During the War 178
African American Soldiers and Sailors 180
The Battle of Gettysburg 185
Death and Medicine During the War 188
Prisoners and Prison Camps 194
FuLL TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
New York Draft Riots and Class Conflict 199
The Western Theater in Early 1863 201
Chapter 8 War on the Home Front 207
Newspapers and Journalism During the War 208
Art and Music During the War 213
Internal Divisions Within the Confederacy 216
Business and War in the North and South 220
Chapter 9 The Union Grinds Toward Victory 231
Fighting in the Western Theater in Late 1863 232
The Battlefield in Early 1864 237
Politics and the 1864 Presidential Campaign 243
Mobile Bay and the Fall of Atlanta 248
Sherman’s March to the Sea 251
Chapter 10 Union Victory and African American Freedom 258
The Battlefield in Early 1865 and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 259
The Assassination of President Lincoln 266
Capture of Jefferson Davis 270
Emancipation! 273
Chapter 11 Reconstruction Begins 281
African Americans and the Freedmen’s Bureau After the War 283
Andrew Johnson and Presidential Reconstruction 287
Politics and Elections 289
Congressional Reconstruction, 1866–1872 298
Johnson’s Impeachment 303
White Southern Retrenchment 304
Chapter 12 Collapse of Reconstruction 314
Republican Party Politics 315
Economic Panic in 1873 320
Redemption and White Supremacy 324
The “Compromise” of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction 329
The Legacy of Reconstruction 331
Labor and Capital Battle in 1877 333