Lincoln Outline

I. Abraham Lincoln
A. Birth Date
February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky
B. Death Date
April 14, 1865
II. Educational and Occupational background
A. Education
i. Received no education due to poverty. Lost parents and sibling at an early age. (young age)
ii. He did get a degree though. At Knox College(1860),l Columbia(1860), and Princeton(1864)
B. Occupation
i. Postmaster
ii. Lawyer
iii. Congressman from Illinois
III. Term or terms of office
A. First Term March 4, 1861
B. Second Term April 15, 1865 (assassinated)
IV. Issues that were prominent in each election
A. Lincoln had trouble keeping the political parties to maintain unity during the issue of slavery.
V. Opponents by term
A. First Term: John C. Breckinridge, Stephen Douglas, John Bell
B. George B. McClellan
VI. Vice president by term
A. First Term: Hannibal Hamlin
B. Second Term: Andrew Johnson
VII. Political party of the president
A. Republican (1856 – 1865)
VIII. Major domestic happenings
A. Abraham Lincoln becomes President (1861).
i. Lincoln becomes first Republican, winning entirely on the support of the North. He wasn’t on ballots in nine of the Southern states, but won through his moderate views on slavery.
B. First Battle of Bull Run 1861
i. First Major land battle by Lincoln. General Irvin McDowell was in charge of Rookie Union and they were equally unseasoned soldiers under General Joseph E. Johnston. They clashed near the stream Bull Run and so the union was forced to retreat back to Washington DC.
C. Morrill Act 1862
i. Congress passed this Act which was established by Senator Justin S. Morrill. President Buchanan vetoed this act before, but Lincoln decided to sign it because he wanted people to receive a good education. The states were offered 30,000 acres of land for schools.
D. Homestead Act 1862
i. This act was signed by Lincoln to give more land to the western settlers. This land was previously sold by the government for revenue, but the government was forced to give free land to the people. This act gave 160 acres of public land to each person on payment of a nominal fee after 5 years of residence or bought after 6 months residence at $1.25 an acre.
E. Greenbacks issued under Legal Tender Act 1862
i. Congress passed the Legal Tender Act to provide funds for the Civil War. 450 million dollars was put into circulation. Congress wanted to end inflation. The SC later called this unconstitutional, but ended up being constitutional because we’re still using the money.
F. National Banking Act 1863
i. This Act sets in place an organized system of national and federal banking which was intended to be much different than the corrupt Bank of The United States. Under this Act a bank had to meet certain criteria before issuing paper money and loans. The Act also inspired banks to purchase more war bonds to help meet the criteria.
G. Wade-Davis Bill 1864
i. This bill explained how the South could be readmitted to the union. So this bill states that each renegade state would have to be ruled by the military governor and eligible voters had to swear loyalty to the union. After this occurred, states had to abolish slavery. Lincoln vetoed this plan because he didn’t want to commit himself to one plan of reconstruction just yet.
H. Sand Creek Massacre 1864 (Colorado)
i. During the eighteen sixties through the nineties, the Native Americans and the settlers had a dispute. In the 1858 Gold Rush thousands of people destroyed the delicate balance by slaughtering the buffalo and starving Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians. They attacked white settler’s homes and cattle for food. The governor attacked the Native Americans and they were massacred.
I. Abraham Lincoln begins 2nd Term
i. The news of Sherman and Grant‟s victories restored Northerners confidence in him and he badly beat General George McClellan.
J. Hampton Roads Conference
i. Lincoln and his secretary of state William Henry Seward met with Hamilton, John Archibald Campbell and Robert Hunter and ended the civil war. No agreement was reached.
K. Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia
i. Grant pushed Lee out of Richmond, forcing him and his remaining army to flee. Lee realized that he could not escape and asked Grant for surrender terms. Grant issued a very generous surrender, and quieted his men‟s cheers when they heard the news.
L. Atlanta Campaign
i. Definition: Grant took over a bunch of Union soldiers. Their role was to slow the Union advance and to try to disrupt the lines of supply as Sherman went farther into Southern territory. The south wanted Lincoln to be defeated in the 1864 election. Johnston and Sherman battled and the confederate force (opposed Union soldiers) had to retreat into the city of Atlanta.
Significance: This is important because this began conflict between the south and north with slavery and this was the most significant battle the occurred because this type of battle hadn’t occurred that had to do with slavery until the Civil War.
M. Wilderness Campaign
i. Definition: Ulysses Grant was general and was told to be in charge of a war between the north and the south (General Robert Lee). Ulysses realized that the south had more men, but he also knew that the south didn’t have as much supplies as did the north. So Grant told his army to keep repeatedly attacking. Grant did not retreat and Lee tried to stop him, but couldn’t. So the south was defeated by Grant. A siege resulted in Petersburg. The union’s surrounded the south army and drove the confederates from Petersburg.
Significance: This was the most violent war of the American Civil War and this helped the north win against the south army.
IX. Major foreign policy
A. Trent Affair 1861
i. This was an incident that brought the union close to war with the UK. When the Union ship USS San Jacinto intercepted the British mail packet Trent, they arrested two diplomats who were heading to Europe to press for European recognition of the confederacy. This act enraged Great Britain and provided hope for the South. This issue was solved when Lincoln apologized to Britain and they released the two diplomats (James Mason and John Slidell)
X. Major conflict
A. Beginning of the War between the States 1861
i. The Civil War began at the Battle of Fort Sumter. Six days after South Carolina succeeded from the Union, U.S Army Major Robert Anderson made moves to secure Fort Sumter and begin a possible rebellion. On April 10, 1861, Brig. General Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson refused. The fort was bombarded by Confederate forces and surrendered three days later. This war was destined to be the greatest internal conflict that America would ever suffer through. The causes of the war were illegal succession of several states and the slavery.

B. Battle of Monitor and Merrimac 1862
i. Often called the Battle of Hampton Roads, this was a battle famous for being the first fight between two, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The latter Confederate craft was destroying the coastal Union blockade of wooden ships at the harbor until the Monitor sailed in. The conflict took place off Sewell‟s Point near Hampton Roads, Virginia and lasted for two days. The battle cemented ironclad ships as the future of naval warfare
C. Battle of Shiloh, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Murfreesboro, & Fort Donelson
D. Battles of Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, & Missionary Ridge 1863
i. These three battles are a microcosm of how the Union‟s fortunes reversed during 1863. Lincoln had just appointed another general, Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker, to command the eastern army. Hooker decided to try to force Lee out of his camp in Fredericksburg. With double the amount of men as Lee Hooker thought his plan was bound to succeed. However, Lee camped in the hills above town and dealt the second humiliating blow to The Union at Fredericksburg. At the Battle of Chickamauga confederate forces under Braxton Bragg repulsed a Union attack on Georgia due to reinforcements from Lee. The Union recuperated immediately, and with Grant now in charge of the whole western army, defeated the Confederates at The Battle of Missionary Ridge two months later.
E. Battles of Gettysburg & Vicksburg 1863
i. These three battles are a microcosm of how the Union‟s fortunes reversed during 1863. Lincoln had just appointed another general, Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker, to command the eastern army. Hooker decided to try to force Lee out of his camp in Fredericksburg. With double the amount of men as Lee Hooker thought his plan was bound to succeed. However, Lee camped in the hills above town and dealt the second humiliating blow to The Union at Fredericksburg. At the Battle of Chickamauga confederate forces under Braxton Bragg repulsed a Union attack on Georgia due to reinforcements from Lee. The Union recuperated immediately, and with Grant now in charge of the whole western army, defeated the Confederates at The Battle of Missionary Ridge two months later.
XI. Major social changes or social movements
A. Emancipation Proclamation 1863
i. The Emancipation Proclamation…two executive orders issued by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War that changed the entire objective of the Union. The first one, issued September 22nd, proclaimed the freedom of any and all slaves that resided in a state that had not surrendered by January 1. The second named the states where it applied. The war measures did not free any slaves in the Border States or in the Confederate states back under Union control, and these observations kept Northern abolitionists worried that the Proclamation wouldn‟t permanently end slavery. Initially only affecting Northern slaves, the slaves that heard it quickly escaped to Union lands as the army moved southward, conquering the Confederacy and freeing thousands of slaves by day. The Proclamation allowed for the enrollment of freed slaves into the Union Army. Although some slavery did exist after the measures‟ passing, full emancipation came with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.
B. Enrollment Act of 1863 passed by Congress
i. This legislation was passed by Congress on March 3 and was used to provide fresh faces for the Union in the Civil War. Every male citizen and immigrants who had filed for citizenship between the ages of twenty and forty-five were required to do some military service. Enforcement of the act caused civil unrest in some regions as the war was in progress.
C. Draft Riots in New York City
i. Northern Democrat and immigrants, upset that the war was being used to further blacks social rights, and the first draft drawing, turned to violent riots. Most of the protestors were Irish immigrants. The Irish resented that newly freed slaves could compete for the same unskilled jobs they worked at. The mob burned wealthy republicans‟ homes, lynched 12 free blacks, and injured many more. Lincoln responded by sending federal troops to the city, and suspended habeas corpus.
D. President Lincoln assassinated 1865
i. On April 14, 1865 in Ford‟s Theater John Wilkes Booth snuck into Lincoln‟s box and shot the president before jumping onto the
Stage, breaking his leg, and shouting the Virginia state motto, “Such is always the fate of tyrants” Two conspirators with Booth were also supposed to attack William Henry Seward, and Andrew Johnson. Seward suffered a dagger wound but recovered.
XII. Major inventions and technological change
A. Freedmen’s Bureau established 1865
i. The Freedmen‟s Bureau was established by Lincoln to look after and ensure fair wages, good working conditions, education for the newly freed slaves. The Southern States eventually shut down the bureau, and its lasting legacy is the creation of Howard, Atlanta, and Fisk Universities.