Don't know much about history questions (Civil War)

1) Why does the author suggest that John Brown had a sense of humor?

Buchanan put a price of $250 for Brown’s head, and Brown responded by saying that Buchanan’s head was worth $2.50.

2) What was John Brown's plan?

His plan was to march south, arm the slaves who would flock to his crusade, and establish a black republic in the Appalachians to wage war against the slaveholding south.

3) Why did John Brown become a symbol?

He became a symbol because he gathered up a black and white army and attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry on the Potomac River, which was a ‘suicidal’ course of action. He was later hanged for his beliefs and David Thoreau and Emerson compared him to Christ.

4) When and why did South Carolina succeed from the Union?

They succeeded in 1860 because they were unhappy that Lincoln, a Republican, became president.

5) List some of the advantages of the North at the beginning of the war. List some of the advantages of the South at the beginning of the war.

Advantages of North: Had 23 states with 22 million people while south had 11 states and 9 million people; they out produced the south in agricultural products and livestock holdings; they were able to increase their wartime supplies and ship them efficiently by rail, while the south had to purchase weapons, ships, and arms from foreign sources.

Advantages of South: Home-field advantage; produced vast amounts of cotton raised by slave labor;

6) List some of the (5) famous battles of the Civil War with a brief description of each.

1) The first battle of Bull Run: The confederates win and the North realizes that it’s not going to e a 90 day war, so congress passes the first income-tax law.

2) Battle of Antietam: It was a crucial win for the north. If they hadn’t won, the war would have been over. It was really a tie through military standpoint, but North claimed victory and Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation.

3) Battle of Chancellorsville: casualties exceed 10,000 men for both sides. Lee’s army defeats Hooker’s army of the Potomac. Stonewall Jackson is shot by his own confederate soldier and dies the next day from pneumonia.

4) The Battle of Gettysburg: The Confederates were in search of shoes and then met up with the Union. Battle was fought in three days and it marked the final turning point in the war. The Union took the defensive position and turned back the Confederates, and Lee returns to Virginia.

5) The Battle of Five Forks/Appomattox Courthouse: Lee withdraws from Petersburg and the Union takes Richmond. Lee is faced with starvation and surrenders to Grant at the Village of Appomattox Courthouse. The terms of surrender are generous and the Confederates are allowed to leave on their horses and retain their side arms, but everything else has to be surrendered. This is the last battle of the Civil War.

7) How do you view Lincoln's suspension of "the writ of habeas corpus"? I think it was important he did so because it would help save blacks because the south was after them because Lincoln had issued the emancipation proclamation.

8) What if Lee's plan had not been found at the battle of Antetiem?

Then the Union wouldn’t have known his plans of splitting up his army and their positioning, and the South would have had a better chance of winning.

9) What was the reconstruction?

It would readmit the states after they had ratified the thirteenth amendment, abolishing slavery, which had been passed in December 1865.

10) Why did the Klu Klux Klan form?

They wanted to intimidate both blacks and “liberal” white Republicans. They did so by organizing a Klan that was lead by former commanders, soldiers, and leaders of the Confederacy as well as southern churchmen, and they would lynch, beat, burn, and commit other forms of political terrorism. They didn’t like or want any blacks in the politics.

11) Discuss Andrew Johnson's impeachment.

The constitution stated that the president, vice president, and civil officers would be impeached if they committed treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Johnson tried to dismiss War Secretary Edwin M. Stanton, an ally of the Radical Republicans, which went against the Tenure of Office Act which prohibited the president from dismissing any official who had been appointed with Senate consent without first obtaining Senate approval.