Fort Sumter Dbq

On April 14, 1861 Fort Sumter fell to Confederate warships. The 34-hour bombardment sparked The Civil War and many conflicts to come. Even though the Battle of Fort Sumter is credited for the bloodshed, numerous events led up to the undeniable fate of America. The Missouri Compromise made a convincing attempt at Congressional balance by admitting Missouri as a slave state whilst admitting Maine as a free state. Thomas Jefferson spoke saying, “considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.” Rebellions and

raids similarly added to the boiling pot. Nat Turner led an uprising that spread through Virginia’s southern plantations. Consequently, slaves and free black people were left with few civil rights after Nat Turner and fifty-five other slaves were tried and executed. In the middle of these uprisings, the Compromise of 1850 prevented slavery expansion into new territories, yet it blindly strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act. The compromise continued to divide the North from the South.
The Civil War’s hostility was in full fledge. North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and Arkansas became the Confederate states, the Union was comprised of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. While Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, known as the Border States, did not secede from the Union. Life in these states were like nothing ever seen before. Hardships struck around every corner for whites and blacks alike. Women, daughters, and sisters took on the work of the men who were absent. Families tried to keep intact with letters back and forth to home, but eventually the pressures became too much to handle. One woman wrote, “I was sick of war, sick of the butchery, the anguish.” Despite the struggles, Black families found ways to come together as they were once involuntarily separated. One in every 5 white men, in the confederacy, died and 40,000 black soldiers perished with 30,000 of those from infections or disease.
There was more down time at camp than actual fighting. Their daily routine consisted of roll calls, meals, drills, inspections, and fatigue duties. In the meantime, soldiers played social games such as poker and board games. Though gambling was forbidden, it was still the most popular form of passing time. A soldier said, “soldering is 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror.” Men not only had to bring many of their own personal items but were also limited to what they could carry on their backs. Lead bullets were utilized to make items such as poker chips.
On November 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President.

Multitudes of southerners were fearful of what may come with Lincoln’s anti-slavery outlooks. Three men who were Lincoln’s competitor’s for the Republican nomination took a seat on his cabinet, they were William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. He used his strengths and weaknesses to emotionally invest with the American people. When it came to deciding on the emancipation proclamation, he sent the idea to his cabinet even though his mind was made up. Some say that President Lincoln fought with depression while others saw it was a melancholy temperament. He used humor plays to surround himself during sad times. Even when lost battles saddened him, he met with soldiers to remember what the war was for. Abraham was assassinated before the end of the Civil War but he left a legacy that would be remembered through the ages. The Gettysburg Address was given on November 19, 1863. It was written to commemorate the Union soldiers killed in the civil war. In his speech, Lincoln proclaimed that “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

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