Background
- 1854, the modern Republican Party emerges to declare no slavery in any territories.
- 1858, Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer and Republican, arrives nationally. He opposes slavery outright, but also understands the Constitution protects the South.
- 1860, Democrats are split, and Lincoln is elected president.
- 1861, the South parts with the North, and becomes the Confederate States of America. Their principle is that any state can secede, and they go on to attack Fort Sumter, and initiate the Civil War.
- at first, Abe and the North just want to save the Union, slavery or not, while abolitionists like Frederick Douglass preach no peace as long as slavery existed.
- meanwhile, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are leading the South to victories.
- elsewhere, while the federal government focuses on the war, mainly fought east and south of the Mississippi, the west becomes wild. Militias form to protect territories, and Indians see opportunities to rise up. As many settlers go west for cheap land, various skirmishes ensue.
- 1863, back on the war front, Douglass advises Lincoln to abolish slavery and enlist blacks in the army. Lincoln agrees, and issues the Emancipation Proclamation to free blacks. Thousands enlist, and along with some great Union tactical moves and Stonewalls death, the tide turns for the North.
- General Ulysses S. Grant emerges, and is put in charge of the Union armies. Although General Lee was superior in many ways, Grant had the numbers. When Lee realized he couldn’t win, he surrendered.
- 1865, the Civil War ends, the North wins, and the Union is saved.