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U.S. History 1492-1877 10: The South Secedes 77 Views


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Description:

Buckle up. We're about to witness the biggest break up in U.S. history. And here we thought Ross and Rachel was bad...

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Transcript

00:03

If the South had called the North to break-up, it would've sounded something like this…

00:08

"North, we need to talk. You want expansion, growth, city life, change, and opportunity."

00:15

"We just want a simple, feudal-style life ruling over slave plantations and selling raw materials to British and French factories."

00:22

"Also, you keep saying all these mean things about us…"

00:24

"Like that our state government has been taken over by monsters…"

00:27

"And that they want to impose their will over our mutual friends, the territories."

00:31

"And now, you've elected a President who wants to cut off our

00:34

influence on the territories, making us isolated and weak."

00:38

"It's not us, it's you. We need to call it off."

00:40

"Oh, also y'all talk funny…bye bye."

00:43

And just like that, the South started to secede, or leave the Union.

00:47

The first state to peace out, or war out, was South Carolina, on December 20, 1860.

00:53

That was after Lincoln was elected, but before he was sworn into office.

00:56

The possibility of a Free Soil president was so freaky that

01:00

South Carolina decided to leave the Union before he'd even had a day in office.

01:04

A bunch of other states followed South Carolina's lead.

01:07

Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi had all joined South Carolina

01:11

by the time Lincoln's butt hit the Oval Office desk chair.

01:15

What a bummer. We hope he at least had a chair that spins.

01:19

Other southern states stayed, hoping that Lincoln would back down on his Free Soil campaign promises.

01:24

But he didn't.

01:25

Lincoln's policies led to the secession of the rest of the South.

01:29

On February 8, these states made their own government, called by the original name of the Confederate States of America.

01:36

In April 1861, Virginia seceded and became the seat of power for the Confederacy.

01:41

Seat of power? That sounds cooler than a spinny chair.

01:44

Unfortunately for the South, the amount of power they had was suspect.

01:49

On paper, they looked weaker than gas station coffee.

01:52

The Confederacy had a much smaller population than the North, less tax revenue,

01:56

less infrastructure, and almost no manufacturing capability.

02:01

So why in the world would they think they could win a war against the North?

02:04

Because the South did have one major resource up its sleeve: army officers.

02:09

Highly skilled southern generals like Robert E. Lee were a serious threat, kinda Luke Skywalkery,

02:15

and the South ran circles around bumbling northern generals in the early parts of the war.

02:20

But it wasn't just southern military leadership that was a problem for the North.

02:24

A century of paranoia about slave revolts had led to massive, trained militia units and army garrisons in the South.

02:32

So even though the South started the war with a lot of handicaps,

02:35

their military, much like the Sharknado, was terrifying to behold.

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