Art was an important aspect of the civil war. It allowed people to express and represent their views as well as the events of the civil war in a platform that all could see. It also allowed people who may otherwise not be able to understand what was happening during battles to have a clear visual of these scenes. We looked online on the website civilwarinart.com to see some of these images, as well as their importance to the civil war. Through these pictures, it is easier to see the events that led up to the civil war and how and why they occurred in this way.
The fugitive slave act of 1850 further divided the north and the south by forcing northerners to enforce laws that they did not support. The act stated that anyone who saw a fugitive slave, who had escaped to a free state for however long, was required by law to turn them in. Most northern whites were in favor of the abolition of slavery, and even helped slaves to escape. This new law meant that not only could they not help slaves to escape, but they could not let slaves that they were aware of continue to live in the free state. Even if someone was not a slave, if just one person claimed that they were, then they would be put into slavery. To even further take away the freedoms of slaves, they were not allowed to go to court.
John Brown was one of the most famous abolitionists of all time. His methods to end slavery were very violent, extreme and controversial- even to other abolitionists. In Harpers Ferry, Virginia, he raided a weapons storehouse called the Federal Armory with the plan to use these weapons with the help of slaves to bring them to freedom. The plan was quickly quickly stopped when he was captured and eventually tried for treason. This event, as well as others that John Brown planned caused an even stronger divide between the north and the south. The southerners saw these violent and extremist actions of an abolitionist and began to view all abolitionists- and the north- in this way. They used John Brown as a reason that the south should secede from the union.
This image is a poster that tells the outcome of the Dred Scott vs. Sandford case. Dred Scott wanted to sue the United States because he said that he should be free, since he and his wife lived with their owner in a state where slavery is outlawed. The supreme court denied him his freedom, and even more so stated that regardless of if former slaves now lived in slave states or not, they could never become full citizens. This also meant they they were not allowed to sue in federal court. This decision infuriated abolitionists and further divided the north and the south.
This newspaper cover has the faces of the southern congressmen who resigned their seats after president Abraham Lincoln was elected. They felt that in order to ensure the continuation of slavery in their states, seceding from the union was necessary. The first to secede was North Carolina, and all of the other southern states followed. The president of the newly formed confederacy was Jefferson Davis.
This map of the united states shows how all of the states were just before the civil war began. Red states were the first to secede from the union, before Lincoln was elected, green are states that seceded after Lincoln was elected, yellow is slave states that did not secede, and blue states are free states.
In April 1861, confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter. Artist Frederick Edwin Church painted this American Flag as the sunset as a patriotic response to the attack. A meaning behind this painting was that the American Flag was in the heavens, as if the union was guided by a higher purpose.
The civil war began on April 12th, 1861, when troops from South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter. This bombardment continued for two days, until Major Robert Anderson surrendered, and the federal troops boarded confederate troops as prisoners. President Lincoln responded to this by calling for 75,000 soldiers in order to put down this "rebellion" Fort Sumter then fell, and a New York printing for called Curier and Ives made this colorful lithograph to pay tribute to this event. The prints were cheap, and therefore very popular, as people were very intrigued and interested to see what was happening in the battlefield.
This image is an engraving of the confederate attack on the unions Fort Sumter. The attack lasted for 33 hours. President Lincoln had previously reinforced the fort with supplies which Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard believed was an act of war, so he open fired. This image was in the Frank Leslie’s Magazine, a magazine that hired artists around the country create drawings of the civil war, and send them to the magazine. The staff chose the best pictures and copied them by engraving for printing. This method allowed many people to see images and a new perspective on the war and battle zones.
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