Advantages of Both Sides

Dear Diary,
I have been thinking about this war a lot lately. I have been collecting information about it from everyone I can. So I decided I would create a list of advantages of each side. I hope the North wins this. I think the best way to predict who wins would be to see this comparison.

Northern Advantages:

• Bigger population in the North. (2.5 to 1)
• More railroad track (2.4 to 1)
• More wheat (4.2 to 1)
• More merchant ships (9 to 1)
• More naval ships (25 to 1)
• Higher iron production (15 to 1)
• Higher firearm production (32 to 1)

Southern Advantages:

• Robert E Lee to lead them.
• Higher cotton production (1 to 24)
• They are on the defensive side, not offense.
• Fighting on their own land
• Mentally have more to fight for

Based on these statistics, I believe the north has a greater advantage then the south in this war. The north can use their navy to block of supplies from the south like what General Scott wanted in the Amaconda plan. The North has a greater advantage because it has more of what it needs to survive this war then the South does. Here is a picture of cartoon version of the Anaconda plan:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

 Anaconda Plan. N.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <https://upload.wikimedia.org/

           wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Scott-anaconda.jpg>.

Robert E. Lee

Dear Diary,
I have a lot of news! My distant cousin has turned down the Union army to fight for the Confederacy. He does not really believe in slavery or secession. He is only fighting for the Confederacy because he does not want to have to fight against his close relatives. My cousin is commander Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy army. He has been a military leader in Virginia before his new job for the Confederacy. It will be hard for the North to find a leader as trained and smart as him. I may not be happy to know he is fighting for the Confederacy, but I am glad to know that he will take care of his family and has the correct morals. My husband thinks he is crazy for fighting against his morals just to not have to fight his family. I guess I see both points of view. Here is a photo of my cousin Robert and our other cousins:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

Robert E Lee Family Photo. N.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. 

       <http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/36795899

       78_401ce52413.jpg>.

Fort Sumter

Dear Diary,
 I have recently learned from my husband about how when, in January of this year, President Buchanan tried to supplies and troops to Fort Sumter, a fort near South Carolina, the confederates fired upon the supplies. The supply ship was unarmed when it was under fire. This was right before President Lincoln came into office. When April came, Lincoln had no choice but to attempt to resupply the fort because they were running dangerously low on supplies. In order to try to avoid starting a war, Lincoln told South Carolina he was only sending food to the fort, no arms.  Sadly the Confederacy did not believe Lincoln and ordered Fort Sumter to surrender. If they did not surrender the Confederacy would fire upon the fort. The Union troops chose to fight for the fort. The Union troops had to surrender eventually after running out of ammunition. This angered the Northerners. By April 15, 1861, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to fight against the Confederacy. After the hostility, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy. Both groups thin they will only be fighting for a few days or months. We have no idea about whats to come.   Here is a painting of the battle at Fort Sumter:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

Fort Sumter. N.d. Wikimedia. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. 

       <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co

         mmons/0/05/Sumter.jpg>.

The Election of 1860 and Formation of the Confederate States of America

Dear Diary,

Jeanette and I have been trying to get over this new election. I still cannot believe that President Lincoln won without any votes from the south. If I could have voted, I surely would have voted for Lincoln. I like how he thought slavery should not be allowed in the territories. I am very glad that John Breckinridge did not win the election. He was the Southern Democrat nominee who believed the federal government should protect slavery. I believe that is just craziness. The only thing I like about the Constitutional Unionist nominee, John Bell, is that he thought the union should be defended. I believe that Stephen Douglass' idea of having popular sovereignty decide whether or not a territory should have slavery would eventually lead to madness similar to what happened in Kansas.   President Lincoln won 40% of the popular vote and almost 60% of the electoral vote. This was the first presidential election were the candidates had to figure out what to do with the issue of slavery. 

I am saddened by the fact that states started to leave the Union because of who was elected president. South Carolina was the first to secede. By February 1861, the seven states who secede created the Confederate States of America. Their constitution is very similar to the United States constitution.  They selected Jefferson Davis to be their president. While Jefferson had supported the Compromise of 1850, he was a strong believe that the south should take care of itself.  The Confederate States of America were made up of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Here is a map of the electoral votes in the 1860 Election:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

The Election of 1860. N.d. Bardhi History Class. Web. 3 Feb. 2016. 
        <http://bardhihistoryclass.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/6/1/2461
        5437/1860-presidential-election-map_2nd_image.jpg>.

The John Brown Raid

Dear Diary,

As stated earlier, the abolitionist John Brown was one of the first person to resort to violence in Kansas. He apparently thought of himself as "an angle of God". I recently found out that he went as far as gathering men and weapons. After two years of planning, he told his men to grab their weapons and went to take over the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. John had 21 men, including 5 free African Americans. He wanted to get  slaves to join in a revolution against slavery. Harper Ferry, Virginia was a local hub with trains and canals. It had many escape routes. Very few people actually joined him. Many were not ready to go to such drastic measures. His friend, Fredrick Douglas, refused to join saying it would just cause more problems. During this small revolution from John Brown, two more of his sons were killed. Although some people escaped, John did not make it to those carefully planned escape routes. This was another decision that has caused Jeanette and I to drift farther apart. We now are on different ends on what to do about John Brown. I think he should go to jail but not be killed because he did have a very good reason behind his actions. Jeanette believes that he should be killed because he broke the law and is causing problems in the south. He was sentenced to death in the end. These decisions as of late will bring us to something. I just hope whatever happens has a good ending.  Overall, even though he failed with his goal of a revolution, he did make the people both in the North and in the South start to think more on slavery. I think that John Brown should be viewed as a terrorist because he has caused so many deaths and problems. Here is a poster advertising John Brown's execution:

                                                         That's all for now Diary,

                                                               Rebecca

Anti-Slavery Mass Meeting. N.d. KSHS. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.    
       <https://www.kshs.org/ksmemory/KM90549cropped.jpg>.

Creation of the Republican Party

Dear Diary,
Today I found out about the new party in Congress. I saw a man promoting it on main street in my town. Apparently people think it is time to have a political party that is actually standing up against slavery. There have been a lot more interest in antislavery than before like with the Free Soil Party. They actually have enough people to qualify as a party. The Republican Party has attracted people who believe in antislavery from all different political parties such as Democrats, Whigs, Free-Soilers, and Know-Nothings. Know-Nothings were a political group of people who raised questions about their prejudices.  The Republicans are different then Free-Soilers because they are not just focused on the lands gained from the Mexican-American War. I am really happy that there is a political party that is speaking out how about how wrong slavery is, instead of just trying to make small fixes. The party is mainly liked by people in the north, but it attracted people from all over the United States. By now, 1856, the Republican Party is big enough to challenge the more established parties.

I also heard about a Supreme Court decision about a man named Dred Scott. Dred Scott is a slave from Missouri. He sued for his freedom because his owner had taken him to free soil but still made him work. He was taken to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory from 1834 to 1838. The Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that he was not free. The court decided that slaves were considered property and if the court ruled him free then they would be taking away his owners property without due process of law. They also ruled that slaves were not entitled to sue in courts. This case also made the Supreme Court rule that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The North did not agree with this decision against Dred Scott. There are people saying that we, the North, should secede from the Union. There are other people saying that the Supreme Court judges should be impeached. I believe it is not fair that more than half the people on the Supreme Court are southerners. Fredrick Douglass has stated that this decision will probably make the end of slavery come sooner than expected. I hope he is correct. Here is an image of a pamphlet about Dred Scott from one of the newspapers:

                                                         That's all for now Diary,
                                                               Rebecca

Dred Scott Decision. N.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2016. 
        <http://kurtfstone.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341e274553ef0133
        f56feecc970b-250wi>.

The Fail of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Dear Diary, 
Today, Jeanette and I heard about how Congress was having another problem with what to do about slavery. Apparently, Senator Douglas has introduced a bill to set up the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory. He suggested that the territory be organized by popular sovereignty. His idea was that one would be a slave state and one would be a free state even though this was not clearly stated in the bill. He thought this would be a good solution, but it would also let things stay equal in Congress. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was accepted a couple years ago, in 1854. 

Many people have been rushing to move to the new territories. The northerners and the southerners competing to win the state through popular sovereignty. By 1856, there were two governments petitioning for statehood in Kansas. There was a lot of tension between the two groups. Border Ruffians raided Lawrence, Kansas (an antislavery town). They destroyed homes, shops, and The Kansas Free State newspaper. I was even told about how the abolitionist John Brown, his family, and his friends had a midnight execution of five proslavery settlers 20 miles south of Lawrence. This started violence from both sides. The battles that are happening in Kansas have been called, "Bleeding Kansas." The act only made things worse than they already are by adding in the fighting to get what they want. Popular sovereignty was not a good idea once actually acted outside Congress. "Bleeding Kansas" has really made the split between the North and the South over slavery more noticeable. The whole problem out in Kansas would have been fixed if Senator Douglass had just written what he actually wanted in the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Here is a photo of an poster about an anti-popular sovereignty meeting:

                                                        That's all for now Diary,
                                                         Rebecca

Popular Sovereignty Poster in Kansas. N.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.
         <https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com
         /736x/0e/38/75/0e3875c11c51c8b5d15f6c
         49659a4745.jpg>.