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>.