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The Civil War
Lincoln’s Inauguration
• Snuck into Washington under disguise.
• South Carolina was the first state to secede
• 7 states total seceded before inauguration.
• James Buchanan: indecisive predecessor
• Felt states had no right to secede, but federal gov’t could not
stop them.
• Confederate States of America seized all federal property within
their boundaries
• couldn’t control those that were off shore -Ft. Sumter
Lincoln’s Message
1. Declared that the union pre-dated the Constitution
• states were not allowed to leave.
2. Any acts of force to support secession would be viewed as
insurrection.
3. The Gov’t. would retain all federal property in seceded states.
• clear reference to mounting trouble at Ft. Sumter
Ft. Sumter
• Forces still occupying the fort ran dangerously low on supplies.
• Lincoln warned S. Carolina he would send supply ships, not military.
• No soldiers or reinforcements unless the ships were fired upon.
• Confederates fired on the ships
• Southern Code of Honor: prefer belligerent action instead of appearing
cowardly
• Confederates bombed the fort for 2 days until surrendered.
• Lincoln mobilized for war, and four more states seceded.
• Only four slave states remained in the union
• Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri.
Union Advantages
1. Population was twice as large
• 4 times larger than the non-slave population
2. Nearly all American factories
3. Twice as many miles of railroad, most of which in better condition
Confederate Advantages
1. Easier mission – simply defend homeland, Union had to occupy
enemy territory
2. Longer Union supply lines made railroads invalid at times.
3. Southern people united, believed deeply in their cause.
• Modern patriots like forefathers
4. Home field advantage: often knew the terrain better.
Mobilizing the North for War
• Paying for the War
• Gov’t levied income taxes for first time in U.S. history
• Printing of Paper money for the first time.
• Embraced soft money = value of “greenbacks” dependent on
success of the Union army – wealthy citizens support war
• Largest funding was through sale of bonds.
• offered to private citizens, not just banks and financial
institutions.
• Raising an Army
• Over 2 million men served in the Union Army during the war.
• Originally only had 16,000
• Initial rush of volunteerism, then difficulty recruiting soldiers.
• 1863 Congress passed a draft bill
• Could hire someone to go in your place, or pay the gov’t. $300.
• Only 46,000 men were actually drafted to fight.
Draft Riots
• Laborers, immigrants, and Democrats majority of draft opponents.
• New York City draft riots - 4 days in July of 1863.
• Irish immigrants afraid they’d lose their jobs to freed slaves
• Over 100 people died
• lynched black people
• burned homes and businesses
• destroyed a black orphanage.
Lincoln’s Questionable Actions
1. Never formally asked Congress to declare war.
• Labeled the war a domestic insurrection.
• Declaration of war would formally recognize the Confederate gov’t.
2. Increased size of the standing army without formally receiving legislative
permission.
3. Ordered blockade of all southern ports without consent
4. Military arrest of all dissenters and suspended habeas corpus (speedy trial).
• Initially, only in border states
• by war’s end 13,000 people were imprisoned
• When Chief Justice Taney ordered him to release a Maryland secession
leader, Lincoln simply refused.
Confederate Gov’t.
• Confederate Constitution nearly identical to the United States.
• Except specifically acknowledged state sovereignty, and allowed
slavery.
• Jefferson Davis - provisional president, serving a 6 year term.
• Alexander Stephens of Georgia – Vice President
• Both moderate secessionists, as were most members of the
Confederate gov’t
• No formal political parties
• Much division regarding Confederate policies.
Funding Confederate Army
• No real revenue to begin with
• Most southern wealth tied to slaves and land
• Only real money was stolen from U.S. mints
• accumulated roughly $1 million
• Individual states rarely raised taxes.
• Few states paid their required share
• Tried to borrow from Europe using cotton as collateral
• Disastrous and ineffective
• Sold bonds to citizens, but instability caused few to buy.
• Most of the cost was born by printed paper currency
• least stable, most destructive place to receive funding. (see pg. 380)
Raising a Confederate Army
• Also required draft after volunteerism decreased
• a draftee could pay a substitute, expensive and rarely happened.
• Whites owning more than 20 slaves were exempt
• “rich man’s war, but poor man’s fight”
• Draft was revoked in 1863
• Ultimately, the Confederate army totaled 900,000 men
• Not including slaves and women pressed into non-combat service.