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The Civil War
Girding for War
1861 - 1865
The War Begins
• March 4, 1861: Lincoln
takes office
• Vows to “preserve, protect, &
defend the Union”
• April 6: Lincoln warns So.
Carolina he is going to send
supplies to Fort Sumter at
Charleston
• April 12: South Carolina
fires on Ft. Sumter
•After 33 hours of
bombardment Ft. Sumter
falls
•War has begun
Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861
• April 15: Lincoln calls for
75,000 volunteers & a
naval blockade on the
South
• Virginia, Arkansas, North
Carolina, & Tennessee
secede - Confederacy is
now 11 states
The Border States
• Lincoln recognized the
importance of the border
states
•Maryland, Missouri, the
mountain areas of
western Virginia, & most
importantly Kentucky
Non-Emancipation
• To keep the Border States
in the Union, Lincoln
announced that he was
not fighting to free the
blacks
•Also somewhat pacified the
Butternut areas of the Ohio
River
“My paramount object is to save
the Union, and is not either to
save or destroy slavery…If I
could save the Union with out
freeing any slave I would do
it, and if I could save it by
freeing all the slaves I would
do it, and I could save it by
freeing some and leaving
others alone, I would also do
that.”
- Abraham Lincoln
Native Americans
• Cherokee Nation,
themselves slave owners,
sided with the
Confederacy & “seceded”
from the Union
• Northern Plains Indians
sided with the Union
Northern Advantages
• North’s population was
22 million vs. South’s 9
million - 1/3 of whom
were slaves
• Union had 3 times as
many service age men
Men
Present
for Duty
during
Civil War
• North eventually recruited
roughly 200,000 AfricanAmericans as soldiers - the
South did not use slaves
• North had the stronger &
more varied economy most of the manufacturing,
2/3 of railroads
• North had more
agriculture & minerals
• North already had an
organized government & a
wealthy treasury
• North was fighting for the
preservation of the Union
Southern Advantages
• South fighting a defensive
war - a draw would be a
victory
• North had to invade,
conquer, & control an
area the size of western
Europe
• Most Southern men were
from farms & knew how
to ride & shoot
• South had a strong
military history
•More U.S. Army officers
were from the South including General Robert E.
Lee
• South had hope for
support from England &
other European countries
North/South Comparison
North
vs.
South:
Resources
The Diplomatic Front
• Britain
•British ruling class had
strong ties to the
aristocratic South
•British laboring class
backed the industrial free
labor North
•Britain’s navy could have
broken the blockade
•Britain worried about the
Union attacking Canada
• In 1861, the British had an
oversupply of cotton
• North shipped much needed
grain to England
• France
•Napoleon III placed
Maximillian on the
throne of Mexico until
1867
The Trent Affair
• Union navy apprehended
two Confederate
diplomats from a British
ship
•Northerners rejoiced at
getting even for
impressment of 1812
• British prepared for war
against Union
• Loss of Atlantic cable led
to delays & the crisis
cooled down
• Lincoln freed the two
diplomats
• Seward congratulated
the English on accepting
the illegality of
impressment & seizure
The Alabama
• British shipyards built the
commerce raider ship
The Alabama - not a
warship as it was
unarmed
• Ship went to the Azores
with British crew & took
on weapons
• Alabama caused havoc to
American shipping
• Finally sunk off the coast
of France in 1864
• Charles Francis Adams
•Son of JQ Adams
•Chief Union diplomat to
Great Britain
•Presented persistent
claims for the destruction
of US shipping to Britain
• Britain ultimately gave in
& confiscated other ships
being built in England
• Commerce raiders put a
serious, but not crippling,
dent in the American
merchant Marine
The Laird Rams
• 1863: British navy yard
began building two
Confederate warships
with iron rams
• British fearing war & US
invasion of Canada bought the ships for the
British navy
• 1872 Britain submitted to
US claims & paid the
Americans $15 million in
damages
• 1866 & 1870 Irish
Fenians launched
invasions into to Canada
for Irish independence
Wartime Liberties?
• Saving the Union required
circumventing some areas
of the Constitution
•Naval blockade of South
•Increased size of army
•Extended enlistment time
•$2 million to citizens for
military purposes
•Suspended habeas corpus
to arrest anti-Unionists
•Ex Parte Merriman, 1861
•864 people held w/o trial
•“Supervised” voting in
Border States
•Outlawed slavery in all
national territories
• Jefferson Davis unable to
do the same in the South
•No strong central gov’t in
the South
•Davis rigid & unpopular
•South willing to lose the
war before losing states’
rights
Draftees
• Initially, Union army
comprised of volunteers
• 1863: Congress
passes 1st
conscription
law
•Wealthier could
hire substitutes
or pay a $300
exemption
• New York City Draft Riots
broke out - Irish laborers
attacked blacks
• Union army was 90%
volunteer - many went
AWOL & reenlisted to get
bounty money
• Roughly
200,000 AfricanAmerican
soldiers fought
for the Union
beginning in
1862
African-American Recruiting
Poster
The Famous 54th
Massachusetts
August Saint-Gaudens
Memorial to Col. Robert Gould
Shaw
African-Americans
in Civil War Battles
Black Troops Freeing Slaves
• South relied mainly on
volunteers
•1862: began conscription
of men 17-50 yrs. Old
•Did not enlist slaves until
1865
• Both sides had over
200,000 deserters
Economic Problems
• Union financing:
•1st Ever Income Tax
•Paid 2/3 cost of war
•Excise taxes
•Tobacco & alcohol
•Morrill Tariff Act (1861)
•10% tariff increase
•Bond sales
•Borrowed more than $2.6 billion
in bonds - sold by Jay Cooke &
Company
•1863: National Banking
System
•created a standard currency &
replaced the BUS of 1836
• Union also issued currency
called Greenbacks
•Over $450 million dollars
not solidly backed by gold
•Currency flood led to
inflation hurting workers
•Fluctuated in value (39
cents)
• Confederacy’s finances
wrecked by…
•Inflation
•Blockade
•$400 million in worthless
bonds
•10% farm produce tax
•Over $1 billion dollars in
treasury notes (1.6 cents)
Inflation in the South
“Shoddy Millionaires”
• Wartime expansion in
North brought:
•Inflation
•Huge profits
•New millionaire class
•Speculation
•Profiteering/Dishonesty
•New technology
• Marks beginnings of
“Gilded Age”
• 1859: oil discovered in
Titusville, PA beginning
the petroleum industry
• Only industry hurt was
shipping by southern
commerce raiders
• Westward expansion:
•Homestead Act (1862)
•Free land to pioneers
•Morrill Land Grant Act
(1862)
•Ag. & mechanical colleges
•Pacific Railway Act (1863)
•Northern route for railroad