Download Girding For War - The North & The South

Chapter 20
Girding for War: The
North and the South,
1861–1865
I. The Menace of Secession
• Lincoln’s inaugural address
– Was firm yet conciliatory, no attack unless attacked
• Secession would create new controversies
– EG: federal debt, western lands, fugitive slaves
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II. South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter
• Seceding states seized Federal property
• Fort Sumter, in Charleston, SC harbor
– SC bombards Ft. Sumter.
• Lincoln calls for militiamen, blockade of ports
• 4 more states ‘rebel’ (succeed)
III. Brothers’ Blood and Border Blood
• Border states: Union states with slaves
• Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware
• West Virginia -“mountain whites” split from Virginia(1861)
• Lincoln used martial law & politics
• Official goal = save the Union, not end slavery
• Most Indians were Confederate allies
POP ESSAY = 50 words in 5 minutes
At what point did
the Civil War
become
Inevitable?
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IV. The Balance of Forces
• Southern (Confederacy) advantages
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Could fight defensively behind interior lines
South didn’t have to win, a draw was independence
South fought for self-determination & preservation
More talented officers, southern military culture
• Advantages for the North (Union)
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Many supplies compared to the South
The economy (farm, factory, & population)
Controlled 75% of wealth and railroads
Controlled the seas (superior navy), more trade
IV. The Balance of Forces
(What ifs…)
• The might-have-beens are fascinating:
– If the Border States had seceded.
• “Butternut Region” of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois ?
– If the uncertain states of the upper Mississippi
Valley had turned against the Union.
– If a wave of Northern defeatism had demanded an
armistice.
– And if Britain and/or France had broken the
Union’s naval blockade of Southern ports.
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V. Dethroning King Cotton
• Successful revolutions have foreign intervention
– Europe’s aristocracy, wealthy pro-South
– Europe’s working class anti-slavery
• Why did ‘King Cotton’ fail the South?
– Less demand for American cotton
• More cotton from Egypt and India
• Imported grains from the North important
– King Wheat and King Corn more important
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VI. The Decisiveness of Diplomacy
• Major crisis in Anglo-American (North) relations
• Trent affair—
– 1861 Union warship stopped British ship (Trent)
• Removal of two Confederate diplomats bound for Europe
• CSS Alabama (and others)
– “British pirate” captured over 60 vessels (1862-1864)
• British built CSA ship, CSA officers, manned by Britons
• Britain could not remain neutral
– Union looked north, talked about grabbing Canada
CSS Alabama
Ship’s motto – “Help yourself and God will help you”
Captain Raphael Semmes and First Lieutenant
John Kell aboard CSS Alabama 1863
VII. Foreign Flare-ups
• Third and final Anglo-American (North) crisis
– Laird rams—GB build two CSA ramming warships
• North threaten war w/ GB. GB never let South get ships
• French-American (North) crisis
– French Emperor Napoleon III invades Mexico (1862)
• United States gave aid to Mexico
– French government collapses (1866)
The Execution of Maximilian I
by Edouard Manet (1867)
First painting, executioners wearing traditional Mexican clothes
The Execution of Maximilian I
by Edouard Manet (1869)
Third and final completed painting, soldiers wearing generic uniforms (possibly
French uniforms), man in red cap painted to look like Napoleon III
VIII. President Davis Versus President Lincoln
• President Davis
– Serious talk of impeachment
• President Lincoln
– Tactful, quiet, patient, yet firm
– Forbearance towards South & backbiting colleagues
– Able to interpret and lead a fickle public opinion
IX. Limitations on Wartime Liberties
• During war, Congress usually supports POTUS
• Honest Abe usurped Constitutional powers
– Lincoln orders blockade
– Increased Fed army size
– Directed $2 million to military
– Suspended writ of habeas corpus
• Davis unable to expand his power
– Opposition from states’ righters
X. Volunteers and Draftees: North and South
• Northern armies manned by volunteers (1861-63)
– Congress passes first conscription law (1863)
– Pay $300 for exemption rights ($5,774 in 2014)
• The South relied mainly on volunteers
– Started draft as early as 1862
– Exemptions for $, large slaveowners, specific areas
NYC Anti-Draft Riots (1863)
Poor Irish and Anti-Lincoln forces (Democrats) protested Civil War draft law
and attacked blacks and others until federal troops arrived.
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XI. The Economic Stresses of War
• Northern economies: a lion’s share of the wealth
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Excise taxes, income tax, Morrill Tariff Act (1861)
Greenbacks: paper money
Bonds – North netted $2.6 trillion
National Banking System (1863-1913)
• Financial landmark of the war
• Southern financial woes
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Custom duties were cut off by Union blockade
Confederate bonds sold $400 million
Increased taxes , ‘bluebacked’ paper money print
“Runaway inflation” - 9000% inflation rate
Bluebacked Confederate money worth
1.6% of face value by April 1865
XII. The North’s Economic Boom
• New factories, protective by tariffs mushroomed
– Manufacturers raked in “the fortunes of war.”
• Other industries were humming
– Discovery of petroleum (1859)
– Homestead Act (1862), caused westward movement
• The Civil War was also a women’s war
– Women often took men’s jobs as they went to war
– U.S. Sanitary Commission trained nurses
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XIII. A Crushed Cotton Kingdom
• The South fought to the point of exhaustion
– Blockade (Atl & Miss R) caused economic suffocation
– Loss of wealth (30% in 1860 to 12% in 1870)
– Transportation collapsed
• Destruction & cannibalism of rails
• Northern industry conquered Southern manors