Chapter 20 Key Terms (1861-1865) - Girding for War: The North & South

What were the main causes of the American Civil War?

• Sectionalism/State’s Rights

• Slavery Issue

• Economic Differences

• Industrialization

• The Election of Lincoln

Fort Sumner

• A union fort in South Carolina that was running out of supplies

• Lincoln intended to send provisions to his soldiers, but SC took it as reinforcement

• April 12th, 1861

• Start of the Civil War

Northern Advantages at the start of War

• Economy: Farms & Factories

• Controlled the sea

• Trade with Europe

• Larger Population & Immigrants

• 75% of the Nation’s Wealth

Southern Advantages at the start of War

• Had the defensive position

• High Morale

• Talented Officers

• Culture was more fit-to-fight

• More Forts due to Native American conflicts

Fall of King Cotton

• Britain from 1857-1860 had a surplus of crops that they used during the war

• Needed supplies came from Northern confiscated of Southern Cotton

• Grains - grown in the North - became more prominent for the British

• Dependency on grain kept Britain out of the war

Trent Affair

• North seized a British ship holding 2 Confederate Diplomats

• Britain called out the North

• Lincoln freed the Confederates

The Alabama

• Confederate commerce-raider

• Built by the British

• In 1863 the British began to seize raider ships so the North would keep sending them grain

Monroe Doctrine

• Napoleon III of France installed a puppet state in New Mexico

• This violated the Monroe Doctrine

• After the Civil War, Secretary of War William Seward threatened the French who retreated

Jefferson Davis

• Ex-senator from Mississippi

• Reluctantly accepted being the Confederate President

• Confederate State turned down his requests for supplies and policies on State Rights

• Failed to unify the Confederacy

Abraham Lincoln

• Abused the Constitution to preserve it

• Examples:

  • Increased Federal Army

  • Printed Money (inflated the economy)

  • Allowed “Supervised” voting in Border States

  • Suspended Habeus Corpus

Drafting in the Civil War

• Conscription didn’t start till 1863 in the North

• Immigrants were given land in turn for enlisting (most of them died though)

• Both North and South allowed the rich to pay out and avoid enlistment

Money during the Civil War

• The Treasury printed $450 million worth of Green-Backs

• These Green-Backs were not supported by Gold reserves

• National Banking System was re-established in 1863

Millionaires during the Civil War

• War brought profitability

• Manufactures sold weapons & clothing to both the North & South

• North benefitted the most with its innovations in machinery. The South fell behind and it only accounted for 12% of the Nation’s economy in 1870.