Chapter 20 - Girding for War: The North and the South 

The Menace of Secession

• Lincoln declared secession to be impractical due to the North and South not being geographically divided
  • Lincoln stated that secession would cause new controversies to rise, including national debt, federal territories, and the fugitive-slave issue

South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter

• When Lincoln was elected, there were only 2 significant forts in the South that flew with the Union’s flag with one of the forts being was Fort Sumter, which needed supplies in order to support its men
  • Lincoln adopted a middle-of-the-road solution and told South that the North was sending provisions to Fort Sumter, not supplies for reinforcements
• South Carolinians saw Lincoln’s solution as a sign of aggression and fired upon Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861
• The attack on Fort Sumter gave Lincoln reason for an armed response
  • Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee all seceded after the attack on Fort Sumter

Brothers' Blood and Border Blood

• Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia were the Border States and the only slave states that hadn't seceded from the Union
  • The border states had the Ohio River which was vital to both the North and South
• Lincoln’s official reason for war was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery as supporting an end to slavery would’ve most likely caused the pro-slavery border states to secede
• The Five Civilized Tribes, the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles sided with the Confederacy

The Balance of Forces

• South had the advantage of fighting defensively on its own land
  • The South didn’t have to win to preserve the Confederacy, and instead it only had to fight to a draw
• Lincoln offered Robert E. Lee the position of commanding the Northern army, with Lee turning down the job after his home state, Virginia seceded
• North held ¾ of the nation’s wealth and ¾ of the nation’s railroad system and had nearly twice as large of a population as the South, partially due to more European immigrants arriving in the North

Dethroning King Cotton

• South counted on foreign intervention to help win the war
• Common people of Britain & France supported the North, hoping to end slavery
  • British manufacturers depended on cotton from the South, but before the war, a surplus of cotton had developed in Britain, which allowed it to function without purchasing cotton from the South
• In 1861, the cotton supply ran out and many British factory workers were laid off
• As Union armies penetrated the South, they sent cotton to Britain

The Decisiveness of Diplomacy

• The ==Trent Affair== ==occurred in late 1861 with it consisting of a Union warship stopping the British mail steamer, the Trent, and removing 2 confederate diplomats heading to Europe==
  • Britain retaliated to the incident by sending troops to Canada, with the situation being resolved when Lincoln freed Confederate prisoners
• British shipyards were producing Confederate commerce-raiders
  • British ships left their ports unarmed, picked up arms elsewhere, and captured Union ships

Foreign Flare-Ups

• Two confederate warships were being built by a British shipyard, in 1863
  • To avoid angering the North and potentially starting a war, London government bought the two confederate warships for the Royal Navy
• The British established the Dominion of Canada in 1867 which was partly designed to strengthen Canadians against the possible vengeance of the United States
• ==Emperor Napoleon III of France== ==installed a French government in Mexico City in 1863==

President Davis versus President Lincoln

• A defect of the South’s constitution was that its own states could secede
• Some Southern state troops refused to serve outside their borders
• President Davis of the Confederacy often had disputes with his own Congress

Limitations on Wartime Liberties

• Lincoln took several actions that had to normally be approved by Congress because Congress wasn’t in session when the war started
• ==Lincoln== ==initiated a blockade, increased size of the Federal army, directed secretary of Treasury to advance $2 million without appropriation or security to 3 private citizens for military purposes, and suspended the writ of habeas corpus==

Volunteers and Draftees:  North and South

• Congress passed a federal draft law in 1863 due to a lack of volunteers
• Men who were called in the federal draft could pay $300 to buy a replacement
• The Confederacy also passed a draft law

The Economic Stresses of War

• ==North== ==increased tariffs and excise taxes to financially support the war which created the first income tax==
• Congress passed the Morrill Tariff Act in early 1861, after enough anti-tariff Southern members had seceded
  • The ==Morrill Tariff Act== ==was a high protective tariff that increased duties by 5 to 10 percent and was designed to raise additional revenue and provide more protection for Northern manufacturers==
• The ==Washington Treasury== ==issued paper money with Greenback currency not being backed by gold, but instead being backed by the Union’s perceived credit==
  • The value of the greenback was constantly changing
• Congress authorized the National Banking System in 1863 which was designed to stimulate the sale of government bonds and to establish a standard currency
• Confederate government also issued bonds and raised taxes which forced the printing of blue-backed paper money that was subject to runaway inflation

The North's Economic Boom

• Newly invented, labor-saving machinery allowed the North to expand economically
• ==Petroleum== ==was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859 and led to a rush of people known as the “Fifty-Niners”==
• ==Homestead Act of 1862== ==provided free land to many people==
• ==Civil War== ==opened up many jobs for women that were originally occupied by men==
• ==U.S. Sanitary Commission== ==was organized by women to provide medical support to Union armies in the field==

A Crashed Cotton Kingdom

• North’s blockade severely hampered the Southern economy
• Transportation in the South collapsed during the Civil War
• Cotton capitalism had lost to industrial capitalism