Girding for War: The North and the South Chapter 20

A. President of the Disunited States of America On March 4, 1861, Lincoln took the oath of President His inaugural address stated that physically, the U.S. cannot be divided Economically, we could not be divided as well Who would pay the national debt? Which side would the new jointly-owned territories belong to? Could these problems have been taken care of without war?

B. Fort Sumter The Confederacy started taking over forts belonging to the U.S. The Most important was Fort Sumter, under the command of Major Robert Anderson Lincoln did not want to provoke aggression. He wanted the South to start the fight Lincoln ordered ships to send supplies to Anderson The ships never made it Jefferson Davis ordered the firing on Fort Sumter Officially, the 1 st battle, though no bloodshed

C. Brother’s Blood and Border Blood 5 slave states were left: Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and W. Virginia The Ohio River flowed north of Kentucky into the heart of the South Thus, securing Kentucky was extremely important Lincoln declared publicly that he was not fighting to free blacks and end slavery Also, slavery was contested in Indian Territory Some Native Americans fought for the North, some for the South The Northern states and Southern states were also divided within

D. The Balance of Forces South Advantages -Didn’t have to win, only draw -Born fighters -Excellent Leaders Disadvantages -Grave shortages of supplies -Economy was the greatest weakness North Advantages -Sprawling factories and farms -3/4 of the nation’s wealth and RR’s -Superior Navy -Much larger reserve of manpower Disadvantages -Lack of good leadership -Less prepared to fight

E. Dethroning King Cotton Successful revolutions depend on foreign help The South counted on it, but did not receive it Many Europeans had read Uncle Tom’s Cabin and sympathized But Europe got 75% of its cotton from the south Why didn’t they side with the south? Overproduction caused stockpiles of cotton in Europe When they finally ran out of cotton, they needed other things such as grain from the north

F. The Decisiveness of Diplomacy South never gave up hope of foreign aid Trent Affair – North captured a British ship w/ two Confederate Diplomats on it – Britain was angered but nothing really happened Britain also building ships for the South (unofficially) like the Alabama These ships did a lot of damage to the North Northerners spoke of taking Canada

Private co. in Britatin building ships called the Laird Rams, but stop after the North finds out They also apologize for the Alabama and pay reparations France tried to take advantage of Civil War by invading Mexico and setting up a French Emperor Maximilian BUT shortly after the Civil War, U.S. prepared to march on Mexico Napoleon III left Maximlian, who was killed by a Mexican firing squad

G. President Lincoln v. Davis Lincoln -enjoyed a well- established gov’t -often listened to and abided by public opinion -tried to maintain a sense of gentleness toward the south -also did not talk bad about other people in gov’t Davis -states rights supporters made it difficult to get things in the CSA done -was never really a popular guy and at odds with his Congress -also defied public opinion often -tried to handle both military and civil problems (overworked himself)

H. Limitations on Wartime Liberties Lincoln took some “liberties” with the const. No “disloyal” speech Suspended Habeus Corpus – Jail without trial Proclaimed a blockade w/o Congress Increased size of military Directed money to be spent “Supervised” voting in the Border States Mostly, though, Congress approved his actions

I. The Draft North at first volunteers, but later used the draft Rich people could avoid the draft, thus mainly poor people fought Unpopular among democrats esp. South forced into conscription earlier Used men from cradle to grave (17-50) Slave owners could claim exemption Created bad blood, but no rioting as in the North

J. Wartime Economies North economically in good shape due to taxes and tariffs (1 st income tax) North also sold bonds to raise money for war North also created the National Banking Act – Issued sound paper money in a unified banking system (previous paper money fluctuated to erratically in value) Northern factories busy and creating millionaires New inventions (mechanized reaper, etc) Women working in factories and as nurses (Clara Barton) South raised taxes and sold bonds, but many states rightsers refused heavy taxation Confederate money pretty worthless Basically, Southern economy just not strong enough