Part VI Impact of the War A Most Uncivil War! Part VI Impact of the War

Effects on Executive Power

The Civil War expanded the powers of the presidency.

It established that the Constitution gave the president the authority, in emergency situations, to take actions without consulting Congress.

Lincoln had… Called up the military, increased its size by 70,000 men, and spent funds on the war Blockaded Southern ports and authorized a conscription Suspended the writ of habeas corpus and established military tribunals to try civilians in certain areas. At the end of the war, nearly 15,000 individuals were imprisoned without formal trials

The Supreme Court, in Ex parte Mulligan (1866), ruled that Lincoln had overstepped his power. It ordered that these civilians be set free.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln’s executive order in September of 1866, to go into effect January 1st, 1863, demonstrated his executive leadership.

The Emancipation Proclamation declared that slaves living in the Confederate states were free and liberated.

“All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

But slaves living in border states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia), and those living in areas conquered by the North, were not free.

The Proclamation had no immediate effect on slaves in the South, but it helped make slavery the war’s central issue and rekindled support for the waning war effort in the North.

It also ended any hope that England would aid the South.

Effects on Women

Women provided the labor force for factories that produced war supplies, since thousands of men had gone away to fight.

The need for nurses also opened up new opportunities for women.

Clara Barton and other women provided medicinal help for those wounded in battle.

In 1881, Clara Barton would help found the American Red Cross.

Effects on African Americans

At the beginning of the war, African Americans were not allowed to serve in the military in either the North or the South.

Some were eventually allowed to serve in segregated units, but only in secondary roles like food preparation and construction.

After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, many free blacks and ex-slaves served in the military, and by 1865, more than 180,000 African Americans joined the Union Army, served in segregated units with white officers.

Draft Riots

Until 1863, enlistment in the Union Army was voluntary.

But when Congress passed a draft law that compelled people to serve in the army, violent disturbances broke out in New York City from July 13 to July 16, 1863.

The rioters were primarily Irish working-class men, but they directed their anger at African Americans, who competed with them for jobs.

Many African-Americans died (an estimated 100) during the four days of rioting.

Economic Effects

Congress passed the following that had lasting influence on the U. S. The Morrill Tariff of 1861 raised tariff rates to protect northern manufacturers The Homestead Act of 1862 promoted settlement of the far West. It gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. Applicants had to be at least 21 years old and had never taken up arms against the U. S. government. The Morrill Land Grant of 1862 stimulated the growth of higher education by giving land to the states for the building of new agricultural colleges

Rep. Justin Smith Morrill (Vermont)

Cornell University

Congress also created a national banking system to finance the war and authorized the building of a transcontinental railroad connecting the East and West.

Built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States. Begun just preceding the American Civil War, its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, this served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement.

Political Effects

The Civil War established the Republicans as the dominant political party.

The North’s victory established the supremacy of the federal government over the states.

The perception that Republicans had won the war helped the Party dominate American politics for the next forty years.