+

Life during the War

19.4 Notes

+Freeing the Slaves

Ending Slaves Lincoln supported ending slavery if it would

assure a Northern victory. Some northerners wanted to end slavery to

punish the South or to prevent another civil war in the future.

+Freeing the Slaves

Problems with EmancipationNortherners prejudiced against African

Americans might turn against the war if emancipation became a goal.

The president did not have constitutional authority to end slavery in the nation.

+Freeing the Slaves

Lincoln’s Decision Issued a military order freeing slaves only

in areas under Confederate control.Did not apply to loyal, slaveholding border

states because Lincoln did not think he had the authority to end slavery there and did not want to anger those states

The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863.

+Freeing the Slaves

ReactionsMany southern slaves ran away, which

hurt the Confederate war effort.Many northern Democrats opposed the

Emancipation Proclamation, because they only wanted to restore the Union, not to end slavery.

+African Americans and the War

In the ArmyCongress approved the use of African

Americans as army laborers in 1862.Let contrabands, or escaped slaves, join

the army in South CarolinaFree African Americans in Louisiana and

Kansas also formed army units.By spring 1863, African American units

were fighting in the field.

+African Americans and the War

The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, made up mostly of free African Americans, played a major role in the attack on South Carolina’s Fort Wagner in July 1863.

Wartime ServiceSome 180,000 African Americans served in

the Union army during the war.Received lower pay than white soldiers and

usually led by white officers

+Problems in the North

Northern Democrats who opposed the war were called Copperheads.

Lincoln saw the Copperheads as a threat to the war effort and suspended the right of habeus corpus, the constitutional protection against unlawful imprisonment.

In March 1863 Congress passed a law allowing men to be drafted into military service, which angered many northerners; led to violent draft riots in July 1863.

+Southern Struggles

SuppliesNorthern blockade prevented supplies

and food from reaching southerners.Severe shortages led to food riots in

some cities in the spring of 1863.

+Southern Struggles

The DraftA draft law, passed in 1862, did not apply

to men who held many slaves.Angered poor southerners and caused

divisions in the Confederacy

+Life on the Home Front

Civilians on both sides aided the war effort by working in factories and on farms.

Medical Help Women such as Clara Barton, whose work work

formed the basis for what would become the American Red Cross, provided needed medical attention to soldiers.

About twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease than died in combat.

Dorothea Dix headed more than 3,000 women who served as paid nurses in the Union army.