THE CIVIL WAR ERAUnit Overview (1844-1877)

Big Picture As Abraham Lincoln slipped into the

District of Colombia to take the presidential oath of office, seven states had already slipped out of the union that his newly elected office presided over. Abraham Lincoln arguably would face the tallest order of all presidents: to preserve the union and ultimately resolve the slavery issue.

The Menace of Secession Lincoln’s actions

Wait and see Southern provocations?

Physical geography Topographical barriers?

National controversies Debt? Domain? Underground RR

European designs Imperialist interests

Fort Sumter Forces Lincoln’s Hand

South seizures Public property—arsenals, mints, etc…

Fort Sumter Charleston, SC

Lincoln's dilemma Reinforce? Surrender?

Middle ground—resupply Sumter Southern bombardment

Sumter surrendered Lincoln calls for militia

VA, AR, TN and NC secede

The Border Strategy The Border States

MO, KY, MD, DE White population=50% of the entire Confederacy Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers

Supply lines into Dixie CSA: grain, gunpowder, and iron

Lincoln’s law Partial Martial (this rhymes)

MD and MO War aims

“Preserve the Union” Doesn’t want to rile slave owners in Border States

The Balance of ForcesSouthern Advantages Northern Advantages

Defensive position Economy (farm and factory)

Home field Wealth

Determination—self preservation Railroads

Most talented officers Control of the seas

Bred to be soldiers Manpower

Dethroning King Cotton Foreign sympathies

The South needed intervention Britain needed cotton

British aristocrats favored the South Semi-feudal, aristocratic social order

British commoners favored the North Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Cotton supply British warehouses were overstocked with fiber (1857-1860) Emancipation proclamation—Civil War is over slavery

Cotton “famine” Northern aid Egyptian and Indian cotton

The Decisiveness of Diplomacy

The Trent Affair Union warship stops British mail steamer north of Cuba Forcibly removes two Confederate diplomats

Britain riled Lincoln releases men

Confederate commerce-raiders C.S.S. Alabama (most famous)* Built in Britain—crewed by Britons

Officered by Confederates Captured 250 U.S. merchant ships

Neutral? Precedent?

Foreign Flare-Ups The Laird Rams

British built warships designed to sink wooden ships U.S. threatens war—possible invasion of Canada

Confederate plots CSA agents plundered three banks in Vermont

Canada Irish-Americans invade Canada

1866 & 1870 Dominion of Canada created in 1867

France Napoleon III installs puppet regime in Mexico (1863)

Cinco de Mayo

President Davis v. President Lincoln

States’ Rights Curse Jefferson Davis and centralized gov’t.

Skilled strategist and administrator Obsessed over leadership

Secession? Governors worked against Davis Defied rather than harnessed popular opinion

Plague of war “Old Abe”

Flexible Led fickle public opinion Charity and forbearance Delegator

Limitations of Wartime Liberties

Upholding the Constitution? Lincoln &“necessity of war”

Blockade of southern ports Increased the size of the Federal Army Advanced $2 million to private citizens (military

purposes) Suspends the writ of habeas corpus

Arrests dissenters “supervised” elections in Border States Censorship of press

Jefferson Davis and states’ rights Local control>national needs

Volunteers and Draftees North

Volunteers & state quotas

90% of troops volunteered

Social and patriotic pressures

Bounty jumpers Conscription law

passed (1863) Substitutes—$300 NYC Draft Riots

Irish mobs Deserters—200,000

South Mostly volunteers Smaller population

Draft (Apr. 1862) Exemptions

$$$$ 20+ slaves rule

Conscription agents Avoided “Mountain

Whites”

Paying for the War: the North

Revenue Excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco Income tax Customs receipts

Morrill Tariff Act (1861) Inflating the currency

Greenbacks—value determined by nation’s credit Debt

$2.6 billion in war bonds sold National Banking System (1863)

Standard bank note currency Stimulate sale of gov’t. bonds

Paying for the War: the South

Customs receipts Thwarted by the Union blockade

Debt $400 million in war bonds

Revenue Increased taxes 10% levy on farm produce

The North’s Economic Boom Business boomed

Protective tariffs Technological advancements Inflation

“Shoddy Millionaires” Greed and graft War profiteers

Oil! Farms

Cyrus McCormick & the mechanical reaper U.S. grain helped fight the war

Women in the Civil War U.S. Government

Clerical capacities Industry

1:4 to 1:3 Military

400 known cases of women fighting Espionage

U.S. Sanitary Commission Soldier relief

Nursing Clara Barton, Dorothea Dix and Sally Tompkins

A Crushed Cotton Kingdom Plantation economy destroyed

Wealth lost Cotton and slaves

Blockade Invading armies

Southerners demonstrated tremendous sacrifice