U.S. I: Chapter 20 - Girding for War: The North and the South, 1861-1865

The slave child John and an unnamed companion, 1862.
According to a document which accompanied the photo,
John was sold for $1,150 in 1854.

CHAPTER 20 NOTES: GIRDING FOR WAR:  THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH 1861-1865

OVERVIEW: This chapter looks at the economic aspects of the Civil war as well as the importance of the Border States and the role of Great Britain and France.  (Chapter 21 will discuss the military history in greater detail.)

1861: Lincoln took office with seven states having already seceded from the Union (North), and others soon followed when the first armed conflict of the Civil War broke out at Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC.  Many of Lincoln’s actions, including continuing to allow slavery, were aimed at keeping the critical Border States and southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois loyal to the Union. While initially it seemed that the Confederacy (South) could succeed in breaking away from the U.S., the North with its mighty industrial and agricultural economy, superior naval power and transportation, much larger population, and better-established and more unified government eventually got the upper hand, especially when no foreign power arrived to aid the Confederacy.  Defeated and destroyed by the end of the war, the South looked forward to a wrecked future under a government dominated by Northern interests.

          I.     March 4, 1861 – Lincoln inaugurated in midst of crisis

A.   Seven states had already seceded

B.    Secession would create many problems

                                             1.     What share of national debt and federal territory should South take

                                             2.     Fugitive slave issue

                                             3.     Foreign nations might try to divide and conquer, defy Monroe Doctrine

        II.     April 1861 – South Carolina attacks and captures Fort Sumter (Charleston) after Lincoln sends forces to attempt to provision it.

A.   Northern public opinion turns toward military retaliation.

B.    Lincoln calls up 75,000 volunteers for army and blockades Southern seaports

C.    Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina secede and Richmond VA becomes Confederate capital

      III.     Retaining slaveholding Border States (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, later West Virginia) was crucial to preserving Union

A.   Held large white population – more than half entire Confederacy

B.    had significant manufacturing capacity

C.    had large numbers of horses and mules

D.   Navigable rivers such as Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers

E.    Kentucky especially important

F.    Lincoln used both legal and questionable means to retain border states

G.   Initially, Lincoln insisted the war’s only purpose was to save the Union.

                                             1.     Could not declare opposition to slavery because it would push the Border States to secede and cause problems in the Butternut region (southern OH, IN, and IL) where many southerners had settled

      IV.     Indian Territory (today Oklahoma): the “Five Civilized Tribes” sided with Confederacy while Plains Indians and a breakaway group of Cherokees sided with the Union

        V.     War divided many families between North and South; members fought on both sides

      VI.     The Balance of Forces: Confederate and Union Advantages and Disadvantages

A.   Confederate Advantages

                                             1.     fighting defensively on home ground; needed only to resist successfully

                                             2.     good morale – fighting for self-determination

                                             3.     a more-fit military

a.     talented officers like Lee  and Jackson

b.     well-prepared cavalrymen and foot soldiers

B.    Confederate Disadvantages

                                             1.     little industry led to shortages esp. of shoes, uniforms, etc.

                                             2.     poor and scant transportation

a.     supply problems for troops and civilians (food, etc.)

b.     vulnerable to Yankee attack e.g. destruction of RR

                                             3.     Smaller population – 9 million, of which more than one-third (3.5m) were slaves

C.    Northern Advantages

                                             1.     Wealthy economy

                                             2.     strong agricultural production

                                             3.     vigorous industry with many factories

                                             4.     excellent transportation including railroads and canals

                                             5.     North controlled the sea with superior navy

a.     blockaded Southern ports

b.     traded with foreign nations

                                             6.     Much larger population than the South (22 million) – growing all the time due to immigration. English, Irish, Germans, and others often recruited immediately for the Union army.

D.   Northern Disadvantages

                                             1.     mediocre military personnel

a.     many incompetent officers – talent like Ulysses S. Grant was rare

b.     foot soldiers ill-prepared for war initially

E.    The economy was South’s greatest weakness and the North’s greatest strength

    VII.     Although Europe’s upper classes supported the division of the United States, European help for the South did not arrive

A.   South counted on help from Britain, but Britain’s dependence on Southern cotton for its textile mills was more apparent than real.

                                             1.     Britain had large reserves of surplus cotton and could find other sources in Egypt and India

                                             2.     British laboring classes were opposed to war against U.S. and supported the Union

                                             3.     Union staved off British unrest by sending food from its good harvests and captured cotton to keep Britain’s working classes on their side

  VIII.     Diplomacy helped keep Europeans from helping the South

A.   Trent affair of 1861: Union ship stopped the British steamer Trent and removed Confederate diplomats, angering Britain, but Lincoln quickly smoothed things over by releasing the men.

B.    British build warships (raiders) for the Confederacy, angering the U.S.

                                             1.     The Confederate raider Alabama sank 64 Union merchant ships before it was destroyed by a Union cruiser off coast of France in 1864; other British-build raiders sank ca. 200 other ships, permanently crippling the Yankee merchant marine (Britain later paid reparations to some Americans)

                                             2.     Britain continued to build raiders and rams (metal-clad ships with large guns) until U.S. minister Charles Adams threatened war with Great Britain if the Laird shipyard’s rams were released to the Confederacy

C.    Canada became involved in the war and was made a Dominion by Britain in 1867 to strengthen and unify it against attack by the U.S.

                                             1.     a base for southern agents to attack U.S. North,

                                             2.     a target for Yankees, especially Irish-Americans who hated Great Britain and invaded Canada on their own in 1866 and 1870

D.   France occupied Mexico in 1863 and made Archduke Maximilian of Austria its Emperor.  When Civil War ended in 1865, U.S. threatened to enforce Monroe Doctrine and France left, leaving Maximilian behind to be executed by Mexican troops in 1867.

      IX.     Confederate president Jefferson Davis had difficulty unifying the Confederacy because states’ rights were so strong in the South.

A.   Confederate states resisted central control; threatened to secede any time they objected to Confederate government demands.

B.    Infighting among states and reluctance to share troops, resources seriously hurt the South’s ability to resist the Union

C.    In contrast the North was more unified and had the advantage of personable and unusually talented Lincoln as president

        X.     Lincoln was willing to use his executive power to bend or temporarily break the law to preserve the Union, and Congress often allowed it.

A.   proclaimed blockade and appropriated millions of dollars for the war without congressional approval

B.    On different occasions Lincoln suspended civil rights like habeas corpus, secret ballot, and freedom of the press and imposed martial law in some areas.

      XI.     Volunteers and Draftees: The Armies of the North (blue) and South (grey)

A.   Northern armies manned by volunteers until 1863 when a draft was instituted

                                             1.     “Three hundred dollars or your life:” The wealthy could hire a substitute or pay $300 to avoid military service

                                             2.     Serious draft riots broke out in New York City in 1863

                                             3.     Northern bounties for military service led to bounty brokers, corruption, and bounty jumping

B.    South had to institute a draft in 1862 and take both old and young

                                             1.     “A rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight:” slaveholding wealthy southerners, too, could pay to avoid the draft, leaving poor whites to fight for them; some poor mountain whites resisted.

C.    Desertion plagued both Northern and Southern armies

    XII.     Economic Stresses of War

A.   Northern Economy stayed strong and even grew throughout the Civil War

                                             1.     Excise taxes and income tax raised money

                                             2.     Morill Tariff Act of 1861 raised import tariffs (customs duties) and other protective tariffs followed

                                             3.     Treasury issued paper money, the value of which fluctuated

                                             4.     Government borrowed through bond sales, enriching the bankers who sold them on behalf of the Treasury

                                             5.     1863: National Banking System launched to handle bonds and stabilize paper currency – first national banking network since 1836, it lasted until 1913

B.    Southern Economy weak

                                             1.     hurt by Union blockade and states’ rights opposition

                                             2.     Confederacy sold bonds, imposed taxes, and issued unstable paper money, provoking severe inflation and economic collapse by end of war

  XIII.     The North’s Economic Boom

A.   North extremely prosperous during war, with huge economic growth; many made fortunes off war profiteering and speculation, and corruption was rampant

B.    New machines like the sewing machine and mechanical reapers offset loss of workers and increased both factory and agricultural production, keeping the Union Army strong

C.    Petroleum discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859

D.   Westward expansion continued, aided by lure of gold, and free land under Homestead Act of 1862

E.    Women found more opportunities as replacement workers in factories and in government.  Prewar ratio of 1 women to 4 men in industry became 1:3

 XIV.     The South’s Cotton Kingdom was crushed by the blockade and military destruction and desperate measures at the end of the war

A.   Southern economy was severely crippled and did not recover until the 20th century

B.    After the Civil War, northern interests dominated national economic policies, often to the detriment of the South

Study Goals

         1.     Explain how the firing on Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call for troops galvanized both sides for war

         2.     Describe the crucial early struggle for the Border States.

         3.     Indicate the strength and weaknesses of both sides as they went to war

         4.     Compare Lincoln and Davis’s political leadership and situation during the war.

         5.     Describe the curtailment of civil liberties in the North during the war.

         6.     Describe the mobilization of military manpower on both sides.

         7.     Analyze the economic consequences of the war for both sides.

Study Questions

1. How did the Civil war change from a limited war to preserve the Union into a “total war” to abolish slavery?
2. What political factors affected Lincoln’s approach to the goals and conduct of the war? What enabled him to be a more successful political leader than Jefferson Davis?
3. How did careful Union diplomacy manage the Civil War crisis with Britain and end British flirtations with the Confederacy?
4. Why were the economic consequences of the Civil War so different for the North and the South?
5. What changes did the Civil war bring about in civilian society in North and South?  How did it affect rich and poor, men and women, immigrants?
6. What-ifs: the South might have succeeded in seceding

·      if the Border States had seceded

·      if Butternut region had turned against Union

·      if Northern public opinion had been against war

·      if Britain or France had broken Yankee blockade of South
Can you think of any other possibilities?