The Second American
Revolution
14.3
Liberty
• Northern Liberty
– Each man enjoys the product of his labor
• Southern Liberty “mastership”
– Power to do as they please w/ other men, and
the products of other men’s labor
• Union victory makes the Northern
understanding of freedom the national
norm
Union
• To Lincoln the American nation embodied
a set of universal ideas, centered on
political democracy and human rights
• Gettysburg Address 1863
– Identified the nation’s mission w/ the principle
that all men are created equal
A Nation
• New national self-consciousness
– Talk of us being a nation instead of a union
– A unified political entity instead of a union of
separate states.
The War & American Religion
• Northern Protestants combined
Christianity & patriotism into civic religion.
• War was transforming America into a true
land of freedom
• The Battle Hymn of the Republic
• Lincoln used religious symbolism to
generate public support
• Religion helped people cope w/ mass
death
Liberty in Wartime
• Intense nationalism made criticism of the
war or Lincoln’s policies seem like treason
• Lincoln consolidates power and twice
suspended the writ of habeas corpus for
people accused of “disloyal activities”
• 1000’s arrested
– Paper editors, Dem. pol, people discouraging
enlistments
Ex parte Milligan, 1866
• After war the court made clear that the
Constitution was not suspended in
wartime
Lincoln not a Dictator
• Most arrested quickly released
• Democrat press flourished
• Contested elections held
Legacy
• War showed the fragility of civil rights in
times of aggressive patriotism and
demands for national unity.
• Continues to happen
The North’s Transformation
• Wartime prosperity
• Industry boomed (war contracts)
– NE mills (blankets & uniforms)
– PA coal & iron mines
– Machinery improved boot & meat packing
• Agriculture boomed & pushed westward
settlement
– Machines & immigrants
Government & Economy
• North finally gets to do what they want
• Policies passed to promote economic
growth
Morrill Land-Grant Act, 1862
• Assist states build Colleges & Universities
• Agricultural & mechanical
Homestead Act, 1863
• Pushed agricultural development
• 160 acres free to settlers
• By 1930 400,000 new farms
Transcontinental Railroad 1869
• Huge federal land grant
– 100M acres
• Union Pacific & Central Pacific RR Co.
– 1st Fed. corporate charter since 2nd Bank 1816
• 20,000 men (Irish & Chinese immigrants)
• Omaha to SF
Results
• Expands national markets
• Spreads settlement & investment west
• Dooms the Plains Indians
The War & Native Americans
• Western troops removed least to
increased Indian settler conflicts
– Sioux attack in MN
• Navajo removed to reservation
• Slave-owning tribes like Cherokee side w/
Confederacy
New Financial System
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Needed to pay for war
Tariff super high
Taxes on production & consumption
1st income tax
“greenback” dollars
– National currency
– Issued by national banks
Captains of Industry
• Wartime policies benefited northern
manufacturers, railroad men, & financiers
• Andrew Carnegie – iron & steel
• John Rockefeller – oil
• Jay Gould – financier
• JP Morgan – financier
• Philip Armour - meat
Avoiding the Draft
• Many escaped military service by
purchasing exemption or hiring a
substitute
Result
• Union’s economic policies increased
power & size of federal gov’t
• Fed. govt nations largest employer
– Clerks, tax collectors, officials
• Temporary, but fed workforce would never
return to prewar level
Women & the War
• Join workforce as nurses, factory workers,
gov’t clerks
• Many northern women took part in
humanitarian orgs.
• Northern women gained a taste of
independence
• Clara Barton - Am Red Cross
The Divided North
• Copperheads – opposed to the war
• Mounting casualties & rapid changes in
society divide north
• Disaffection strongest in states w/
southern born pop. OH, IN, IL
• Working class Catholics eastern cities
Northern Social Tensions
• Growing federal power
• Draft law causes widespread indignation
• Workers resent manufacturers & financiers
who reaped large profits while workers fell
behind (inflation)
– Labor movement back / strikes
• Racist reaction to change in station of
blacks
Northern Democrats
• Criticize Lincoln’s policies
• Divided
• “War Democrats” support war, but criticize
emancipation & draft
• “Peace Democrats” immediate end to war
NYC Draft Riot
• July 1863 introduced followed by 4 days of
rioting
• Mob of Irish immigrants assaulted symbols of
the new order
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Draft offices
Mansions of wealthy Republicans
Industrial establishments
Black population
• Union troops from Gettysburg brought in
• 100 people died