The Civil
War
Advantages,Foreign Affairs &
Civilian Life
The War Begins
In your hands, my fellow
dissatisfied countrymen, and not
in mine, is the momentous issue of
civil war. The government will
not assail you. You can have no
conflict without being yourselves
the aggressors.
Wartime Advantages
MILITARY
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NORTH
Free male Population
of 22 million to 5.5
million
800,000 immigrants
during war years
180,000 AfricanAmericans join after
Emancipation
Loyal & Large Navy
contolled rivers
SOUTH
• Only had to win a
defensive war
• Had to move troops
over shorter distances
• Long, indented
coastline—hard to
blockade
Wartime Advantages
ECONOMY
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NORTH
Controlled most
banking and capital
85% of factories
70%+ of railroads
65% of farmland
Skilled clerks and
bookkeepers for
logistical support
SOUTH
• Large overseas
demand for cotton
• Thought this would
get them outside help
and recognition
Wartime Advantages
POLITICAL
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NORTH
Had well-established
central government
Politicians had strong
popular base
BUT…
Some fears that the
war would be too
costly
Hard to motivate
some people
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SOUTH
Motivation for a fight
for independence
BUT…
Ideology of states’
rights made fighting a
war difficult
Ironically, they
needed a strong
central government
Foreign Affairs
The Trent Affair
• 1861—James Mason & John Slidell,
confederate diplomats travel to England
on the Trent, looking for recognition
• Union warship stops them, takes the men
prisoner.
• Britain threatens war if they’re not
released
• Lincoln gives in to British demands
Foreign Affairs
Confederate Raiders
• Were able to purchase warships from
British shipyards, use to damage merchant
ships from the U.S.
• One of them, the Alabama, captured over
60 ships, before being sunk near France
by the U.S. Navy
• After the war, Britain pays the U.S. $15.5
million for damages caused by the South
Foreign Affairs
Failure of Cotton Diplomacy
• “King Cotton” didn’t have the international
pull that the South had hoped for
• New sources from Egypt and India & new
materials such as wool & linen used
• Without decisive Southern victory at
Antietam, British wouldn’t risk recognition
• Emancipation Proclamation appealed to
British working class, even though
conservative leaders supported South
The End of Slavery
Confiscation Acts (1861)
• Legal to claim enemy property at times of
war
• “Contraband” former slaves escaped to
Union camps
• Second Confiscation Act (July 1862) frees
these slaves
• Allows Union to use these former slaves in
any capacity in the army
The End of Slavery
Emancipation Proclamation (1/1/1863)
• Lincoln had said that if states were still rebelling
by new year’s 1863, he’d free the slaves in
Southern States
• U.S. gov’t recognizes those slaves as free
• Still slavery in the border states, only in areas
outside of Lincoln’s control
• Commits U.S. to a policy of abolition in the
South
• As Union army progresses, more slaves freed
The End of Slavery
Freedmen in the War
• Almost 200,000 African Americans serve
in the Union Army and Navy
• Segregated into all-black units, such as
the Massachusetts 54th Regiment
(remember Glory?)
• Over 37,000 die in what becomes known
as the “Army of Freedom”
Effects of the War on Civilians
POLITICAL CHANGE
Republicans
• Republican majorities in both houses, but
begin to exhibit sharp differences
• Radical Republicans
– Immediate abolition
• Moderate Republicans
– Free Soilers, wanted economic opportunities
for whites
Effects of the War on Civilians
Democrats
• Most supported the war, but criticized how
Lincoln handled it
• Peace Democrats (Copperheads)
– Wanted a negotiated peace
– Southern sympathizers, outspoken critics of
Lincoln
• Rep. Clement Vallandingham of Ohio
briefly banished from the U.S. for proConfederacy speeches
Effects of the War on Civilians
The Draft
• At first, most on both sides were
volunteers
• North and South conscript, or draft men
into service as the need for replacements
rose
• First Conscription Act (March 1863)
– All men between 20 & 45 eligible
– Could find a substitute or pay $300 to get out
of service
Effects of the War on Civilians
The Draft
• Fierce opposition to these draft laws by poor
laborers
• Thought freed African-Americans would take jobs
while they went to fight
• New York City Draft Riot (July 1863)
• Mostly Irish American mob attacks blacks and
wealthy whites
• 117 people killed
• Ended with Federal troops & temporary
suspension of the draft
Effects of the War on Civilians
Political Dominance of the North
• Short-Term:
– Suspension of Habeas Corpus
– Draft
• Long Term:
• Power of the federal government no longer in
question—treated as fact
• Abolition of slavery gave new meaning to the
concept of American democracy
• Inspires champions of democracy around the
world
Effects of the War on Civilians
ECONOMIC CHANGE
Financing the War
• North borrowed $2.6 billion from government
bonds
• Congress still needs to raise more money
– Added new tariffs and excise taxes
– Institute the first income tax
• Issue over $430 million in paper currency
– Greenbacks
– Couldn’t be redeemed in gold
• Inflation
– Prices in the North rise by 80% during the war
Effects of the War on Civilians
Financing the War
• Congress needs to manage all of the new
money coming in and out of the Treasury.
• Creates a new National Banking System in 1863
• First unified banking network since Andrew
Jackson vetoed the charter of the Bank of the
U.S. in the 1830s
• Government needs taken advantage of, new
class of millionaires make fortunes
Hmmmm, maybe TJ and AJ had a point…
Effects of the War on Civilians
Modernization of northern society
• Speeds up consolidation of manufacturing
businesses
– Mass production, complex organization
needed to mount a war effort
• Worker’s wages don’t keep pace with
inflation
– Can you imagine a 20% per year raise?
• War profiteers sold shoddy goods at high
prices because of urgent need for military
supplies
Effects of the War on Civilians
Republican Economic Program
• Morrill Tariff Act (1861)
– Protect manufacturing, helps industrialists
• Homestead Act (1862)
– Gave families 160 acres to settle Great
Plains, with promise to stay for 5 years
• Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
– States use sale of Federal land grants to
maintain agricultural and technical colleges.
• Pacific Railway Act (1862)
– Transcontinental railroad through north
Effects of the War on Civilians
SOCIAL CHANGE
Women
• Northern and Southern women’s roles
change
• Operated farms and plantations
• Took factory jobs normally held by men
• Most gave up their jobs after the war when
the men came back
• Many women struggled after the war
because their men didn’t come back
Effects of the War on Civilians
Women
• The war had two permanent effects on
women
• 1:The field of nursing was open to women
for the first time
• 2:The responsibilities taken on by women
during the war inspired a new movement
to obtain equal voting rights for women
Effects of the War on Civilians
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
• 4 million people freed from slavery
– 500,000 in the border states
– 4 million in the South
• Became full citizens with the protection of
the Constitution
• African-Americans suffered economic
hardship and political oppression for
generations
Costs of the War
• $15 billion in war costs and property loss
• Destroyed slavery and the southern economy
• Transforms America into a complex modern
industrial society
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Capital
Technology
National organization
Large coroprations
• Republicans enacted the pro-business Whig
agenda to stimulate industrial/commercial
growth