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| Chapter 20: Girding for War - The North and the South, 1861-1865 |
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A. The Menace of Secession 1. Lincoln’s inaugural address was firm yet conciliatory; there would be no conflict unless South provoked it; secession was wholly impractical because couldn’t physically separate a. The North and South were bound inseparably together (no sectional divorce) b. Uncontested secession would create new controversies; what share of the national debt should the South be forced to take with it? What portion of the jointly held federal territories, if any, should the Confederate states be allotted? c. How would the fugitive-slave issue be resolved—the Underground Railroad would certainly redouble its activity and it would have to transport its passengers only across the Ohio River, not all the way to Canada (conceivable to solve all such problems?) 2. A united US had been paramount republic in the Western Hemisphere; if this powerful democracy should break into two hostile parts, the European nations would be delighted; they could gleefully transplant to America their ancient concept of the balance of power 3. The colonies of the European powers in the New World, notably those of Britain would thus be made safer against the rapacious Yankees (defy Monroe Doctrine; seize territory) B. South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter
a. This stronghold had provisions that would last only few weeks—until middle of April 1861 and if no supplies were forthcoming, its commander would have to surrender b. Lincoln did not feel that Fort Sumter was strong enough to take as his obligation to protect federal property—but if he sent reinforcements, the South Carolinians would undoubtedly fight back—could not tolerate federal fort blocking important sea port
a. He notified the South Carolinians that an expedition would be sent to provision the garrison, though not to reinforce it but Southern eyes saw otherwise b. A Union naval force was next started on its way to Fort Sumter—a move that the South regarded as an act of aggression and on April 12, 1861, the cannon of the Carolinians opened fire on the fort, while the crowds in Charleston applauded c. After a thirty-four-hour bombardment, the dazed garrison surrendered (no lives lost)
C. Brothers’ Blood and Border Blood
a. If the North had fired the first shot, some or all of these doubtful states probably would have seceded, and the South might well have succeeded b. The border group actually contained a white population more than half that of the entire Confederacy; Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri would almost double the manufacturing capacity of the South and increase its supply of horses and mules c. The strategic prize of the Ohio River flowed along the northern border of Kentucky and West Virginia; two of its navigable tributaries, penetrated deep into the heart of Dixie, much of the Confederacy’s grain, gunpowder, and iron was produced
D. The Balance of Forces
a. The Confederacy could fight defensively behind interior lines; the North had to invade the vast territory of the Confederacy, conquer it, and drag it back to the Union b. The south did not have to win the war in order to win its independence; fighting on their won soil for self-determination and preservation of their way of life, Southerners at first enjoyed an advantage in morale as well over the North
a. Most conspicuous among a dozen first-rate commanders was General Robert E. Lee, whose knightly bearing and chivalric sense of honor embodied the Southern ideal b. Lincoln had unofficially offered him command the Northern armies, but when Virginia seceded, Lee felt honor-bound to go with his native state c. Lee’s chief lieutenant for much of the war was Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson, a gifted tactical theorist and a master of speed and deception
a. Even with immense stores of food on Southern farms, civilians and soldiers often went hungry because of supply problems; much of the hunger was caused by a breakdown of the South’s rickety transportation system (railroad tracks cut) b. The economy was the greatest Southern weakness; it was the North’s strength c. The North was not only a huge farm but a sprawling factory as well; Yankees boasted about three-fourths of the nation’s wealth, including three-fours of the railroad miles d. The North controlled the sea with its vastly superior navy with which it established a blockade that although was a sieve at first, soon choked off Southern supplies and eventually shattered Southern morale; its sea power also enabled the north to exchange huge quantities of grain for munitions and supplies from Europe
E. Dethroning King Cotton
a. Of all the Confederacy’s potential assets, none counted more weightily than the prospect of foreign intervention; Europe’s ruling classes were openly sympathetic to the Confederate cause (abhorred the American democratic experiment and they cherished a fellow-feeling for the South’s semi-feudal, aristocratic social order) b. In contrast, the masses of working people in Britain, and to some extent in France, were pulling and praying for the North—many had read Uncle Tom’s Cabin and sensed that the war might extinguish slavery if the North emerged victorious c. Their certain hostility to any official intervention on behalf of the South evidently had a sobering effect on the British government (Uncle Tom helped Uncle Sam by restraining the British and French ironclads from piercing the Union blockade)
a. He failed in part because he had been so lavishly productive in the immediate prewar years of 1857-1860; enormous exports of cotton in those years had piled up surpluses in British warehouses and British manufacturers had a hefty oversupply of fiber b. The real pinch did not come until about a year and a half later, when work was lost c. By that time, Lincoln had announced his slave-emancipation policy, and the “wage slaves” of Britain were not going to demand a war to defend the slaveowners
F. The Decisiveness of Diplomacy
a. A Union warship cruising on high seas north of Cuba stopped a British mail steamer, the Trent, and forcibly removed two Confederate diplomats bound for Europe b. Britons were outraged: upstart Yankees could not so boldly offend the Mistress of the Seas; war preparations buzzed and red-coated troops embarked for Canada c. The London Foreign Office prepared an ultimatum demanding surrender of the prisoners and an apology; but luckily slow communications gave passions on both sides a chance to cool; Lincoln came to see the Trent prisoners as “white elephants,” and reluctantly released them—“One war at a time,” he reportedly said
a. The Alabama escaped in 1862 to the Portuguese Azores and took weapons and crew from two British ships that followed; although flying confederate flag and officered by Confederates, it was manned by Britons and never entered Confederate port b. Britain was thus the chief naval base of the Confederacy c. The Alabama lighted the skies form Europe to the Far East with the burning hulks of Yankee merchantmen; all told, this “British pirate” captured over sixty vessels d. Competing British shippers were delighted and an angered North had to divert naval strength from its blockade for wild-goose chases (defeated off coast of France, 1864)
G. Foreign Flare-ups
a. Designed to destroy the wooden ships of the Union navy with their iron rams and large-caliber guns, they were far more dangerous than the swift but lightly armed Alabama; if delivered to the south they were probably have sunk blockading ships b. In retaliation the North doubtless would have invaded Canada, and a full-dress war with Britain would have erupted; but American Minister Adams took the hard line, warning that “this is war” if the rams were released from Great Britain c. At the last minute the London government relented and bought the two ships for the Royal Navy; everyone seemed satisfied except the disappointed Confederates d. Britain also repented its sorry role in the Alabama business; it agreed in 1871 to submit the Alabama dispute to arbitration and in 1872 paid $15.5 million
a. Hatred of England burned especially fiercely among Irish-Americans and they unleashed their fury on Canada; they raised several tiny “armies” of a few hundred and launched invasions of Canada, notably in 1866 and 1870 b. The Canadians condemned the Washington government for permitting violations of neutrality, but administration was hampered by the presence of Irish-American voters
a. In 1864, he installed on the ruins of the crushed republic his puppet, Austrian archduke Maximilian, as emperor of Mexico (violation of Monroe Doctrine) b. Napoleon III had sent an army and enthroned Maximilian; he was gambling that the Union would collapse and thus American would be too weak to enforce its “hands-off” policy in the Western Hemisphere (North was cautious toward France)
H. President Davis Versus President Lincoln
a. Its constitution, borrowing liberally from that of the Union, contained one deadly defect; created by secession, it could not logically deny future secession to its constituent states—Jefferson Davis had in view a well-knit central government b. Determined states’ rights supporters fought him bitterly to the end; the Richmond regime encountered difficulty persuading certain state troops to serve outside borders c. States’ rights were no less damaging to the Confederacy than Yankee sabers
a. Davis was somewhat imperious and inclined to defy rather than lead public opinion and suffering acutely from nervous disorders, he overworked himself with the details of both civil government and military operations (task beyond his powers) b. Lincoln also had his troubles but the North enjoyed the prestige of a long-established government, financially stable and fully recognized both at home and abroad c. Lincoln proved superior to the more experienced by less flexible Davis; he developed a genius for interpreting and leading a fickly public opinion but still demonstrated charitableness toward the South and tolerance toward infighting colleagues I. Limitations on Wartime Liberties
a. He arbitrarily increased the size of the Federal army—something that only Congress can do under the Constitution (Congress would later approve) b. He directed the secretary of the Treasury to advance $2 million without appropriation or security to three private citizens for military purposes—a grave irregularity contrary to the Constitution; he suspended the precious privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, so that anti-Unionists might be summarily arrested c. He defied a dubious ruling by the chief justice that the safeguards of habeas corpus could be set aside only by authorization of Congress
J. Volunteers and Draftees: North and South
a. The provisions were grossly unfair to the poor; rich boys could hire substitutes to go in their places or purchase exemption outright by paying $300; “three-hundred-dollar men” was the scornful epithet applied to these slackers and draftees complained (life) b. The draft was especially damned in the Democratic strong holds of the North, notably in New York City; a frightful riot broke out in 1863, touched off largely by underprivileged and anti-black Irish-Americans, who shouted, “Down with Lincoln” c. For several days the city was at the mercy of the pillaging mob; scores of lives were lost, and the victims included many lynched blacks (elsewhere in the North, conscription met with resentment and an occasional minor riot)
a. The Richmond regime was forced to resort to conscription as early as April 1862, nearly a year earlier than the Union (“cradle and grave”—ages 17 to 50) b. Confederation draft regulations also worked serious injustices; as in the North, a rich man could hire a substitute or purchase exemption (slaveowners as well too) c. These special privileges made for bad feelings among the less prosperous, many of whom complained that this was “a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight” d. No large-scale draft riots broke out in the South but Confederate conscription agents avoided those areas inhabited by sharpshooting mountain whites (“Yankee-lovers”) K. The Economic Stresses of War
a. Accordingly the Treasury was forced to market its bonds through the private banking house of Jay Cooke and Company, which received a commission of three-eighths of 1 percent on all sales (bankers succeeded in making effective appeals to citizens) b. A financial landmark of the war was the National Banking System, authorized by Congress in 1863—launched partly as a stimulant to the sale of government bonds, it was also designed to establish a standard bank-note currency c. Banks that joined the National Banking System could buy government bonds and issue sound paper money backed by them; the war-born National Banking Act thus turned out to be the first significant step taken toward a united banking network d. The system continued to function until it was replaced by the Federal Reserve System
a. The Richmond regime increased taxes sharply and imposed a 10 percent levy on farm produce but in general the states’ rights southerners were opposed to heavy direct taxation by the central authority (only 1 percent of total income produced this way) b. The Confederate government was forced to print blue-backed paper money with complete abandon; “runaway inflation” occurred as Southern presses continued to grind out the poorly backed treasury notes (overall the war inflicted a 9,000 percent inflation rate on the Confederacy, contrasted with 80 percent for the Union) L. The North’s Economic Boom
a. New factories, sheltered by the new protective tariffs sprang forth b. Soaring prices, resulting from inflation, unfortunately pinched the day laborer and the white-collar worker to some extent but manufacturers and businesspeople gained
a. Many of these newly rich were noisy, gaudy, brassy, and given to extravagant living; their emergence merely illustrates the truth that some gluttony and greed mar the devotion and self-sacrifice called forth by a war such as the Civil War b. Yankee “sharpness” appeared at its worst; dishonest agents, putting profits above patriotism palmed off aged and blind horses on government purchasers; unscrupulous Northern manufacturers supplied shoes with cardboard soles and fast-disintegrating uniforms of reprocessed or “shoddy” wool rather than virgin wool
a. The result was the birth of a new industry and pioneers continued to push westward during the war, altogether an estimated 300,000 people (major magnets were free gold nuggets and free land under the Homestead Act of 1862; strong propellants were the federal draft agents (ocean-carrying trade suffered a crippling setback) b. The Civil War was a women’s war, too; the protracted conflict opened new opportunities for women; when men departed, women often took jobs (in govt.) c. The booming military demand for shoes and clothing, combined with technological marvels like the sewing machine, like wise drew countless women into industrial employment (ratio rose from one in four to one in three industrial worker women)
M. A Crushed Cotton Kingdom
a. The South claimed only 12 percent of the national wealth in 1870 (30% in 1860) b. The Civil War squeezed the average southern income to two-fifths of the North (2/3)
a. Women buoyed up their men folk; the self-sacrificing women took pride in denying themselves the silks and satins of their Northern sisters (“The Southern Girl”) b. At war’s end the Northern Captains of Industry had conquered the Southern Lords of the Manor; a crippled South left the capitalistic North free to work its own way, with high tariffs and other benefits (Northern manufacturers and Industrial Revolution)
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