SECESSION AND THE CIVIL WAR

Chapter 15

Adjusting to Total War• War defined as effort to preserve Union• North must win by destroying will to resist• Total War: a test of societies, economies, political systems

as well as armies

The Deep South Secedes

• Confederate constitution resembles U.S.– Aim to restore pre-Republican Party Union – Southerners hope to attract Northern states into

Confederacy• Federal response to secession debated– Crittenden Plan: Extend the Missouri Compromise

line to the Pacific– Lincoln rejects compromise

Resources of the Union and the Confederacy, 1861

Strategies and Advantages

North

• More industry• Larger population• Navy/organized military • Organized government• Railroads• Stronger economy • Strategy was to capture

capital and split South in two (Mississippi River campaign)

South

• Fighting for way of life• Leadership• Knew territory• Strategy was to fight a

defensive war (war of attrition) and get recognized by foreign nations for support of their cause

Overview of Civil War Strategy

Mobilizing the Home Fronts

North • Abraham Lincoln

– Expands wartime powers – Declares martial law

(Imprisons 10,000) – Briefly suspends freedom of

speech– Suspends Habeas Corpus – Conscription Act 1862 (draft)– Finance war through taxes,

bonds, paper money, and private business

South

• Jefferson Davis– Concerned mainly with

military duties – Neglects civilian morale,

economy– Efforts to finance lead to

runaway inflation– Conscription Act 1862 (draft)– Lacks influence with state

governments

Overall War Effort

North• For the first two years war

becomes disastrous • By 1863, riots break out over

Conscription Act• Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 is

turning point of the war• Lincoln Emancipates slaves to

help war effort (54th Mass)• North continues to press on

until South eventually cracks

South• For first two years the South

performs beautifully • Push to get support overseas

does not work out• Economic failure and key

defeats in 1863 lead to Southern demise

• South eventually cannot keep up with war effort and surrenders

Effects of the War

• The use of total war was devastating • 618,000 troops dead• Bereft women seek non-domestic roles• Four million African Americans free, not equal• Industrial workers face wartime inflation

Effects of the War• Federal government predominant over states• Federal government takes activist role in the

economy– Higher tariffs, free land, national banking system

• Catalyst for transformation of American society in the late nineteenth century