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The War to Save the Union
Introduction
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Lincoln assumed the presidency open to many viewpoints and not intending to threaten the South, but he made it clear that he believed secession illegal. And although he did not attempt to reclaim federal property seized by the Confederates in the Deep South, his decision to defend and rearm Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor provoked the first shots of the war. In response, Lincoln called up volunteers, and with that the states of the Upper South seceded. The North entered the war with the advantages of superior numbers, industry, railroads, naval strength, and a strong leader in Lincoln; it was hampered by poor military leadership. The South, though it had to create new governmental institutions and was committed to states’ rights, held sway over the North in its own military leaders, and was buoyed by the knowledge that it could fight a defensive war, and the confidence that the North would not stomach a long conflict and that the importance of cotton to Northern and European economies would give it an upper hand. On the battlefield, the South did perform well, and Lincoln was continually searching for adequate leadership for the Union army. The turning points in the war were the Battle of Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, in which Meade defeated Lee, and Grant’s capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Lincoln named Grant Union commander. The North paid for the war effort with excise and income taxes, a direct tax on states, borrowing, and printing paper money. Likewise, the South relied on income and excise taxes, borrowing, and printing paper money as well as a tax in kind and cotton mortgages to finance the war, but for it, this was a serious drain on its resources. Its hoped-for help from abroad never came. In addition, both Lincoln’s and Davis's administrations had their share of conflicts: slavery remained a divisive issue in the North and some chafed at Lincoln’s expansion of presidential power, while in the South spats arose between Davis and state governors. Although it was not on his agenda at the outset, Lincoln made freedom of the slaves a war aim with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. It, too, was divisive in the North, but it gave the war an added moral dimension and drew blacks to Union lines. Nevertheless, by the end of that year, the South was on its way to defeat, worn down by the Union’s superior numbers and industrial might. The Northern economy, meanwhile, boomed as government demand stimulated manufacturing and Congress passed economically oriented bills that Southerners had blocked. Although there was inflation, some labor unrest, and labor shortage, the war hastened industrialization and modernization. The war also helped to change women's roles, as by necessity they took on some of the tasks traditionally assigned to men, who were off fighting: they became nurses, factory workers, and government clerks; they ran farms. Grant’s leadership and his and Sherman’s pursuit of "total war" brought about the South's defeat in 1865. The war not only preserved the union, it created the nation.
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