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Chapter 15 |
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Lincoln effectively guided the Union through the Civil War by inspiring Northerners with his conviction that the struggle would be won. The war tested the American ideal of democracy and was a defense of political liberalism at a time when much of Europe had rejected it. It was also the first tentative step toward racial equality.
The Storm Gathers
After Lincoln’s election in 1860, seven southern states seceded. Although in hindsight, the war seems inevitable, to most Americans at the time it was not. Armed conflict did not erupt until after a compromise effort had failed, shots were fired at Fort Sumter, and the North resolved to fight to preserve the Union.
The Deep South Secedes
With the election of Lincoln, the seven states of the Deep South seceded from the Union to better secure slavery. The process was not without debate, however. Southerners were divided over the process of secession as well as the need for it. South Carolina’s unilateral move forced the issue, however, and during February 1861, the seceded states met and formed the provisional government of the Confederate States of America that looked remarkably like the Union before the rise of the Republicans and the abolitionists.
The Failure of Compromise
When northern and border state moderates attempted a reconciliation of the sections, Lincoln led the Republicans in rejecting the proposed compromise because it would have permitted the spread of slavery to the Southwest. Lincoln also believed that compromise would have negated the platform that he had run and that a majority of Americans had voted for in the election of 1860. Even if the compromise had passed, there is no evidence that the secessionists would have been satisfied with it.
And the War Came
When crisis arose at Fort Sumter, Lincoln carefully avoided firing the first shot by shifting the burden of war to the South Carolinians and Jefferson Davis. On 13 April 1861, after forty hours of canon bombardment, the fort surrendered, marking the beginning of the Civil War. The firing on Fort Sumter served to rally the North behind Lincoln and his call for troops. The call for troops prompted a second wave of secession conventions in the border South states with varying results.
Adjusting to Total War
The northern war aim, to force the South physically back into the Union, required a “total war” of societies and economies as well as armies. This formidable task required all of the North’s demographic and economic advantages. It was a long war because the South resisted tenaciously.
Prospects, Plans, and Expectations
At the outset of the war, the North benefited from greater resources of manpower, money, and manufacturing, but the South possessed some advantages, as well including southern optimism about independence and dedication to protecting their homes and way of life. The South’s strategy of waging an “offensive defense” was also an advantage at first, though ultimately the North’s anaconda plan was more effective.
Mobilizing the Home Fronts
Both the North and the South faced enormous difficulties in raising, equipping, and financing armies on such a large scale. The economies and societies of both the Union and the Confederacy had to make massive adjustments for the war: adjustments that the North was better able to make.
Political Leadership: Northern Success and Southern Failure
Lincoln exercised extraordinary powers, expanding the authority of the Presidency to an unprecedented extent. Jefferson Davis, somewhat limited by traditional southern states’ rights rhetoric, took a more narrow—and less successful—view of his role as Confederate president. Additionally, Davis focused his attention almost exclusively on waging the war, often neglecting very real problems on his home front.
Early Campaigns and Battles
Having problems with finding a “his general,” the northern war effort stalled in the East, where Lee turned back successive attempts to capture Richmond. In the West, however, the Union took much of the Mississippi Valley and established its naval supremacy within the first two years. Some of the early battles of the war were the bloodiest ever fought, revealing that this would not be a brief war.
The Diplomatic Struggle
While the early battles of the war were raging, the South tried and failed to use its cotton to attract the substantial European support that would be necessary if the South was to continue to hold out against the more powerful North. France and England feared a war against the North, whose wheat they relied upon, more than they needed the South’s cotton.
Fight to the Finish
In the final two and one-half years of the war, the North adopted increasingly extreme war measures to overcome determined southern resistance on the battlefield and on the home front.
The Coming of Emancipation
Though Lincoln supported freedom for Blacks, he moved slowly make emancipation of the slaves a war aim. When Lincoln did issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, his motivations were more military, political, and diplomatic than moral. Though the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the southern states still at war with the Union, it did firmly commit the Union to Black freedom as a war aim and sped up the breakdown of slavery as a labor system by authorizing the use of Black troops.
African Americans and the War
Almost 200,000 African Americans, mostly freedmen, served in the Union armies as soldiers. Though they faced discrimination and segregation, they contributed significantly to the northern victory, and their heroism contributed to the northern commitment to emancipation and the war effort as a whole.
The Tide Turns
By 1863, the South’s economy and society were demoralized and in disarray. At the same time, its diplomacy had collapsed; and its soldiers were weary. As civilian criticism on the home front increased, so too did the rate of desertion. In the North, too, morale was low, and war weariness was growing. Northern resentment toward the Emancipation Proclamation and the new policy of conscription reached an apex with the New York City draft riots, while in politics, the Democrats, or Copperheads, gained electoral ground. The Union’s capture of Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, along with victory at Gettysburg turned the tide of the war solidly in the Union’s favor, despite General Meade’s failure to destroy Lee’s army.
Last Stages of the Conflict
With the promotion of Grant to general in chief in the East, Lincoln had found his general. Though at first unsuccessful against Lee, Grant changed the pattern of warfare by following up bloody assaults with more bloody assaults, eventually laying siege to a bedraggled and exhausted southern army at Petersburg. At the same time, General Sherman was marching through the South, taking the war home to the southern people. These Union military successes assured Lincoln’s reelection in 1864, and in April 1865, led to a Confederate surrender.
Effects of the War
Four years of struggle had changed the status of women, African Americans, and working people. Most clearly, the war had broadened federal powers, channeling them into a new corporate, industrial economy. The war effort also cemented the idea that the federal government was supreme over the states, cost billions of dollars, and claimed the lives of more than 600,000 soldiers.
Conclusion: An Organizational Revolution
The most pervasive change in northern society engendered by the war was an organizational revolution out of which many of the huge corporations that colored the postwar period were born. Philanthropy was also affected by this revolution. The most notable example being the creation of the Sanitary Commission early in the war. In general, the war encouraged a shift away from traditional individualism toward social discipline and collective action. In many ways, the Union’s ability to organize, mobilize, and “modernize” won the war.
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