11.2 THE POLITICS OF WAR

OBJECTIVES:A. WHAT DIVIDED AMERICANS ABOUT HOW TO FIGHT THE WAR?

THEME: THE NORTH EFFECTIVELY BROUGHT TO BEAR ITS LONG TERM ADVANTAGES OF INDUSTRIAL MIGHT AND HUMAN RESOURCES TO WAGE A DEVASTATING TOTAL WAR AGAINST THE SOUTH. THE WAR HELPED ORGANIZE AND MODERNIZE NORTHERN SOCIETY, WHILE THE SOUTH, DESPITE HEROIC EFFORTS, WAS ECONOMICALLY AND SOCIALLY CRUSHED.

DIPLOMACY FAILS• Trent Affair, late 1861

• US Navy boards British steamer and captures 2 Confederate diplomats

• Alabama raids: 1862-1864• British built ship, armed in Portuguese Azores (=British are

technically not arming South)• Captured 60 US vessels, sinks 64• Similar British built Confederate ships sink 250 Union ships• Britain pays $15.5 million in damages after war

• 1863: the Laird “rams”= Brinkmanship with UK• Would have broken Union blockade and probably resulted

in Union invasion of Canada

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h57000/h57256.jpg

THE SOUTH’S STRATEGY FAILS:BRITAIN STAYS NEUTRAL

BUT, IT ALMOST DID WORK!!

1. Southern diplomats are captured by US Navy on board the British ship Trent almost leads to war between the US & GB (especially in Canada).

2. Britain does build warships for the South. One, the Alabama sinks 64 Union ships.

THE SOUTH’S STRATEGY FAILS:BRITAIN STAYS NEUTRAL

Britain did not rush to the South’s aid. Why?1. Britain and new sources for cotton2. Britain is relying on Northern grain

imports3. British people did not want to support

slave-society (Uncle Tom’s Cabin impact)

THE BLOCKADE

• Union extends blockade (Anaconda Plan)• Begins to have success by targeting cotton ports• Risks war with Britain by seizing British merchants, uses

“ultimate destination” as legal cover to avoid war• Blockade Runners earn profits of up to 700%• 3/9/1862: Monitor v. Merrimack end of wooden-hulled

warfare, beginning of the “Ironclads”

VIRGINIA RAMS CUMBERLAND

MONITOR V. MERRIMACK (VIRGINIA)

http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/cwar-pix/monitor.jpg

MONITOR AFTER THE BATTLE WITH THE VIRGINIA

Fording the Rappahannock RiverWhen federal troops came close enough those slaves who could do so fled behind Union lines. These Virginia fugitives, lugging all their possessions, move toward freedom in the summer of 1862, after the Second Battle of Bull Run. (Library of Congress)

FORDING THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Contraband slave groupA group of "contrabands" (liberated slaves) photographed at Cumberland Landing, Virginia, May 14, 1862, at a sensitive point in the war when their legal status was still not fully determined. The faces of the women, men, and children represent the human drama of emancipation. (Library of Congress)

CONTRABAND SLAVE GROUP

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

MYTH: Lincoln “freed” the slaves

FACTS: look at the actual dates and words of the proclamation. Where did the Proclamation apply?

TRUTH: Lincoln saved the Union, so that the Union, eventually, might free the slaves.

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION JAN 1, 1863

CAUSES:• Lincoln does NOT believe govt. can abolish slavery• HOWEVER, Union army can seize “contraband”=

to hurt South’s war effort• Antietam’s “victory” gives Lincoln the “opportunity” to

issue preliminary proclamation on Sept. 23, 1862.• Emancipates only those slaves in states still in

rebellion, NOT IN THE BORDER STATES!!!

“. . . ON THE FIRST DAY OF JANUARY . . . ALL PERSONS HELD AS SLAVES WITHIN ANY STATE, OR DESIGNATED PART OF A STATE, THE PEOPLE WHEREOF SHALL THEN BE IN REBELLION AGAINST THE UNITED STATES SHALL BE THEN, THENCEFORWARD, AND FOREVER FREE.“ PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, SEPTEMBER 22, 1862

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

EFFECTS:

• Settles the “contraband” question.• Many slaves escape North to join Union• Ends the possibility of a negotiated

settlement• Unpopular in Sections of North, Copperheads gain support

QUESTION: Did the Emancipation Proclamation “ennoble” the cause of the North?

ARGUMENTS OVER THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

FOR AGAINST

ACTION/DECISION TAKEN EFFECTS/REACTION TO THE ACTION/DECISION

DISSENT

• Lincoln suspends rights and freedoms:• Sends federal troops to occupy MD, and arrests hundreds of

MD’ers, including most of the politicians• (DC could not survive if MD went over to South)• Suspended habeas corpus = holding people in jail w/o trial, up

to 13,000 were so held• Copperheads was name given to Northern Democrats who

wanted peace with South, many arrested• seized control of telegraph offices

NOTE: Jefferson Davis also suspended liberties in South.

ARGUMENTS OVER LINCOLN’S HANDLING OF DISSENT

FOR AGAINST

ACTION/DECISION TAKEN EFFECTS/REACTION TO THE ACTION/DECISION

CONSCRIPTION (=DRAFT)NORTH:

• Started in 1863• Ages 20-45 for 3

years• Substitutes

allowed• Commutations for

$300• Bounties paid to

volunteers• 92% of army

volunteered

SOUTH:

• Started in 1862• Ages 18-35• Exemptions for

slaveholders with 20 slaves or more

• Substitutes allowed• 80% of elegible men

served

DRAFT RIOTS:NEW YORK CITY DRAFT RIOTS IN JULY 1863. 11 AFRICAN AMERICANS LYNCHED. OVER 100 KILLED.

ARGUMENTS OVER CONSCRIPTION

FOR AGAINST

ACTION/DECISION TAKEN EFFECTS/REACTION TO THE ACTION/DECISION

http://www.timelines.info/history/conflict_and_war/18th_&_19th_century_conflicts/american_civil_war/