The Politics of War

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The Politics of War
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Foreign Nations in War

• US blockade could have caused backlash from
  European Nations
• Europe instead recognized the Confederates as the
  Belligerents so essentially did not question
  blockade
• Initially hurt European markets
• Eventually, Britain no longer dependent on
  Southern Cotton BUT now Dependent on Northern
  wheat and corn
• Distracted with other problems
• France Mexico
• Denmark and Poland

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Britain in the Civil War

• The Trent Incident
• Southern Delegates met on British ship to
  convince Britain to join their side
• North stopped the ship and arrested the 2 men
• Britain threatened war wanted US to apologize
• Lincoln freed the men and said Captain was
  unauthorized in his actions, did not apologize
  though
• Britain was Happy to not go to war, as was Lincoln

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Britain in the Civil War

• Britain did not officially recognize the
  Confederacy
• Did sell Ships to the South
• The Alabama Sunk or captured 64 Union ships
• After the war, the US handed a bill of 19
  million to Britain, they ignored, later forced to
  pay 15.5 million in damages.

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Habeas Corpus

• Baltimore crowd attacked Union regiment, a week
  after Fort Sumter
• Lincoln sent fed troops
• Suspended habeas corpus in MD
• Court order that requires authorities to bring a
  person held in jail before court to determine why
  he or she is being jailed.
• Strategy used to hold dissenters in jail

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Effects of Suspension of Habeas Corpus

• Suspended in other states
• Seized telegraphs to make sure no one used wires
  for subversion
• President ignored chief of justice ruling that he
  went beyond presidential powers
• Copperhead Northern democrats who advocated
  peace.
• Congressman Clement Vallandigham tried in a
  military court for urging Union soldiers to
  dissent
• Lincoln showed dramatic expansion of presidential
  powers.

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Lincolns Generals
Winfield Scott
Joseph Hooker
Ulysses S. Grant
Irwin McDowell
George McClellan
George Meade
Ambrose Burnside
Henry W. Halleck
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McClellan I Can Do It All!
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War in the East 1861-1862
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Battle of Antietam Bloodiest Single Day of the
War
September 17, 1862
23,000 casualties
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Conscription

• Heavy casualties and widespread desertions made
  volunteer army dwindle
• Both sides called for a draft, but allowed men to

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The North Initiates the Draft, 1863
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Buy Your Way Out of Military Service
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Conscription

• Heavy casualties and widespread desertions made
  volunteer army dwindle
• Both sides called for a draft, but allowed men
• Pay fee to avoid draft
• Hire a Substitute

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Recruiting Irish Immigrants in NYC
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Recruiting Blacks in NYC
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NYC Draft Riots, (July 13-16, 1863)
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NYC Draft Riots, (July 13-16, 1863)
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Draft Riots

• Northern resentment to the draft led to riots.
• It was unfair for poor white workers to fight for
  emancipation
• Slaves would become free, move North, and take
  jobs.
• Attacked well-dressed men and women, especially
  African Americans.
• 11 African Americans are lynched, homes are
  smashed, burned a black orphanage.

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Conscription

• Heavy casualties and widespread desertions made
  volunteer army dwindle
• Both sides called for a draft, but allowed men to
  pay fee to avoid draft or provide a substitute
• About 92 of 2 million were still volunteers
• Led to riots, one in NYC
• Wrecked draft offices
• Attacked well dressed men
• Lynched 11 African Americans
• Burned black orphanage

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Leading up to Emancipation

• Laws leading up
• First Confiscation Act of 1861 confiscation of
  any Confederate property, including Slaves
• Forbade Union Army officers from returning
  fugitive slaves March 1862
• Compensate slave owners who freed their slaves
  April 1862
• Battle of Antietam Sept 1862 gave Lincoln
  support
• Released emancipation on September 22, 1862 that
  stated it would go in effect Jan 1, 1863

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WHY Emancipation

• Lincolns goal was to preserve the union, not
  abolition.
• Felt didnt have constitutional power
• South used slaves to build fortifications and
  grow food
• Lincoln can order troops to seize enemy
  resources, why couldnt slaves be included in
  that?
• Strategic Purposes
• Discourage Britain from supporting the
  Confederacy
• Hurt Southern War Efforts

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Emancipation in 1863
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TheEmancipationProclamation
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The Southern View of Emancipation
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Effects of Emancipation

• Only applied to non-captured CONFEDERATE states
  (not loyal slave states)
• Southern Response
• Confederates were furious and more determined to
  fight
• Compromise was no longer possible.
• Negative Northern Response, felt it would
• 1) prolong war by antagonizing the South
• 2) did not care to fight for African Americans
• Positive North Responses
• Gave moral purpose to the North
• Free Blacks happy to join Union army now
• Former slaves fought

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African-American Recruiting Poster
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The Famous 54th Massachusetts
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August Saint-Gaudens Memorial to Col. Robert
Gould Shaw
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African-Americansin Civil War Battles
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Black Troops Freeing Slaves
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Extensive Legislation PassedWithout the South in
Congress

• 1861 Morrill Tariff Act
• 1862 Homestead Act
• 1862 Legal Tender Act
• 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act
• 1862 Emancipation Proclamation
  (1/1/1863)
• 1863 Pacific Railway Act
• 1863 National Bank Act

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Morrill Tariff Act -1861

• High protective tariff that increased duties
  5-10. 
• Increases were designed to raise additional
  revenue provide more protection for the
  prosperous manufacturers. 
• EFFECT Protective tariffs became identified with
  the Republican Party, Upset foreign nations

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Homestead Act -1861

• FINALLY Passed in 1862
• Promised ownership of a 160-acre tract of public
  land to a citizen who had resided on cultivated
  the land for 5 years

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Legal Tender Act -1862

• Authorized use of paper notes to pay the
  government's bills.
• Ended the long-standing policy of using only gold
  or silver in transactions
• Allowed the government to finance the enormously
  costly war long after its gold and silver
  reserves were depleted.
• Greenbacks

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Morrill Land Grant Act -1862

• Transformed higher education
• Was responsible for the establishment of numerous
  colleges across the country.
• Under the terms of MLGA
• the federal government distributed land
  proportionately to the states
• The proceeds of the land sales supported colleges
• Some states used the money from the sale of land
  to aid existing schools, and other states used
  the money to establish new colleges and
  universities

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Pacific Railway Act -1863

• Authorized the construction of the first
  transcontinental railway line connecting the east
  and west coasts.
• Provided that after each railroad laid forty
  miles of track, it was to receive
• 6,400 acres of public lands
• government loans ranging from 16,000 to 48,000
  per mile of track completed.

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National Bank Act -1863

• Authorized the National Banking System. 
• Designed to stimulate the sale of government
  bonds and to establish a standard bank-note
  currency. 
• Banks who joined the National Banking System
  could buy government bonds and issue sound paper
  money backed by the bonds.