Politics and the Civil War

1
Politics and the Civil War
2
Problems facing the new Government

• 1. Lack of Soldiers
• 2. Lack of Supplies
• 3. Lack of Money
• 4. Lack of Allies

3
Issue 1 Mobilizing (getting everything ready)
for War

• General Lee calls for a draft required military
  service
• Many claimed it violated states rights
• April 1862 draft law passed requiring white men
  18 to 35 to serve for three years in the army
• After Antietam age raised to 45
• Later to 50
• Some local governments refused to conduct the
  draft
• Whole counties in some areas run by draft dodgers
  
• ¼ of eligible did not show up

4

• Authorized army to seize male slaves for military
  labor (paid a monthly fee)
• Disrupted work on plantations

5
Issue 2 Lack of Supplies

• Seized control of all Southern railroads
• Set requirements for the production of wool,
  cotton and leather
• Farmers required to contribute 1/10th of
  production to the war effort

6
Issue 3 Lack of Money

• Imposed income tax to raise funds

7
Issue 4 Lack of Allies

• Look to Europe specifically Great Britain and
  France
• Did not receive recognition official acceptance
  as an independent nation
• Great Britain agreed to allow its ports to be
  used to build Confederate privateers 11 of
  these ships played a key role in the war

8

• France would not openly support the Confederacy
  until the Great Britain recognized them
• Great Britain torn many believed an independent
  South would be better economically, others did
  not support slavery and feared there was no way
  the South could win
• Decided they would take a wait and see approach
  offer help after the South proved themselves

9
Politics in the North

• Felt in order to maintain the Union sacrifices
  had to be made

10
Issue 1 Tensions with Great Britain

• Angered by talks between the British and
  Confederates
• Late 1861 President Davis sent two reps John
  Slidell and James Mason to negotiate with the
  British on a postal ship (Trent)
• They were stopped by the Union in international
  waters
• They were removed from the ship and brought back
  to the United States

11

• Great Britain government sent troops to Canada
  and threatened war unless Slidell and Mason were
  released
• Lincoln ordered their release one war at a
  time
• Lincoln demanded 19 million in compensation for
  damage done by privateer ships and other actions
  on the British behalf strained relations for
  almost 10 years

12
Issue 2 Republicans completely control Congress

• Without any opposition any law they wanted could
  be pushed through
• Most active Congress in American history
• Pacific Railroad Act passed linked Chicago to
  the West (proposed by Stephen Douglas). Allowed
  the federal government to give land and money to
  companies to construct a railroad from Nebraska
  to the Pacific Coast

13

• Homestead Act offered free government land to
  people willing to settle on it
• Tariffs also raised to fund the war

14
Issue 3 Raising Money

• 1861 first federal income tax passed
• Internal Revenue Act imposed taxes on items
  such as liquor, tobacco, medicine, and newspaper
  ads
• Ended when war was over
• 1862 created national currency greenbacks no
  longer backed by gold

15
Issue 4 Opposition to the War

• Had to institute a draft as well
• New York City draft riots (July 1863)
• More than 100 people killed, 11 African Americans
  who seemed to be targeted
• New political opposition Copperheads
• Democrats who warned that Republican policies
  would bring a flood of freed slaves to the North
  who would take jobs from whites
• Encouraged whites to dodge the draft

16
Issue 5 Law and Order

• Extreme measures used by Lincoln to silence
  opposition
• Focus on border states where opposition was
  strongest and secession seemed possible
  specifically Maryland
• Sept 1861 all disloyal members of the
  Maryland legislature were arrested (prevented the
  surrounding of DC)
• Supported an uprising aimed against the
  Pro-Confederacy in Missouri

17

• Put martial law into effect emergency rule by
  military authorities suspended Bill of Rights
• Lincoln is only American president to ever do
  this (Davis also did this)
• Suspended writ of habeas corpus legal
  protection requiring a court determine if a
  person is lawfully imprisoned
• More than 13,000 Americans who objected to Union
  war policies were imprisoned without a trial
  during the war
• Most Northerners did approve of Lincolns actions
• Today the Patriot Act suspends habeas corpus
  again