American Studies I CP

11.2

Politics in the South

• Set up like Union

• Problem: States rights over federal government, made it difficult to organize a war effort

Mobilizing for War (South)

• General Lee calls for a draft (he needed manpower)

• Opponents claimed that this went against states rights!!!

• April 1862 White men ages 18 -35

• After Antietam up to 45

• Later raised to 50

Confederates

• Confederate congress imposed a personal income tax

• The army could seize male slaves for military service

Not very successful

• Because each state was concerned with it’s own state and not the new confederate government… not all states participated in the war programs

Seeking help from Europe

• May 1861 confederate Government sends representatives to France and Britain

• They wanted recognition or official acceptance as an independent nation and they needed help

The Brits did allow

• Ships to be built for the confederates so they could break the blockade

• Some Brits did support the idea of a independent confederate state for economic reasons…

• But, Slavery in Britain had been outlawed in the 1830s and supported the south, meant supporting slavery

Politics in the North

• The problem was how to gain civilian support for the war in the United States

Tensions with Great Britain

• The Confederates send representative to France and Britain aboard the British mail ship Trent

• The United States takes the two representatives and puts them in jail in the United States

• England gets made and demands their release

• Lincoln does

The Union Demands

• That Great Britain pay $19 million in compensation for the damage done by British built privateers (pirates)

Republican Control

• Without the regional differences, congress got to work passing many laws which were blocked by the South

• Pacific Railroad Act

• Homestead Act

• Raised Tariffs to protect Northern business

How to raise money for the war

• First federal income tax

• 3% to 5% of a total income

• The Internal Revenue Act of 1862 taxed liquor, tobacco, medicine and newspaper ads

• Reformed national banking systems (remember it was a mess since Jackson)

• Printed Greenbacks

Remember

• This was the first total war

• The government and the army were working together to win. It wasn’t just on the battlefield

Opposition to the War

• Northern Democrats (remember, most democrats were Southern)

• Protested against the war

• Called Copperheads after a poisonous snake

• This group was worried about what would happen after the slaves were freed

Emergency Wartime Actions

• Lincoln had all disloyal members of the Maryland legislature to be arrested (this way they couldn’t vote on leaving the union)

• Martial law on Kentucky to keep it pro Union

• Suspended writ of habeas corpus

Habeas corpus

• Legal protection requiring that a court determine if a person is lawfully imprisoned.

• Without it, a person can be held in prison even though they are NOT charged.

• 13,000 people were imprisoned without trial

Emancipation and the War

• As the body count rose, many people wanted to punish the confederacy for causing so much suffering.

• How about taking away property.. The slaves

Lincoln and slavery

• Opposed slavery

• Didn’t feel he had the legal authority to abolish (without an amendment)

• Looked at it as one more strategy for winning the war (let’s talk about this)

Emancipation proclamation

• January 1, 1863

• Freed all slaves in areas of rebellion against the government would be FREE

• How does this change the war?

Reaction

• It only applied to places under Confederate control

• Some felt it didn’t go far enough

• Some felt it went too far

• For Europe.. It meant that they could not support the South, without supporting slavery

African Americans Join the War

• Slaves could escape and be protected by Union troops

• (this also helped the Union troops understand what slavery was)

• Slaves now wanted to take up arms and join the Union Army

Legal argument

• If slaves were property, then they could be seized as contraband and therefore became the property of the United States, who could then free the slaves

Remember the 3 M’s

• The north had to think about how to best use these Men. At first they were used in non combative roles… But, as the body count continued to climb…. They were used as soldiers

African American Soldiers

• 180,000

• About 10 % of the troops who served the North were Black

• Ships = mixed

• Regiments = all black but the commander was white

• Till June 1864 they got less pay

How does war..

• Blur stereo types?

• Think about

• Civil War

• World War II

• Vietnam

Many blacks…

• Felt that by showing their talents in war, they would gain respect after the war, and be allowed full rights of citizenship

The Hardships of war