C20 - Girding for War: The North and the South. 1861-1865 Flashcards
Jefferson Davis
President of the Confederate States of America. A great speaker, but not personally popular as a leader.
Faced challenges like dealing with Confederate states who did not want the central confederacy to have more rights…many were strict States Rights believers, and saw a central government as threatening.
Alabama
British-built ship that helped the Confederate side by seizing/destroying yankee (North’s) ships.
Britain built many of these ships for this purpose…Britain saw some advantage to the US being separated and therefore less powerful as a nation.
Clara Barton
Gave medical help to soldiers. Later founded the Red Cross.
William H. Seward
President Lincoln’s Secretary of State
Laird rams
Ships built by Britain to help the Confederates. Alabama is an example.
Maximilian
The French Military leader, Napoleon III, invaded Mexico City and put his man, Maximilian in charge as Emperor of Mexico.
After the Civil War was over, the US threatened to fight to get the French out of power. French intervention in Mexico went against the US’s Monroe Doctrine. Maximilian was killed and did not hold power for long.
Charles Francis Adams
US Diplomat who played important role in keeping Britain neutral during the Civil War.
Napoleon III
French military leader who took advantage of the US’s distraction with the Civil war to invade Mexico.
Trent affair
Union navy seized a British ship carrying 2 Confederates. The 2 men were taken into custody, which outraged the British.
Rather than risk war with Britain, Lincoln released them.
Morrill Tariff Act
- Enough anti-tariff southerners had seceded that Congress was able to raise the Tariff. This protected Northern Manufacturers. and provided funds needed for war.
Edwin M. Stanton
Lincoln’s Secretary of War.
Draft Riots
Riots in NY City in response to the Federal Government drafting soldiers. Many saw the system as unfair…rich could buy their way out of serving. “War fought for the Rich, but fought by the poor”.
National Banking Act
- Formed as a necessity during war to stabilize the currency.
Abraham Lincoln
Became president in March 1861. 7 states had already seceded from the Union.
Tactful, patient, quiet, but firm, he was skilled at reading public opinion and leading with that in mind. Better liked than President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States.
Secession
A challenge due to geography…no natural separator between North and South (Like a mountain range or river). How would National debt be divided? North and South economies relied on each other too.
7 States had Seceded by the time Lincoln was sworn in as President. That number became 11 a few months later after the Fort Sumpter battle.
Seceded states became known as The Confederate States…their Capitol was in Richmond, VA…close to the capital of the Union- Washington DC.
6 border slave states did not secede from the Union. Kentucky was very important to the Union. Lincoln went to great lengths to keep these states from seceding.
See pg. 437 for map.
Lincoln’s statements about the aims of the war
In order to keep border slave states from seceding from the Union, Lincoln could not state publicly that the war was about slavery. He had to say that it was about keeping the Union together.
Robert E Lee
Military leader of the Confederacy. Great military leader.
Stonewall Jackson was one of his leaders…very skilled.
The South/Confederacy had an advantage at beginning of the war…great military leaders.
Lincoln had tried to hire Lee as a leader for the Union, but when Virginia seceded from the Union, Lee decided to side with his state, join the Confederate forces.
North vs South advantages/disadvantages
South had great military leaders, southerners were born to fight, plentiful farmland/food for sooldiers, North had to invade the South, so all the South had to do was stand firm on its own land.
North: More wealth in the North. More factories could supply weapons. Better transportation system than the South’s, which broke down during the war, causing supplies to not get to Confederate soldiers…they were hungry. North also controlled the Seas and blocked Southern ships. North also had a population advantage.
Conscription
When men are drafted, or required to be soldiers. Both the North and the South were forced to start this method for getting enough soldiers to fight as volunteer fighters dried up.
Bad feelings about this system because rich people could hire substitute fighters or buy their way out of fighting.
