1861 - 1865 CIVIL WAR (9 ene 1861 año – 16 mar 1865 año)

Descripción:

Civil War (1861 - 1865)
Abraham Lincoln's Presidency: Abraham Lincon became president in 1861, at one of the most critical crisis in the US history; the Secession of the Southern States. At his inaugural speech Lincon communicated three key points:
That he wouldn’t interfere with any states affairs in which slavery already existed.
That he wanted to preserve the Union, and that secession was illegal and unconstitutional.
That he was a great advocate for peace and he wanted to avoid war at all costs, emphasizing that states should see each other as friends rather as foe.
Secession: The secession was a decision that 11 Southern states made to secede from the Union from 1860 til mid 1861. The South believed their way of living was under threat because they were heavily dependent on slavery for their economy and Abraham Lincon was openly against slavery expansion; therefore, they thought that the federal government would end up abolishing slavery all together. This is why, they became their own government and nation under the name Confederate States of America (Confederacy).
South Carolina was the first state to leave the states, and then other states like Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Mississippi, Florida and others made the decision as well.
The South created their own constitution and selected a new president Jefferson Davis.
Fort Sumter: The Civil War began at Fort Sumter, which was a federal property that the North (Union) was trying to protect; the South (Confederacy) demanded that the Union left the fort, and when they refused, they bombarded it. 34 hours later, the Union surrendered the fort. This of course generates two reactions:
The North felt more energized now to defent the Union.
The South felt way more confident, perhaps thinking they had a chance at winning the war.
Abraham’s reaction: Lincoln reacted pretty quickly and sent 75,000 soldiers to fight the rebellion, and also set some naval blockades in Southern ports to prevent or cut off all trading activity and generate a resource shortage for the South.
The causes of war: At its core, the Civil War’s main cause was slavery, even though the South would repeatedly claim they were fighting for their states’ rights. The reality was that:
The South wanted to protect slavery and expand it across other new territories.
Some key leaders from the South had openly stated that slavery was a vital element of their society and economy.
Choosing sides: After the fall of Fort Sumter, other states like Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy. And there came a point in which people needed to choose sides, regardless of their background, regardless if they were black, white, slaves, Natives, etc (which was a bit of an irony, them having to choose sides regardless of their background, when all of this conflict was because of their background).
This meant that the division between the South (Confederacy) and the North (Union) wasn’t such a clear cut fight; there were a lot of people in the Confederacy supporting and even fighting for the Union, and the other way about. The West of Virginia became their own state for example and joined the Union at one point.
Emancipation Proclamation 1863: After the victory of the Union at the Battle of Antietam. This proclamation was issued into two phases:
In September 1862, Abraham Lincoln launched a preliminary proclamation with some clear objectives. First of all, his main goal was to preserve the union. He also tried to reach an agreement with the Confederacy telling them that if they joined the Union by January 1863, they would be allowed to keep slavery. Of course the Confederacy refused.
So, in January 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves within Confederate-controlled states forever free. However, this was only applicable to Confederate-controlled states; Union-controlled states weren’t impacted and they were allowed to keep slavery as it was technically legal in these regions such as parts of Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana, and this was indeed pretty twisted.
The reactions across the Nation were varied: African Americans celebrated this as a huge achievement, taking one step forward to a more just and fairer society. In the North, the Abolitionists supported this proclamation, whereas some Northern Democrats considered this as unconstitutional. Whereas in the South, they saw this as a direct attack on their way of living and as a way to encourage Black people to rebel.
Black people in the war: Lincoln used the Emancipation Proclamation as a moral decision and as a strategy for the war. He thought that this would weaken the labor in the South and he allowed Black people to join the Union Army, strengthening the manpower of their militia. Lincoln saw how Black people dealt a huge blow to the Confederacy in the battles in which the Union ended up winning. However, there was an imbalance of discrimination and opportunities for Black people in the militia. On the one hand, they were paid way less, and they weren’t allowed to be officers. On the other hand, they did get access to education for example, becoming more literate.
The 13th Amendment 1865: As war progressed and “benefited” the Union, states like Tennessee and Missouri ended up abolishing slavery altogether. So in 1865, the Congress passed the 13th Amendment, ending slavery in the entire nation, and solidifying the initial claims and foundation of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Union vs Confederacy (Characteristics):
Union Finance: When it came to finances, at the beginning of the war, the Union’s treasury was pretty much empty, and they needed to collect money fast to fund the war. Therefore, they implemented certain strategies to collect money fast without disrupting or breaking their economy:
They introduced some taxes on goods, professions and salary incomes.
They also printed $450 million in paper money, which couldn’t be exchanged for gold and silver; this didn’t cause inflation as people actually trusted the government, and ended up using it wisely.
The started selling government bonds; people would lend money to the government and the government would may them back with an agreed upon rate interest.
Union Politics: The Union had a strong leadership with Abraham Lincoln at its head; Abraham maintained a healthy balance between war needs and civilian liberties. He temporarily paused or removed a law that prevented civilians from being arrested without a fair cause. He obtained the Congress support as this allowed him to imprison rebels who were interfering with war efforts. He also ended up facing re-election due to the popularity and support he’d gained after the war victories.
Confederacy Finance: The South was also struggling financially; they were rich when it came to land, but lacked cash. They were also pretty dependent on farming for their economy and they didn’t have such a structured financial system. To address these financial issues, they also implemented some unsuccessful strategies:
They also started to issue taxes, but they had to be collected by each individual state, and they weren’t that organized; some states were inconsistently collecting taxes, while some others were altogether neglecting them.
They also printed paper money, but it was way more than the North had printed, it was around $1 billion, which caused huge inflation throughout the South.
They also tried to sell government bonds, but people didn’t trust their government that much and they ended up not selling that many.
Confederacy Politics: Their leadership was rather weak with Jefferson Davis at the front. He was constantly criticized by his people because he was rather stubborn, couldn’t handle disagreements, and didn’t own up to his mistakes, therefore not really making any alliances or gaining people’s trust. Also, the states were prioritizing their own power and authority over the central confederate government, which caused a lot of conflict. And to top it all, there was a lot of civil unrest, as prices were increasing and resources were in a shortage.
Positive Consequences:
The 13th Amendment which abolished slavery once and for all was a huge victory, freeing around 4 million slaves in the US and allow Black people to start developing their own communities, schools, among other things.
It allowed and encouraged economic growth and territorial expansion: The Homestead Act for example allow foreign or any settle to establish in the West for at least 5 years improving the land in exchange for actual land; The creation of the Transcontinental Railroad improved trading; and the was another act which allowed more widespread access to education on agriculture and mechanics.
Northern industries thrived during the war because of the constant production and innovation demands.
Women were largely introduced to the workforce in areas like factories, healthcare, farming and even business.
Improvements in medicine also occurred as more soldiers were treated, introducing best practices on sanitation, surgery and organized nursing.
Negative Consequences:
Between 620,000 - 750,000 deaths, being the Civil War the deadliest conflict in the US. But not only deaths, but also deeply wounded and disabled soldiers, impacting families for decades.
The destruction of the South was huge. Not only their economy was shattered, but their infrastructure, cities, plantations and farms were devastated.
Ongoing racial discrimination continued and some violent organizations were created to intimidate the freed ex-slaves, such as the Ku Klux Klan.
Massive disparities between the North and the South became evident; the North being rather economically stable, flourishing and thriving right into industrialization whereas the South remained weak and a mostly agricultural region. The Reconstruction era saw deep divisions later on.

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