Transcript Opposing Sides - CEC American History

Opposing Sides
Financing war in the South
• The Confederacy’s financial reality was poor, and got worse
• Most southern planters were in debt & could not buy bonds
• Southern banks were small & had few cash reserves; so they
could not buy bonds either
• Best way for South to raise $ was to tax trade
• But the Union Navy blockaded Southern ports, which
reduced trade & revenue
• Confederacy imposed new taxes on property & farm
products, but many people refused to pay
• Lacking sufficient money from taxes or bonds, the
Confederacy was forced to print paper money to pay its bills
• By end of war, South had experienced 9000% inflation;
The North only had 80% inflation
Party Politics in the North
• Lincoln wished to preserve Union, even if that
meant continuing slavery
• War Democrats: supported war to restore the
Union, but opposed ending slavery
• Peace Democrats: opposed the war and called
for reuniting the states w/ negotiation
• Republicans viewed these groups as traitors,
calling them Copperheads
• Congress passed law requiring states to use
conscription (forcing people into military service)
if they could not recruit enough volunteers
Europe
• The North wanted Europe to stay neutral and respect the
North’s blockade of the South
• The South wanted Europe to recognize the Confederacy
as a nation and aid the South
-Southern planters knew Britain & France textile factories
relied upon southern cotton
-Planters stopped selling cotton to Brit./Fr. Until they
recognized the Confederacy
• France would recognize Confed. if Britain would
-Britain said that until Confederacy won decisive victories
on the battlefield, they would not
Trent Affair
• Late 1861, the Confederacy sent James Mason & John
Slidell to Britain & France
-They went to Cuba & boarded the Trent, a British ship
-When the Trent left Havana, it was intercepted by the
Union warship San Jacinto
• British were furious that US stopped their ship
-They demanded the US release the confederates
• Britain sent troops to Canada, & strengthened its
Atlantic fleet
• After a few weeks, Lincoln freed Mason & Slidell, who
continued their journey to seek allies for the Confed.
Military Technology
• Many top officers in Civil War studied Napoleon’s
campaigns & had fought in war with Mexico 1840s
- Organized soldiers in columns, march, fired massive vollies
- Round musket balls were inaccurate, except at close range
• 1850s – warfare changed with the invention of coneshaped bullets
-rifles firing conoidal bullets were much more accurate at
much greater ranges
-troops would be fired upon several more times while
charging enemy lines
1st Modern War
• The Civil War also marked the first time that
troops defended their positions with trenches &
barricades
• By combining rifles firing conoidal bullets with the
protection of trenches, defenders were able to
inflict high casualties on attackers
-high casualties meant replacing many soldiers
-Attrition: wearing down of one side by the other
through exhausting resources & soldiers
• North, with its large population, could replace
troops much easier than the South