The Civil War
In spite of political leaders’ last-minute efforts to find a compromise over slavery that would preserve the Union, the election of Lincoln, followed by the secession of six southern states, pushed the country into war. The North had twice the resources of the South, and the ability to create an activist centralized government to tap these resources to wage a total war. The South, however, needed only to fight a defensive war and hope for a military stalemate to achieve its goals. As a result, initial fighting quickly escalated into a series of major battles, and then a total war involving a full-scale invasion of the South in both the East and the West. As Lincoln expanded the Union’s military strategy to achieve victory, he broadened the goals of the war to include emancipation and the end of slavery. Through war and policy, the northerners relentlessly pursued a revolution of southern society. How far they would be willing to go to reconstruct the South after achieving military victory was a major question.Secession and Military Stalemate, 1861–1862 (pp. 442–449) Before Lincoln was inaugurated president in March 1861, six southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America . . .
Lincoln and some Republican leaders moved toward giving the war a deeper moral dimension by turning it into a struggle against slavery. 457–463) As the federal government created a complex war machine and mobilized northern society, the tide of the war shifted in favor of the North. The South had lost one in three of its soldiers, its economy was shattered, and many of its farms and cities lay in ruins. Meanwhile, civilians backed government efforts with a campaign to provide medical aid to soldiers and develop hospitals. It also raised taxes, issued bonds, and printed currency that, because it accounted for only 15 percent of the costs of the war, maintained its value to pay for the war. Grant, understood that to succeed in a modern war of invasion one had to use new technologies, overpower the enemy by accepting higher casualties, and wage war against civilians. In doing so, he made emancipation an instrument of a broader Union policy to destroy slavery and restructure southern society. Vicksburg and Gettysburg The impact of the proclamation depended, of course, on the North’s military success. In his inaugural address, Lincoln gave the seceded states—whose actions he declared illegal—a clear choice: Return to the Union or face war. Meanwhile, Sherman’s troops cut a path of destruction across the South, and Grant’s forces encircled Lee in central Virginia. As support for the war weakened, General Ulysses S. Once Lincoln survived this serious political challenge, the North was free to pursue the final military push to end the war. Grant’s Virginia Campaign To make the final push, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S.
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