Politics of the War: 1861–1865

Politics of the War: 1861–1865 — page 1 — 4 Politics of the War Introduction While the fighting went on politics in the North continued much as normal The Republicans and the Democrats vied for power In the South on the other hand political parties were banned At the heart of the Civil War was a political question what should happen about slavery When war began however few politicians mentioned slavery In the North President Abraham Lincoln said that he was fighting to hold together the Union In the South Confederate politicians said that the war was necessary to uphold the rights of the states Lincoln came from the new Republican Party which opposed any spread of slavery The party was barely seven years old when the Civil War began Thanks partly to the North’s victory in the war it would dominate U S politics for some 70 years Lincoln managed to gather people with a range of political opinions and get them to work together for the Union cause Confederate Vice President Alexander H Stephens spent much of the war criticizing President Jefferson Davis

Politics of the War: 1861–1865 — page 2 — Introduction 5 The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D C was built in the early 20th century to commemorate the president who saved the Union In the South meanwhile the Confederate President Jefferson Davis faced a more challenging task The Confederacy was founded on the idea of states rights and many Southern politicians disliked the idea of a national government In order to make the most of the South’s relatively scarce resources the government also introduced many unpopular measures In this book Politics of the War describes the various actions taken in the Union and in the Confederacy to support the war effort It explains the relative strengths of the two economies It also examines the war’s lasting impact on American politics A timeline that runs across the bottom of the pages throughout the book traces the course of the war on the battlefield and other developments in North America and the rest of the world At the back of the book is a Need to Know feature which will help you relate subjects to your studies at school

Politics of the War: 1861–1865 — page 3 — 6 Politics of the War Democratic Party The Democratic Party played a pivotal role in the lead-up to the Civil War In the South there were no political parties during the war but the Democrats continued their opposition in the North This 1860 cartoon pokes funs at the fighting among the Democrats It shows Stephen A Douglas as a fighting cock who has defeated President James Buchanan for the party’s presidential nomination Since the 1830s the Democratic Party had emerged as one of the two major U S political parties Its specific policies varied between states but they all reflected a common belief in the need to limit federal government’s control over the nation 1861 march january war civil other events JANUARY 2 SOUTH CAROLINA Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor is occupied by Confederate troops JANUARY 5 ALABAMA Alabama troops seize forts Morgan and Gaines giving Confederate forces control of Mobile Bay JANUARY 9 MISSISSIPPI Leaders vote to leave the Union Mississippi is the second state to join the Confederacy JANUARY 10 FLORIDA Florida leaves the Union JANUARY 11 ALABAMA Alabama leaves the Union JANUARY 15 UNITED STATES Engineer Elisha Otis invents the safety elevator January JANUARY 29 UNITED STATES Kansas joins the Union as the 34th state

Politics of the War: 1861–1865 — page 4 — Democratic Party 7 Political changes In the 1850s the question of slavery brought great political changes A Democratic senator from Illinois Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas Nebraska Act in 1854 which allowed slavery in the new western states Northern opponents of slavery were so outraged they formed a new party the Republican Party Before the end of the decade the Republicans had become the majority party in the North In the South the Democrats continued to dominate During the presidency of Democrat James Buchanan 1857 1861 however Southern and Northern Democrats split over the issue of slavery The split was confirmed during their national convention of 1860 Abraham Lincoln the Republican candidate in the 1860 presidential election benefited from the Democrats in fighting He won despite having no support in the South His election would bring about the secession crisis and then the Civil War In the South Jefferson Davis a former Democratic senator from Mississippi was elected president of the newly formed Confederate States of America President Abraham Lincoln realizing the need to establish loyalty from his political opponents was quick to appoint Democrats to his cabinet Four members of his original seven-man cabinet were Democrats including Secretary of War Simon Cameron Treasury Secretary Salmon P Chase Navy Secretary Gideon Welles and Postmaster General Montgomery Blair When the war began Stephen Douglas supported the Union cause and President Lincoln JANUARY 19 GEORGIA Georgia votes to leave the Union JANUARY 26 LOUISIANA Louisiana becomes the sixth state to leave the Union FEBRUARY 4 ALABAMA Leaders from the South meet in the state capital Montgomery They choose Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as their president and write a constitution for the Confederate States of America FEBRUARY 7 ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI The Choctaw Indian Nation forms an alliance with the South Other Indian tribes follow later FEBRUARY UNITED STATES The first moving picture system is patented February MARCH RUSSIA Czar Alexander II abolishes serfdom a form of slavery March

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