Economics, Political, And Union Leadership

As the war continued on the industrial capabilities of the North would prove to become one of the greatest contributing factors to their ability to sustain military operations. Tied directly into the industrial capabilities of the North is the economical superiority that they held over the South. "The economy was the greatest Southern weakness; it was the North's greatest strength. The North was not only a huge farm but a sprawling factory as well" (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey pg. 439). Wars are expensive, and in order to sustain military operations especially one that would drag on for four years money would become of great importance. The North was comprised of approximately 75% of the nation's wealth, and they were able to maintain their trade with Europe which kept the money, and weapons pouring in. The South's inability to raise money took its toll on the pocket books of the Southern States, and in turn would be one of the major contributing factors to their defeat. A lengthy war on the other hand favored the wealthier and

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well known presidents in the history of the United States of America. He as thought to be the man who led this great country through the toughest times it had to encounter. His determination to get the United States through the Civil War is one of the best things that have ever happened for this country. Lincoln’s argument about the relationship between slavery, the Constitution, and the Union changed throughout the Civil War. Lincoln’s view of the purpose of the war was to save the Union because of the southern states seceding from the Union. However, the argument changed to the war being about slavery because of Fredrick Douglass’s speeches and the Confederates surrendering at

Another major reason why the North won the Civil War is the because they had a reason to fight. After the Emancipation Proclamation, the Northern armies were more motivated to win the war because they wanted to end slavery once and for all. Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation to announce that slaves are free, and this idea gave the Northern Armies a reason and motivation to keep fighting. The Emancipation Proclamation states, "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a

Although they lost the first battle of the war at Fort Sumter the Union army’s spirit was unconquerable. A great example of this is the Battle of Gettysburg also known as the turning point of the civil war. The confederate states marched to Gettysburg and intended to defeat the union there and then take the union capitol in Washington D.C. Although they intended to do this the union with the hearts of lions took the battle head on and weather’d it and eventually won just like they had done in previous battles. This was the bloodiest battle of the trip otherwise known as the Civil War.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president of the United States. In his inaugural speech, he declared that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and that this was a binding contract. He said he didn’t have any plans to invade the southern states, but that he would use force to maintain possession of federal property.

The answer would be that he wanted to prove his respect to the Constitutional protection of property in 1862. Furthermore, he declared that he will preserve the Union through war if it is what he must do to keep the Southern states from secession after his election and prevent the spreading of slavery. This was all due to the Emancipation Proclamation which was written by Lincoln himself in order to bring the war to its end. The Emancipation Proclamation did not only mark the turning point of the war but it was also to deal with Lincoln’s general who acted by themselves to free the slaves while Lincoln wanted the federal government to act on the issue only. Not only that, the Emancipation Proclamation also had a huge impact in changing the objective of the Northern states to freeing the slaves and from here, the slaves started to entitle Lincoln as “The Great Emancipator,” for his effort in trying to liberate them and letting them fight in the war so that they can prove their strength and bravery, and their willingness to fight for their freedom and against

When President Lincoln first called for troops to put down the confederate rebellion, he made no connection between this action and an attempt to end slavery. In fact, he explicitly stated "the utmost care will be observed to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property..." At this point, slavery was not yet integral to the struggle, it was much more important for the Union to air on the side of political prudence and avoid angering loyal boarder states. However, despite this lack of political dialogue, many abolitionists, slaves, and free blacks felt the war to preserve the union could also be a war to end slavery. In the end, they were right, as military need overwhelmed potential political dangers, slaves

Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman observed to a Southern friend that, "In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. . . .You are bound to fail." While Sherman's statement proved to be correct, its flaw is in its assumption of a decided victory for the North and failure to account for the long years of difficult fighting it took the Union to secure victory. Unquestionably, the war was won and lost on the battlefield, but there were many factors that swayed the war effort in favor of the North and impeded the South's ability to stage a successful campaign.

From the onset of the war, the Union had its obvious advantages. They simply had large amounts of resources of which the South did not. "In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. You are bound to fail" --Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman to a Southern friend. Over 85 percent of the nation's industry and significant material resources were controlled by the North. The North was able to use take power of their economical advantages to produce military supplies, and replace damaged equipment more rapidly than the Confederacy. On top of that, forces for the field could be re-supplied rapidly because

     The South’s dominating strategy in winning the civil war was attrition. They believed they could wear down the political will of the North if they held out long enough to make the Northerners tired and question value of the means to achieve the ends. Military stalemates, guerilla war tactics and inconclusive battles would help the South achieve this goal. “Confederate armies did not have to invade and conquer the North: they needed only to hold out long enough to force the North to the conclusion that the price of conquering the South and annihilating its armies was too high, as Britain had concluded in 1781 and as the United States concluded…” (Why Did the Confederacy Lose?, pg 117)The South really enjoyed McClellan’s performance in the Southern theatre with his tendency to retreat when he could have won. This was another helpful hand the South would need to cause attrition. In response, Lincoln knew he had to do two things to prevent attrition and win the war more quickly. He needed to fire McClellan, and shift the theme of the war in the view of the North so that it would not lose its thunder. He did this by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and converting the war for unionism into the war for morality. The

Though it is very clear that the American Civil War was won by the North, not every person may agree. Many may argue that the South won due to countless reasons, most being slavery related. However, it is very clear who the true winner of the war was: the North. Sure, they may not have ended up with everything that they wanted from the South by the end of the war, but overall they did win freedom. The South, though they did get some advantages in the final compromise, did not win what they were fighting for or the country that they had hoped for in the end. The Union was the real winner of the Civil War, because of what they were ultimately fighting for.

North won the civil war for a few reasons, they had more people, more resources, and the North had won previous battles. Obviously North had some advantages in the Civil War, these reasons really helped the North during the Civil War. The North had way more people then what the South did, document 4 says “Northern states had a combined population of 22 million people. The Southern states had a combined population of about 9 million.” This clearly shows how the North had way more people, and when there are more people fighting there is a higher chance that you win.

Washington D.C., summer 1862. The Civil War had been going on for over a year, and it was not going well for Abraham Lincoln. 11 of the 15 southern states where slavery was legal had formed the Confederate States of America (CSA) and were waging a war to break free from the United States. Lincoln was determined that the nation was not going to fall apart on his watch. During the first year of the civil war, the Confederate Army had won the majority of important battles. When Lincoln became president, he had had no intention of abolishing slavery. Though he personally despised slavery and had won the presidency on an anti-slavery platform, he would gladly have given up any chance of ending slavery in the South if it meant that the Confederate states would rejoin the United States.

The second effect of the North’s victory over the South is a new financial system. The American Civil War destroyed the

The Confederacy lost the war due to its biggest lost – Southern morality. Among civilians and Confederate soldiers alike, they lost the will to fight against the Union. They quickly realized how many more troubles they had during the war than before it. Taxation,